You've undoubtedly heard plenty about the benefits of eating locally. It's good for the environment, you support your local community, the food is fresher, and you have more say in how your food is grown because you can talk to the people who grew it.

Fitness Magazine's Eat Green, Be Healthy section offered three ways to buy locally and eat fresh:

• Take advantage of farmers' markets. If you're not sure whether there's a farmers' market near you, check your local paper, or head over to this website where you can find out which fruits and veggies are in season near you and find a farmers' market in your area.
  
• Become a member of a Co-op. You might have to put in a large sum to begin with, but your resources will be pooled with other co-op members and you'll get farm fresh produce at a reduced rate. Find one near you by selecting "Grocery/Co-op" and filling in your zip here.
  
• Connect directly with local farmers. This website allows you to see listings of farmers' markets, u-pick farms, and roadside produce stands by state.

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At the farmer's market today, I was able to buy three huge bunches of basil for three dollars... total. Food prices may be going up, but at the farm market, in-season means easy on the pocket book. After digging through my pantry for a few other staples, I had all the necessary ingredients for pesto. Not only is pesto a favorite summer treat, it freezes well, which means healthy, local meals for winter. And because it's essentially a raw dish (you'll need to cook the pasta or bread that you put it on), it's perfect treat for when the kitchen is just too hot to cook.

Pesto's base ingredients are basil, olive oil, walnuts, and garlic, which means that it's loaded with antioxidants and heart-healthy omega-3s. (Pesto lovers learn early that a little goes a long way. Not only is pesto quite oily, it also has a very strong taste.) But creative cooks need not stop there -- pesto is very forgiving and does well with substitutions.

If you think pesto might have a place on your menu, now is the time to try it. Here are four great ways to enjoy pesto this summer:

Fresh basil pesto

Low-fat pesto

Non-basil pestos

Sun-dried tomato pesto

Living healthy isn't just for us humans, it's good for the planet too! Reap the benefits of a healthier you and a happier Earth by supporting a local farm.

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As fabulous as we at That's Fit think this blog is, the truth is there are hundreds of wonderful blogs on healthy living to be seen all over the blogosphere. So in this feature, Fit Links, we'll introduce you to some that have caught our eye.

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, you may be preparing your menu and shopping list for the big day. We've talked a lot already here at That's Fit about how to make your holidays a little on the lighter side. While I know that Grandma's candied yams topped with an entire bag of marshmallows are a family tradition, why not try to look at Thanksgiving as a time to focus on your local harvest?

If you're interested in eating locally this Thanksgiving, check out the following links for support, ideas, and delicious recipes. Who knows...maybe you'll start a new family tradition this year!

100-mile Thanksgiving

Six tips for eating locally in winter

Menu suggestions

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Though contaminated pet food killed an unknown number of cats and dogs in the United States recently, at least one Chinese business is shrugging its shoulders over the uproar, because apparently, adding the chemical melamine to animal food is routine. One feed company manager explained that it's standard practice to add small amounts of melamine to their products because it raises nitrogen levels, which makes the feed appear to have higher levels of protein. The higher protein levels are appealing to customers, and the manager said that products laced with melamine are very safe.

I'm sure that hundreds of pet owners would argue him that fact today. In addition, some of the recalled pet food made it's way to hog and poultry farms across the nation, and it's likely that animals who ate the feed have already been slaughtered for meat. The FDA has decided not to place a recall on those products, because they say there's little risk to the humans who eat them.

Like the FDA, I doubt that anyone will be imminently affected by the melamine in those animals, I'm alarmed nonetheless. Because we sit at the top of the food chain, I would like to see us put a little more care into what the animals we dine on eat for dinner. Chemicals used to make plastic ware? I don't want to see it on my dinner plate.

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My kids have a thing for mangoes, more like an obsession really. They can eat them faster than I can peel them, and "mango" was one of my younger child's first words. Here's the thing, though -- mangoes don't grow where I live...ever, which means that to get a mango it must be driven or flown here from somewhere else.

When our family started eating more organic foods, it was mostly for the health of our children. Our kids go through an astonishing amount of produce for two small children and I was concerned about the levels of pesticides they were getting. But I try to be an eco-conscious consumer as well and can't help but hear the debate between eating food grown organically and food grown locally. This article talks about consumers who've been brought up to expect out of season fruit on their grocery store shelves, and I'm one of them. I'm used to eating strawberries and mangoes and starfruit, even in February. But this debate gives me pause and makes me wonder if I should be taking a harder look at my habits, especially when I read about how much air travel (even if it's only my mangoes doing the traveling) contributes to global warming.

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