The holiday season has not begun yet, but the snacking-related snares have emerged.

Loved ones have brought home massive bags of candy in preparation for Halloween and urged you to take all the sweets they don’t want.

You have that one friend who is determined to taste every pumpkin-flavored, fall-themed novelty in your city with you.

Planning visits with family or friends over the next few months may feel worrying, knowing that your typical eating patterns will likely encounter disruptions en route and upon arrival. Additionally, stress, expectations around food preparation and consumption, and social pressure may make it more difficult to stay on track with existing health and nutrition goals and aspirations.

Perhaps you want different, lower-sodium ways to flavor meals.

Maybe your once-preferred dessert now tastes overwhelmingly sweet to you, and you are looking for something lighter.

Perhaps you want more roughage in your favorite entrees, but you don’t know where to start.

The Healthy Harvest series, published by the UF/IFAS Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences on Ask IFAS, contains several articles on food items that are grown in Florida and can be incorporated into healthy meals. Publications in the series discuss fruit and nut crops, warm-season vegetables, legumes, tubers and root vegetables, herbs, cucurbits, and brassica crops, cruciferous vegetables, and leafy greens.

Interested in learning more about eating well? Looking for new recipes? Remember to Ask IFAS.

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