subject: The Best Weight Loss Product Hall Of Fame Entry #4: Your Farmer's Market [print this page] The final entry into the best weight loss hall of fame is in your neighborhood: your local farmer's market. This one marketplace has a plethora of foods that nourish both body and soul. But what makes the farmer's market unique is that by shopping at one, you are doing a great thing for the environment and your local economy. You can't say that about a Slimfast shake, can you?
If you aren't sure that there's a local farmer's market in your area, try looking for food co-operatives, which are grocery stores owned by the customers. Think of them as the credit unions of grocery shopping. These collectives often emphasize locally grown, organic, and sustainable goods and can be your go-to source for food if you don't have a farmer's market.
Get the Pick of the Season
As you adjust your eating habits, you will grow to love the taste of fresh, whole foods. There's no better way to get the freshest pick of the season than buying from a local farmer's market. Unlike shopping for produce at a grocery store, which features fruits and vegetables shipped from all over the world, your local farmer only brings what's in season.
Instead of staying with the tried and true, such as romaine lettuce available year-round at your grocer, you will learn to appreciate seasonal favorites such as spring mix, kale, Swiss chard, and other more unfamiliar leafy greens. Eating seasonally, rather than having familiar items year-round, gets you closer to nature and helps you develop an appreciation for many kinds of fruits, vegetables, and other foods at their peak of freshness.
You Can Talk to the Grower
Unlike your local supermarket, where getting knowledgeable help can be next to impossible, your local farmer's market is full of people for whom good food is a passion. If you have questions about how to prepare a vegetable, or how to choose the ripest fruit, the grower can help you out. In addition, you can ask specific questions about how foods are grown and prepared.
If organic food is your passion, you can ask the farmer to discuss how his foods are grown and if he limits or eliminates pesticide use on his farm. If you are buying beef from a local rancher, you can find out if he feeds grain or uses grass only. It's a great way to develop your knowledge, not just about food in general, but about the foods you choose to eat.
Try Eating Local
Besides the obvious benefits of freshness and quality, a farmer's market has an additional benefit: it encourages you to eat locally. If you are becoming more environmentally conscious and want to reduce your carbon footprint, one of the best ways to do so is to is to stop eating globally and start eating locally.
The fruits, vegetables, and other goods at your local grocery store have been shipped, at great financial and environmental expense, from all over the world. But your local farmer's market has growers just from your area. In addition, farmer's markets help to sustain the lifestyles of small growers, while large grocery stores usually buy from multi-billiion dollar food conglomerates. So buying locally will actually benefit your local economy more directly than buying from a grocery store.
