With Summer Approaching, Healthy Food Options Multiply

Flowers in bloom, growing gardens, warmer temperatures and longer, sunnier days – spring is here in full and summer is around the corner. It’s the perfect time of year when we have all the right ingredients to change our diets to fit the season in a healthier way.

Community cookouts and backyard barbecues may bring hotdogs, hamburgers and bags of chips to mind, but summer foods without high levels of fat, salt and cholesterol are plentiful, especially if you venture beyond the supermarket to find the fresh, organic fruits and vegetables at a local farm or farmer’s market.

To help you take advantage of a healthy summer diet, we’ve harvested some of our favorite natural foods to bring home to your kitchen:

Strawberries – a pick-your-own favorite in these parts – are deliciously juicy and rich in vitamin C and K as well as in fiber and potassium, which will give the body a valuable balance along with lasting energy to keep you moving throughout the workday and into those warm summer evenings. Bright red strawberries are full of anthocyanins, which may have health benefits that include prevention of inflammation.

Another fruit, the tomato – though it is often mistaken for a vegetable – can be especially helpful when it comes to protecting the body against the sun. Tomatoes have a high amount of lycopene, the natural, red pigment that protects against ultraviolet light exposure, also known as sunburn.

Avocadoes – made all the more popular in New England by the “TB12 Method” – are full of fiber and vitamins. These fruits are fatty but with the good kind, monounsaturated fat, which improves cholesterol levels and reduces the risk of heart disease. Avocado adds color, flavor and a dash of “health” to salads, burgers and wraps.

Moving on to vegetables: Cucumbers are a natural diuretic that can hydrate the body; that is especially helpful if you spend more time outdoors, under a hot sun. These veggies also are a solid source of the antioxidant beta-carotene that protects against aging and cancer.

Our favorite addition to the menu this time of year? Green-leaf vegetables. Crisp kale and hearty spinach crop up abundantly at farmer’s markets, providing a fresh source of vitamins and minerals, fiber, iron, magnesium, potassium, and calcium.

Toss a bunch of fresh-from-the-field leafy greens, organically grown vegetables and a vinaigrette made with olive oil – that’s a healthy meal right there to enjoy out on the patio or at a picnic with family and friends this spring and summer.

John Walczyk is a registered compounding pharmacist at Johnson Compounding & Wellness in Waltham (www.naturalcompounder.com). Readers with questions about natural or homeopathic medicine, compounded medications, or health in general can email john@naturalcompounder.com or call 781-893-3870.