I don’t have much use for winter. Sure, newly fallen snow makes for quite the postcard, but besides its ability to bring smiles to the faces of old and young alike on Christmas morning, I’d just assume skip the winter months.

Since I haven’t yet figured out how to travel through time, I try to make the best of winter, to focus on the things that are exclusive to the winter season.

And as a natural health advocate, I naturally turn to nutrition – specifically the fruits and vegetables that reach their peak in January, February and March.

Why Eat Fruits and Vegetables In-Season?

Anyone who frequents the produce section of their local grocer knows that most fruits and vegetables are available year ‘round. Grocers like it this way, of course, because if someone has a hankering for cantaloupe in January, they can spend their money then and there instead of waiting ‘til swimsuit season. Thus, why does it matter what month you eat a squash or strawberry in?

From a standpoint of nutrition, fruits and vegetables are fresher in-season, thus more nutritious. Now, granted, there’s some disagreement over whether fresh fruits and vegetables are better for you than fruits and vegetables that are frozen or out-of-season. But count me as one who believes fresher is better. And even if there is a difference in nutrition (i.e. some studies suggest frozen vegetables retain their bioavailability longer than fresh vegetables), the difference is slight. As nutritionist Karen Lupinksi of Long Island Hospital told The New York Daily News, “[T]here is no conclusion across the board that frozen is better. The best recommendation is still to consume local produce.”

Further, as any farmer’s market enthusiast will tell you, locally grown produce simply tastes better than produce that’s been shipped hither and yon. Plus, by eating fruits and vegetables that are in-season, you’ll be saving yourself some dough. And because in-season fruits and vegetables don’t have to be shipped from far distances, you’re saving the earth by reducing grocer’s need to get their produce shipped from far distances.

Frank’s Favorite Winter Fruits and Vegetables

I love all “winter” fruits and vegetables, but if I had to narrow them down to my favorite three, here’s why it’d be these:

Vegetables

Avocados

The most nutritious fruits and vegetables are those served raw, which is part of the reason why I love avocados so much – there’s simply no other way to eat them. The other reason why I love avocados is for their uniqueness. Think of it: a vegetable that’s rich in omega-3 fats? That’s almost unheard of! Yet thanks to those omega-3s, slicing a few avocado wedges into your garden salad is the richest, creamiest way of protecting yourself from some of our most serious of health hazards, like high cholesterol, heart attack and heart disease.

Sweet Potatoes

Contrary to avocados, sweet potatoes are always served cooked. But if you want to get the most nutrition out of your sweet potatoes, you’ll have to be discriminating in how you cook them. For instance, if you want to maximize their anthocyanin potential, steaming is the way to go. But if you want as little of an impact on your blood sugar levels as possible (i.e. sweet potatoes are quite high in carbohydrates), your best bet is to boil them. It all depends on your nutrition goals.
But no matter how you cook them, sweet potatoes are always one of the world’s best sources for vitamin A. One sweet potato contains a whopping 262 percent of your daily-recommended intake!
(Note: Because vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin, it’s important to include at least some fat with your meal. Otherwise, the vitamin A can’t be absorbed.)

Brussels Sprouts

Brussels sprouts rarely make people’s list of their favorite 20 vegetables, never mind their favorite three. That’s not enough to detract me from scarfing down these beauties, though. After lightly boiling them in water (al dente style) and splashing them with some unrefined sea salt, I go to town.
But in terms of nutrition, Brussels sprouts are among the best sources of vitamin C (one cup contains 160 percent of your daily recommended intake) and vitamin K (274 percent) you’ll find.

Fruits

Bananas

Bananas must be the world’s most versatile fruit. Whether it’s diced into a fruit salad, sliced on to your morning bowl of cereal, made into a crunchy snack (by dehydrating them) or eaten straight out of the peel, no family fruit bowl is complete without this tropical treat. Native to Malaysia but grown in a variety of subtropical locales, domestically grown bananas are hard to come by. Nevertheless, if you can buy them locally (only Hawaii and California grow them in the U.S.), do so, because their richness in potassium (13 percent of your daily recommended value) and vitamin B6 (34 percent) are hard to rival.

Pears

Pears aren’t exactly nutritional powerhouses, but any fruit that was once referred to as “the gift of the gods” is good enough for me.
Pears are the perfect hand fruit – firm enough to grip solidly, yet soft enough to sink your teeth into. Plus, at 100 calories and four grams of appetite-satisfying fiber per pear, it’s the perfect snack food to tie you over ‘til dinner.

Tangelo

If a mandarin orange married a grapefruit, the tangelo would be its baby. Color and taste-wise, tangelos are much more similar to the mandarin orange. But in size and calories, it’s akin to the grapefruit – large in size, yet just 47 calories. And like both the grapefruit and mandarin orange, the tangelo is packed with vitamin C, an essential vitamin for wound healing, cold defense and lung health.
(Note: Contrary to popular belief, citrus fruits are not the most vitamin C dense fruit. Strawberries take that title for fruits (one cup contains 81 milligrams compared to an orange’s 70 milligrams). For vegetables, bell peppers take the cake. One cup of red bell pepper contains a whopping 174 milligrams, or 291 percent of your daily-recommended intake!

There you have it. These are a few of my favorite things each winter season, to paraphrase Julie Andrews.

Or, to be more precise, they’re my only favorite things each winter season. J

Sources
foodfit.com
nydailynews.com
http://www.avocado.org/avocado-nutrients
whfoods.com
whfoods.com
fruitandveggieguru.com
whfoods.com