4 Reasons to choose local, seasonal and organic produce

OPTIMISE NUTRITION - One of the best ways to maximise nutrients and enhance our wellbeing through food is to buy local, seasonal and organic produce. Here’s why:

🌱Reduce exposure to toxic chemicals: Organic means it won’t be heavily sprayed with toxic artificial chemicals such as pesticides, herbicides, fungicides which are hormone disrupters and negatively impact our gut microbiome. These toxic chemicals when ingested are also a burden on the liver, which has to process and neutralise them in order for the body to detox from them. Washing produce throughly is important to reduce exposure to nasties, but chemical residues can still be present in non-organic produce as they are absorbed whilst growing.

🌱 Higher nutrient content: It will be fresher as it has not travelled for miles or an extended amount of time - so the produce will retain greater levels of nutrients, such as vitamins and minerals, needed to support cellular health, our detoxification pathways and immune system.

🌱 Builds a connection with our food: It’s a great way to support local farmers, go to local farmers markets, ask them questions and get to know them; order organic veg boxes which encourage us to make more meals from scratch; or even have fun growing your own fruit and vegetables at home - I did this last year and learnt so much, and it really made me appreciate the growing process!

🌱 Diversity: It’s the best way to discover different varieties - we can get into habits and routines of buying the same fruit and veg on repeat. Buying seasonally often means we come across new types of produce we’d never think to buy. This is actually great for our health, as the greater diversity of plants we eat the more beneficial this is for gut microbiome.

So many benefits all around!

📷 Organic runner beans grown a mile from my home 🙂💚 I thinly sliced and steamed these, then added garlic, seasoning and extra virgin olive oil as a side dish 👌 You can also add them to salads, stir fries and broths.