Seasonal food vs organic food: what’s best for healthy eating?

Whether you’re nailing nutrition for training or just trying to improve your food for health, you know that what’s on your plate matters. But do you think about eating with the seasons? Global food availability means we can get whatever we want all year round. Perhaps it’s time to return to seasonal eating – here’s why. 

What does eating seasonally mean?

Eating seasonally is exactly what it sounds like – buying and eating foods that are naturally harvested in your area (or at least your country) at the time. Think fresh strawberries in summer, crisp apples in autumn, and hearty root vegetables in winter. It's about syncing your plate with nature's calendar, just as we all did before global food transportation became the norm.

Is seasonal eating healthier?

When you eat foods during their natural growing season, you're getting them at their nutritional peak. Fruits and vegetables harvested at the right time contain more vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants compared to those grown out of season in artificial conditions. For example, summer tomatoes not only taste better but also pack more vitamin C and antioxidants than their watery winter counterparts.

And it’s not just about the nutritional quality of the food, it’s about the way they’re grown and how they’ve been preserved and transported.

But the ultimate reason to eat seasonal foods for health could be the variety. By changing what you eat with the seasons, you’ll be getting a different mix of vitamins, micronutrients, and levels of fibre throughout the year – which has to be good for your gut health.

Is seasonal food better than organic food?

Organic food was the gold standard in food ingredients for a long time, but that narrative is starting to shift. Whilst both have their merits, seasonal foods often edge ahead in terms of overall benefits. Organic farming focuses on production methods, but seasonality considers both farming practices and optimal growing conditions. And seasonal food often travels shorter distances, meaning less time for nutrients to degrade.

5 reasons to eat seasonally

Nutrition - seasonal produce is harvested when it’s naturally ripe, meaning higher concentrations of nutrients for training, recovery, and health.

Flavour - when foods are grown and harvested at the right time, they taste better. This means you're more likely to enjoy healthy meals and stick to your nutrition plan.

Budget - seasonal foods are generally more abundant and cheaper than non-seasonal foods of similar quality (like exotic fruits). This helps you maintain a nutrition-rich diet when other costs are going up!

Environment - seasonal food reduce the environmental impact of your diet. Less transportation and artificial growing conditions mean a smaller carbon footprint which many people care about.

Variety – eating to nature's calendar varies your diet throughout the year, and some argue that this naturally gives your body what it needs. Certainly this variety is good for gut health and overall nutrient intake, both of which support training.

Top tips for eating seasonally in the UK

Know your seasons

Start by familiarising yourself with UK growing seasons. There are apps and websites to help, but generally spring brings leafy greens and early berries, summer offers fruits and salad vegetables, autumn provides squashes and root veg, and winter has hardy greens.

Shop smart

Look for “British grown” labels, or buy from local farmers markets or local veg box schemes. Supermarket deals often align with seasonal fruit and veg too.

Cooking and meal prep

Seasonal eating is a great excuse to try new recipes or food combinations. If you end up with a glut of a certain ingredient, batch cook meals or freeze things like berries, smoothies, soups, and purees. If you really want to get into your seasonal eating era, you could even learn preservation techniques like fermenting and pickling to extend your seasonal bounty!

Like all the healthiest things in life, switching to seasonal eating shouldn’t be all or nothing. Start by incorporating a few seasonal items into your weekly shop and build from there. Seasonal eating should make life easier as well as healthier – so just do what you can and stick with what you enjoy.