The Economic Daily Diet (my translation for Daylight Savings Diet ) may seem a lot more complicated than it actually is. It is in fact a diet that is based on a few simple rules to promote weight loss in tune with the seasonality of the food. Why, you may ask, is it important to eat according to the seasonality of foods and not according to some dietary fads?

First of all, as the name explains, eating according to the season allows us to make cheaper choices. Think about how much avocados cost for example (only Haas are grown in Italy, to be precise in Sicily, the rest are imported), mangoes and other tropical fruits. Or the price of smoked salmon. This is because we are convinced that shopping in a fishmonger can cost us more than supermarket products, such as tuna in oil and salmon. But is not so.

If you eat seasonal fish, you can buy 2/3 portions of fish for a total of ten euros or less. Spend the same with three large cans of tuna in olive oil and a portion of a good 100-gram smoked salmon, unless you really take the sub-brands, not to mention the prices of frozen foods, so a pack of hake fillets of 300 grams can cost you eight euros. With the disadvantage of always eating the same things. 

Same reasoning for fruit and vegetables , but also for nuts and seeds that have a seasonality, and related flours.

The second reason instead concerns health . Seasonality allows us not only to vary the diet, and therefore to have better intestinal health, but also to eat according to the seasonal needs of our body. In fact, the body needs different foods in certain seasons, because our nutritional needs change with the climate. It is also fresher food, naturally ripened, and which, as in the case of fruit, does not travel miles to get to us, maturing (badly) on the way from those who collect it to those who eat it. This makes it nutritionally more valid.

When fruits ripen artificially or vegetables are harvested in such a way that too much time passes from harvest to consumption, a number of nutrients are lost, especially vitamins and minerals. These decrease with the passage of time from the collection period, up to 60%. 
For this reason, for example, in phytotherapeutic preparations , respecting the balsamic time is necessary for that preparation to have beneficial properties. This thing does not only apply to flowers and leaves, it applies to the whole plant and therefore also to its edible part. 

The third is of environmental impact. Fewer processing, transport and production steps translate into less waste and less environmental pollution.

So the first rule of the Daily Economic Diet is to eat according to the season. 
Other rules, on the other hand, can enhance weight loss, namely:

1. 1. if we decide to eat more carbohydrates, we reduce our fat intake. This applies both globally
      throughout the day and as a rule in meals. Do you want to eat more fruit or more cereals at one meal? Minimize fat and your body will burn calories better. Do you want to eat cheese or meat with vegetables? Cut back on bread and pasta for that meal and limit yourself to accompanying the meal with fruit but not sweets. This rule is especially true for the most important meals. For small snacks no.
      
      
   2. Depending on the season, we vary physical activity. If in spring and summer we can do many outdoor activities, in winter and autumn we support our metabolism with weight training sessions, but we avoid not training at all. Yoga or pilates are also excellent strategies for the cold seasons, because they reduce the stress that comes from the less availability of light.
   3. We go to sleep earlier in the cold seasons . This allows us to wake up earlier and enjoy more hours of sunshine in the morning, and above all it reduces stress from climatic factors. This type of stress pushes us to eat sweeter, caloric foods. In summer, thanks to the high sun until the afternoon, we can also pull a little later. In winter, instead, it is better to favor better sleep hygiene.
   4. We avoid cold lights in winter. Since we spend more hours with artificial lighting this season (or at six in the afternoon we would have dinner and then go to bed), it is better to have warm lights in the house. This simple trick increases relaxation and induces proper rest. In summer, cold light has an energizing, adrenaline-pumping effect, but is counterbalanced by the hours of daylight, therefore of warm light. This simple trick goes a long way in fighting insomnia and seasonal bad moods.