Why Are Seasonal And Local Foods More Beneficial To The Immune System?
Every season is like the mood of Mother Nature: sometimes cold, sometimes hot, and sometimes lukewarm. And this mood of nature is also reflected in the fruits and vegetables produced in that particular season. This is the reason why we are often told to eat seasonal and local foods.
Our body responds to the change in seasons in different ways and hence, requires different foods and nutrients in each season. Eating seasonal fruits and vegetables could ensure your body works in synchronization with nature in terms of seasons, temperature change, humidity, and so on.
Eating local and seasonal foods can help your body to get necessary nutrients at just the right time, as mother nature provides the foods that your body, especially your immune system, needs during each season.
Read on to learn more about the reasons why you should eat seasonal and local foods and how they affect your immune system.
Why Should We Eat Seasonal and Local Foods?
1. They Meet Your Nutritional Needs
There is evidence to link the specific nutritional needs of the body in each season and the locally grown fruits available during the same.
For example, the risk of respiratory infections and allergies increases substantially during winter. It is not uncommon for patients with asthma, bronchitis, and allergic rhinitis to develop acute severe episodes of these conditions during winter. Most citrus fruits like oranges and grapes grow in the winter season. Eating locally grown seasonal fruits like oranges and grapes could be highly beneficial in these cases.
These fruits offer a rich source of vitamin C, which can strengthen the immune system and protect the body against the risk of repeated infections. Eating seasonal fruits rich in vitamin C would also help to regulate the functions of the immune system thus reducing episodes of allergies.
This is an example of how eating seasonal and local foods will ensure your body receives the nutrients it needs to fight diseases that are more prevalent in that particular season by supporting your immune response.
2. They Support Bodily Functions
Your immune system plays a vital role in supporting normal physiological functions. Disruptions in the immunological pathways can trigger disease development.
Eating seasonal and local foods can help to support the functions of the immune system allowing it to work more efficiently for supporting the metabolic and physiological processes occurring in the body.
For example, in winter, nature provides us with a variety of fruits and vegetables that can help the immune system fight cold and cough. Winter vegetables are also considered perfect for cooking warm, nourishing meals such as soups, casseroles, and stews.
Moreover, summer foods like stone fruits can provide us with a rich source of beta-carotene that can protect the skin and body against sun damage. These foods are also sweeter in taste and rich in water content. They can create an energising effect that the body needs during this season.
Fruits and vegetables available in the summer months like watermelons and cucumbers can keep your body cool. Eating these seasonal foods would replenish water content in the body thus supporting immune functions, maintaining high energy levels, and promoting blood circulation.
3. They Support Sustainable Consumption Patterns
Eating seasonal and local foods can help us move towards a sustainable consumption pattern that could reduce the impact of our diet on the environment. Local or seasonal products are usually lower in harmful pesticides and insecticides as they are often produced by smaller growers and do not need a long shelf-life. These chemicals do not just cause harm to the body when we eat the produce but also affect the quality of soil thus creating a long-term adverse impact on the environment.
This marks the need to be aware of the dangers of spraying plants with pesticides and insecticides. Eating seasonal fruits and vegetables that are produced locally can be a great way to protect the environment against harmful chemicals. This would provide long-term benefits to us in terms of better health, improved immunity, and lower risk of diseases.
Natural immunity-balancing supplements like BioPro-Plus offer similar benefits by strengthening immunity and supporting general wellbeing. BioPro-Plus could synchronize your body’s needs such that the activities of the immune system are more in tune with the climate you are exposed to. It could help to regulate the response of the immune system allowing your body to react in a favorable way during each season thereby protecting you against infections, and allergies.
Regular use of BioPro-Plus can be a great way to complement the immunological benefits of eating seasonal and local foods and keep yourself fit and healthy during each season.
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