7 Reasons to Eat from the Farmer's Market!

Why not a farmers’ market? There seemed to be no reason not to and at least seven good reasons why everyone—patients, doctors and even you—should shop, cook and eat from a farmers’ market.

1. Get Inspired

Thanks to farmers’ markets, we’ve been introduced to fruits and vegetables we didn’t know much about before.
Farmers’ markets keep us in touch with the seasons in a way —the arrival of asparagus and the first luscious strawberries in the spring, sun-ripened heirloom tomatoes and succulent fresh corn at the height of summer, a rainbow cornucopia of peppers and squash come fall, and winter’s citrus crop and savory root vegetables, which we love to roast with chunks of fennel, a recipe we discovered by hanging out at farmers’ markets.

2. Follow a Better Diet

Of course it’s hardly news that fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes are good for you—they provide fiber, vitamins and minerals. Still, the evidence for just how good they are continues to amaze me. Study after study shows that eating foods from the garden helps keep blood pressure and cholesterol from climbing and lowers the danger of developing diabetes. A nationwide study published a few years ago and coordinated by Kaiser Permanente in Oregon showed unequivocally that reducing salt intake and eating a healthy diet rich in fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy products significantly reduced blood pressure.
In one of the latest and most persuasive studies, researchers from Harvard gathered data from more than 72,000 women over two decades, as part of the well-known Nurses’ Health Study. Women who followed the so-called “prudent diet,” made up of many of the foods on display at farmers’ markets—fruits and vegetables, legumes, nuts and whole grains—had a 28 percent lower risk of dying of heart disease. In contrast, those who ate a “Western diet” rich in high-fat, sugary and processed foods had a 22 percent higher risk of dying of heart disease and a 16 percent higher cancer risk. For some of these women, the difference between these two ways of eating was literally a matter of life and death. I’m convinced it is for most of the rest of us as well.
Several large studies have shown that people with heart disease can dramatically improve their health by making fruits and vegetables the centerpiece of their diet and replacing saturated fats (such as those you might get from dairy and meat) with unsaturated fats (such as those in avocados and nuts). That’s very good news, of course. But our real goal should be to prevent diseases in the first place.

3. Cook for Your Health

The list of health benefits associated with a diet centered around plant-based foods goes on and on. If we could put all those together in one pill, we’d have a blockbuster drug. But it wouldn’t be as colorful or delicious as the prescription you can fill at a farmers’ market. So why do most Americans still fall woefully short on the optimal number of servings of fruits and vegetables—between 5 and 9 a day, depending on how many calories you consume?

. If you make healthy food available and visible, people will try it. It’s a little like putting a bowl of fruit front and center in the kitchen so you or your children will grab an apple or a peach for a snack—except in this case we’ve put an entire farmers’ market on the street where people come and go. And we know at least some people are eating more healthy food as a result. In 2005 we conducted a survey and found that of our repeat market customers, 71 percent said they were eating more fruits and vegetables. Sixty-three percent were eating new and different fruits and vegetables.

Encouraging people to shop at farmers’ markets also encourages them to cook, and I firmly believe that’s another key to good health. When you prepare your own meals, it’s much easier to take charge of exactly what you eat. Take the example of salt. Too much of it can raise blood pressure, which in turn increases the risk of heart disease and stroke. Where does most of the salt in the average diet come from? Processed foods. When people cook their own food (as opposed to relying on these processed foods), they typically consume less salt without even having to think about it.

4. Support Your Community

The benefits of supporting farmers’ markets go beyond individual health to something larger: the well-being of an entire community. Prosperous farms help ensure green spaces between towns and cities and conserve land for agriculture. For many small growers, a thriving local market offers the opportunity to make a decent living from farming, pay their workers a fair wage and plan for the future. At farmers’ markets, they can sell directly to customers, earning close to 80 cents on a dollar, on average, compared to just 20 cents if they sell to food distributors who ship their produce to grocery chains.

Also, when you buy from a farm or a farmers’ market, you are helping ensure that the farm is economically viable and that local produce will be available year after year. Small farms have played a leading role in re­introducing many unusual varieties of fruits and vegetables that were virtually abandoned when large-scale agriculture came along. Among these so-called heirloom varieties are hundreds of different kinds of apples, pears and tomatoes that were in danger of being lost, fruits and vegetables you would hardly ever find at supermarkets.

And of course there’s the simple fact that these local markets are just plain fun. They are places where people can come together to shop, talk, sit on a bench and watch the world go by, listen to music and exchange recipes. Local markets are as old as the oldest human settlements, and they have always been about more than just the buying and selling of goods. They are the heart and soul of a community. With the rise of big-box stores and shopping malls, we’ve unfortunately lost that feature in many parts of the country.

5. Encourage Sustainable Agriculture

Farmers’ markets help keep not only our communities healthy but our environment too. Small farms have been leaders in adapting sustainable agricultural techniques that protect water and build healthy soils. They have revived growing techniques that don’t require as many chemical fertilizers and pesticides as some large operations do, and adapted to specific local growing conditions. Their hard work has helped prevent contamination of rivers, streams, lakes and oceans and often prevented farm workers from being exposed to chemicals that are known to pose health hazards.

Many small farms, whether they are certified “organic” or not, use sustainable approaches: the farmers you meet at these community markets often have only 20 or 30 acres or less and don’t have the option of moving their operations to new locations when the soil becomes unworkable. Their livelihood, and the health of the towns they live in, depends on sustainable growing techniques that preserve and replenish the fertility of their small patch of soil. Local growers protect our communities in another way. They typically plant a wide variety of crops, in contrast to some large industrial farms, which grow hundreds or thousands of acres of the same crop. Crop diversity is a good defense against the spread of damaging insects and plant pathogens. If a problem arises in one crop, it’s unlikely to spread to others. That’s not true of monocropping, where the spread of a pathogen can be catastrophic.

6. Eat by Season

By their very nature, farmers’ markets encourage us to buy seasonal produce. As every chef knows, the most beautiful, best-tasting and most economical foods are the ones that are in season. Eating with the seasons is all about anticipation and then savoring what is ripe at the moment—the first tangerines of the winter that light up the market, the season of stone-fruit, then the arrival of heirloom tomatoes, followed by the wild shapes and colors of squash in the late fall. The bounty on display at a farmers’ market at the peak of the season is the very opposite of fast food. It’s food that a farmer has spent months nurturing to the moment of perfect ripeness. It is food to be cherished and savored.

7. Change Our Food Systems

Around the country, farmers’ markets are booming. According to the latest tally, there are more than 4,600 farmers’ markets in the United States. Almost anywhere you go during the growing season, you’ll find one. Each and every one, in its own way, reflects the special character of the places they call home—from the sizzling chiles in Arizona to the tropical fruits on Maui to the wild mushrooms displayed at the Portland Farmers Market in Oregon.

More and more markets are working to make sure that people at every economic level can take advantage of fresh, locally grown produce. Several states are experimenting with wireless devices that allow people on food stamps to use their swipe cards at local markets. Many neighborhood food banks are forming partnerships with local farmers, arranging to buy up food that might otherwise go to waste in the field and serving it to those in need—a win-win arrangement for everyone. A wonderful group called Urban Farming has been converting abandoned lots in Detroit into small garden plots tended by volunteers, who turn their produce over to local food banks and other meal-assistance programs—an idea that has taken root in dozens of other cities around the country.

 from: Eating Well