Food Security Monday

Conventionally grown faux foods contain
less nutrients than real ones grown organically

What Is Food Security?

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations defines food security as:

"a condition in which all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life."

Conventional industrial foods are bred and grown in conditions that increase profits, but decrease nutritional value. You may pay less for food produced on energy-intensive, fossil fuel based industrial farms, but you are also getting less. Less nutrients, but more harmful chemical residues.

From a food security perspective, industrial farms do not meet the goals of safe and nutritious food that meets our dietary needs for an active and healthy life. We have to approach what we eat with food security in mind.

We grow some of our own food. When buying food, we try to buy local and organic as much as we can. Considering the extra nutrients in organic food, the price doesn't seem as high compared to less expensive, less nutritious conventional foods.

You can do something today to increase your food security - join a community garden, plan a backyard garden plot, plant some containers with veggies, buy organic apples and potatoes from local producers, join a farm box program for local, fresh produce, join a food buying coop, grow some herbs indoors in a window, start some seeds... Get involved - it's fun.