Good Lifestyle

When the cooling months roll, we lose more than a few hours of daylight - all the fresh fruits and vegetables of summer also disappear. If you could use the loss of your favorite summer superfails, we feel your pain (you will miss, blueberries and tomatoes). But we have good news: the cold season is also full of Superfoods winter.

AllSuperfood winter Pack a serious nutrition punch and just wait to be worked in your favorite cold recipes.

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What is a superfood, anyway?

Do we know for a second ... What qualifies like a "superfood"? Is there an official definition?

Nope, not really - at least not in any sense scientific. According to the dietitian, Sarah Rueven MS, CDN, founder ofWell-being rootedThe term is basically a marketing word used to bring consumers to buy more types of food than they should eat. Never thought of cooking with dogs? You could perhaps once it has been called a "superfood" instead of a light green vegetation ol '.

This does not mean that super passengers do not provide on their nutritional promises, though.

"As a general rule, a food is promoted to Star Superfood status when providing many amounts of vitamins and minerals with antioxidant power, is related to the prevention of a disease or to offer several health benefits," has Declared Dietitian Amy Shapiro, MS, CDN and founder ofTrue nutrition tell us.

How (and why) you should eat more winter superfails.

Before assuming that super passengers must be obstructed, expensive or hard to find outside specialty stores, be assured that this is simply not the case.

"Walk in the alley of products in your local grocery store or buy your local farmers market and you will find what I consider superflows: unprocessed, integers and herbal foods [which can] provide us with nutrients Important like fiber, phytonutrients, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, "says Rueven.

And if you want to maximize the power of superfail, it's as easy as buying season in season. Buy seasonal superfood - even winter supermaile - means they will be:

• cheaperbecause they are in abundance;
• Fresherbecause they are often harvested at the top of maturity;
• Followingecological, because they are harvested from local sources (which decreases the amount of fuel used to carry your food to the store).
• andnutritious that their counterparts out of season. "The longer product is sitting on the shelves, [plus the availability of nutrients and antioxidants can decrease," says Shaproo. "Long periods of transport and" expiring "on the shelves of the grocery store seems to considerably affect the density of the nutrients of the products."

What are the healthier winter supermail you should buy?

Now that you know what are the super-courses - and why you should buy them! -You can go shopping. The following 17 winter superfoods are all in season during the winter months, just ready and expect grocery shelves to share their nutritional benefits.

Acorn or Butternut, choose the two are winter superfails. Either a variety of winter squash is abundant from the beginning of autumn (and lasts throughout the winter). The winter squash has a lot of fibers, magnesium, beta-carotene and vitamins C and B6. In addition, eating MayHelp reduce your blood pressure and cholesterol.

Squash is also super easy to cook with: simply dice, season and roasted in an oven for a flat of accompaniment tasty, or use roasted vegetables as a base for a smooth and velvety velvetyButternut squash soup Spicy with nutmeg and cinnamon.

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Looking for a natural way to fight or recover from one of the many unpleasant viruses that circulate in winter? Your search ends withGingerThat Shapiro said has been used for centuries to improve digestion, soothe stomachs and stimulate your immune system. It is often available all year round, but the coolest roots are likely to be those harvested in winter.

Ginger is powerful enough when it comes to flavor, then a little goes a long way - but a little goes as well in Asian inspired dishes like stirring, or soaked in hot water like a fresh ginger tea .

Are you weak in potassium? Kale is here to save the day as one of the most versatile winter superfails.

"Potassium can help reduce blood pressure by eliminating excess body sodium," says Rueven. "In fact, the increase in potassium consumption could also be impacted as the reduction of sodium intake to reduce blood pressure."

Pregnant women should also take note: Kale is aBig source of folate, a nutrient that helps form the fetal neural tube. Acold weatherHe culminates mainly in autumn and winter. To add more Kale to your diet, exchange spinach in your soups,Make choumage chips, or shred it to make a salad.

"Citrus grows with vitamin C, which make them ideal during the winter months when the cold and the season of the influenza strike," explains Shapiro. It adds that citrus fruits such as oranges, grapefruits and lemons are also high in minerals and phytochemicals, that is to say plant-based chemicalsAmerican Institute for Cancer Research Says can help reduce the risk of cancer.

The oranges of navel and blood areWall during the coldest and newest months of the year. Mix the flesh of oranges in your smoothies for a fresh joist flavor, mix agrapefruit saladOr add lemon quarters to tea in your afternoon.

Betcha did not know that apples are a great source of vitamin C, is not it? Rueven says that adequate vitamin C is a key for immune support (super useful during the cold season and influenza) and that apples also contain pectin, a soluble fiber that has been shown to helpReduce cholesterol levels. The apple season arrives towards the end of the summer but often continues well at the end of autumn or at the beginning of the winter, depending on your place of residence.

"I recommend eating apple peel because a large percentage of fiber and phytonutrients are in the skin," says Rueven. "My favorite way to eat an apple is like a snack with almond butter or in a nice salad alongside roasted butternut squash or sweet potatoes."

"Brussels sprouts are one of the best winter staples [for the nutrient density," says Shapiro. These cruciferous mini vegetables are high in vitamins K and C, and also contain folate, manganese, potassium and vitamin B6.

Usually harvested at the end of autumn in winter (you do not see them on Thanksgiving tables for nothing), Shapiro recommends launching Brussels sprouts by half in lawyer oil, sea salt and Pepper, then roast them in the oven every time you want a deliree. But healthy side at dinner.

Like it or hate it, you can not deny that fennel is a winter power plant. Shapiro says that fennel has a stellar nutrient profile that includes fiber, potassium, manganese, calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus and copper.High season fell at the beginning of spring.

If you know the stomach (word set) Fennel's strong licorice flavor, it can be used as a digestive assistance and can help improve the symptoms of stomach burns and IBS. Every part of the fennel plant is edible; You can eat raw or braised bulbs and cook stems and greens in soups, forks or broths.

Rueven says that sweet potatoes are one of its favorite fresh climate foods and are also an excellent source of beta-carotene, an antioxidant that struggle free radical damage and inflammation. Their peak season arrives from October to December.

Add mild potatoes disordered to soups and chilis whenever you are bored to cook them (although a baked sweet potato is a simple and delicious way to complete a meal). Or, if you feel adventurous, try your hand atSweet potato toast for breakfast.

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Rueven loves leeks as a source of magnesium size, a mineral she says about half of the Americans are deficient, which can lead to anxiety and irritability.

The leeks pair wonderfully with winter soups and salads, like thatCabbage leek soup. They have a slightly softer taste than their parents of onions and can easily integrate with most of your recipes. They start in October and early spring.

The analyzes are a root vegetable that Shapiro says provide a precious fiber and folate to improve digestion, which can help build brain cells. They have a taste like a more tasty carrot and can be exchanged for carrots in many recipes.

Most root vegetables, including parsnips, are in the fall season until the beginning of spring. Try them added to the soups and stews, roasting on a sheet pan next to other winter vegetables, or boiled and mashed (like potatoes).

Yes, harvesting the seeds of a pomegranate is a kind of commitment, but it's a thing that is really worth doing.

"Grenada is rich in polyphenols," says Shapiro, "[who are] known to improve heart health, combat infection and improve memory."

Easy to find from September to February,Grenades are delicious in recipes. Try them sprinkled on a salad or thrown in the yogurt, smoothies and pudding at the chia seed.

Like apples, broccoli is a surprising source of vitamin C-One Cup contains more than 100% of your daily needs, says Rueven.

It also points to a potential use of broccoli in the fight against cancer: "studies have shown that cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli contain compounds that can be protective against cancer ... studies need to be made to determine the relationship between Cruciferous vegetables and cancer, but the search that exists is very promising. "

Broccoli is easily cooked in steam like a last minute side dish, but you can also reduce it in a cheese and creamy soup or a pair of beef for a Faux Chinese homemade meal:Beef and broccoli. The high season of Broccoli is from October to April.

Maybe you never bought from Khaki before (you are certainly not alone), but you should give this tiny central shot. Despite their small size, Rueven says that these winter superfails are incredibly nutritious-dense.

"A persimmon contains half of your daily vitamin A needs, andvitamin a is important for immune function and eye health, "she explains. From October to February, you can add persimons to a salad or even reserve one for a real treatment after dinner, suggests Rueven.

These dark red root vegetables are rich in folate, potassium and beta-carotene, nutrients that make them a unique but nutritious addition to your summer table at the end of autumn.

These are not the easiest cooking vegetables, you can not roast them exactly on a straw sheet, but they are a winter salad clip. You can also turn them into a classic Russian style soup (a.k.a.Borscht) or even corniche for a TANGY cover dish.

You could associate lawyers with Summertime Tacos and Margaritas, but Shapiro says that this "perfect food" is actually in season in winter (depending on the variety, lawyers are the steeer between August and December). The long list of the benefits of lawyers includes a healthy fat content of omega-3 vitamins, such as riboflavin, niacin, folate, pantothenic acid and B6, as well as magnesium, the potassium and vitamins C, E and K.

Instead of La Goracamole ready Fiesta, tryLawyer's Houmous, aSoup of lawyers adapted to the Cchéor even a trusted lawyer alongside Fajitas of hot chicken.

If you are walking in front of the cabbage heads in your local market, because it is not the feast of St. Patrick, you are absent on an economic and dense winter offer in nutrients. In the end of the end of the fall in early spring, cabbage is an amazing food thanks to large amounts of vitamin C, vitamin K, potassium and calcium, as well as the fact that it is 92 % water.

It's easy to incorporate cabbage into meals. Fabulate it with ground meat and tomato sauce, decoy itself for homemade egg rollers, or associate it with Kielbasa and potatoes for hot and filling soup.

You may know endive by one of his other names, like Radicchio, Escarole or Frieu. It's avegetal hard to grow it'sfiber topwhich means that it can increase your digestive health and has an impressive amount ofpotassium, vitamin A and beta-carotene.

You can blow, jerk off or roast endive with olive oil and your seasoning of choice. Endives can even be flooded as a substitution of crackers and chips with your favorite dip. Their peak season is late falling in early spring.

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