10 Tips to Eating Sustainably

My brother in law sent me a copy of Natural Awakenings this spring. It's a free booklet he gets monthly in Connecticut. This list is from it's March 2011 edition. There's a lot of "top ten" lists out there, but I have had this little scrap of paper saved for a while, so without further ado....

10 Tips to Eat Sustainably, Healthy, and Smart
1. Buy certified organic and local when possible.

2. Always choose certified organic when shopping for the "dirty dozen":
peaches, apples, sweet bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, pears, grapes, spinach, lettuce and potatoes

3. When buying local, but not organic, ask the farmer, "Why not organic?" He or she may be doing something close.

4. When joining a CSA, ask the farmer if he or she ever adds non-local food to the basket. If so, ask where it comes from and how it is produced.

5. At a farmer's market, ask the management how they choose their vendors. Must they be local or certified organic? How are they screened?
* this totally does not apply at my, or similar, rural farmers markets *

6. If buying "natural", learn how the producer defines it. The government has a very vague definition of what "natural" means.

7. Eat less meat. This lowers your resource consumption significantly.

8. Plant something edible - anything from a garden to a window box.

9. Learn about good sources of healthy foods available each season.

10. Take a cooking class. Eating prepared and processed foods is not sustainable and poor for your health!

And now... I just stumbled upon a lovely blog - Lemonbasil - that I shall now follow - but here's a lovely post about How to Eat Sustainably On a Budget!