Path to Health: Embracing Variety

As peak summer approaches in Sicily, Anna Fiannaca prefers the peppers, eggplants and zucchini her brothers grow over the packaged food in the supermarket.

The 89-year-old cooks everything from scratch and eats mostly vegetarian. But she attributes much of her continued good health to adjusting her diet to what is most available throughout the year.

“It was just the way of life in Sicily, taking whatever the seasons will give you,” said Fiannaca, who lives near Agrigento.

Eating a variety of fruits and vegetables is one of many aspects that make the Mediterranean diet healthy. It also includes an abundance of nuts, legumes, beans and healthy fat from olive oil and fish.

But nutrition experts say no matter where you are, buying in-season produce is an easy step toward better eating habits.

“Seasonal eating is kind of a pathway to build a broader diet variety,” said Sharon Gray, a registered dietitian who supervises the University of Connecticut’s community nutrition program.

Why is seasonal eating better for you?

Consuming a high of fruits and vegetables is an important part of good nutrition, lowering the risk of heart disease, obesity and other ailments.

Choosing whatever is most abundant in the market each month is a good way to start, said Gray, who offers healthy cooking workshops to low-income Hartford residents. In New England, the summer’s tomatoes, berries and peaches give way to autumn’s pumpkins, squash and cranberries. All are high in antioxidants and fiber, and they provide a wide range of vitamins, minerals and complex carbohydrates.

It helps that in-season produce tastes better.

“A lot of adults don’t like a lot of fruits and vegetables, so if you can get them to like something, then they build it into their diet,” she said. “That is moving people away from processed food to preparing more food at home.”

Eating seasonally often also means eating locally, said Julia Zumpano, a registered dietitian at the Cleveland Clinic, specializing in disease prevention and management. Besides the environmental benefits, local produce generally has more nutrients because it has naturally ripened and is consumed soon after being picked.

“You’re going to maximize your vitamins and minerals in there, the polyphenols and antioxidants that are the foundations of how we decrease the risk of disease,” Zumpano said.

Changing your diet requires a bit of an open mind, said Sean Heffron, cardiologist at the Center for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease at NYU Langone Heart. He counsels patients to look beyond the broccoli, onions and other vegetables that are available year-round.

“Open yourself up to, ‘Oh, now I see a lot of asparagus or peaches or artichokes,’” Heffron said. “It will expose you to more and make you willing to try and eat more fruits and vegetables in general.”

Gray noted that farmers markets, many of which now accept food benefit programs like SNAP, have become more widespread. But she also recommended shopping at regional grocery chains, which may be more likely than national retailers to offer local produce.

She tells people to look at flyers and signs in the store to see what is on sale, which is usually an indicator of seasonal abundance. Besides saving money, it allows people to buy pricey items like berries that can be frozen to eat later in the year.

Zumpano suggested signing up for a community-supported agriculture program that delivers a box of produce that changes with the season.

“You don’t get to pick, and it just comes every week,” she said. “I usually have to purchase additional food, but I can use that as a great foundation.”

Experts caution that eating seasonally isn’t a cure-all, and some studies have found people in colder climates suffer from nutritional deficiency in the winter. That means you should still continue to buy leafy greens and other vegetables all year.

“We need seven to nine servings of fruits and vegetables every day,” Zumpano said. “Ninety percent of us don’t eat enough of them.”

I recently had the opportunity to sample a new brand of white wine. It was excellent. As good, in fact, as any nice sauvignon blanc I’ve enjoyed.

What caught my attention, however, was the bottle. It touted a Nutrition Facts label. We don’t often see nutrition labels on alcoholic beverages because alcohol is not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. Instead, these products are under the guidance of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. So, unlike food products, nutrition labeling on alcohol is only required if the manufacturer makes a nutrition claim such as “light” beer. This particular wine boasted “zero sugar” on its bottle. So there you go.

As I studied the label, I was curious how the sugar content in this product differs from a usual glass of sauvignon blanc — or any other type of wine for that matter.

So here’s the deal. Wine cannot be made without sugar. It’s the natural sugars (carbs) in grapes that are fermented into alcohol that make wine possible. Winemakers tell us that some sugar, called “residual sugar,” may be left over at the end of the fermentation process. Sugar or grape juice may also be added to wine for extra sweetness, according to Wine Spectator. But this is not common for higher-quality wines.

So, how much sugar is in wine? According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, an average 5-ounce glass of “dry” wine has 1 to 2 grams of residual sugar, a minuscule amount. A “sweet” or dessert wine may contain 5 or more grams of unfermented sugar, which is about a teaspoon.

According to its label, one serving (5 fluid ounces) of this zero-sugar sauvignon blanc contains 112 calories and 2.7 grams of carbohydrates (sugar). According to data from USDA, the same amount of a typical sauvignon blanc contains 119 calories and 3 grams of carbs. Not much difference.

Wine experts rate Brut-type champagnes and sparkling wines as being perhaps the lowest in sugar. Other dry wines such as sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, pinot noir, pinot grigio, merlot, cabernet sauvignon, and Sangiovese are also low in residual sugar.

According to the most current 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, wine is definitely not the main source of sugar in our diets. That distinction goes to sugar-sweetened beverages, desserts, and sweet snacks.

These guidelines are very cautious regarding alcohol intake, as well. If we choose to drink, men should limit their intake to two or fewer servings of alcohol a day, and women to one drink or less a day. I would guess that is the most important thing to remember in this conversation about wine.