Food Allergies and shopping
My personal experience is that my body is more sensitive to what I eat, to what is added to my food and to the type and level of preservative in the food. Being aware that I may have negative reaction to the food that I may not be necessarily allergic to, made me to think twice about what I feed myself. This experience brings me “back to the ground” and looking for food in its freshest and most natural form. No matter where you are or what you are doing you can always look after yourself and get the fresh – high quality food for yourself.
In my experience many places accommodate and even promote local produce. This is often done by setting up regular farmer’s market where you can buy fresh, quality produce grown locally. By buying at farmer’s market you can find out many things about the produce you are buying while you also support local farmers. My travels taught me that even places like Yukon or Alaska have abundance of local and fresh produce that is being regularly sold at farmers’ markets. This only applies to summer months, but I believe that most people visit cold places, such as Yukon or Alaska during summer months.
Many farmers are involved in sustainable farming and they produce fresh fruits and vegetables that are both organic, non GMO, and pesticide free. Look at their signs and ask questions when buying. My shopping contains trip to the farmers market every week, which takes care of majority of my produce needs. What I can’t get at the market I will look for at stores that offer good variety of fresh, organic produce.
Another benefit of buying locally is in ability to buy more seasonal food that should be a great option for our bodies. Cooking and eating seasonal foods was the way that our ancestors done for ever. There was not option of shipping food across the planet. Even though we have the opportunity to buy anything we want at any time of the year, it is nice to experience differences in season. Let’s get excited about first lettuce and radishes arriving to the market in the spring and look forward to explosion of options in fruit and vegetable in the late summer / fall.
When you buy seasonal foods which are typical for that particular area, you can also learn a lot about the new and interesting foods. Some people would also share their tips and recipes with you. This is especially true in rural areas where people tend to cook more and use whatever grows in their garden. They can have very creative ways in what toy use in the kitchen and how to cook it to make an interesting meal. My experience is in buying fresh produce from Amish community and asking questions about vegetables that I wasn’t as familiar with, such as okra or eggplant. I ended up with the whole list of great tasting recipes and tips how to use those vegetables.
I believe that looking for locally grown and seasonal foods leads to more natural food options that our bodies are more prepared to digest. As many cultures look at balance and ideal combination of foods, nature leads us to use more raw foods with high water content in hot summer months, which helps us to compensate for water loss and cool of our bodies. In the winter we reach for resources stored away, which we have to cook and fuel our bodies with hot, rich and more filling meals. Those fit better with our need for heat and more calories needed during cold winter months.
