Benefits of Eating Local Foods.

Eating local foods that are in season is extremely beneficial for optimum health. For one, local foods are very nutritionally dense, full of live enzymes, and taste delicious. When foods have to travel long distances to get to your local supermarket, they are sprayed with pesticides and herbicides to withstand the long trip. If the produce is from a different country, it could even be sprayed with chemicals that are banned from the United States because of the health risks involved with ingesting these chemicals. Furthermore, once a fruit or vegetable is picked, it slowly loses its vitality, nutritional value and enzymatic activity. At times, the fruits and vegetables are even picked early before they are able reach their peak nutritional value, which occurs towards the end of the growing process. This operation is done to eliminate the fruits and vegetables from spoiling during their long travels to get to your local grocery store. This results in fruits and vegetables that have very low nutritional value, which doesn’t do your body a whole lot of good. When produce is locally grown, there is much less time involved in getting it to your local grocery store or farmers market; therefore, it is full of life and healthy nutrients.

Eating foods out of season render much of the same drawbacks as eating foods that are not locally grown. Most likely, foods out of season are coming from different parts of the world where the climates are conducive for growing these foods. Therefore, these foods are sprayed with pesticides and herbicides to make it to your local grocery store in a “healthy” looking state. Another benefit to buying foods that are locally grown and in season is that you are supporting local farmers; in turn, this supports the local and global economy by conserving fossil fuels and cutting back on transportation costs. If more people invested in buying foods that are locally grown and in season, it would make the world a healthier and more environmentally conscious place to live.

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