Have you heard about this 100mile Diet?!

In 2005, Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon performed a one-year experiment of only eating locally grown produce. This 100-Mile diet experiment became bigger then they ever could have predicted, inspiring thousands! From individuals to entire communities. This 100 mile diet made people aware of what they were buying and where it was from, getting to know the seasons and understanding the risk to our health and to the environment. "Locally raised and produced food has been called “the new organic" — better tasting, better for the environment, better for local economies, and better for your health. From reviving the family farm to reconnecting." The 100 mile diet creates a whole new meaning to buying locally, because you only eat food which has be produced or grown in a 100-mile radius.

Now that must of be hard to find what to eat?
"We walked into the diet cold turkey for a full year, and it was hard. For example, we live on the West Coast, so it took us seven months to find a rogue local farmer who actually grows wheat. Meanwhile, we ate an unbelievable number of potatoes. Doing the diet the hard way taught us a lot about the current food system, but it is not for everybody. A more realistic approach is to plan a single, totally 100-mile meal with friends or family, and see where you want to go from there."

What do you eat then because I am sure it would become boring? "At first, yes. As we found more and more local food sources, though, our meals became more interesting than ever before. Farmers and farmers’ markets introduced us to foods and flavors we’d never tried before. We discovered the seasons, and the micro-seasons, and the micro-micro-seasons. What’s available is always changing."

What did you miss the most? "Every region has foods that are hard - or impossible - to find. We went without wheat for seven months. We missed pasta. We missed bread. We missed pancakes. Then we found our wheat farmer, and we pigged out."

The 100 mile diet is about eating locally for Global change. This lowers the carbon footprint, supports our local economics and frankly makes you a healthier/smarter person due to no pesticides in your foods and the knowledge you have to obtain to stick to this diet. I don't think this would be an easy process but even if all of us try to have one meal a day using the 100 mile radius rule, just think how quick a wave would begin and a powerful movement will be born and awakened! Let me know if anyone has done this and how they did, spread the word this is a fabulous concept!

Until next time,

w&c designer girl!