When was the last time you sat down to a home-cooked meal made with  locally produced foods? Never? Well, you might do well to buy a copy of a cool new book, called True Food: 8 Simple Steps to a Healthier You,  published by National Geographic. The book was written by three women, Annie B. Bond, Melissa Breyer, and Wendy Gordon, who think it's a good idea to eat local foods, eat a wide variety of foods..aim for organic, and eat lower on the food chain.

They explain that this is not only healthier for you...it's healthier for the planet. When foods don't have to be trucked (or flown) in from parts afar, the carbon footprint is lower, and the earth smiles, just a little.

Okay, I'm making the book sound a bit goofy, but actually it's a great resource if you've ever thought about gardening (it gives you some eco-friendly tips to keep away critters). If you ever wanted to can or freeze your garden's bounty instead of buying crappy veggies in the middle of the winter, it tells you how to do it. Can't afford to buy all organic produce? The book lists which ones are most often contaminated by pesticides. (I learned that I should really make an effort to buy these from the organic section: peaches, apples, bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, kale, lettuce, imported grapes, carrots and pears).

The book has lots of recipes too...I'm not so sure what I think if making treats out of beans (white bean blondies any one?), but some sound downright tasty...like pumpkin tamales with cherry mole sauce.

The book definitely gave me some stuff to think about, and I'll leave you with one of them here. In the section about eating a variety of foods, it says that in 1903, farmers grew 578 different varieties of beans, and now only 32 of them exist, many only in gene banks. Makes me wonder what we're missing.

Turns out National Geographic publishes all kinds of green books. Find out about them here.