Eating local and seasonal food has many benefits for you and for our planet. And by the way, if you mostly eat local food, you eat “in season.” The advantages of eating local and seasonal food are:
- More nutritious food
- Less post-harvest treatment
- Reduced carbon footprint
- Increased diet variety
- Connection with nature and its cycles
More nutrients and flavor
When produce has to endure long shipping, farmers typically harvest it long before its prime time. Locally grown fruits and vegetables ripen on the vine and plants, ensuring their flavors’ complete development. And flavors in a fruit or a vegetable come from micro- and phytonutrients like vitamins, antioxidants, flavonoids, and polyphenols. These micronutrients also make fruits and vegetables so beneficial for our health.
In addition, the longer vegetables and fruits sit around while transported half the way around the globe, the more nutrients they lose. Local farmer’s markets can sell products within a day or two of harvest, which ensures that the ripe produce is still full of vitamins and phytonutrients.
Less post-harvest treatments
Modern farming practices rely on using chemicals to maintain freshness and endure shipping. Local fruits and vegetables don’t require chemical treatment because they get to your plate quickly. Finding a farmer’s market near you is the best way to get local produce.
You can also learn about your farmer’s harvesting methods and handling procedures of your food. For example, you might enquire if they rinse their greens and lettuce in chlorinated water. Or find out if they apply a chemical to potatoes, onions, and garlic, so they don’t sprout.
Carbon footprint
Buying locally will also reduce your carbon footprint and ecological burden on our planet. On average, most food travels over 1,500 miles before it reaches our plates! To cross these “food miles,” we burn tons of fossil fuel and pollute the environment. Not to mention, the retail price we pay for our food has to include the transportation costs.
Diet variety
Eating seasonal foods ensures we get the most nutritious foods and brings variety to our diet. For example, instead of eating apples all year round, you might eat strawberries at the end of spring, peaches and apricots in the summer, apples and pears in the fall, and persimmons in the winter. Seasonality encourages variety, and eating a varied diet promotes the biodiversity of our farms and food supplies.
Cycles of nature
Even if you try, you cannot escape Mother Nature. The days get shorter in the fall/winter season, it gets cold, and we tend to spend more time inside. Plants are in tune with Nature’s seasons. Foods have different “energetics” and help us connect with seasonal cycles of nature and provide us the nourishment we need at a particular time of the year. For example, root vegetables (sweet potatoes, beets, carrots, potatoes) ripen in late summer and early fall. They are rich in complex carbohydrates and highly nourishing. When we eat root vegetables, our bodies prepare for the long cold winter by storing some subcutaneous fat for insulation. By contrast, in early spring, it’s the green leafy vegetables like lettuce that sprout first. These bitter vegetables stimulate our digestive and liver function encouraging detox after winter’s heavy eating and relative lack of movement.