Shelley's Kitchen

Healthy isn't always easy, but committing to a healthy diet can be one of the smartest decisions you ever make. Why? Not only can eating well make you look and feel better, it can also save you money on future healthy costs.
But even if you intend to "eat healthy," lnowing exactly what that means can be challenging. "Following a healthy diet includes choosing plently of lea meats, eaggs, vegetables , fruit, whole grain and dairy products,' says Debra Nessel, a registered dietitian with Torrance Memorial Medical Center in Torrance, CA.
Eating well also means leaving out or only rarely consuming foods that are high in added sugar, sturated fat and sodium. That includes most fast food, fall-calorie sodas, processed snacks like chips and crackers, and anything with more milligrams of sodium than there are calories in a serving. Here are the top reasons to sneak a few more nutrient-packed foods into your diet.

By choosing organic seasonal foods, you are guaranteed to have food that was
1) grown closer to you so it does not spoil during transportbr
2) harvested at the peak of freshness to ensure dense nutrient content and
3) sold during its season, before it spoils or is forced to undergo unnatural preservative processes. Seasonal fruits and vegetables retain more nutrients than their counterparts making them the better choice for your health. In addition, there are some additional benefits of eating seasonally and locally.
Other benefits of eating seasonally:

• Grown closer to you so it does not spoil during transport
• Harvested at the peak of freshness to ensure dense nutrient content
• Sold during its season, before it spoils or is forced to undergo unnatural preservative processes