Did you know that the nutrients you consume can vary significantly with the changing seasons?
In our modern world, we may not rely on seasonal availability as our ancestors did. However, the natural cycles of essential minerals and vitamins still influence our cravings and energy intake.
In the first parts of this seasonal nutrition series, we explored the seasonal variations in macronutrients (i.e., protein, carbohydrates and fat) and energy sources (i.e., sugar, starch, saturated fat, polyunsaturated fat, and monounsaturated fat).
In this article, we’ll examine the oscillations of essential minerals and vitamins throughout the year. You’ll discover how to leverage these insights to efficiently satisfy your cravings and optimise your nutrition across all seasons.
Recap: Circannual Nutrition
Before we discuss the seasonal variation of micronutrients, let’s recap what we learned about the macronutrients and each type of fat and carb.
Seasonal Cycles of Macronutrients
In Circannual Nutrition: The Natural Seasonal Cycle of Carbs & Fat Revealed, we examined how carbohydrates, fat and protein cycle across the year.
As we can see in the chart below, created from 191,734 days of data from our Optimisers:
- protein remains relatively stable year-round,
- total energy intake bottoms out in winter (when carbohydrates are lower) and summer (when fat is lower), and
- energy intake is higher in spring around Easter as carbohydrates increase and even higher again in autumn around the Christmas feasting season when fat peaks.
Action Tip: Increasing protein % by reducing carbs, fat, or both will help increase satiety per calorie across the year.
How Energy Sources Vary by Season
When we double-click on the carbs and fats, we see that each of the energy sources also follows a separate seasonal pattern due to the availability of different foods in each season.
- Sugar starts to rise in late winter and peaks in early summer, when fresh fruits and vegetables are available.
- Starch remains elevated for longer with the summer grain harvest. Then, both sugar and starch fall rapidly in mid-autumn to their winter lows.
- Monounsaturated fat is the dominant energy source in winter, while saturated fat is the dominant energy source in autumn. Both bottom out in summer.
- Polyunsaturated fat, which makes up a much smaller part of our diet, sees a much smaller oscillation with a delayed low later in summer.
The key takeaway is that during the times when we eat the least (winter and summer), we see the largest separation of energy sources.
Each energy source provides a dopamine hit that ensures we eat enough. But when all the energy sources combine, we get a supra-physiological dopamine spike that makes us eat even more of the foods that are perfect for fat gain.
Action tip: Minimise processed foods that blend all the energy sources year-round to make us buy and eat more of them.
Importance of Seasonal Nutrition
While our modern diet is heavily influenced by seasonal holidays, food storage, transport and processing, the oscillations in nutrient and energy sources can give us an insight into how things might have been a few centuries ago when we were more at the mercy of the seasons.
Modern food processing, which combines all the energy sources in the perfect ratios, enables us to travel in time to the blissful times in spring and autumn when all the energy sources come together to create tasty combinations that help us eat more.
Decoding circannual nutrition helps us understand the nutritional settings that we should avoid and those that promote greater satiety and less eating.
Digging Deeper into Circannual Nutrition
Looking at the macronutrients and energy sources helps us understand why specific diets that avoid single components of our food system tend to work (e.g., low carb, low fat, low PUFA, low SFA, low sugar, etc.).
However, our satiety analysis has shown that we also crave micronutrients. In this article, we’ll explore the circannual variation in micronutrients to understand how we can optimise our food choices year-round to satisfy our various appetites more efficiently.
Nutrients That Promote Satiety
Based on 654,476 days of food data from people worldwide, our satiety analysis identified several micronutrients that influence how much we eat.
The table below shows the nutrients that align with eating less across the year. That is, in weeks when the concentration of these nutrients is higher, the energy intake is lower.
calories | R2 |
calcium (mg/2000 cal) | -80% |
protein (%) | -72% |
carb (%) | -55% |
potassium (mg/2000 cal) | -50% |
fibre (g/2000 cal) | -48% |
starch (%) | -30% |
water | -30% |
sugar (%) | -30% |
carbs (g) | -22% |
thiamine (B1) (mg/2000 cal) | -18% |
vitamin K1 (mg/2000 cal) | -18% |
riboflavin B2 (mg/2000 cal) | -18% |
Notice that the concentration of calcium, potassium, and B2 are statistically significant satiety factors when we examine the data from daily and circannual perspectives.
At the top of the table, we see that when the concentration of calcium, protein and potassium is higher, we tend to eat less. These nutrients also have the lowest absolute variation across the year, indicating that our body craves these critical nutrients and continues to eat until we get enough of them, regardless of how much energy we consume to get them.
Calcium’s Role in Satiety
In the first chart, we see the variation in the concentration of calcium across the year, peaking in summer and bottoming out when we eat more around Easter and Christmas.
Similar to protein, calcium is a nutrient for which we have a specific appetite. Once we get the calcium we need, we experience sensory-specific satiety, and we stop seeking out calcium-rich foods.
High-calcium foods like dairy and seafood can help you meet your body’s minimum calcium requirements. Starting your day with a solid dose of protein and calcium can help to smash your appetite. You can then better listen to your appetite to see what else it needs.
But if you’re trying to pack in more calcium with less energy, calcium-rich foods can be a great addition to your repertoire.
Action Tip: Keeping our calcium concentration higher throughout the year will boost satiety and make the treats at Christmas and Easter less seductive when they come around.
Boost Satiety with Potassium
While the chart is a little noisier, we see that potassium follows a similar trend to calcium, peaking in summer when the energy intake is lower. Meanwhile, potassium concentration bottoms out when we eat more at Easter and Christmas.
Potassium is another nutrient we regulate tightly. The data suggests that if our food has a lower concentration of potassium, we’ll end up eating more to get the potassium we need.
Both calcium and potassium are nutrients of concern in the US food system because so few people meet the minimum potassium intake, which is low in processed foods. Minimally processed high-potassium foods will help you meet your minimum potassium requirements.
Once you’re meeting your minimum potassium requirements, you can start adding potassium-rich, non-starchy vegetables to get more potassium without blowing your energy budget.
How Vitamin B2-Rich Foods Affect Hunger
Vitamin B2 is another nutrient whose concentration tends to oscillate with our energy intake and is a statistically significant factor in our satiety algorithm.
Notice that the concentration of B2 in our diet tends to be higher in winter and summer when energy intake is low.
Vitamin B2 tends to be higher in high-protein foods that we tend to rely on more in winter.
However, vitamin B2-rich mushrooms and non-starchy vegetables, which are available in spring, also pack a lot of riboflavin per calorie.
Seasonal Swings in Key Nutrients
While our appetite seems to tightly regulate our intake of nutrients like protein, calcium and potassium, we see much larger swings in other nutrients due to the seasonal availability of food that contains them.
Niacin (B3)
For example, niacin, which also corresponds to protein-rich foods, peaks around the new year and drops much lower in summer when fruits and grains are more abundant.
Vitamin B5
We also see a significant swing in our vitamin B5 concentration, bottoming out in late spring and peaking at the end of the year.
Vitamin B12
Vitamin B12 drops to a low in spring when fruits and non-starch vegetables tend to be in season and rises during summer when seafood becomes more plentiful.
Vitamin D
Meanwhile, vitamin D follows a similar pattern. Our dietary intake of vitamin D is lower in spring and early summer when there is more sun to help us make it. It is higher when we might crave vitamin D from food because we’re less able to make it when sun exposure is lower.
Limitations of Seasonal Nutrition Data
Before we wrap, it’s worth pointing out a few limitations of our circannual nutrition analysis.
Data Sources
The charts in this article are based on 191,734 days of daily food data from 3,752 people who mainly live in the northern hemisphere, predominantly in the United States.
In the future, when we have more data, we will be able to examine the circannual patterns in the northern and southern hemispheres.
On average, Optimisers tend to follow a higher protein (22%) and lower carb (22%) diet than the average population, so the patterns in the energy sources will vary by location and person.
However, the principles of avoiding processed foods, not combining various energy sources in ways that never occur in nature, and prioritising nutrient-dense foods still apply.
Your Priority Nutrients
While our generalised satiety is based on a population of 654,476 days of data from people living all over the world following a broad range of diets, each person has a unique nutritional fingerprint and, hence, a unique solution to fill their nutrient gaps to create a truly balanced diet at the micronutrient level.
Tailoring Nutrition to Your Needs
To identify your nutrient gaps and find the best foods and recipes to fill them, join our free Nutrient Clarity Challenge. This challenge provides personalised guidance to help you optimise your nutrition effectively.
But the most straightforward place to start is with our free resources, including our:
- nutrient-dense foods,
- most satiating foods,
- maximum nutrient-density meal plan,
- interactive search tool or
- our NutriBooster recipe books.
But if you want to really dial in your diet, check out our Macros Masterclass, where we review your current diet and show you which foods to prioritise vs. reduce to increase satiety, or our Micros Masterclass, where we show you how to optimise all your micronutrients with foods you love to maximise vitality for a long, vibrant life.
Conclusion
Understanding the natural cycles of micronutrients throughout the year can help you make smarter dietary choices. Recognising how essential minerals and vitamins fluctuate with the seasons allows you to better manage cravings and optimise nutrition for improved satiety and health.
Incorporating high-calcium and potassium-rich foods during their peak seasons can enhance satisfaction with fewer calories. Embrace the wisdom of seasonal nutrition and enjoy the benefits of nutrient-dense foods year-round.
For personalised guidance, explore our resources like the Nutrient Clarity Challenge and nutrient-dense food lists. Let nature guide you to a healthier, more satisfying way of eating.
More About Cyclic Nutrition
- Understanding Weekly Diet Trends for Balanced Eating
- Seasonal Eating Patterns: The Natural Cycle of Carbs, Fat & Protein
- Seasonal Oscillation of Sugar, Starch, Saturated Fat, Polyunsaturated Fat & Monounsaturated Fat
- Escaping Our Infinite Autumn: Don’t Eat for Winter
- Navigating Blood Sugar, Insulin and Menstrual Cycle
- Nutrition & Diet Trends and Their Impact on Our Health
- Seasonal Oscillation of Sugar, Starch, Saturated Fat, Polyunsaturated Fat & Monounsaturated Fat
Not only does the nutritional content of our diets vary by season–or should vary according to season–but the microorganisms on those foods also vary by season, thus adjusting our gut microbiome seasonally. Another reason to adjust our diets and eat according to the seasons.
It’s all completely fascinating. The further we get from natural food and its cycles, the more dystopian it becomes.