The 100 Mile Diet

March in Massachusetts is not the time to be thinking about eating locally grown food. Nothing has grown here for six months. My spring crocuses are just starting to surface. Without preparation, I’d be living on meats, dairy, and maple syrup. Nevertheless, I thought I would explore these “Four Easy Steps to the 100 Mile Diet.” After all, according to this website, people in Canada are eating local. I mean, next stop, North Pole. The site is written by the authors of two separate books - one describes the adventures of an American couple, the other a Canadian couple, as they determinedly foraged their way through one year of local eating (within 100 miles.)

So, inspired by their bravado, still savoring the half pint of imported organic blueberries I’d recently treated myself to, I began my investigation.

It turns out the four steps are rather simple:

1) Join their group. I decided to skip this step. I’m a free spirit.

2) Getting Started. This step is a bit harder, as it is eight little steps in one. To summarize: Start slowly, find locally grown food, and eat it. It can be grown by you, or someone else. It can be preserved, dried or frozen.

This has actually been an ongoing process for me. I’ve joined a CSA this summer, and already buy locally farmed meats and poultry. I dried parsley from my garden last year, and canned apple sauce from apples I’d picked at a local orchard.

3) Find Your 100 Miles: The 100 Mile website has a 100 mile radius finder. Enter your Canadian or American zip code, and see your very own 100 mile radius. Here is what mine looks like:

Notice it goes no further south than Rhode Island. Not a lot grows in Rhode Island in the winter. Not a vegetable or fruit in sight. But I can add locally harvested fish. There are also products that store well that I can get, like Maine potatoes and local apples.

Perhaps I should do the Atkins Diet in the winter.

4) Spread the Word. Easy. That’s what you’re reading.

So, I feel like I’m at least partially indoctrinated, have become a quasi “locavore“. Perhaps some day I’ll even live up to my version of the Pareto Principle: If I can do something 80% of the time, I’m happy. That means I can take 73 days off a year, and still meet my goal. That will not quite get me through the winter, but it’s close.

More and more people are turning to locally grown, unprocessed foods. If it’s organic, all the better. Local chapters of international groups such as Slow Food and Community Supported Agricultural Farms(CSAs) continue to expand. Small farms are recharged. Not only is it healthier, it helps the environment. Food products travel an average of fifteen hundred miles from farm to table. That broccoli you had for dinner might be from California, and the meat from Nebraska. That’s a lot of fuel to use for one meal. Packaging foods for travel, and processing foods, adds to environmental costs.

It’s nice to see us all becoming more concerned about our health, our world, and our children’s future. If we could all strive to do it 80% 0f the time, well, not to get preachy but…. that would be a good thing.

Has anyone else out there experimented with eating locally? I’d love to hear from you in the comments.

Related Posts

• December 24, 2008 -- Eating Healthy Without Being Wealthy: Sweet Potatoes and Yams (2)
• December 8, 2008 -- Eating Healthy Without Being Wealthy: Holiday Stress Busters (0)
• November 2, 2008 -- Eating Healthy Without Being Wealthy - Dark Chocolate and Red Wine Have More in Common Than You Think (9)
• September 16, 2008 -- Death by Pre-Packaged Foods (0)
• September 10, 2008 -- Better Than Fiction (4)

• Warm Apple Cider Syrup To go with.. well, anything you can think of, really, but this recipe was posted to go along with the Baked Cinnamon Apple Pancakes. Warm...
• That's What I'll do - Value Menu! I've noticed that McDonald's is playing up it's value menu offering. At least locally, they have radio commercials depicting a gentleman saving for a diamond...
• Start Making Lifestyle Changes It is common knowledge that making lifestyle changes can have a big impact on how much weight you lose and your chances of keeping it...