The foods in the modern North American diet travel nearly 1,500 miles before they get to your supermarket [1]. Considering the Herculean effort it takes to get food to your home, it makes a lot of sense to buy locally grown foods whenever possible. First, buying local means that you are buying what is in season and at peak freshness. Secondly, buying local ensures that your foods don’t have to travel as far to get to your dinner plate.

I was very intrigued when I first heard the concept of a 100-mile diet. The 100-Mile Diet refers to the consuming of foods that have been produced within a 100 mile radius of your residence. The concept was designed to help ensure we buy locally grown foods.

Depending on where you live this may be fairly difficult since it may be challenging or even impossible to have all your foods grown within a 100 mile radius. You should start by researching community supported agriculture programs take advantage of them whenever possible.

Take a look at your packaging the next time you are at the grocery store. The asparagus I bought earlier this week – shipped in from Mexico, the Strawberries came from California. I never even really thought about these things until I heard about this diet.

The phrase 100-Mile Diet was coined by James MacKinnon and Alisa Smith of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, to describe their one-year local eating experiment in 2005. Their story is chronicled in a book titled The 100-Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating.

As with anything worthwhile in life it will take some sacrifices and some discipline to make the 100 mile diet part of your life. You should consider a 100 mile diet the next time you go to the supermarket. This isn’t just about saving the environment, its also about buying the freshest foods you can get.

Reference:
1. Halweil, Brian. (2002) “Home Grown: The Case for Local Food in a Global Market”. World Watch Paper 163, November 2002