Today we discuss ways to get the most nutrient-rich vegetables (and actually fruits, too). Our suggestions include tips for farmers’ markets, co-ops, and frozen foods too. We hope this helps you get the most nutrients out of your fresh produce while providing much encouragement to do so. Thanks for joining us today.
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[00:00:00] Well, Hi Patryce. Hi Shonda. It's been a while. Yeah. I'm glad we're back together to bring a new message today or an encouraging message that you know, how can we get the freshest vegetables. Right. Is that what we're talking about today? We are. Yeah. How can we, you want to get us started with that Shonda?
[00:00:26] Well, we came up with some ideas first, you know, we were talking about the farmers' markets and we'll get into that. And then there, there are a couple of other things that we can do if the farmer, if the farmers' markets aren't available, but you know, let's get started talking about farmers' markets because they are a great resource for the freshest vegetables, right?.
[00:00:51] They are, they are. We have one near us and you can Google to find out where there might be one near you. And like you said, not only can you get the freshest vegetables often with the dirt still on the vegetables and the roots there sometimes, but you also can build community. You learn about different... other farmers' are just different resources and getting to know where your food sources are actually coming from. So I have found it doesn't even have to be a huge farmers' market as, as long as there's at least a, a couple of vendors providing some vegetables and some fruits. And lately our farmers' market has one vendor where they do nothing but mushrooms.
[00:01:38] Yeah. They do fresh mushrooms, but they also do medicinal mushrooms. But what I was excited about is I had never eaten or prepared lion's mane mushrooms. And because of that farmers' market experience, I not only purchased them, but now they're one of my favorite mushrooms. They are so meaty and they're similar to almost like scallops.
[00:02:01] When you prepare them. So yeah, I think farmers' market a great way to go. Yeah. You do find some really interesting foods to try, you know, fresh foods to give it a try and, and, you know, I think that's a good thing. Cause you can always throw anything into a stir fry. Right? And any green that perhaps
[00:02:23] you don't like in your salad, you know, it's for whatever reason, you can just throw it in a morning smoothie. So, you know, be encouraged to try something and, and not worry about it going to waste because I think you could hide anything in a smoothie or even a sauce. You know? Good idea. Good idea. And like you said, one other thing about the farmers' market for me, I tend to buy vegetables sometimes and before you know it, they can go bad.
[00:02:54] But I don't like wasting money. And then after you've talked to these foods and you get to know them, you're like, I don't want to waste this great produce that they grew and took time to nurture. So I have made it a habit. Now I'll go on Saturday. That's when ours is. And then either no later than Monday, I have prepared
[00:03:12] almost everything. So if I've gotten some potatoes, some Bok choy, and these are things I don't often, you know, sometimes you see what you see in the grocery store, but when you're getting at the farmers' market, it has to be in season, right? So you're also getting in season fruits and vegetables, but you don't want them to go bad.
[00:03:32] So it's been a... I guess it's been a good habit to go because then I get in the habit of preparing all those vegetables and eating the fruit and vegetables before they go bad. That's good. That's like being on having a purpose or intention, you know, be in purposeful, right again. Yes. Purposeful and intentionally.
[00:03:54] Yep. Yep. So, yeah, that's a good thing. I know that a there we can just Google. You know, farmers' markets near me. And there are a couple, I know local harvest used to be around for a long time, but I know that some of the things I looked recently kind of have expired, but there are many new ones popping up and I think check with your local
[00:04:17] chamber of commerce and to see if there's some nearby just, or, or your, or your city, you know, like farmers' markets in whatever city you live in. And then that would be a good way to find farmers. Yeah. That's a great idea, Shonda. I'd never thought about it. And if you're really an eager beaver, you can call.
[00:04:42] And if they say, well, we don't have one. Maybe you could be that person with one or two other people who encourage that a farmer mark, or farmers' market comes to your city. So they can see, you can express the value of that. And maybe where there wasn't one, they might start having one. And also if you have friends or neighbors, I know I have a friend who's not far away, so maybe she'll go to the farmers' market and I don't make it, but we'll buy for one another.
[00:05:08] So that's another thing. So you can also think about I don't know if it's not a formal co-op, but in an informal way of, of just going to farmers' markets and maybe one of you, but covering for two families. Yeah. You know, now that you mentioned it, I had not thought about the co-ops. And so many places.
[00:05:28] I know a lot of what nutrition stores may have co-ops available. Yeah. farmers' themselves may run their own co-op and so what, what, what's the definition of a co-op maybe someone doesn't know. I don't know the formal definition, but it's more like a collective effort. So you and other people agree that we, we, we want these products, these products.
[00:06:00] So say like you said, a nutrition store might work with certain farmers' and they know that they're going to get certain bags of grocery or box of groceries. And then as a co-op part of co-op, there's a set price usually to get those. So it's cooperative. I think, yeah, it's kind of like the farmers' can depend on the customers that there'll be a customer because you sign up to, to sort of support the farmers', right?
[00:06:29] Through a monthly fee, and then they send you produce. Now, you don't always have the option to choose what produce that is, but hey, that's part of the journey, right. You know, get something new, but it will be fresh and it will be, you know, full of vitamins and nutrients. It certainly will. And I, I think I'm glad you brought the whole co-op thing.
[00:06:49] It's not a co-op, but there was another resource we learned of, I think, called imperfect foods. And I believe, I don't know all the details. So you just interject where you, you can. But I have a cousin who does participate with this and I believe it's a membership fee and you pay membership fee and then you get a box shipped to you of imperfect vegetables.
[00:07:13] And I think that that's, that only means that maybe the potatoes have a bruise on it, a little bruising, but certainly you can just cut that bruising off and they're perfectly edible vegetables. My cousin has said that she's enjoyed her imperfect box of goodies. And I don't know if you always know what you're going to get, but again, produce is produce.
[00:07:36] You're still going to get alive, nutritious, delicious vegetables and maybe fruits too, but it's something people can Google imperfect foods. It's not a bad thing. Let's put it that way that you have an imperfect vegetable, but apparently by joining this imperfect foods, you... it's a membership fee and you get on a regular basis, a box of vegetables.
[00:07:57] And I think it's a pretty reasonable price. Yeah, I haven't looked into it. I did Google it quickly last night and I did not read much, but I think you do have the option to choose they'll suggest things. And I think you have the option to switch things out. They do have additional things that are not just vegetables.
[00:08:18] And I think sometime at the imperfect food would be like, it just looks like a different shape than you would normally find. You know, it's not that perfectly round apple or that perfectly, you know, it may be two carrots growing together instead of one, you know, and you're like, that's weird, but you know, it happens in nature.
[00:08:39] So, you know, yeah. I'm, I'm going to look more into that and see, so. So we've, we were talking about trying these new things and we don't want them to go to waste. And so one thing that I do, I know when I started having things go to waste, you know, if I've just, if I can't just get enough into my smoothies, I will
[00:09:01] wash the produce, chop it up a little bit and put it in the freezer right next to my bananas. And you know, you can cook with frozen vegetables, just like we buy them in the grocery store. Right. We buy frozen things. So we could freeze our own, just make sure we do use a freezer bag, you know? But that is an option, you know, to preserve things and also to go ahead and make a salad with it.
[00:09:31] And, you know, if you do a vinaigrette, you know, it will preserve it for a few more days, whether than just sitting in the refrigerator. So freezer foods, freezer produce. From the grocery store is another good way to get fresh vegetables. Very much. So I'm glad you brought that up because I don't know where we get that idea that they're not as good, but so often I'm reminded now that they are, I don't know if it's called flash
[00:10:04] ÔÇ£freezedÔÇØ or whatever, but it's at the source pretty much. Once they're harvested, then they, they freeze them like peas and, and there's just so many different frozen vegetables and fruits which are awesome for your smoothies coming straight from the freezer. But I've seen more and more of the YouTubers who are vegan YouTubers are plant based YouTubers where they're encouraging us
[00:10:29] get that get those frozen peas. And you can always add some frozen peas to, to a stir-fry just to add your vegetables. So I love that you brought up about the frozen vegetables and fruits and that they're just as nutritious, supposedly flash frozen at the peak of ripeness. Oh, that's supposed to be they're ready.
[00:10:52] They're ready to go. So they freeze them. Whereas when a lot of. Things in the grocery store, they pick them before they're ripe. And then, you know, they have to maybe ripe in along the way, on the long trip to the grocery store or, you know, we know that they do use gases to, to help with that. So it's just not natural.
[00:11:15] So I think frozen is good for that reason because it's ripe and ready, you know? So, and I've noticed that at some grocery stores, they have... like they advertise local produce or local farmer. Yeah. I've seen it a couple of times at grocery stores. Like even like Walmart or HEB. I mean, it's not often, but we can keep our eyes open for that because you know, those vegetables, those produce.
[00:11:47] It's coming from a long distance and, you know, we won't even get into how long they can keep apples stored. I think it's like up to a year. We, we know that it loses some nutrients, you know, along the way. Yeah, that's a good point. But now that you're bringing it down for me again, that just reiterates. The reason why you want to go to farmers' markets, where it's a locally grown in season and why you want to consider getting more of the frozen when you can.
[00:12:14] And not only that, it's very practical and convenient, the frozen using the frozen fruits and vegetables so that we don't have that whole excuse like, oh, I can't, I can't seem to cook everything before it goes bad. Well, if you freeze it, you don't have to worry. That's so true. So we just want to invite everyone to try and get the freshest vegetables possible because you're going to get the best nutrients out of those vegetables and fruits and things that we find.
[00:12:41] So that's just really all our messages today. Just be on the lookout. Do your best. Be encouraged. Be encouraged. Be encouraged, like you said, and if anyone, if anyone listening to this has any ideas or things that you have found helpful, please write us, let us know, because we want to share those ideas too and be encouraged ourselves.
[00:13:04] So I think it's, again, we're all about building community and when we either go to these farmers' markets, we're building communities, but also when we're learning about things like using the frozen and other ideas that work for us, then we share with other people. And again, it's just build... Building community, encouraging people along our own journeys.
[00:13:25] So yeah, let's just keep it real right. Keep it real. I love it. Okay. And eat more plants. I like that plaque behind. Oh yes. This weekend at a festival. Eat more plants. We'll see y'all next time.
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![[00:00:00] Patryce: Good morning, Shonda. [00:00:01] Shonda: Good morning, Patryce. [00:00:02] Welcome back. I understand you guys had a wonderful camping trip. [00:00:07] Yeah. Yeah. It was fun. I was a little tired cause I didn't bring my juice, but you know, um, I learned, so we still have to talk about juicing, but we'll get to it soon. [00:00:19] Patryce: Today we're going to continue from what we provide a snippet about. Right. Um, we've been talking about toxins and first part we talked about food and water and its importance about detoxing because as you always remind us, fiber is excellent and it is a great way to help our bodies to naturally detox. [00:00:44] Right. And then also water is another excellent way to help our bodies to detox naturally. Anyone can go look at the snippet about the details, about how, if we're avoiding water and not getting enough hydration and fiber, um, we're building up toxins in our body. [00:01:06] Shonda: Yeah. And so, yeah, how important water is, if we're getting the right amount of fiber, we need water for the hydration to help the toxins be removed. [00:01:16] And, um, so that's where we're going to start. And you found a definition. I thought that was a really good definition about the importance of water. [00:01:26] Patryce: Oh, the definition for hydration, right? Yeah. Oh, in which basically the process of causing our bodies to absorb water and replace water in the body. [00:01:37] Our bodies require adequate hydration to function properly. When our bodies become dehydrated it means that we are lacking the water levels necessary for optimum function. Yeah. Wow. [00:01:52] Shonda: Yeah. So it's well known that water is important for optimal functioning. Right. Um, and, and it went further to talk about every cell tissue and organ in your body needs water to work properly, you know, and it talks about things like maintaining. [00:02:09] It's temperature, lubricating your joints, but the big highlight is removing toxins. Sure. Yeah. So, yeah, let's talk about using water to remove toxins. What are some ways that, um, you know, I mean, it just the process of drinking water. So, um, some may not enjoy drinking water because they're used to drinking other drinks, you know, liquids. But you put some tips there. [00:02:40] Want to tell us about those tips? [00:02:42] Patryce: Yeah, we can get creative by adding lemon is a calling way to, um, enhance our water... tastes of the water. And then also we can infuse it with different flavors, natural flavors. You can put your mint in there. You could even. Uh, lime, if that's what you want or raspberries even. [00:03:07] And there are actual inexpensive infusers to do that. And I've seen videos where people make a whole pitcher of water infused with different berries or different flavors, and they put in the refrigerator to make it a little chilly, whatever is best for them. Uh, we, we drank our it's more room temperature, but the main thing is just drinking more water. [00:03:30] Shonda: Yeah, that's a really good start. Uh, is drinking more water. And then, yeah, I heard that and I do drink room temperature too. That that's best for digestion. And something else that comes to mind is it's best to drink water before you eat at least 15 minutes before, or wait 15 to 30 minutes after, you know, so it doesn't interfere with you know, watering down your stomach acids for best digestion. [00:03:59] Patryce: I've heard that. I've heard that too. I, I am very much about not drinking 20 minutes after I eat for that. Very reason. [00:04:08] Shonda: I know, I get a really strange look when I go to restaurants and they're like, so what will you have to drink? I'm like nothing. For one, I don't know what kind of water they're serving me. [00:04:19] So I have my water in the car, you know, and I'm not drinking with my food, so I don't need water when I go out to eat at a restaurant. [00:04:28] Patryce: Wow. That's a great tip Shonda. That we can bring our own water bottles, um, when we go out to eat, because we don't know, some restaurants are becoming more, uh, conscious of our water. [00:04:41] And I I've been to a couple where they have some wonderful filtered water and that's another thing we can talk about, is that what is the quality of the water we're drinking like and how we can be intentional about different options? Like having the water filter, maybe at our home, or we, we buy filtered water and, or spring water, or even have it delivered to our house. [00:05:08] But I think you've mentioned before everyone should lookwhat their local water supply looks like. We have tap water, but do you know, what's in your tap water? [00:05:21] Shonda: Yeah, I'll definitely put a link there, uh, you can call your local water provider, but also you can get a report through EWG's website. [00:05:32] They have a water report, just put in your zip code, I believe, and out pops everything, and it's all laid out nicely too. You know, you can read it easily. So, um I did that. And I found out we had a lot of arsenic in our water. That was the main one. I was like, okay. But anyway, we had like 27 contaminants that were like outside of the EWG guidelines. [00:05:57] So that's good to know. Um, I do not drink water from home. I only drink spring water. That's my water of choice. And I have an article that I wrote out on the website about water choices, why I choose spring water. So, um, I'll put a link to that. [00:06:19] Patryce: Good, good information. And another thing is we're talking about how to drink water and maybe flavoring it if that makes it more attractive to you, but also we can drink teas. [00:06:31] That's another good way of being it. Staying hydrated. So lots of teas, I would say herbal tea before the caffeinated tea, because caffeination having caffeine too much of it can, um, facilitate becoming dehydrated. [00:06:48] Shonda: All right. One more thing that I like to add with carrying your water around. I did go to the extra effort of buying glass water bottles. I think I have a sample right behind me, actually. They're glass, water bottle. That I carry. And it has a sleeve for cushioning, you know, to protect against, you know, possibly breaking it. [00:07:10] If you drop it. And, uh, this, I don't mind leaving in my car. So you do not want to leave your water in plastic in a hot car because that is a way that toxins from that plastic can leach into your water. So I buy these, um, glass water bottles. And, uh, I leave this in my car. Because I don't mind drinking warm water, you know, it's, it's kinda nice coming out of a cold place and drinking warm water for me. Um, but that's just something to think about. [00:07:48] You know, I know, um, a lot of the plastics now are BPA free, but there's still lots of other toxins in plastics. So we just kinda want to not add to the toxic levels in our water by leaving plastic in our [00:08:03] Patryce: car. That's a great heads up. And not only being overheated plastic becomes not good for you, but also it had been popular for people to freeze their water bottles the night before and then take them out and use it throughout the day. But the same situation can happen there where unbeknownst, there are toxins, additional toxins as a result of the plastic in the freezing process. So good. Heads-up. [00:08:29] Shonda: Yeah, that's very true. [00:08:31] Okay. And let's not forget about cooking. What water are we using to cook with? Right. Because especially like for making something like a soup, we don't want to ingest a lot of toxins in our vegetable soups, and you know, in our nutritious soup. So that's just another thought that something that, you know, we should consider. [00:08:54] Patryce: That is a big deal because at one point, just even boiling noodles and then rinsing them after you boiled them, I could taste or smell that tap water smell. Versus when I don't use my tap water. And it may seem like a waste to some people, but again, it goes back to what you were just sharing with us about any toxins being heated up. [00:09:18] Essentially that can make it even worse for us. So here we are boiling toxic water and then boiling our food at it. So, anyway, I love that you brought that up. It's important to just keep in mind that, uh, where possible, uh, be intentional about the water we're cooking with as well. [00:09:41] Shonda: So If I am making a soup, I will use spring water to make soup. [00:09:45] If I'm cooking something smaller I do have a filter on my tap water. It filters out quite a bit. And so I do use that for some cooking a little bit, but yeah, if I'm making a big pot of like just soup, I just go ahead and make sure I have some spring water available. [00:10:06] Patryce: Super cool. [00:10:07] Shonda: Okay. Um, so I guess you can lead us into bathing. [00:10:14] Patryce: Oh, yes, the bathing, um, which hopefully we're doing on a regular basis. But just to keep in mind that whether it's a shower or a bath in the tub, it's get getting a lot of water into our bodies. So especially with the showers you can now get showerheads that filter your water that is going on your body. So that's something to keep in mind and then regarding bathing, um, I found some links even to different recipes for detoxing, your bath water, and one of them is using charcoal. And I think you've used charcoal internally, but you can actually make a concoction with your charcoal, is it Bentonite, what is it called? [00:11:06] Shonda: Uh, there's Terramin clay and then there's charcoal and they're totally different in the way they... [00:11:11] Patryce: Oh, I'm sorry. Backup Patryce. I was, I meant to say clay, you can make a clay mixture that you put into your water, uh, when you're bathing to help detox that. And then there's other, um, ways that you can, uh, do salt, detox, baths. [00:11:31] There are couple of different recipes, homemade recipes for detoxing your bath water, which I thought was super interesting. Especially if you have younger kids, because that's mainly what we do when our kids are little. They're in the bathtub, soaking it up. And so that's just to be mindful of maybe looking at some of these homemade recipes for, for detoxing the water or helping your child to get detox, but also to also be mindful. [00:11:57] And I know this is going ahead, but just not to put a lot added stuff. I know there's some name brands of like, let's pour this in for bubbles and I'm not trying to take the fun out of bathing, but at the same time, you went to be healthy as well as, as a fun experience, if that makes. [00:12:16] Shonda: Yeah, we get just buy castile soap as a liquid and put it in there and there would be bubbles, you know, so something that we can consider. [00:12:26] So I wanted to distinguish a difference between detoxing the water and taking a detoxing bath. So yeah, they're, they're two different things really. Right? So the whole house filter or filter on the shower head. And you know, like you said, there's also the option once you get that bath water filtered, you can take a detox bath that will help your body detox from things by adding the Epson salts and um, the clay detox. So there's two different things there, but you want to start with clean water source. [00:13:03] Patryce: So true. I'm glad you spelled that out for us. [00:13:06] There is a difference on filtering the water itself and then actually making an intentional bath that helps to detox you. So good point. Yeah. [00:13:17] Well, Shonda, I, this is a lot of great information, and I learned a lot myself as I was researching about, um, just having clean water. [00:13:26] And that's what we really want to make the point is just to do your due diligence, do research about what is the water source that you're already depending on. And if it's not ideal, what steps can you take? And it can be step-by-step. To make sure you get more quality water for drinking, for bathing and all the different things we've talked about. Including the very good tips you brought up about the water that we're drinking from maybe plastic bottles, making a new habit of getting some glass recylable bottles. And then drinking the water from there. And I do like how you brought up about the water filters on our showers, uh, because you can Google and find different priced ones. And so hopefully you can find one for your, your budget. [00:14:14] Shonda: So yeah, that, that is really all good information. And I just want to impress upon our listeners, that water is so important, you know, that we are taking in enough. And it's so important about the quality of water. So soon we'll be talking about the environment and then we may touch on water again a little bit. [00:14:35] And food again. So that's coming up. So stay tuned for that. Um, I want to put a plug in, I'm going to try and remember in each one that, uh, EWG now has some sort of label on Amazon now for their approved products. [00:14:53] Wow. Yeah. I don't remember the name, but I'll find it and I'll link it below. [00:14:59] Patryce: Wow. That sounds like super good information. And now that you mentioned that one other thing I forgot about, so I mentioned the other day that they're using a water app. So there are apps you can download to your phone because you know you're not drinking enough water and these apps will throughout the day, remind you to drink your water. [00:15:20] It sounds kind of silly, but I know at least one person it's been life changing. [00:15:25] Shonda: Yeah, it is drinking enough water will change your life. So I guess that's all we have for y'all today and thanks for joining us. [00:15:35] Yeah. So next week we'll be talking about the environment and toxins in our environment and how to avoid them and all the different things. And remember, it's just step-by-step but this information would be here for you to come back to as you need it, as you implement these different things. So take your time and, um, be healthy. [00:15:54] Stay well.](https://realfoodanddrinks.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/glass-of-water.jpg)
