Getting Started: Healthy Eating, Step 2

Did you miss last month's article? Check it out here.

You added a few organic items to your grocery list. You started to help your kids make better snack choices by making healthier snacking more available (and hopefully this is helping you, too). You're eating out less and cooking at home more. If you can say yes to even one of these, you totally passed last month's assignment. 

Now it is time to get serious. In Step 2 of Getting Started: Healthy Eating, I am going to give you one task:

Eat local.

That is all. 

Seems easy, right? Or maybe it doesn't seem easy at all. Here are some simple ways to get started:

• Ask your grocery if they carry local produce. Maybe you can buy it while you're doing your other shopping!
• Find a Farmer's Market. They are popping up all over the country.
• Join a CSA or Farm Buying Club. This is my favorite. Every week I get a bag of the freshest in-season ingredients. It makes it almost redundant to go to the Farmer's Market!

What is a CSA, you ask? It stands for Community Supported Agriculture. You can search the internet to see if there are any in your area or, better yet, go to your Farmer's Market and ask around at the stands. It is likely you will find a few that have CSAs. You pay a fee for the season and then each week you get a bag of goodies that are produced on that particular farm. 

What is a Farm Buying Club? This is an organization that gathers products from different farms in the area to put together bags that have a larger variety. This is what we participate in and it is fabulous!

Good luck with your adventure! Do some research online and then head to the market. It's the place to be!