The current trend to be a “locavore,” advises us to eat food that grows in our immediate environment.  The truth is… this is not a new concept.  Humans have traditionally eaten locally grown, seasonal foods.  Modern technology has changed that traditional way of eating and today every type of food is available at any time of the year regardless of the season or environment where it is grown. 

This new way of eating not only destroys the environment by burning large amounts of fossil fuel to ship foods to and from far away places, it weakens the digestive and immune systems, and the entire body as a whole.  Egads!  If you are wondering how and why, keep reading.
Poor health can result from consistently eating foods outside of our climate and season.  According to John Matsen, ND, “All plants contain potassium.  Generally, the more sun they’re exposed to, the more potassium and sugar they contain…. The high potassium and sugar levels alert your kidneys that you’re out in the hot sun (because these foods grow in sunny climates), and that your skin must be making lots of vitamin D.  Therefore, your kidneys don’t activate vitamin D, and you don’t absorb much calcium.  This results in low calcium levels, forcing the body to take calcium from other sources such as bones, teeth and membranes, thus weakening those structures.” (1)  

Another perspective from Traditional Chinese Medicine reveals that salads, vegetables and fruits are energetically cooling to the body.  During the hot summer months this cooling effect can be quite beneficial for most people, but during the cold winter season, it can weaken the digestive system, contribute to candida yeast overgrowth, a damp spleen condition, gas, bloating, cold hands and feet, and eventually lead to more serious ailments.  Right now, during the spring and the summer is the best time of year to incorporate more cooling fruit and vegetables into the diet.
    
For our human body to function optimally, it needs to be aligned with the seasons and environment where we live.  As an added bonus, eating foods grown locally can also reduce and/or eliminate allergies entirely.  For example, eating honey from bees pollinating in or near your local area is akin to taking allergy shots, homeopathically. Bees travel from flowers to plants, to trees, to more flowers, grass and then back to the hive carrying pollen on their fuzzy little bodies.  Ingesting raw honey with trace amount of these various pollens builds the immune system internally, naturally.  If you are sick and tired of spending the spring, summer and fall months sneezing your head off and scratching your itchy eyeballs out, eating locally grown foods can help you find relief.

The easiest way to discover what’s available in your environment is to check out a local farmer’s market.  The traditional farmer can not grow something that is incompatible with his environment. You could also join a Community Supported Agriculture (http://veggies.home.mindspring.com OR http://www.justfood.org/ or http://www.localharvest.org/csa/) and get fresh produce, meat, and dairy products straight from the farmer, delivered once per week at a designated pick-up site.  This is a delicious way to support your health, the local community, and the earth, too!  For a temperate climate seasonal eating chart, pick up The Eating and Recipe Guide.

Check out this month’s delicious, local and seasonal meal.
Monthly Meals

Sources
1) Better Nutrition Magazine, September 2004 pg. 30

2) The Whole Truth Eating and Recipe Guide, by Andrea Beaman, 2006, p.69.