Fresh foods offer increased concentrations of vitamins and nutrients that can often get lost during the refining and shipping processes. For instance, Harvard Medical School reports that when whole-wheat flour is refined into white flour, as many as 21 different vitamins and nutrients are diminished or eliminated entirely. Vitamin E in white flour, for example, has only five percent of the nutritional value compared to unrefined whole-wheat flour. Talk to your doctor about your new dieting approach, so she can help plan it out for optimal nutrition.
The Facts
The freshness of a food depends primarily on two main factors: time of year and your geographic location. For instance, someone living in Canada cannot obtain fresh Florida oranges as efficiently as Floridians can. Determining the ideal fresh diet plan for you all starts with increasing your knowledge of local agriculture and hunting and fishing. Out-of-season fruits and vegetables may be labeled as "fresh" at your local grocery store, but as they are not in season, the term "fresh" is not 100-percent accurate.
Significance
Consuming fresh and locally grown foods as part of your diet offers some advantages that go far beyond the fact that locally grown food contains more nutrients than the same food that spends days in the shipping process and sitting on store shelves. Buying locally also helps promote a sense of community and helps farmers earn 37 percent more profit on average compared to selling to wholesalers, according to the city government of Amherst, Massachusetts. It also helps to boost the local economy by keeping the money local.
Types
There are two main types of fresh diet plans: vegetarian and meat diets. Both types can focus primarily on fresh foods, although you may need to supplement some foods that are not fresh or in-season to meet your daily nutritional needs. No matter which type of fresh diet plan you choose, make sure to consume at least the minimum number of calories recommended by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. If you're a woman, this means you should take in at least 1,000 calories a day and for men, a minimum of 1,200 calories each day.
Eating Fresh
To eat fresh foods, you must educate yourself about the types of foods that are in season throughout the year in your area. For instance, the state of Washington grows apples, carrots and winter squash in December, while in Maine, cranberries and lettuce are in season. Warmer locations, such as Florida, grow avocados, cabbage, grapefruit and oranges during the winter months. It all depends upon the time of year and where you live. The Epicurious website provides an interactive Seasonal Ingredient Map to help find out which foods are in season near you.
Considerations
There are several commercial diet plans that focus on fresh foods, such as the Zone Diet, the Fresh Diet and the Raw Food Diet. Consider what each plan offers in terms of nutrition, and how much it costs, before you choose one. You may want to consider saving the money and instead talking to your doctor about how to meet your nutritional needs through eating fresh and locally grown foods.
Member Comments