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The big food industry always tries to convince you that processed food is the only real food. But, the reality is somewhat very different.
Everybody knows that real food is the only way to keep yourself healthy and fit. But, it isn’t easy to forgo highly processed as well as processed food.
Processed food is highly seductive, nutritious junk, and very fulfilling to your taste-buds. But, it is also true that eating processed food for a long time will harm your health.
According to research, if you start to consume processed food, your intake of calories will also increase. In return, you will gain weight and can lead to many chronic diseases such as diabetes, digestive issues, kidney diseases, heart disease, and many more.
Now, the question arises, how we define real food?
What is real food?
Real foods come directly from the earth, and it remains in that state as close as possible.
In short, we can say that real food has no nutrition facts label because the label indicates that it has done something with the food, and now it is not in the real condition.
Real foods are always perishable. So, when the real foods are left in that condition, they can rot away.
What are processed foods?
Processed foods have been changed from the original condition either by mechanical process or through chemical operation to preserve it for a longer time, making additives to taste-buds.
The difference between real foods and processed foods is vast.
The processed foods do not contain any fiber, omega three fatty acids, micro-nutrients, etc.
Besides, it contains too many trans fats, branched-chain amino acids, omega-6 fatty acids, emulsifiers, additives, sugar, and salt.
And, the calorie you receive from this processed food is toxic.
According to research, it has shown that 600,000 items in the American food supply contain more than 74% of added sugar. Also, 4,000 American packed items include more than 50% higher salt than it is recommended.
Above all, processed food has succeeded in its experiment in captivating a more significant chunk of the population.
So, the increased consumption of processed foods has given good profits to these food industries but failed dramatically in human health.
The only answer to all this problem: Real food.
We encourage every individual to consume clean, unprocessed, real, and whole foods rich in nutrients and high in fiber.
Moreover, you can’t go wrong in avoiding ultra-processed food, processed foods, and food additives.
We also suggest you look for real food in the local farmer market and always be careful with the foods that have labels.
For locating real food nearby you, we came up with real food resources that would help you.
Real food sources
United States Department of Agriculture
The USDA is a great resource to find real food. It is a perfect gateway to locate your local food retail and wholesale market outlets.
You can search for the local market and its operation by just typing in zip code. Later on, you can look for product availability and the payment gateway it supports.
You can also see whether these market participates in Federal nutrition programs or not such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
The available directories for public viewing are Farmers Market Directory, CSA Directory, Food Hub, On-Farm Market.
CAFF (Community Alliance with Family Farmers)
This community is built to provide sustainable food and farming systems. It supports and creates more resilient family farms, communities, and ecosystems.
It works to serve community members throughout California, including consumers, food service directors, school children, and low-income group populations.
Eat Well Guide
It is the curate search engine directory of more than 25,000 hand-picked farms, markets, stores, restaurants, and other local food sources.
It is a guide to support local farmers and find good food produced in a safe, humane, and sustainable manner.
CUESA
CUESA is a world-class farmers market dedicated to providing high-quality, safe, and nutritious products from local farmers, food artisans, and restaurants nearby.
It has been built with thriving communities that envision to nourish all people, the living earth through local food’s power and joy.
Also, it creates an opportunity for shoppers to learn more about the food and its labeling.
Moreover, it also conducts educational programs and provides exceptional services to market patrons.
PCFMA (Pacific Coast Farmers’ Market Association)
Pacific Coast Farmers’ Market Association is connecting San Francisco Bay Area communities with local California farmers.
It is one of the best sources of delicious and fresh fruits and vegetables planted, nurtured, and harvested by California Farmers.
FarmRaiser
FarmRaiser is like a traditional school fundraiser that connects farmers and food artisans to student-led fundraisers. Its concept is based on buying local, fresh, and healthy farm products and also support your school at the same time.
Further, it is turning energetic students into healthy-eating advocates that sell locally-grown fruits and vegetables.
The benefits of FarmRaisers are that it supports local-grown businesses, keeps money in the local community, meets school wellness policies, and offers products that families want and need.
Eat Real Certified
Eat Real Certified has partnered with school food service directors to serve high-quality food to nurture kids’ excellence.
It focuses more on raising awareness of the value of real food. They have built up a team of passionate individuals with experience in nutrition, health, pediatrics, Food system innovation, and much more.
Eat Real Certified main aim is to work as a health advocate to improve and bring transparency to the food system.
The Eat Real Certification program is also built on comprehensive, evidence-based standards that support continuous improvement, awareness building, and community engagement.
Farmer Market Finder
Farmer Market Finder, support by Ecology Center, is built to find markets near you. It is an open-air marketplace where California farmers bring fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables to sell directly to consumers.
They are committed to supporting small-scale farmers who practice sustainable agriculture. Additionally, they also accept Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) program and the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program.
Local Harvest
Local Harvest is another search engine to search for Farmers’ markets that gather in one place to sell their product to the public.
You will also find some farmers who sell their products once or twice a week at some designated public place like a park or parking lot.
Local Harvest is a great way to meet local farmers nearby, and you can buy their fresh and flavorful products.
Farm.com
Farm.com is another service through which you can search for local farmers’ markets. Also, you can search for products, whether it is available or not.
It uses innovative technology to cater to global agriculture and food industries. Currently, this agricultural information portal has more than 25,000 agribusiness professionals and crop producers.
Local Farm Markets
Local Farm Markets is also an excellent way to search for the farm market in your local area.
You can find a farm market that produces local and organically grown fruit, vegetables, and other products.
Bottom Line:
If you want to eat healthy and nutritious foods, then you should move towards real food. Moreover, real food is always close to the natural and original state without any alteration of any kind.
Also, real foods do not require any labels. But, processed food does require the label to know the ingredient list and how many calories it is providing.
The local farmer’s product you should consider the most and ditch any processed food in the market
You can effortlessly search for real foods for local farmers’ markets by going through a list of real food sources.
You can quickly locate local farmers’ markets and get fresh fruits, vegetables, and other products.
