The Hundred Mile Diet - How Buying Locally can Help to Support Local Farmers and the Environment
You've heard of the Atkin's Diet, the South Beach Diet, even the Cookie Diet, but have you heard of the Hundred Mile Diet? If you're watching your figure and counting calories and carbs, you may not have. This is because the Hundred Mile Diet has nothing to do with focusing on your weight - it has to do with being healthy, supporting local businesses, and helping the environment in the process. As farmers' markets open for the Spring and fresh produce abounds, maybe you'd like to try your hand at the Hundred Mile Diet. It's got 100% guaranteed results, and you'll feel great about it.
So what exactly is the Hundred Mile Diet? It's exactly what it sounds like - purchasing only the produce, meats, and other products grown, harvested, and packaged within 100 miles of your home. Of course, this will be easier for some people to implement than others, depending on your location and the season. But even if you can't contain it to a 100 mile radius, even a 200, 300 or even 500 mile radius is better than nothing!
So how do you transition to the Hudred Mile Diet?
Like many major changes in life, it isn't always easy. Some people go all out and dedicate their entire diet and lifestyle to abiding to the Hundred Mile rule - growing their own vegetables in their yard, purchasing fruits and deli meats from local butchers and farm stands, and avoiding foods altogether when they're out of season locally. This means no oranges and lemons for you New Englanders in the winter! Sounds tough, doesn't it? But there are ways you can adjust and adopt some of these principles even without going 100% local.
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Instead of buying imported fruits and vegetables from all over the country (and world!) at the local big-time supermarket, try to find a farm stand in your vicinity or a weekend farmers' market that you can visit to stock up on fresh fruits and vegetables.
- Buy excess of seasonal produce and can it or freeze it so you can preserve and enjoy it during the seasons of the year that it's unavailable.
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Start your own vegetable garden in your yard. If you live in an apartment, you can easily have a small herb garden or grow tomatoes and peppers by your window or on your patio.
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Purchase free-range meats from a local butcher. Local butchers have higher quality meats than the grocery store, and often they haven't been shipped across the country to get to you.
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Use locally made baskets, dish towels, and other kitchen accessories to save on wasting paper towels and importing home goods from other states
The benefits of the 100 mile diet go beyond saving the environment and eliminating long-distance fuel costs and pollution. Eating locally also helps keep your local farmers in business. Small-scale family farming is becoming more and more scarce since big stores are wiping out their smaller competitors. It also helps you to stay healthy because you're eliminating many of the processed, pre-packaged snack foods that are so common on supermarket shelves. Instead of purchasing cheese puffs or fruit snacks, you're buying nuts and seeds, locally aged cheeses and dried fruits. Sounds like a diet worth sticking to!
For other ways to change your life for the greener, check out HomeAire's line of environmentally friendly HEPA air filtration systems, Radon Test Kits, and other indoor air quality solutions.
Posted by HomeAire Blogging Team
Posted Date: April 30, 2008 at 4:00 PM
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