Choose wisely

Nowadays millions of fruits and vegetables travel from different parts of the earth to reach far more distant ones.

During this process the environment is terribly burdened as a large amount of CO2 is emitted during their transport. Also, in many cases they are transported to another country to be packed in plastic (lower packaging costs) and again travel to another country to be consumed.

The best choice is always to buy local fruit and vegetables, in season and obviously loose. Each season we can find many local vegetables and fruits which are perfectly suited to our body's needs.

Eating seasonally is healthier, more economic and environmentally friendly. From the environmental aspect, they use less energy for artificial heating or lighting, for refrigeration and storage and avoid losses during storage, which generally helps to produce less GHG emissions, compared to fruit and vegetables that are grown under protection, are imported or stored.

Pulses have been an essential ingredient of the human diet for centuries. They are rich in protein, fibre, vitamins and minerals. The French National Nutrition and Health Program (PNNS) recommends consuming pulses twice a week.

From an environmental perspective, it can be said that pulses are intelligent in terms of climate because, their crop helps to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. They improve carbon capture, which is good for the planet. Also they have the advantage of requiring little water, improving the water retention capacity of soils and thus their fertility. They use 1/2 to 1/10 of the amount of water other protein sources need to grow. Many legume crops can adapt to dry, wet, cold or hot environments due to the small amount of water they need to grow.

The nutrients of legumes are also goof for the soil. They produce different compounds from which soil microorganisms feed. This process improves the yield of the soil from which other crops that are grown in alternating crops with legumes benefit.