As a natural foods chef, two very important factors in food are taste and nutrition. People constantly ask me how to eat healthier. During the summer, the best advice is to eat locally and seasonally - a delicious way to be good to yourself, the environment and experience the culinary treasures of the Hamptons.

Local farm stands sell produce that's probably been picked within 24 hours maximizing taste and nutrition. A grocery store mango picked over a week ago and shipped 1500 miles isn't nearly as healthy and satisfying as fresh blueberries at Country Mart in Brentwood that are filled with fiber and antioxidants. Eating locally and seasonally is like feeding premium fuel to your car. You wouldn't put crappy gas in a Ferrari would you?

Buy an array of fresh fruits and take 10 minutes out of your day and prepare cut up fruit for the week. Having prepared food in your refrigerator will inspire you to forego the junk food. Make healthier choices and eat blueberries, raspberries and cherries filled with antioxidants. Spice up your cocktail by making fresh peach juice Bellinis to impress your guests.

Local farmers offer small crops of interesting fruits and vegetables not worrying about mass market appeal, traveltime and shelf-life. Variety in our diet prevents overeating from deprivation. Remember, we eat with our eyes first. Having a plate of red, orange and yellow tomatoes layered with basil and fresh mozzarella and drizzled with olive oil and balsamic syrup is a delicious, colorful rainbow to add to your table.

Buy corn from Hayground Farms and remove strings, lightly season with butter, salt, lime, cayenne pepper, replace husks and grill for a zesty Hamptons delight. Make sure to choose the most colorful vegetables for the highest nutritional value. Combine spinach, tomatoes, basil, raw corn, and red onion with a Dijon vinaigrette, for a healthy, colorful, local and seasonal salad.

Talk to Colin at the Seafood Shoppe in Wainscott who will always take the time to tell you about the freshest local fish which are also more reasonably priced. Embrace the window of opportunity to eat freshly caught bass, bluefish, scallops, clams, oysters and mussels. Marinate bass in sesame oil, ginger, soy sauce, garlic, and lemon for 3 hours, grill or broil until crisp and reserve the marinade to heat and reduce as an Asian glaze. Served with fresh sugar snap peas and jasmine rice, you have a healthy, easy delicious meal filled with Omega 3s.

For the freshest chickens you can possibly find, Iacona Farms in East Hampton is the only place to shop. Have them split and deboned, marinate in lemon, garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper and fresh herbs and grill to perfection.

Drink local wines. Wolffer Estates offers a reasonably priced light and lovely rose that is perfect for those long summer lunches making you feel as if you were on the French Riviera.

It's also great to support "the little guy". Buying fresh baked goods from Round Swamp Farm is supporting a multi-generational local family business. Shipping foods all over the globe incurs cost, wastes fuel, and shuts down the local farmer leading to development of farmland. How terrible would it be if each farm was replaced with a slew of McMansions or shopping centers?

Next time you are on your way to the local megamarket, think about these six reasons to eat locally and seasonally:

 • Freshness and taste - food picked at its optimum state is much more delicious and satisfying
 • Nutrition - ripe produce provides the most significant health benefits
 • Variety - local farmers don't have to worry about only breeding produce to travel long distances (up to 1500 miles on the average) and to sustain a long shelf-life
 • Purity - no pesticides, fungicides, chemicals, and antibiotics
 • Community - we have the opportunity to help the little guy
 • Cost - local produce is less expensive than a mango from Guatemala

Bon Appetit!