Eating Seasonally

Sometimes I get tired of making my kids eat vegetables. I know. That's a terrible thing for a mother to admit. But it's true. And I think it stems from the fact that there are certain times of the year I don't want to eat certain vegetables. It took me a long time to figure out why.

A few years ago someone made a casual comment about how she was starting to crave leafy greens again now that spring was coming (I think it was March of that year). I had no idea what she was talking about. Why would the fact that it's March have aything to do with the fact that she wanted to eat leafy greens? So I started doing a little research and really, the whole concept is so obvious that this is one of those things that I wonder how I got to a certain age and just had no clue about it. Trust me, this is one of MANY things I got to this age and still have no clue about.

But the whole concept of eating seasonally explains perfectly WHAT I've been feeling over the years -- not wanting to eat salad in January, being drawn to squash in the fall, wanting berries in the summer -- but not feeling right about it. Meaning, shouldn't the healthy person in me want to eat salad and spinach and all sorts of greens all year round?

Turns out, that's not really the healthiest way for us to eat. We're pretty much programmed to be drawn to what we need, what is seasonal, at the right times of the year. So those anemic looking tomatoes and strawberries that are grown in a greenhouse and are on the store shelves in January? We should just walk away. Walk away, I tell you.

I found a few good links with good info about what to eat when, and of course, some of it has to do with where YOU live.

I like how this page describes eating seasonally.

And here's a website that has more to do with geographic info and being sustainable by eating what's in season on your state.

Personally, I was happy to discover that chocolate does not have a season. I'm going to take that to mean you can eat it all year round. In moderation, of course.