Boyle McCauley News

Since 1979 • April-May 2024 • Circulation 5000

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The Art of the Possible – 100 Mile Diet

The Hundred Mile Diet is consuming a diet consisting of food harvested from within an area bounded by a 100 mile (160 km) radius. Why eat local?

1. Taste the difference. It may be the best food you’ll ever eat.

2. Know what you’re eating. People who eat locally find it easier to get answers. Many build relationships with farmers whom they trust.

3. Meet your neighbours. Local eating is social. It could be the networks you build at the Farmers’ Market or at the local community garden.

4. Get in touch with the seasons. When you eat locally, you eat what’s in season.

5. Discover new flavours. Ever tried sunchokes? How about quail eggs or fiddleheads?

6. Explore your home. Visiting local farms is a way to be a tourist on your own home turf.

7. Save the world. One study found that a regional diet consumed 17 times less oil and gas than a typical diet based on food shipped across the country.

8. Give back to the local economy. One study found that the total value was almost twice the contribution of a dollar spent at a supermarket chain.

9. Be healthy. Eat more vegetables and fewer processed products, sample a wider variety of foods, and eat more fresh food at its nutritional peak.

10. Create memories. Spend time with family and friends making jam and canning fruits and vegetables.

11. Have more fun while traveling. Once you’re addicted to local eating, you’ll want to explore it wherever you go.

Start by planting your own garden in the backyard or front lawn, in a community garden or by yard sharing (planting in someone else’s yard.) Preserve the food for the winter and enjoy all the benefits of eating local.

Article courtesy of the One Simple Act newsletter:
http://onesimpleact.alberta.ca.

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