Recipes for Health—Fresh food is best!

Phone: 320-532-4946/1-800-323-1361

Fax: 320-532-4946 (call)

Email: ellerb@mlecmn.net

“Fresh food is best” is just common sense. But, in this age of highways and flyways, “fresh food” is hard to find unless you grow it yourself or have a farmer friend or frequent the local farmer’s market. Organic or not, food that is picked green, travels thousands of miles, sits for even more time at the grocers is not fresh.

Spinach stored at room temperature for just 24 hours after picking loses between 50 and 90 percent of its vitamin C.  Better to go out your back door and pick some for supper. Time and light destroys folic acid, a vital nutrient in green leafy vegetables. Vitamin C, the B vitamins and vitamin E are very time sensitive. These vitamins are deficient or simply missing from fruit and vegetables that have been picked green. 

What our “new” global economy fails to provide is fresh, nutritious food and our health is suffering. We have an array of nice looking fruits and vegetables in the grocery, however, the nice is only skin deep. We pay for the looks and texture and then must head to the drug store for vitamin supplements in order to feel our best and stay healthy. We pay dearly for convenient, pretty, unspoiled food. The dollars saved at supermarket produce counters pales next to the dollars spent on food supplements, medical ailments, lost human productivity, transportation costs, environmental costs of that transportation, and the resulting ill-effects on health.

How to break this vicious cycle is simple:  1) Buy locally grown, preferably organic fruits and vegetables or grow your own; and 2) Pay attention to the soil your fruits and vegetables enjoy. Soil deficient in minerals or very acidic which keeps minerals from being used by plants means poor growth and poor nutrient levels in the plant. Chemical fertilizers with only nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium (NPK) tend to deplete the soil of organic matter and other vital known and unknown nutrients over time. Fruits and vegetables grown on fertile soil, picked at their prime, and eaten promptly not only taste better, they are better for your health and very much worth the effort. Bón appetite!

May the Joy & Peace of Easter be with you always!  Also time to get those bird homes out!