Beetroot - you like them ...
... or not 😬.
Maybe it's worth trying them again. Our tastes are changing and maybe we suddenly like these typical winter vegetables after all. In addition to its typical taste, the beetroot has a lot to offer: it is rich in minerals, vitamins and the intensive coloring betanin (antioxidant), but low in calories (41 kcal/100g). It is available to us all year round and can be enjoyed in a variety of ways: raw, fermented, cooked, fried, etc. as juice, salad, side dish, soup, stew or spread (1).
And – already feel like trying again?
Food is emotion
We eat to provide our bodies with nutrients, gain energy and maintain vital functions. But food also has something social and cultural about it and means something very emotional for many people.
Joy, enjoyment, comfort, but also guilt or stress are associated with food. Our preferences are often shaped by culture and individual experiences. We all have one or two moments when a dish, or even just a smell, takes us back to another place, to another time ...
Food is challenge
The question “What am I eating today?” – for some people, it doesn't bring pleasant anticipation, but rather a burden ("What do I want to eat and what should I actually eat to make it healthy?" "Should I eat at all?" "Do I have time to eat?" ...).
But the personal ones are topped by global challenges. In order to ensure sufficient and healthy nutrition for the growing world population and to bring it into harmony with our environment, sustainable food production is increasingly becoming a must. Natural resources must be handled carefully with a view to future generations. Soil erosion, loss of biodiversity in landscapes and environmental pollution already pose major challenges for us as a society. Natural disasters and epidemics that are spreading rapidly in our global world also contribute to this.
A lot has already happened, a lot has been planned, a lot still needs to be implemented … most likely a holistic approach with multidisciplinary teams from science, industry and politics is needed (2).
Food is change
It's not just our tastes and preferences that change over the course of our lives. The food culture of the last few decades has also been and continues to be subject to significant change. While in the middle of the last century people in industrialized countries still ate very seasonally and with a focus on plants, in the 70s and 80s the consumption of meat, sugar, salt, white flour products and highly processed foods as well as fast food rose sharply. Food is made to last longer through additives and/or new processing technologies, is offered with reduced calories and/or its taste is changed. Nutrition should be simple and convenient.
But can foods that are heavily processed, rich in simple sugars and animal fats, and low in vitamins, minerals and fiber actually provide us with optimal support in our daily challenges?
In developed countries, many people live in abundance, with wide access to various foods. Paradoxically, however, this does not always lead to a balanced diet. And so, despite the abundant availability of fresh, plant-based food sources, health problems that are directly related to diet often occur (chronic diseases such as obesity, type II diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and some cancers).
Emotional issues, such as the decision between a vegan diet and meat consumption, further make nutrition a hotly debated topic that includes personal beliefs, environmental awareness and ethnic considerations. In a world of abundance, food choices are central to personal identity. The emotional connection to nutrition is further strengthened (3, 4).
Seasonal, local, organic? Sounds good! But …
... WE are more or less CONSTANTLY AVAILABLE in these fast-moving times. Shouldn’t our vegetables and fruits be the same? And isn't it great that the vegetable and fruit department in the supermarket is full all year round?
Yes, but the convenient year-round availability comes at a price, not only monetarily, but also for our gut microbiome. Even though many different foods are available all year round, we still often (out of habit) eat the same foods. However, reduced diversity of foods, coupled with foods from a typical Western diet, reduce the diversity of our gut microbiome. And that affects our health (4, 5).
Consciously waiting for fresh, seasonal, locally grown (organic if possible) vegetables is worth it
• VARIETY on the plate: Changing available products over the seasons adds variety to the diet, allowing for a wider range of nutrients. The more colorfully mixed dishes are, the easier it is to meet your nutritional needs and stay healthy and fit, both physically and mentally.
• GUT MICROBIOME: Higher diversity on the plate promotes the diversity of bacteria in the gut, which, in addition to digestion, affects the resistance of the entire organism (immune system, gut-skin axis, gut-brain axis, etc.). DIVERSITY in terms of different types of vegetables, but also different colors. Green vegetables often contain prebiotic fiber, which promotes the growth of gut bacteria, while purple vegetables contain, among other things, anthocyanins, which have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. A combination of different vegetables definitely makes sense.
• ENVIRONMENT: Distinction between global and local seasonality: While global seasonal vegetables and fruits are harvested seasonally but then transported to other countries (e.g. apples in South Africa, imported in Europe), locally seasonal vegetables and fruits are produced and consumed locally, ideally in their natural season, outdoors. This means that the least amount of energy (greenhouses, lighting, transport, storage, cooling) is used.
• FINANCIAL savings: Certain foods are often cheaper in season because they are local and available in larger quantities.
• Higher NUTRIENT DENSITY: Fresh, seasonal produce tends to be riper, reach customers quicker and therefore provide more nutrients compared to imported produce.
• Better TASTE: Although taste is subjective, it seems logical that fresh, ripe vegetables and fruits are more aromatic than those that have been stored or transported for a long time.
• SOCIAL aspect: Supporting local producers and knowing where my food comes from makes food more personal. And possibly also makes us shop more consciously (5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11).
Seasonal, local, organic may not be the solution for everything and everyone...
... but an opportunity to actively engage with nutrition and the creation and path of food. This is something each of us has in our own hands.
Suitable for the season: winter vegetables & different types of preparation
🥦 Sorts of cabbage (kale, cauliflower, red cabbage, cabbage sprouts, broccoli)
🥕 Root vegetables (beets, carrots, root celery, parsnips, Jerusalem artichokes)
🧅 Onion vegetables (onions, leeks)
🥬 Leafy vegetables (lamb's lettuce, chicory, radicchio)
• Raw or as a salad (e.g. cauliflower with baba ganoush, Asian salad with red cabbage)
• Oven (e.g. sweet potato wedges with yogurt-chive dip or vegan mayonnaise)
• Roast (e.g. vegetable pan with beets, leeks, potatoes, carrots, peas)
• Soup (e.g. cream of Jerusalem artichoke soup)
• Spread (e.g. beetroot hummus)
Practical tip if things have to go quickly:
FROZEN VEGETABLES are a good alternative or supplement to the classic winter vegetables. Frozen quickly after harvest, it retains vitamins well. Frozen peas, for example, are great in salads, soups or simply as a side dish. And herbs such as chives and parsley are excellent companions.
In order for a balanced, gut-friendly diet to be successful in the long term, it must above all taste good and be easy to implement, i.e. easy to integrate into your own daily routine. Sometimes it can be helpful to identify your own patterns with the help of a daily diary or to get professional help and gradually change your behavior. If you feel like you need support, get in touch!
BONUS: Patiently waiting for seasonal delicacies could prove worth it
The MARSHMALLOW EXPERIMENT, conducted by psychologists in the 1960s, tested children's ability to wait for a reward. Children who were willing to wait later received a larger reward.
The ability to self-control and the ability to wait for a reward were linked to long-term success, according to the marshmallow experiment. Children who waited longer for the second marshmallow reward in the study tended to show higher academic performance in later years, better resilience to stress, developed more self-confidence and were more socially competent. Their self-regulatory skills were clearly of use to them later in life (12).
Who knows ... 🤔
Patiently waiting for seasonal vegetables and fruits may not only impact our gut microbiome and our health, but also other areas of our lives … 😉
Have fun enjoying beetroots & co and looking forward to radishes & other spring vegetables!
References
(1) https://www.gesundheit.gv.at/leben/ernaehrung/saisonkalender/alle/rote-rueben.html#:~:text=Die%20Rote%20Rübe%20
(2) Sara N. Garcia et al. (2020): One Health for Food Safety, Food Security, and Sustainable Food Production, in: Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems 4:1 doi:10.3389/fsufs.2020.00001.
(3) Agnes Ayton and Ali Ibrahim (2019): The Western diet: a blind spot of eating disorder research? – a narrative review and recommendations for treatment and research, in: Nutrition Reviews 78(7):579-596.
(4) Vicente Javier Clemente-Suárez et al. (2023): Global Impacts of Western Diet and Its Effects on Metabolism and Health: A Narrative Review, in: Nutrients 15:2749 https://doi.org/103390/nu15122749.
(5) Emanuele Rinninella et al. (2019): Food Components and Dietary Habits: Keys for a Healthy Gut Microbiota Composition, in: Nutrients 11:2393 doi:10.3390/nu11102393.
(6) Birgit Wassermann et al. (2019): An Apple a Day: Which Bacteria Do We Eat With Organic and Conventional Apples?, in: Frontiers in Microbiology 10:1629 doi:10.3389/fmicb.201901629.
(7) Clémence Defois et al. (2018): Food Chemicals Disrupt Human Gut Microbiota Activity And Impact Intestinal Homeostasis As Revealed By In Vitro Systems, in: Scientific Reports 8:11006 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-29376-9.
(8) Xue Zhu et al. (2021): The seasonal changes of the gut microbiome of the population living in traditional lifestyles are represented by characteristic species-level and functional-level SNP enrichment patterns, in: BMC Genomics 22:83 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-021-07372-0
(9) Emily R. Davenport et al. (2014): Seasonal Variation in Human Gut Microbiome Compositon, in: PLoS ONE 9(3):e90731. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0090731.
(10) Gertrude Ecklu-Mensah et al. (2022): Dietary Selection Pressures and Their Impact on the Gut Microbiome, in: Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology 13(1):7-18.
(11) Wisnu Adi Wicaksono et al. (2023): The edible plant microbiome: evidence for the occurence of fruit and vegetable bacteria in the human gut, in: Gut Microbes 15:2 doi: 10.1080/19490976.2023.2258565.
(12) Walter Mischel (2014): The Marshmallow Test. Mastering Self-Control. Little Brown, New York.
