TriState Pennysaver News

- by Christie Harris

Our lives are busy, often times too busy to prepare healthy meals. Packaged foods have become the norm in our society (just pop it in the microwave), but processed convenience foods leave our bodies wanting more. We are waking up to warmer weather. Now we need to wake up to the nutritional benefits of whole foods.

Whole foods are unprocessed vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds and grains. Whole foods do not contain preservatives like their canned or packaged counterparts, and provide higher concentrations of essential vitamins and minerals.

It’s easy to eat healthier during the warmer months. Fresh food is either a few steps away in the garden, or a quick trip to the local farmers’ market. If you are a grocery store gatherer, look for the organic label. Organic producers do not apply pesticides to their crops; all in all a good thing.

There are even options for those without a green thumb or an easily accessible farm market. Many local producers offer community supported agriculture or CSA. Essentially the consumer buys a “share” in the CSA and in return receives seasonal produce each week. Some CSAs include eggs and other products, but the majority of a share comes as vegetables.

The CSA transaction between farm and consumer reaps rewards for both. Families and individuals have access to whole, fresh foods with high nutritional value. For the farm, benefits are an early increased cash flow, community building, and time spent marketing their product before it gets too busy with the summer growing season. In addition, we know where our food is coming from; a big bonus when you consider we eat lettuce during the winter, which was grown where? And sat on a shelf for how long?

You are what you eat, and so are the animals we consume. For meats, consider buying farm raised beef or pork and free-range chicken. These animals eat whole foods, by foraging grasses and seeds with a higher nutritional value, thus their meat is leaner and better tasting.

And, whole foods are easy to prepare, which takes the convenience excuse out of the conversation. It only takes a few minutes to make a nice salad with fresh lettuce, or sauté just-picked green beans with garlic and ginger. And, though subjective, not much tastes better than a “still warm from the sun” tomato and cucumber sandwich paired with a slab of locally made cheese.