So I recently watched a documentary delving into many unpleasant truths about today’s food industry and at the end felt more frustrated than anything else about the plight we are in. Food is big business, and as I’ve complained many times before, unless and until we get a system of government regulation (and a government that implements it) that actively pushes for the health of Canadians over the interests of food producers and manufacturers (eg. standardization of organic produce , limits on sodium allowed in processed foods, labeling of GMOs, to name just a few), we really are at the mercy of what’s in the grocery store.
Before any hard-core health nuts get on my case, we don’t all have the time, space, or inclination to grow our own food, nor do we all have easy access to farmer’s markets, or the financial wherewithal to afford to buy organic. While desirable in the abstract, these are not always realistic for the majority.
My biggest takeaway was to buy local whenever possible. Food that’s produced locally will have been picked when just ripe, and chances are, it’s only been a day off the field. So, it’s as fresh, tasty, and nutritious as it’s going to get. Food that has to travel great distances to get here is picked under-ripe so that it can ripen on the truck. That translates to food that’s been pulled out of the ground earlier than it should (so it misses a few more days of picking up nutrients from the soil), and which then has to sit in a truck for days while the nutrients it does have begin to deteriorate. This isn’t even getting into the environmental impact of the energy for gas and refrigeration required for transport.
Buying foods in season, because of the minimal transport required, also cost less than anything you’ll get out of season.
The obvious next question should be, what’s in season? I’ll be honest, I’ve historically used a lot of frozen vegetables (also picked at the height of season, but flash frozen until needed – majority of the nutrients are intact and they taste perfect, so it’s a great second option.) It’s just a habit I got into for the convenience factor, but it stopped me from experimenting with seasonal produce. I had no idea what’s in season, but it’s time for that to change. Foodland Ontario
has an excellent food availability guide for Ontario-grown produce. If you go to the site itself, for almost all the foods on the list they have buying and storing instructions, as well as preparation ideas and interesting facts about the food itself. It’s actually kinda fun to poke around and read about all the varieties of fruits and vegetables grown in Ontario. (yeah, I did say fun…I’m weird that way.)
If you want just the list without the extra info, then I’ve compiled the information from the site into a chart for you. You can view it here or download a pdf copy below.
Looks like it’s time to buy some asparagus…:)
P.S. In case you’re interested, the movie was Food Inc. Highly recommended, but not for the faint of heart.
Winner of "Best Alternative Medicine/Healing" in 2020
All Rights Reserved | Heal From Your Past
Built With Love By The Awesome People at Flowerpot Marketing