Nutritional value in shopping locally.

As a Nutrition and wellness advisor I encourage all my clients to eat more vegetables and fruit. There is a lot of talk at the moment about the reduction in vitamin and mineral content in fruit and veg compared with 50 years ago. This is often backed by research funded by companies offering vitamin and mineral supplements.

However.

I do believe there is some truth in their results.

50 years ago our diet would be heavily weighted to readily available filling and cheap food sources. Unlike today’s diet filled with convenience and processed foods, which simply were not available 50 years ago. Our diets were seasonal out of necessity rather than choice.

Today we can buy strawberries any day of the year, and many of us fill our trolleys weekly with the same foods regardless of the season. So how is this possible? Our fruit and veg is often picked underripe, shipped thousands of miles and then artificially ripened so that it is in optimum condition when it reaches our stores. Or is it?

Did you know that fruits and vegetables picked before they are fully ripened, naturally on the vine in the sunshine, have between 3 and 4 times less minerals and vitamins than those that are allowed to ripen naturally? Which is why I think that the previously mentioned research starts to make sense.

So how do we make sure we are eating a vitamin and mineral rich diet?

Simple: buy fruit and vegetables that have been allowed to fully ripen and travelled the least amount of miles to reach your table. And, if possible, choose organic.

Local greengrocers, markets and farm shops are filled with locally sourced products. It is what differentiates them from the supermarkets. Choose products that have been grown in your locality, and you will know that those products have been allowed to absorb all those wonderful vitamins and minerals that your body needs.

They will, of course, have some products that have travelled further; it doesn’t matter what time of year it is you won’t find a pineapple growing in Staffordshire. But these items should be treated as an exception, if your focus is on seasonal local produce you will naturally be getting a varied range of fruits and vegetables, and you gut will thank you for that.

And if that wasn’t enough reason.

You will be protecting your high street, you will be supporting local businesses.

The Bestof Lichfield are champions of local businesses, so if you are unsure where to go to buy fabulous local foods, check out their website.