When you choose to eat a diet high in locally grown, seasonal foods, you are greatly supporting the sustainability of your body and your planet!
Here are a few reasons why!
Timing is absolutely everything! Especially when it comes to biting into a piece of fruit! Science shows that the antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, fat, and even calories in nature’s “candy store” (I LOVE THE CANDIED SWEETNESS OF FRUIT!) can vary significantly, depending on its ripeness!Produce purchased from the supermarket has been in transit or cold-stored for days or weeks, whereas produce purchased from a local farmer’s market has often been picked within twenty-four hours of your purchase. This freshness not only affects the flavor of your food, but the nutritional value as well, which declines with time and changes in temperature.
HOW ABOUT A LITTLE SCIENCE LESSON?
Joseph Scheerens, Ph.D., a horticulture professor at Ohio State University, says that when fruit ripens, its starch is converted into sugar, making it softer and sweeter. Often there’s a loss of acidity (YEAH FOR THAT!) and a change in color as well. In evolutionary terms, this makes the fruit more appealing texturally, taste-wise, and visually, which means it’s more likely to be eaten by animals and have its seeds dispersed.
WANT TO CREATE A MORE SUSTAINABLE PLANET?
Buying foods purchased from your “food shed,” loosely defined as farms within one hundred miles of your home, helps to curtail global warming. Shipping and trucking food from all corners of the world uses millions of gallons of gasoline for transportation, not to mention all of the pollution it releases into the environment, just getting to the supermarket.
Check it out on ToniToneyTV.Okay … you caught me! I made this video for you a few months ago when it was summertime, not autumn!
So here’s a list of autumn foods!
Autumn is the time to eat lots of grapes, apples, persimmons, and various other fall fruits, along with seasonal salads, steamed or roasted squashes, and other root vegetables. Autumn foods are:
Apples, cantaloupes, dates, artichokes, broccoli, lettuce, cranberries, grapefruits, grapes, cabbage, carrots, celery, honeydews, lemons, plums, chili peppers, cucumbers, papayas, pears, blackberries, French beans, endive, leeks, Persian melons, persimmons, figs, escarole, peppers, peas, kale, kiwis, peaches, raspberries, parsnips, onions, yams, pumpkins, lettuce, potatoes, sweet potatoes, turnips, spinach, cauliflower, sweet corn, tomatoes, squash, watercress, chestnuts, beetroot, celeriac.
So now that you’ve watched this video on the importance of eating locally grown, seasonal foods, I’d love to hear your thoughts so leave a comment below.
If this video has touched you in anyway, please share it with your friends and family, anyone you think might be ready to become an ECOTARIAN!
With all of my love,
