Eating closer to the ground – that was one of the things I decided to do early in my lifestyle change.  No more processed food (or very little). No frozen pizza. No canned spaghetti sauce (although Newman’s Own makes some good, reasonably priced options). No dinner in a box.  Whole foods.  Doesn’t that sound so earthy and precious?  The truth? At first it was a huge pain and sometimes it still is.  Whole foods mean a whole lot of planning and preparation.  Regardless of the inconvenience, whole foods are better for us. Period. And probably a lot less inconvenient than daily insulin injections.

Food is more nutritious when picked closer to ripeness and when eaten in season.  Here are a couple of handy guides for seasonal fruits and vegetables in Tennessee: Tennessee Seasonal Fruits and Vegetables and TN Harvest Calendar.  You can Google and find other guides appropriate to where you live.  I include these because: 1. I live in Tennessee, and 2. it’s my blog, I can do what I want. 🙂

I love going to the farmers’ market.  I love meeting the people who grow my food, knowing that my money is going to support someone locally, and knowing that the food is fresh and just recently harvested.  I’ve read some articles that say that frozen food has just as many nutrients as fresh food.  I think that has a lot to do with the fresh food you compare it to.  Are we talking vegetables and fruits that ripened on the vine or are we talking stuff that was picked early, packed up and shipped halfway across the world?  I’m pretty sure that what Trish brings to the Franklin Farmers’ Market has a whole lot more value to my system that what I can pick up from my grocer’s freezer (which, incidentally, is still miles ahead of the stuff in cans).

Back in April, we talked about keeping a variety of fruits and vegetables in your diet and how that helps with success. I encourage you to find a farmers’ market close to you and take a tour.  Go see everything they have to offer.  Try something new.  Buy something that scares you a little, even!  Kohlrabi still creeps me out; but, I’ll make you a deal – I’ll try it if you’ll try something new.  Tell me what you tried, how you prepared it and what you thought of it in the comments section.  C’mon!  Let’s eat something interesting!

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