Why Supporting Regenerative Agriculture Is the Most Powerful Thing You Can Do for Your Health

Healthy soil equals healthy people.

Author: Adrian White | Published: September 18, 2017

When we talk about sustainable farming practices, we tend to focus on its importance for the environment, for our food security, and our desire to put food on the table that’s not contaminated with pesticides. But there’s an important topic doesn’t get talked about often enough: how food sustainability is inextricably tied to our health.

Over the past decade, physicians have increasingly recognized the importance of good nutrition to human health. An article published last week in The Journal of the American College Of Nutrition noted that the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases such as as obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease is linked to long-term poor nutrition. Good nutrition, on the other hand, is one of the most powerful (and least expensive) forms of preventative healthcare you have at your disposal. A good diet can help prevent heart disease, diabetes, obesity, autoimmune and digestive disorders, and several types of cancers.

(Brag your love of gardening with the Organic Life 2018 Calendar, featuring gorgeous photographs, cooking tips and recipes, plus how to eat more—and waste less!—of what’s in season.)

And it turns out that the best food for you–the most nutritious food–is food that comes from a sustainable food system.

The foundation of a healthy diet is whole fruits and vegetables, which contain vitamins, minerals, macronutrients, and phytochemicals—and compounds only found in plants, like lycopene, that are essential to our health.

Many of the compounds essential to human health are destroyed when whole fruits, vegetables, and grains are processed into shelf-stable foods. To make for their lack of nutrition (especially vitamins), synthetic nutrients are added to processed foods. However, studies show that certain synthetic nutrients pale in comparison to natural ones—even those found in synthetic supplements (particularly vitamin E and vitamin D).

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