One of the best things about a resolution to eat more healthfully is that it favors simplicity.

One way to increase the healthfulness of the food you eat is to minimize the processing of your food.  Eat fresh vegetables instead of canned.  You may not realize it, but canned vegetables tend to have a ton of salt.  Frozen vegetables are usually a good middle ground, especially if they are quick frozen with limited or no preervatives.

Rather than adding sauces, explore your spice rack.  You know all those spices you don’t know what to do with?  Try them on fruits and veggies.  Few fruits don’t benefit from a sprinkle of cinnamon or ginger or nutmeg or allspice.  Nutmeg is fabulous on dark greens, like spinach.  Thyme or sage can be added to anything with an earthy flavor.  Celery seed goes well with cabbage.  Cumin and coriander are really good on corn.  Experiment!  Play!  Try bizarre combinations and see what you like.  You’ll be amazed at how much you can enhance the flavor without adding many calories.

For those who like to plan ahead, you may want to think about Community Supported Agriculture (CSA).  Most CSA plans open for subscription in early February, so this weekend is a great time to do some research.  With CSA, you pay an upfront fee for a share of a farm’s harvest.  Then, each week during the growing season, you get a porton of whatever has ripened that week. You may pick it up at the farm or at a designated pickup point.  (Some farms deliver for an extra fee.)  You share in the fortunes of your farm.  If the weather is bad, you won’t get much food.  If the weather is fine and there’s a bumper crop, everyone you know may get zucchini bread and you could be jarring tomato sauce by the quart.  Some CSAs are just vegetables.  Others include fruit, flowers, herbs, eggs, and honey.

There are lots of benefits to joining a CSA program.  You will be much closer to your food.  Every week when you get your food, you’ll be able to talk to the people who actually grew it.  You’ll also be part of a community of "co-owners" who share recipes and the experience.  It will hark back to the days when we ate according to the season, eating each fruit or vegetable when it was at its peak of ripeness and flavor.  Typically, the veggies in a CSA share are picked the day you receive them and they haven’t traveled hundreds (or even thousands) of miles in a truck to get to your table.  They may not look as perfect as some of the produce you’ll see at the store, but they will likely taste much better and much fresher.  You’ll also get to try some vegetables you may never have tried before.

There are some downsides.  You get a share of what the farmer grows.  If you don’t like salad greens, you aren’t going to like the first few weeks of the season when that’s all that’s ripe.  You have no control over what you get.  Though, if you are picking up at the same time as someone else, you may be able to swap their cucumbers for your radishes if you are so inclined.  You also have to pick up your share every week.  Some CSAs will let you switch days and pick-up points, but that’s worth checking out in advance.  And if you miss a week, you lose your veggies. Also, you pay for the whole season up front. 

You can research CSAs in your area at www.localharvest.org.  You can type in your zip code and find programs with pick-up points near you.  You’ll also want to research some options to decide which program offers the sorts of foods you like, offers convenient pick-up, is priced well, and has farming methods (organic, limited pesticide, environmentally sustainable, etc.) that you like.  Shares often come in different sizes, so you’ll want to make sure that it will fit your lifestyle.  You might also want to request references to make sure the farm delivers high quality produce.  Some CSAs sell out very quickly, so you do want to start looking now.

I’ve requested a fruit and vegetable share at a family-run farm in the hills of Virgina, about 40 miles from Washington, DC.  If all goes well, I should have a share.  I’ll keep you updated on the experience once the season starts.