Stay local!

Locally grown produce is more fresh. While produce purchased in a supermarket or a big-box store has been in transit or cold-stored for days or even weeks, produce you purchase at your local farmer's market has often been picked within 24 hours of your purchase. This freshness not only affects the taste of your food, but the nutritional value, which can decline with time.

Eating local means more for the local economy. For every dollar spent locally generates twice as much income for the local economy. When businesses are not owned locally, money leaves the community at every transaction.

Local food tastes better. Ever tried a tomato that was picked within 24 hours? 'Nuff said.
Locally grown fruits and vegetables have longer to ripen. Because the produce is handled less, locally grown fruit does not have to stand up to the rigors of shipping. This means that you are going to get peaches so ripe that they fall apart as you eat them, figs that would have been smashed to bits if they were sold using traditional methods, and melons that were allowed to ripen until the last possible minute on the vine.

Eating local is better for air quality and pollution than eating organic. The miles that organic food often travels to our plate creates environmental damage that outweighs the benefit of buying organic.

Buying local keeps us in touch with the seasons. By eating based on the season, we are eating foods when they are at their peak taste, are the most abundant, and the least expensive.
Buying local is fodder for a wonderful story. Whether it's the farmer who brings local apples to market or the baker who makes local homemade bread, knowing part of the story about your food is such a powerful part of enjoying a meal.

Eating local protects us from bio-terrorism. Food with less distance to travel from farm to plate is less susceptible to harmful contamination.

Local food translates to more variety. When a farmer is producing food that will not travel a long distance, will have a shorter shelf life, and does not have a high-yield demand, the farmer is free to try small crops of various fruits and vegetables that would probably never make it to a large supermarket. Supermarkets are interested in selling "Name brand" fruit: Romaine Lettuce, Red Delicious Apples, Russet Potatoes. Local producers often play with their crops from year to year, trying out other unknown varieties, such as Little Gem Lettuce, Senshu Apples, and Chieftain Potatoes.

Supporting local providers supports land development. When you buy local, you give those with local open space - farms and pastures - an economic reason to stay open and undeveloped.

Visiting a market or a local produce stand can seem to be more of an adventure than a chore, as grocery shopping can be. Hopefully, some of the reasons given above will motivate you to try something a little different, for you and your health!

~ Live Well ~
Trinity Fitness