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The Healthy Benefits Of Farmer's Markets
The benefits of shopping at your local farmers market are numerous, and chief among them better health. Money spent at a local farmers market supports the local economy and ultimately helps preserve green space, the food is fresher, one can directly inquire with the vendor about the variety, source, and growing practices; and have access to freshly made baked goods that arent loaded with preservatives.
Not all farmers markets are created equal though. Community markets have enjoyed a tremendous surge in growth, but not all represent locally grown food. If obtaining the freshest food, and the concept of locally grown food is important, seek out producers-only markets, or ask the vendors directly.
An average piece of produce travels 1,500 miles to arrive at the supermarket, often picked in an unripe stage, shipped cross country, and sometimes sprayed with gases to artificially stimulate ripening. Most fruits and vegetables lose valuable nutrients with age and excessive handling, so these processes degrade their nutritional value.
Farmers who grow on an industrial scale often choose varieties not so much for flavor, but for their hardiness in being packaged and handled. Heirloom tomatoes for example, which are known for their superior flavor are often irregularly shaped, which makes it difficult to package on a large scale.
Local honey can be useful for seasonal allergies, as the bees have visited and collected from plants nearby. A teaspoon or so per day will familiarize the body with the essence of these plants, so that when the allergy season looms the body recognizes the pollens and does not create such a response to them as offenders.
Local eggs, versus commercially raised, are not only more ethically produced by chickens that get to live the life of a chicken, but nutritionally superior as well.
As long as its not a goal to see how long the grocery store bread can live on a shelf, purchase a loaf of bread and enjoy in 2-3 days. How refreshing to read a label with recognizable ingredients, instead of monocalcium phosphate and azodicarbonamide.
Fresh herbs are often an inexpensive purchase at markets, so grab a handful and reap the antioxidant and digestive benefits, and enhance the flavor of your food with every bite. Better yet, purchase a few plants and reap the benefits all season year round.
A producers market will change with the season and eating more seasonally is not only more environmentally prudent, but is healthier. It makes sense to eat more leafy greens and watery fruits and vegetables when the weather is hot, just as eating more grains, protein, and root vegetables in the Winter is logical. This style of eating acclimates our bodies to the changing seasons and will help build a more energetic and vital person.
