Issue link: https://imageup.uberflip.com/i/1519369
SOLERA DIAMOND VALLEY | MAY 2024 15 By Clare Mendez, Resident When possible, we should be eating almost exclusively food that is fresh, natural, and without harmful pesticides or preservatives. We should not be eating food in boxes and cans, and not food in sealed bags with an eerily long shelf life. Processed food is not just the junk food we associate with unhealthy eating. It's most packaged foods, anything with a nutrition label. Try to move away from processed foods and toward truly fresh food in its natural, just picked, just fished, or just churned state. In other words, eat as close to nature as possible. If you want to find the least altered, least sprayed, cleanest food in all categories, organic is what you are looking for. It's not just produce, like green vegetables and fruits that matters to your health. You also want the best, cleanest possible options in other categories such as eggs from pasture-raised chickens; meat and dairy from animals allowed to roam, fed clean grass, and raised without antibiotics. Not knowing where our meat is coming from is a good reason to eat as little as possible of it. Read labels and pay attention to ingredients, but most food you buy should not even have labels. e longer the list of ingredients the further away from the natural state it probably is. Local food from a farmers' market is great because you can talk to the farmers and learn about their practices and because the food is more likely to have been harvested closer to the time you buy it, eliminating the chance it has been manipulated in any way to prolong its shelf life. Ideally, your diet should be super high in non-starchy vegetables and other greens, and full of variety to receive different nutrients. Just look around. Hemet farmers are growing and selling a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables. When fresh fruits and vegetables are available, I suggest you freeze some for the winter months when fresh foods are harder to find. Sprouts and Barron's markets are both great places to find a large variety of organic foods. Farmer's markets are very seasonal and now is a good time to shop at them. Incidentally, many of the SDV residents look forward to the time when the KS Strawberry Farm on Simpson Road opens each spring. ey have incredibly sweet, freshly-picked strawberries, but they sell out quickly each day so get up early and buy enough for now and later. Food In Its Natural State