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Healthy Eating in Autumn and Winter: You Should Avoid These 11 Foods

Especially in autumn and winter it is not advisable to buy fruit and vegetables indiscriminately. What looks harmless and tasty at first glance can even be harmful to health on closer inspection. We explain which 11 foods you should better avoid.

Diet in autumn and winter: These 11 foods are bad for you, those around you and the environment

Even in autumn and winter, our refrigerators and fruit baskets are well stocked. But: often with the “wrong” foods. Anyone who is mindful when shopping is not only doing something good for their own health, but also for the environment and those around them.

1. Strawberries

Unsurprisingly, strawberries are no longer in season in autumn and winter and therefore mainly come from abroad, such as Spain. However, these plantations have often been criticized for exploitative working conditions, massive use of pesticides and questionable irrigation methods. Be careful with strawberries from Germany. In this country, these only mature with considerable electricity consumption and are therefore not an environmentally friendly alternative.

2. Imported apples

Imported apples are generally not recommended and basically unnecessary. In any case, fresh apples from the region are available until mid-December, which do not have to be refrigerated using a lot of energy.

3. Green salad

Lettuce, iceberg lettuce or Batavia are less recommended in autumn and winter. They come from heated greenhouses and end up in the store “immature”. They not only contain less taste, but also fewer nutrients such as vitamins and phytochemicals and should therefore ideally not be consumed at all.
Fortunately, other salads are in season: lamb’s lettuce, chicory, endive or purslane can end up on our plates without worry.

4. Imported nuts

Unfortunately, many types of nuts also come from abroad and should therefore be avoided. However, we also grow nuts: walnuts and hazelnuts are particularly recommended and healthy.

5. Conventional citrus fruits

Residues of pesticides and preservatives are repeatedly found in conventional citrus fruits such as oranges, tangerines and lemons. Manufacturers often cheat and write “untreated” on their goods, even though they use pesticides. Prefer to buy fair trade organic fruit.

6. Conventional ACE juice

Many people like to drink an ACE juice in the morning and hope that they will do something good for themselves. But the fruit content in normal ACE juice is only between 20 and 60 percent. Water, sugar or sweeteners are often added. However, the added vitamins usually come from the laboratory and are therefore not necessarily recommended. If you like to drink fruit juices, it is best to use organic not-from-concentrate juices.

7. Tomatoes

Tomatoes are very popular. Unfortunately, in the cold season, almost all of them come from Spain, France or the Netherlands, where they are grown in greenhouses. The better alternative: organic tomatoes from the jar. These are harvested when ripe and therefore taste a lot better than imported goods.

8. Cucumbers

Cucumbers are also not recommended in autumn and winter. They are in season with us from June to the end of October. The imported goods have fewer healthy nutrients and long transport routes. You can often find cucumbers in the supermarket only wrapped in plastic so that they are better protected during transport.

9. Zucchini

Although the zucchini belongs to the pumpkin family, it is only in season from June to the end of October. Therefore: Better to use Hokkaido or Butternut. These are also available from us until December.

10. Conventional tea

Exploitation, discrimination and poverty are the order of the day in conventional tea plantations. Therefore, you should be particularly careful when shopping for tea. It is best to only buy black and green tea from fair trade and with the EU organic seal.

11. Imported Grapes

We also have to say goodbye to delicious grapes. From November, grapes mostly come from South Africa, India, Chile, Peru or Brazil. Conventional grapes are also often heavily contaminated with pesticides. Grapes should therefore primarily be bought regionally, during the season and in organic quality.

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Always Tired in Autumn? How Alkaline Nutrition Helps – and Which Foods You Can Eat

Are you currently constantly tired and slack? Alkaline nutrition could be a key to more energy.

Acid-base balance imbalanced: That’s why you’re often tired in autumn

Fatigue in autumn is due to a lack of light in the dark season. Because less light changes the hormone balance: the body releases more melatonin – the so-called sleep hormone – and less serotonin. This in turn is also known as the happiness hormone.

However, the autumn blues are part of the natural course of the year, as Prof. Dr. Katja Mierke, psychologist at the Fresenius University of Applied Sciences in Idstein, Hesse, explains: “We are no longer used to living according to the seasons. It is not without reason that other creatures hibernate and withdraw into their caves,” says Mierke. Autumn and winter also serve to slow down.

These times of pause are important for the psyche, she adds, and it is not for nothing that November is a month of mourning in many cultures. “By saying goodbye to the past, you make room for the new.”

Against tiredness in autumn: light, company and Christmas spices

Although Prof. Mierke recommends accepting and enjoying the autumn phase if possible, the psychologist knows: “If you don’t want to fall too deep into the November slump, you should exercise as much as possible outside and soak up the light.” Light therapy lamps also help.

The cold also plays a decisive role, Mierke knows: “Current socio-psychological studies show that people feel lonelier when they are physically exposed to cold. That’s why it’s particularly good for us now if we move closer together. There are occasions for this in the run-up to Christmas plenty.”

According to the expert, you can also do something good for your psyche through food: the essential substances contained in cloves and cinnamon, for example, have been proven to have an antidepressant effect. “Apparently we instinctively know what’s good for us in the dark season and have created appropriate culinary traditions with Christmas baking,” says the expert.

Tired in autumn: get lively with an alkaline diet

A good way to stay fit through food intake in autumn is the so-called “alkaline diet”. This is not a diet in the strict sense. You simply fall back on foods that balance the acid-base balance and prevent hyperacidity. Because when the body is acidic, you feel limp and exhausted. The diet should include many alkaline foods such as fruit and vegetables. Potato dishes are also suitable for alkaline nutrition. We recommend a salad, refined with carrots, parsley and walnuts. Apples and pears are suitable as snacks for deacidification. You don’t have to do without meat and fish. However, you should largely avoid salt and use herbs and spices instead.

The most important alkaline foods include:
ripe fruit
vegetables
Raisins, dried figs
vegetable oils
almonds and chestnuts
Sprouts and sprouts (e.g. mung bean, millet, linseed, lentil sprouts)
herbal teas
Green tea

Conclusion: three-step plan against autumn fatigue

Basic nutrition
Dietary supplement for the right acid-base balance
Sufficient exercise in the fresh air
The alkaline diet is part of a three-step plan that is easy to implement and helps against autumn tiredness, as Erfstadt pharmacist Dr. Jutta Doebel in an interview with the pharmaceutical company Protina explains: “Basically, it is important that you eat enough alkaline-forming foods. This means that you should eat significantly more alkaline-forming than acid-forming foods – in a ratio of 80:20.” So if 80 percent of the meal consists of vegetables, fruit, salads and herbs, you’re on the right track, explains Doebel. As a second step, the pharmacist recommends dietary supplements: “We are exhausted, we are tired, we are imbalanced. And that in turn means that we are no longer as resilient and can concentrate even less. And especially now, when the dark season is coming , it may also be that our immune system becomes more susceptible to infections.” According to Doebel, it is very important that we support our immune cells, and we can do that best with the help of food supplements that have a beneficial effect on our acid-base balance. It is best to discuss which dietary supplements are most suitable for you with a doctor, as every body works differently and needs different nutrients more or less.

The third stage, according to Doebel, is to activate the metabolism. “The best and easiest way to do this is to get enough exercise. It doesn’t have to be a lot. Two or three short gymnastics sessions or nice walks in the fresh air are enough.”

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