Seasonal Eating
Ghia- Seasonal Eating—what does that mean exactly? Good question!
Seasonal Food Guide
Transcript
Hooray, GIA here.
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:I'm this week's host of the Creative
Spiritual Journey podcast where Judy and I
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:talk about those things that bring us joy.
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:For me, I find joy by connecting
with nature, connecting with Jesus
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:Christ and our heavenly parents.
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:Seasonal living, and all the bits of magic
and wonder I come across while navigating
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:this remarkable journey we call life.
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:I love this earth.
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:Do you?
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:I think it's so beautiful.
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:I love the sky and the stars.
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:I love to walk barefoot on the sand.
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:I love to run my hands through
the rich soil of my garden.
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:The first time I learned that the
celestial kingdom would be here
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:on this earth, I got so excited.
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:It seriously made me even
more motivated to get there.
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:I want to live on this earth for all
eternity, the thought of it being
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:celestial, that gets me really excited.
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:I think it will be like
living in the Garden of Eden.
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:There won't be any weeds, no
invasive non-native plants.
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:I don't know.
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:It's just my dream come true.
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:I know we have scriptures that
say the earth is going to be
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:a giant crystal or something.
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:That part has given me pause in the
past because truth be told, I like dirt,
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:but I just have to remind myself who
created the earth the way it is right
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:now, and if he's going to make it
even better, I'm willing to trust him.
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:I am telling you all this because
I want to explain how, for me,
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:connecting with nature is a powerful
way to connect with my God, to connect
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:with Jesus Christ, the Creator.
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:And I believe that eating close to
the earth, meaning foods that aren't
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:processed or only minimally processed,
connect me to the earth and to my savior.
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:This connection with the
earth, with nature is why.
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:A couple of weeks ago I started a series
of podcasts about the word of wisdom.
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:The first podcast came out on May
th,:
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:Wisdom of Listening to Your Mother.
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:Please listen to that podcast if
you want an overview of this topic.
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:The second one came out on July 14th,
:
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:My goal in this series is to talk
about the dos of the word of wisdom,
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:the dos as in what God wants us to eat
versus the don'ts, which are things God
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:doesn't want us to eat or otherwise est.
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:As members of the Church of
Jesus Christ, we are all mostly
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:familiar with the don'ts.
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:What I want to do is dive into
what I see as the dos, what
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:I believe I should be eating.
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:You may have different ideas,
and I think that's great.
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:I am only sharing what I find beneficial
for me in hopes that it may help someone
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:who was searching for their own answers.
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:So take this for what you will.
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:These are only my thoughts, and I
reserve the right to change my thoughts
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:tomorrow if I learn something new.
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:So in my reading of the word
of wisdom, I find four dos.
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:Number one, eat wholesome herbs.
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:Number two, eat seasonally
with prudence and Thanksgiving.
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:Number three, eat meat sparingly.
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:And number four.
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:Eat grains.
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:Today I want to dive into
number two, eating seasonally.
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:My original plan was to cover
eating seasonally with Prudence and
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:Thanksgiving all in one podcast.
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:Turns out I have too much to say about
eating seasonally all by itself, so I am
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:going to leave the eating with Prudence
and Thanksgiving for a podcast of its own.
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:So let me start by reading
doctrine and covenants.
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:Chapter 89 verse 11.
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:It says, every herb in the season
thereof and every fruit in the
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:season thereof, all these to be
used with prudence and thanksgiving.
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:What does this mean exactly
in the season thereof?
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:To me, this is the hardest of all
the dues of the word of wisdom to
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:pin down and the hardest for me to
live given my current lifestyle.
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:But more about that in a minute.
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:First, let me talk about the
easy part, and that is the why.
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:Why should we eat seasonally?
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:This part totally makes sense to me.
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:Our physical bodies have evolved
and adapted to life on this earth.
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:It makes sense that we would be the
healthiest if we eat according to
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:the seasons, according to the times
when certain foods are available.
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:Let me explain how this
was brought home for me.
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:Several years ago, I decided
to participate in an online
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:detox with a renowned herbalist.
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:during his overview,
he said, not to worry.
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:There would be plenty of food.
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:No one would go hungry.
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:It wasn't until I had paid for the
course as well as the required herbs at
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:no small expense that I realized I had
just signed up to eat Kitchery, an Indian
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:style dish made with lentils and rice.
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:For seven weeks, yep.
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:You heard me Rice and
lentils for seven weeks.
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:He didn't lie.
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:There was plenty of food because
we could eat as much kitchery as we
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:wanted, but here's what's interesting.
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:Okay.
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:Over the course of the seven weeks, the
outlined plan was to detox a different
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:organ system each week, and along with
the kit tree, which was basically an
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:easy to digest filler, we were to take
various herbs as well as specific fruits
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:and vegetables depending on which organ
system we were detoxing that week.
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:For example, we ate different
fruits and vegetables depending on
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:if we were focused on the liver or
the kidney or the large intestine.
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:While going through this process, it
dawned on me that if I ate seasonally, it
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:would be like I was on a year long detox.
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:Did you hear that?
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:If I ate seasonally, I would never
have to do a kitie cleanse again.
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:I would be in a natural,
constant state of detox.
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:Okay.
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:Now it doesn't work out perfectly
and some foods double up
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:for different organ systems.
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:But let me give you an example.
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:Arugula butter, lettuce, mustard,
greens, and spinach are all good
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:for digestion and the blood.
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:And I usually think of
greens as a spring food.
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:Cucumber, parsley, asparagus are
all good for the kidneys, and
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:these are more mid-summer foods.
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:The cabbage family, including
broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels
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:sprouts are foods that are ready
to harvest in the fall and are used
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:for a deep detox of the whole body.
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:Beets, carrots, turnips and
rutabaga are good for the liver.
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:These are plants we store
to eat for the winter.
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:And then the cycle starts again.
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:Isn't that cool?
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:I totally think so.
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:And I have come to believe in the
health benefits of eating seasonally.
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:It's almost like God planned it that way.
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:Hmm.
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:What a surprise.
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:Now, even before I did this detox, I
was thinking about eating seasonally,
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:and one summer I decided I would
only eat foods as they showed
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:up at the local farmer's market.
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:Oh my.
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:I thought tomatoes would never show up.
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:Nowadays, they're always
in the grocery store.
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:We can get them anytime we want.
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:So for most of us, we have no idea
which foods are in season when.
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:This is an area where South Africa has
an advantage over the United States.
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:They do have grocery stores that
stock produce, but I saw fruits and
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:vegetable stands all over the country
selling whatever was in season.
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:While I was there, it was mostly these
large green avocados and oranges.
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:but at other times, I have heard Judy talk
about the delicious mangoes, and I didn't
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:see a single mango while I was there.
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:You know why?
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:Because they weren't in season When
I started this eating seasonal
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:journey, I had no idea that lettuce
is one of the first vegetables
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:to come up at the end of winter.
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:News to me, lettuce is
a cold weather plant.
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:I am embarrassed to say I had no idea.
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:If you feel like me and don't know
your seasonal foods, I will put a link
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:in the show notes to a website called
Seasonal Food Guide that lets you put
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:in your location and the time of year
and it will tell you what's in season.
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:Sorry, my friends in South Africa.
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:This only works for the United States.
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:But if I pull it up right now, I can
see that in early August for Utah,
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:there are pages of fruits and vegetables
in season, including tomatoes.
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:But what about January?
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:What's in season near me
during the heart of winter?
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:Let's see.
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:Hmm.
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:There's only one page and
it lists horse radish.
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:One of Judy's favorites, just kidding.
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:Leaks.
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:Onions, sprouts, Jerusalem
artichokes and something I have
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:never heard of called Salsify.
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:It is defined as a slender woody root
said to be similar in flavor to oysters.
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:Wow.
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:Who knew?
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:I'm not sure what to think about that.
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:But moving forward, let's
look at January in California.
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:Here I am back to pages of
fruits and vegetables, It lists
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:avocados, beets, broccoli,
Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots,
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:cauliflower, and the list goes on.
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:Though I will point out that there
are no tomatoes, tomatoes aren't in
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:season in January, even in California.
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:So what's the deal?
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:Do we have to move to California
to eat for the winter?
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:I will tell you honestly
that I don't know.
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:How do you eat seasonally when your
choices are horse radish and Salsify?
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:Well, for a while I belong to one
of those food co-ops that brings
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:you a box of whatever's in season,
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:And the delivery driver told me
that it's the company's policy
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:that anything they could pick and
deliver within a 24 hour period was
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:considered local and thus in season.
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:So that's one way to look at it.
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:You could drive to California from Utah
in less than 24 hours, so that works.
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:Another way to look at eating seasonally
is by eating traditional foods.
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:What did the pioneers eat?
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:Think of foods that store
well, Apples, cabbage, root,
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:vegetables, beans, and grains.
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:Okay, that sounds good, but what
about all the fruits and veggies
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:the pioneers would've canned
to have on hand for the winter?
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:peaches, beets, string
beans, pickles, and tomatoes.
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:Are we allowed to eat
those during the winter?
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:And if so, what difference does this
whole eating seasonal thing really make?
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:Uh, you can see there
are no clear answers.
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:As of right now, I may
change my mind later.
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:I am going with the
traditional food option.
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:I do can my own tomatoes and eat
them year round, but I don't buy
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:them fresh from the grocery store
unless it's late summer or fall.
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:Now, don't let the fact that I canned
my own tomatoes discourage you.
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:I could just as easily
buy them from the store.
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:I just happened to be in a
location and a time of life where
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:this works for me, so I do it.
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:Okay.
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:Another way I have chosen to eat more
seasonally is by giving up eating
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:salads during the winter, opting
instead for storable vegetables like
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:cabbage beets and other root vegetables.
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:My easy go-to is to chop kind of
small a variety of root vegetables
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:like turnips, rutabaga, parsnips, and
roast them in oil with salt and pepper,
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:and then I eat them with mustard.
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:For me, that was a good way to get used
to vegetables that I wasn't used to.
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:Okay, so my last seasonal tip I will share
is that instead of having a green drink
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:for breakfast, as I do most of the year,
I drop this from my diet during the winter
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:months and eat oatmeal with a variety of
seeds and nuts and sweetened with apples.
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:So my number two of the word of wisdom
eat seasonally isn't as clear cut as I
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:would like, and as I have said, in my
opinion, it's the hardest of all the
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:dues to implement or even figure out.
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:But to be honest, the more I have tried
to apply seasonality as a whole to my
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:life, the more I have loved it, the
rhythms, and the cycles are awesome.
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:Could the magic of living and eating
seasonally be one of those hidden
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:treasures mentioned in the word of wisdom?
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:I can't say for sure,
but I have come to think.
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:It just might be.
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:Judy, and I know your time is precious
and that you have many choices.
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:We love that you have chosen to
walk with us for a few minutes as
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:we navigate this journey of life.
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:If you like this podcast, will you take
the time right now to share it with a
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:friend, share it somewhere on social
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:if you are on Apple Podcast,
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:Your efforts will help this podcast
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:that you like our show and will give
us the motivation to keep going.
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:Thank you in advance for your help.
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:And let me end with this famous quote
from Ecclesiastes to everything.
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:There is a season and a time
to every purpose under heaven.
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:Namaste.
