Why Eat Well?

It’s no secret that many adults and children in the US are eating too much food (more calories than we need) and too many unhealthy foods, and skimping on the healthy foods. The result is a so called epidemic of obesity and high rates of chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.

Where is most improvement needed?

  1. Fruits and vegetables—Only about one in three US adults eats the recommended number of servings of fruits and vegetables per day. For children that number is less than one in five.
  2. Whole grains—The average American adult eats less than one serving of whole grains per day while three servings are recommended.
  3. Calories (energy)—We need to balance energy intake with energy output to avoid weight gain. For most adults and children in the US, this balance is a daily challenge.

Why Eat Local?

Benefits for you:

When you buy local foods, you increase your awareness of where food comes from, local growing seasons, and the importance of local agriculture.

  • Locally grown food, purchased soon after harvest, retains its nutrients.
  • Fresh local foods retain more nutritional value, because foods begin losing nutritional content at harvest and transport time is shorter for local farms.
  • Locally grown food tastes better.
  • For a local market, farmers may choose better-tasting and healthier varieties over better-traveling varieties when they decide what to plant.
  • Local food preserves genetic diversity.
  • Heirloom and less common fruit and vegetable varieties are more often grown by local farms.

Benefits for your community:

When you buy direct from local farmers, your dollars stay within your community, and strengthen the local economy. This helps preserve farming as a livelihood and rural landscapes as farmland.

  • Local food supports local farm families.
  • Local food builds community.
  • Local food preserves open space.
  • Local food reduces the carbon footprint of agriculture.

Why Eat Together?

Life is hectic for today’s families. It is a challenge to find the time to sit down to eat together. Research shows it is worth the effort to find the time to eat together.

Here are some of the benefits:

  • Children’s educational achievement and emotional development is enhanced by eating with family members. A large national study found American teenagers who eat regular family meals have greater academic success and positive psychological adjustment.
  • Family members who eat home-prepared family meals eat better. This means eating more fruits and vegetables, more dairy foods and whole grains and fewer soft drinks.
  • Home-prepared family meals can save money since you get more for your money when you buy in larger quantities and do the preparation yourself.
  • Children who eat with family members are more likely to be a healthy body weight.
  • A big BUT in the benefits is the importance of turning off the television. One study from New York State showed that eating with the television on eliminated the positive benefits of eating together.