I’m loading up on these five seasonal fruits and vegetables, and you should be too | Canada Voices

Health Canada’s food guide recommends “making half of your plate vegetables and fruit” for each meal. And for good reason.

Vegetables and fruit contain a protective mix of vitamins, minerals, fibre and thousands of phytochemicals that, together, dampen inflammation, fend off harmful free radicals and support immunity.

You might, though, find the advice to eat plenty of vegetables and fruit difficult to follow this time of year as summer’s bounty of produce dwindles with cooling temperatures.

But that doesn’t mean your daily diet needs to fall short on these healthy foods.

Now, and in colder months to come, you’ll find many seasonal options that will add a variety of nutrients, flavours and textures to your regular diet.

Here are some of the vegetables and fruit I’m eating right now, and a few of my favourite ways to enjoy them.

Acorn squash

This sweet, nutty-tasting squash delivers more fibre (9 g per one cup roasted), calcium (90 mg) and magnesium (88 mg) than other types of winter squash.

Roasted acorn squash is also an outstanding source of blood-pressure-lowering potassium, supplying 896 mg per one cup (more than two medium bananas). Adults need 2,600 (females) and 3,400 mg (males) of the mineral each day.

Acorn squash can be steamed, sautéed, grilled, microwaved or roasted (my favourite). To roast, I brush acorn squash halves with olive oil and add a drizzle of maple syrup; once cooked, I garnish with chopped fresh rosemary.

I also like to roast slices of acorn squash sprinkled with parmesan cheese and dried herbs.

Enjoy roasted acorn squash as a side dish, or add cubes of it to green salads, whole grain pilafs, burritos, chili, and stews.

Parsnips

In season now through January, parsnips are highly nutritious. (Seasonality of locally grown produce will vary according to location and weather.)

One cup of cooked parsnip provides 5.5 g of fibre, 572 mg of potassium, 20 mg of vitamin C and one-quarter of a day’s worth of folate, a B vitamin needed to produce red blood cells.

And despite their pale colour, parsnips are an excellent source of falcarinol, a phytochemical with anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. In fact, parsnips contain five times more falcarinol than brightly-coloured carrots.

Enjoy parsnips cooked and mashed with other root vegetables such as turnip, sweet potato or carrots.

I like to roast parsnips with carrots and turnips; first I toss them with a little olive oil, lime juice, and curry powder (a favourite Ottolenghi recipe). Or I’ll mash cooked parsnips with Yukon Gold or sweet potatoes and add chopped chives and parsley.

Bok choy

Locally grown bok choy is available now through December, and even longer during mild winters.

This cabbage family vegetable is an excellent source of bioavailable calcium, the type your body can absorb and use. One cup of cooked bok choy delivers 158 mg of the bone-building mineral.

The hardy green is also an excellent source of potassium (631 mg per one cup cooked), vitamin C (44 mg) and vitamin K (58 mcg). One cup of cooked bok choy also provides nearly 20 per cent of a day’s worth of folate.

Toss chopped bok choy, leaves and stems, into stir-fries, soups, and green salads. Or add steamed bok choy to whole grain bowls.

I often sauté baby bok choy in olive oil with garlic, chili flakes, grated ginger root, rice vinegar and a dash of toasted sesame oil.

Apples, pears

Apples are one of my go-to fall (and winter) fruits. Honeycrisp apples to be specific. I love their crisp and juicy texture and sweet and slightly tart taste.

Pears also factor into my diet this time of year.

Both apples and pears are high in fibre, especially pectin, a soluble fibre that helps lower LDL cholesterol in the bloodstream. One medium pear packs in 6 g of fibre; one medium apple has 4 g.

Both fruits are also good sources of quercetin, a type of flavonoid with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties thought to help guard against heart disease and cancer.

Most of the fibre and quercetin is found in the skin, so enjoy these fruits unpeeled (washed).

These days, my afternoon snack is a sliced apple or pear with nut butter. I also add chopped apple or pear to overnight oats, oatmeal, leafy green salads, and muffin batters.

And of course, nothing says fall to me like homemade apple crisp.

Leslie Beck, a Toronto-based private practice dietitian, is director of food and nutrition at Medcan. Follow her on Twitter @LeslieBeckRD