Healthy Benefits of Eating Local Foods

Why buy locally when you can drive to your local supermarket and pick up anything you want? You will be missing out on the benefits of local foods that affect both you and your community.

Local foods are picked at the peak of harvest when they are ripest verses being picked early and having the crops travel thousands of miles, shipped to your local store. These local crops taste better and contain more nutrients as they are picked at their ripest, spending less time between the moment being picked and into your hands.

Although local foods means season specific foods, fear not! Food out of season loses flavor and nutrients as they are picked before ripeness and shipped and stored before making it into your hands. This also gives you an opportunity to learn to cook new meals based on seasonal foods and expands your gustatory palate.

Shopping locally supports your community. The farmers who grow these foods are your neighbors, and buying locally supports them and their families. Wholesale prices are very low and buying locally cuts out the middleman. The money spent stays close to home and you know exactly where it's going. By knowing your farmer and buying locally, you can know exactly where your food is coming from and how it's being grown. This creates a better awareness of what you are eating.

Buying locally helps maintain farmlands and green spaces in your community by just being there and being supported by the community. There are many benefits to local eating, so eat up! If you want to learn more about eating locally and the benefits of doing so, check out what Vern Grubinger has to say.