3 Reasons To Visit Your Farmer’s Market
As the dog days of summer wind down, it’s time to see what fresh bounty is being offered at your local farmer’s market. Not only is the food you get there delicious and local, it’s also good for your overall health and wellness! Here are three reasons you need to source your food from the farmer’s market!
It Boosts Nutrition
Your Los Angeles personal trainer no doubt recommends a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables in your diet because they’re full of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients your body needs to stay healthy. But what you may not realize is that the longer produce spends off the vine or out of the ground, the less nutritional value it has.
Big name grocery store chains get their produce from all over the world. When a fruit or vegetable is harvested, it begins to lose nutritional content almost immediately. That’s due to the fact that the water content in any given fruit or vegetable will slowly begin to absorb its valuable nutrients, zapping it of the nutrition it could have provided to you once it reaches your table.
Choosing freshly harvested vegetables and fruits from your local farmer’s market means you’re getting produce when it’s at its peak of freshness. You get every iota of minerals and vitamins it has to offer. It’s simply more nutritional bang for your buck!
It Allows You to Eat Seasonally
The fresh fruits and vegetables sold at your local farmer’s market will only be foods that are seasonal, ripe, and fresh. This is a very cost-effective way to boost your nutrition.
As Los Angeles personal trainer Lalo Fuentes, CSCS, says, “Nature provides what you need at the exact moment you need it. That’s why in the winter, citrus fruits come into season -- because your body needs that extra boost to prevent colds and the flu.” In other words, when you eat seasonally, you don’t even have to think about making sure your body is getting the full range of nutrients it needs to stay healthy because nature is already keeping track for you!
The Food is Generally Safer
Foodborne illness is no joke – remember all those outbreaks of illness from E. coli in contaminated bagged spinach? When food is mass-produced that means it passes through a lot of hands before hitting your table, and those hands can be contaminated with a variety of things that could end up making you sick. All those times your mom told you not to put that in your mouth because you have no clue where it’s been? She was right!
The food provided at your local farmer’s market has passed through a lot fewer hands before it gets to you, meaning there’s less chance for the food you’re eating to make you sick.
Go Ahead, Check It Out!
Proper nutrition is essential to your health and fitness goals. As any Los Angeles personal trainer would tell you, exercise and nutrition go hand-in-hand to help you meet and exceed your health goals. Without one, you simply can’t have the other. And that’s why your local farmer’s market is such a great place – it gives you a leg up as you work toward a healthier, happier you.