As the seasons change, I adjust my food according to what is abundantly available at that specific time of year.
This way of eating supports my health and immunity by feeding my microbiome a more diverse selection of foods rather than the same food over and over again, season after season.
You can read more about feeding your microbiome to support health and immunity here: Feed Your Microbiome with Seasonal Eating.
A great way to easily do this in the warmer months is by adding local berries into your diet.
I live in the Northeastern United States. You can often find me picking berries in my local parks during the spring, summer, and fall: mulberries, black raspberries, red raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries.
Most of the berries don’t make it home with me because they are so darn fresh and delicious and tough to resist.
But, the ones that do make it back to the house get tossed into my morning oats or a refreshing summer salad, like this one.
Enjoy all the seasons easily and deliciously!
- 4 cups local greens
- 1 cup summer berries
- ⅓ cup olive oil
- 2 tbsp. white wine vinegar
- 1 tsp. Dijon mustard
- 1 tsp. local honey
- ½ tsp. sea salt
- ¼ cup toasted sunflower seeds
- Wash and spin dry your greens in a salad spinner
- Place the greens into a large salad bowl.
- Whisk the olive oil, vinegar, mustard, honey, and sea salt
- Combine the dressing with the greens
- Drop fresh berries into the salad bowl
- Garnish with toasted/salted sunflower seeds

Andrea Beaman is an internationally renowned Holistic Health Coach, Natural Foods Chef, Speaker, Herbalist and best-selling author. Named one of the top 100 Most Influential Health and Fitness Experts, she is also a recipient of the Natural Gourmet Institute’s Award for Excellence in Health-Supportive Education and a Health Leadership award from The Institute for Integrative Nutrition. Since 1999, Andrea has been teaching people how to harness the body’s own preventative and healing powers using food, herbal remedies and alternative medicine.
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