Healthy You • Healthy Earth • Healthy You

Windowsill, Patio, Backyard, Community, CSA, Farmer’s Market: All types of Gardening and local farming are great for your health!

The previous post encouraged Meatless Mondays and highlighted the vegetable and fruit-focused EAT-Lancet eating pattern. But you will not benefit from this type of food consumption if the fruits and vegetables you eat lack nutritional value. Would eating local from your windowsill, patio, backyard, or community garden help? How about joining a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) garden or shopping at farmer’s markets? Let’s take a look.

Madison McCurdy, an Intern at UNH Extension, reported that local foods are more nutritious. Regionally grown foods are eaten close to their peak ripeness when they are highest in beneficial antioxidants and polyphenols and in vitamins A and C. She points out that local foods, typically sold within 24 hours of harvesting, have a shorter food supply chain. Not only will this improve nutrition and flavor, but there will also be less distribution and handling and thus lower possibilities for bacterial or viral contamination. Furthermore, local foods are more often free from harmful pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers found in conventional farming. These foods are less processed and thus have fewer food additives, and are less likely to come into contact with plastics, which are vectors for toxins according to Tom Perkins in the Guardian. Therefore, this love of local will help lower your risk of cancer.

When you garden at home, what comes to you along with that harvest of lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers: physical and mental health benefits! Digging in the soil outdoors brings weight-bearing exercise and vitamin D from the sun, both great for strengthening bones, preventing osteoporosis, and assisting joint and muscle flexibility. You’ll be active and expend more calories, which can help prevent weight gain and diabetes. Gardening proves to be a boost for your brain, with the potential to bolster mood and prevent dementia. Luxuriate in the mindfulness and satisfaction of gardening’s fresh air and fresh food — your body and brain will thank you.

Think Globally, Act Locally — Eat Locally, ImPact Globally!

Eating locally has several benefits as we work to fight global warming, carbon pollution, and the climate crisis. Since we all eat several times a day — oftentimes choosing processed foods shipped from far away — one of the strongest benefits of eating locally is reduced fossil fuel emissions. And that doesn’t mean just local fruits and vegetables. Are there local bakeries and other food producers nearby that make local sourdough bread, cheese, or granola, or sell eggs and milk in glass containers? I have each of these within a few miles of my home and enjoy supporting these local businesses while shrinking my carbon footprint. The CSA I belong to is right in my hometown. These local small businesses not only lower carbon pollution but can ensure a reliable, local food supply if global and national food chains are disrupted due to climate-related disasters, pandemics, or conflicts.

In the same way that eating locally lowers your exposure to harmful chemicals, it’s the same for the environment. Local farming practices rely less on harmful pesticides and weed killers, like glyphosate. Many farms are using regenerative agricultural practices, as promoted by Kiss the Ground, which improve the soil making it a better carbon sink and sponge for water.

Remember the JOy!

Harkening back to one of the first posts in this blog, just imagine the joy that growing your own food or seeking out local delicacies can bring to your life and to the entire earth. All Climate Warriors “must have tasted joy.” With local eating, you can do that figuratively and literally! Eat local and enjoy!

RESource: New Hampshire Eats Local!

Check out the NH Eats Local for more ideas and information about NH Eats Local Month each August.