I have been posting lately about my desire to move my family towards healthier eating. There are many food philosophies out there and I have decided to use my space to share all of the good research I have found in the event that someone else wants to know more. There is no better place to start than, "What is real food?"
Real food, or traditional foods, are natural foods that are prepared fresh and from scratch in time honored ways that maximize both nutrition and flavor. Real food is nutrient dense and unprocessed. It is simple food that is prepared gently and in accordance with the seasons. Real food is the food that nourished all of humanity for thousands of years before the advent of industrial food processing and industrial agriculture.
Food Traditions
Weston A. Price, a Cleveland dentist who, when challenged by rampant tooth decay and physical degeneration of his patients, left his practice and traveled the world researching the dietary practices of people consuming processed foods and those consuming an unprocessed, native diet. What he discovered is that those populations who held fast to their native, unprocessed diets enjoyed better health than the people of the very same ethnic backgrounds who, instead, relied on processed and industrialized foods.
Price discovered that if dairy was consumed, it was consumed raw or cultured. Each society made use of the entire animal in cooking including liberal use of organ meat and bones for broth. Grain was consumed whole and only after a soaking or souring process. Many foods were naturally fermented and rich in food enzymes and beneficial bacteria. Lastly, refined sweeteners were absent from traditional diets with natural sweeteners like honey, maple sugar or unrefined cane sugar being consumed only very rarely, if at all.
Price uncovered another remarkable insight: traditional foods were more nutrient dense than modern foods. The intake of vitamins, particularly fat soluble vitamins, and minerals among populations thriving on traditional, unprocessed foods far exceeded that of their contemporaries who consumed refined foods including coffee, white flour, sugar, canned vegetables, and canned fruit.
Furthermore, these populations enjoyed good health free from many diseases that plagued their modernized, industrial contemporaries even though they consumed diets that could be considered high in fat. They lived largely without obesity, cancers, heart disease, cognitive dysfunction and other diseases while thriving on a diet that varied from 40% fat by calorie to upwards of 80% fat by calorie. Much of the fat they consumed was saturated - derived from naturally raised animals - such as butter. A high fat diet nourished these poplulations with good reason. Dietary fat enables us to better absorb nutrients found in foods.
Real food - The ingredients
Wholesome ingredients are essential to the flavor and quality of food. The nutritional value of meat, eggs, milk, vegetables, and fruit actually changes depending on many factors including how far the food has traveled from the field to the plate, how it was grown, and with animal foods - what the animals were fed and how they were raised.
So, what do I choose? Here are some guidelines that I am following.
Grains
- Grains should be whole or close to whole
- Choose oat groats, or steel cut oats, wheat berries, whole buckwheat, brown rice, and quinoa, etc.
- Grains contain anti-nutrients like phytates, so in order to maximize the bioavailability of their vitamins and minerals I must soak, sour, or sprout all the grains and flours I use.
- There is a whole world beyond wheat and rice, so I plan on taking advantage of grains like buckwheat, amaranth, millet, rye and other fun stuff!
Legumes- Legumes should be bought dried and in bulk as this will save me money.
- They should be organically grown.
- Legumes also contain anti-nutrients called phytates so they must be soaked, sprouted, or fermented prior to cooking.
- The protein and iron from legumes is more bioavailable when cooked with meat.
Vegetables and Fruit- Veggies and fruit should be organically or sustainably, and locally grown.
- We should eat plenty of these in their raw form as the enzymes are nourishing and the nutrients are usually higher.
Eggs- The eggs we will eat will be from pastured hens that have free access to roam and eat things like grasses, weeds, worms, and bugs. Not only are they happier hens, their eggs are higher in nutrients than their industrially raised sisters. I am so glad I have some of these gals in our backyard!
Dairy Products- We are going raw. I am choosing raw milk and raw cheeses where I can find them. I am unable to find raw butter, but Kerrygold butter is a great second choice (their cows are grass fed!). Raw dairy offers many benefits over pasteurized diary including intact enzymes, beneficial bacteria and vitamins not found naturally in pasteurized milk.
- I am getting our milk from a locally run family dairy whose cows are grass fed, well cared for and are milked under proper and clean conditions.
- I found this site about Real Milk and found it to be very informative and educational!
Meat and Fish- We are choosing meat that has been raised locally and sustainably. Our beef is grass fed and grass finished. Our poultry is pastured. I have yet to find pastured pork, locally, but I am looking.
- We aren't knocking the fat, anymore! The fat from properly raised animals contains more essential fatty acids than their industrial counterparts.
- I am saving all of the bones from our meals to make rich bone broth.
- We are choosing only wild caught fish such as salmon. It is a bit more expensive, but I have found wild salmon at Trader Joe's for a very reasonable price.
Fat- I am choosing cold-pressed oils like extra virgin olive oil and coconut oil.
- I am avoiding modern day vegetable oils like soybean oil, canola oil, and corn oil. These are often processed at such high temperatures that they turn rancid before they even get to our kitchen. They are also too high in omega-6 fatty acids.
- I am not worrying about saturated fat and cholesterol. These are essential nutrients and should be in our diet as long as they are from good sources. Saturated fat also helps our bodies in metabolizing fat soluble vitamins like Vitamin D.
- We are eating butter from grass fed cows. This butter contains CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) and has been known to fight cancer.
Phew! That seems like a lot. But, it really isn't. We hit the farmer's market downtown weekly to get whatever produce we need. I intend on signing up with a CSA (community supported agriculture) once the school year starts. It might actually be more economical for us.
While a lot of this seems like major changes to our home, it hasn't had too much of an impact. I want to go through our cabinets and fridge and pull out all of the stuff that isn't natural. I will post a picture. I am really excited about this change. Prince Charming is thrilled that I am not "cooking light" anymore. E will most definitely miss his Cheerios, but I have found some delicious breakfast options to replace those. I am up to the challenge in the kitchen and will be sure to share my successes - and failures. I attempted a sour dough starter the other week and that turned funky. Oh well. I will just start over. I can't wait to make yogurt. Since I love the stuff, it will be so fun to make. I promise that this blog isn't going to turn into a foodie blog on nourishing diets. I will just continue to share what we are up to these days.
Next up, G is eating food! Real food that doesn't come out of me! And she is loving it.
