Did you know that according to WHO, approximately 14% of deaths globally result from not taking in enough vegetables and fruits? Insufficient intake of vegetables can cause certain diseases like gastro-intestinal cancer, stroke, and ischemic heart disease.

But you could be taking the correct quantity of them and still not enjoying the full benefits. What could be the cause? Maybe you are buying preserved or frozen vegetables from your nearest supermarket. Keep it here to learn why you should pick your fresh vegetables from a nearby farmer than in a supermarket.

Most supermarkets sell preserved or frozen vegetables, and when you find fresh vegetables, they could have stayed for a couple of days. Getting vegetables from a supermarket may be convenient for you. But is choosing convenience over nutritional value worth it?

Some vegetables can be eaten raw, cooked, or suit both ways. If you buy them when fresh from the garden to your table, you will reap the following benefits;

Retained Full Nutritional value

Fresh vegetables contain a lot of minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants. All these elements play an essential role in improving your health.

Recent studies indicate that during blanching, vegetables lose certain nutrients. The initial blanching process entails cooking the vegetables in boiling water for a specified time. Afterward, they are dipped in ice-cold water before freezing, canning, or drying for storage.

Most nutrients such as oxygen-labile and water-soluble like all the vitamin Bs and vitamin C disappear in the heating process.

Also, as frozen vegetables stay longer, they lose more nutrients during oxidation. A University of California research illustrates that some fresh produce loses 30% of nutrients approximately three days after harvesting.

With a week, vegetables lose approximately 15% to 55% of vitamin C. Spinach lose about 90% of vitamin C within a day of harvesting! Fresh produce in a supermarket usually has stayed a few hours or days. You may not enjoy the total nutrients from such vegetables.

Commercial farms harvest fresh produce before they are ripe if meant to sell in distant locations. Great examples are the pepper varieties. If such a vegetable ripens before harvesting, it will contain all the necessary nutrients. When plucked before, some vitamins may miss.

Also, fresh vegetables for sale in far distances may be modified to travel to avoid getting spoilt. The modification process may interfere with their nutritional content. After reaching the destination when not ready or ripe, they could boost them artificially with procedures such as gassing. Such processes may damage the vitamin content and natural taste of the vegetables.

The only viable solution is to buy fresh vegetables from a nearby farmer.

Chemical Free Vegetables

Most supermarkets prefer stocking preserved vegetables because they last long. Fresh vegetables may spoil quickly and lead to a loss if not sold in time. Preserved vegetables may contain chemicals to keep them fresh and prolong their lives.

Based on a researchers' report, artificial preservatives may cause several health issues like;

• Neurological damage
• Allergies
• Hyperactivity
• Asthma
• Cancer

Such preservatives include but not limited to;

• Nitrates
• Sulfites
• Parabens
• Benzoates
• Sorbates

When you buy fresh vegetables directly from the farmer, you can ask him how he’s raised them and whether he’s used any chemicals. Because local farmers produce fresh vegetables for the local market, they don’t require any preservatives.

Plenty of Options

Some fresh vegetables like red carrots and green garlic are hard to preserve. As a result, they can hardly travel long distances. It’s why you don’t find some fresh vegetables in the supermarkets.

But when you visit a farmer nearby, the options will overwhelm you. Also, each vegetable variety comes with its nutrient contents. More options mean more nutrients in your diet.

The farmer also concentrates on the original vegetable varieties for the neighborhood. But large commercial vegetable producers may alter the types to boost the vegetables’ growth, yield, and long life. In the process, flavors worsen, and some nutrients disappear.

Significant research confirmed that fewer nutrients and altered flavors in some vegetables result from new cultivated varieties. You will find most of these varieties in the supermarkets.

Slower growing vegetable varieties may yield slowly but are rich in nutrients. You can only find such vegetables from your local farmer.

In Season Treats

You will need to dig deeper into your pockets to buy a vegetable that’s out of season in the supermarkets. Despite the high cost, such vegetables may not be fresh. It could also contain preservatives to withstand the shipping from its source and boost its life on the supermarket’s shelves.

But the farmer next only plants what’s in the season because the weather supports it. You’ll therefore have plenty in any season. For example, you will enjoy various vegetables that thrive in hot or warm weather during summer, like cucumbers and peppers.

Farmers don’t pack out their unsold vegetables. Therefore, they will offer you the in-season vegetables at a discounted price to encourage you to buy more.

So why would you go for the expensive and less nutritious out-of-season vegetables from the supermarket while you can enjoy fresh vegetables at an affordable price from the nearby farmer?

Minimal Wastage

When you buy your fresh vegetables from a farmer, you will only pick what you require for the day. It means you will enjoy the vegetables in their fresh state and won’t have any to throw away because you’ll utilize it all. In return, you reduce wastage.

Also, you can inspect the vegetables you’re buying from the farmer before harvesting. The farmer sells you what you pick. As a result, you hardly throw away any vegetables because of any fault like chemical presence, rotten, or pest infestation.

It isn’t easy to inspect packed vegetables in a supermarket. On arriving home and unpacking them, you could find many faults, causing you to throw them away.

Conclusion

It’s a no-brainer; as illustrated above, the benefits of farmer-produced vegetables surpass those bought from the supermarkets. The reasons pinpointed above are just a few of the many. If you have been buying your vegetables from the supermarket, it would be a wise decision to stop. Locate a farmer nearby and fetch your fresh vegetables from him.