What is the 100 Mile Diet? Your Guide to Local, Sustainable Eating

October 10, 2025 •

4 min read

The average North American meal travels over 1,500 miles from farm to plate, contributing significantly to fossil fuel emissions. The 100 mile diet challenges this unsustainable system by restricting consumption to only foods grown, raised, or produced within a 100-mile radius of home.

Quick Summary

The 100 mile diet is a lifestyle centered on consuming food produced within 100 miles of home. This approach reduces food's environmental impact, supports local economies, and promotes seasonal eating.

Key Points

Local Sourcing: Consume only food grown or produced within 100 miles of your home.
Environmental Benefits: Significantly reduces your carbon footprint by minimizing food miles.
Supports Local Economies: Directs money to local farmers and producers, strengthening the community.
Seasonal Eating: Encourages a diet based on what is naturally available in your region, requiring creativity and preservation skills.
Health and Freshness: Locally sourced food is often fresher and more nutrient-dense than items that travel long distances.
Challenges: Can be difficult and expensive depending on location, climate, and access to local producers.

What is the 100 Mile Diet?

The 100 mile diet is a dietary lifestyle and philosophical approach to eating that commits individuals to consuming only foods sourced from within a 100-mile radius of their home. The movement gained widespread attention with the 2007 book The 100-Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating by Canadian writers Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon, who documented their year-long experience of eating exclusively local foods. It is an experiment rooted in the desire to reconnect with the food system, reduce dependence on industrialized agriculture, and lower the carbon footprint associated with long-distance food transportation.

Unlike traditional weight-loss diets, the focus here is not on calorie counting or nutritional restrictions but on the geographic origin of the food. Participants must research and find local farms, markets, and producers to procure everything from fruits and vegetables to meat, dairy, and grains. The diet forces a deeper appreciation for seasonality and the bounty of one's immediate region, while also highlighting the challenges of living without globally imported staples like coffee, olive oil, and certain spices.

Core Principles and Goals

The movement is built on several key principles that extend beyond just food sourcing:

Minimizing Food Miles: Reducing the distance food travels from farm to plate is a central goal, directly addressing concerns about climate change and fossil fuel consumption.
Supporting the Local Economy: Choosing locally produced goods helps funnel money directly to local farmers and producers, strengthening the community's economy.
Connecting with the Food Source: Following the diet requires engagement with the local food system, fostering a greater understanding and appreciation for where food comes from.
Eating Seasonally: The strict local-only rule means meals are dictated by what is in season, encouraging dietary diversity and rediscovering preservation techniques for winter months.
Enjoying Fresher, More Nutritious Food: Locally sourced food is often fresher, having been picked closer to ripeness. This can result in better flavor and higher nutritional content compared to produce picked early for long-distance transport.

How to Begin Your 100 Mile Diet Journey

Starting a 100 mile diet can seem daunting, but it doesn't have to be an all-or-nothing commitment. Many people start by adopting a “locavore” approach, eating locally most of the time but allowing for certain exceptions. Here are some practical steps to get started:

Map Your 100-Mile Radius: Use a mapping tool to visualize your food shed. This helps identify the boundaries of your local food network.
Research Local Sources: Search for farmers' markets, farm stands, community-supported agriculture (CSA) programs, and local food co-ops within your radius.
Start with the Easy Stuff: Begin by focusing on produce that is clearly grown nearby. Visit a farmers' market for seasonal fruits and vegetables.
Find Protein Sources: Locate local butchers for meat, farms for eggs, and waterways for fish.
Preserve for Winter: Learn food preservation techniques like canning, freezing, and pickling during peak harvest season to enjoy local goods year-round.
Grow Your Own: For maximum control and localness, start a vegetable garden. Even a small container garden can provide herbs and greens.

Comparison Table: 100 Mile Diet vs. Conventional Diet


Feature	100 Mile Diet	Conventional Diet
Food Source	Primarily local (within 100 miles)	Global supply chain
Seasonality	Strict, based on local harvest	Year-round availability via import
Fresher Produce	Yes, picked at peak ripeness	Less fresh, picked early for transport
Environmental Impact	Low food miles, reduced carbon footprint	High food miles, significant emissions
Health Benefits	Better nutrition from fresh produce	Potentially lower nutritional value due to transport
Local Economy	Strong support for local farmers and businesses	Money flows to large corporations and distant supply chains
Convenience	Lower, requires more effort and planning	Higher, easy access to all foods at large supermarkets
Variety	Limited to what's grown locally	Unrestricted, includes global staples

Challenges and Considerations

While the benefits are significant, the 100 mile diet comes with practical challenges. The most notable hurdle is accessibility. For those living in urban centers or food deserts, finding local, affordable food can be extremely difficult. Climate is another major factor, especially for those living in cold climates with long winters, limiting the variety of available produce. Time commitment is also a consideration, as finding, sourcing, and preparing food takes more effort than simply visiting a supermarket.

Furthermore, critics argue that the locavore movement, and by extension the 100 mile diet, can sometimes be elitist, as locally-produced food is often more expensive. The movement is most accessible to those with disposable income and proximity to farming regions. For some regions, the environmental benefits may be marginal compared to the efficiency of large-scale, long-distance farming, though this remains a point of contention in sustainability debates. Despite these challenges, many find the reward of connecting with their community and food source outweighs the difficulties.

Conclusion

The 100 mile diet is more than just a culinary challenge; it's a profound shift in thinking about our food system. It promotes mindfulness, sustainability, and community engagement. Whether you choose to follow it strictly or use it as a guideline to make more conscious food choices, the principles of local eating can have a positive impact on your health, your community, and the environment. By exploring what your local region has to offer, you might be surprised at the delicious and fresh foods you've been overlooking. The real journey lies in the discovery of what's close to home.

For more in-depth stories on local food movements, visit the CBC's coverage of the original 100 Mile Diet story.

Frequently Asked Questions

In colder climates, winter poses a significant challenge for the 100 mile diet. You must rely on preserved foods prepared during the warmer months, such as canned, frozen, or pickled produce. You can also source greenhouse-grown vegetables or hardy storage crops like potatoes, squash, and root vegetables.

No, the 100 mile diet is not a weight loss plan but a lifestyle choice focused on the origin of food. While eating locally and seasonally can lead to healthier choices, weight loss is not its primary goal.

You can find local food producers by visiting farmers' markets, joining a CSA program, or searching online directories for local farms. Many producers also sell directly from their farm stands.

Food miles refer to the distance food is transported from where it is grown to where it is consumed. They are significant because they contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, waste, and can reduce the freshness and nutritional value of food.

A locavore is someone who generally prefers eating locally grown food, but may not have a strict distance requirement. The 100 mile diet is a specific and strict version of locavorism, setting a firm 100-mile radius boundary.

The original challenge by Smith and MacKinnon made allowances for unavoidable imported items like salt. Many participants follow a flexible approach, focusing on making the majority of their diet local while responsibly sourcing non-local staples.

While reducing food miles is important, the environmental impact depends on factors like farming methods and transportation efficiency. A locally-produced food grown in a heated greenhouse may have a larger carbon footprint than a field-grown item imported from a warmer climate. The 100 mile diet encourages considering all aspects of sustainable production.