As you cruise through your supermarket aisles, you may find yourself wondering exactly where your food is coming from. Increasing your understanding of the food you and your family eats allows you to make healthy choices on their behalf.
Consider these four simple ways to learn more about the food your family eats – how it’s planted, grown, harvested, shipped and stored.
Grow Your Own
Growing your own food is an excellent way to learn more about what your family is eating. Even if you do not have a big backyard in which to grow a garden, you can still grow some fruits and/or vegetables.
Get a five-gallon pot, fill it with potting soil and plant seeds or a seedling such as tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, spinach or the bush variety of green beans. You could use smaller pots and grow fresh herbs such as cilantro, mint or sage, though if you have a little more space it is also easy to learn about planting and harvesting basil.
Windowsills are great places to grow these sort of smaller plants. So even if you’re an apartment-dweller, you can still practice your horticultural expertise.
Talk With The Farmer
If growing your own isn’t your cup of tea, go to the source and speak with a farmer. You could visit a pick-your-own farm and talk to the grower about how the entire growth process.
Learn about ways to prepare and cook the food. In addition to talking to farmers, consider talking to beekeepers to learn about honeybees and their critical role in the pollination process. You can also learn how honey is made, collected and purified for consumption.
Know Where Your Food Came From
Even if you know what you’re eating, you might not know what the animal ate beforehand. Learning about the way in which feed for animals is tested helps to inform you about the animal’s health and well-being.
Some companies, like Agrifood Technology, know this is key to becoming healthy yourself. You can also make healthier choices for your family if you want to avoid consuming animal products containing growth hormones or antibiotics.
These sort of things can hurt your body, especially if you have certain medical conditions.
Visit Farmer’s Markets or Co-ops
If you live nowhere near a farm, most communities offer local farmer’s markets or food co-ops where you can learn more about the foods your family eats. Vendors at a farmer’s market are usually more than willing to talk about what they are selling and how they grew it.
They can also explain all the different varieties of food, like apples.
The food you eat is an essential part of staying healthy. Understanding where your food comes from and how it is raised and harvested empowers you to make informed choices. You may also learn some new ways of preparing and cooking foods you have enjoyed for a long time.
Read the top tips for living healthy as a family.
