Doctors are constantly recommending that you eat more fruits and vegetables, but they often don't specify whether local or imported produce is best. Are there any scientific reasons for eating local produce and being better for your health? There are indeed many reasons why you should choose local Ontario fruit over imported fruit. Ontario grown fruits provide unique health benefits because they are fresh, seasonal and safer than the alternative. Whether you're living in the country right next to a grower or in Ajax real estate, accessing local fruit is not impossible. It's mostly a matter of reading labels.
Fresh
Fruit that is imported spends a lot of time sitting in crates on freights, in trucks, or in planes to get to your grocery store. On the other hand, Ontario fruit is picked fresh off the tree or vine and delivered to your farmer's market or grocery store by truck. This reduces the number of days or weeks that the produce is in transit and ensures that you get the freshest fruit. Fresh fruit is more nutritional for many reasons: it contains more vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. After a fruit is picked, its levels of nutrition decline over time. Similarly, stale fruit loses water content and starts to shrivel. One of the great benefits of eating fruit is the high water content, along with the other great enzymes and nutritional nuggets, so don't choose potentially stale fruit.
Seasonal
Fresh Ontario fruit is bound to be seasonal. The fruits you buy in season are going to be the freshest and also the best for your health. Your body is designed to eat certain foods during a given time of the year and it follows the cycles of nature. Eating watermelon in the middle of January might be fun, but your body is probably not craving its nutrients. By eating sweet fruits like strawberries, blueberries and raspberries in the summer, you give your body what it needs to protect itself from the summer sun. During peach and pear season, your body gets a boost to the immune system to prepare for the coming months of colder weather. Apples are great for the winter because they help clean you out and help you keep weight off during the winter months, which helps with your exercise regime. Eating seasonally is the way Mother Nature intended us to eat. Eating pumpkin pie, from freshly harvested pumpkins, at any time other than the fall would be going against nature.
Safe
When you pick locally grown Ontario fruit you are ensuring that you get only the best in quality and safety. When you buy fruit from your trusted neighbourhood farmers, you know exactly what you are getting. You can trust farmers' agricultural methods, sanitation practices and packaging. You won't have to worry about outbreaks or other sanitary scares, because Ontario farmers' work is transparent and supervised. So, if you're the type to ask about water treatment chemicals and pesticides, you'll get more answers locally.
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