Real Food

Over the past few years, I've been on several different journeys.  One of these has been exploring and understanding more about the food we eat and have at our immediate access.  It started several years ago with intentionally trying to avoid all partially hydrogenated fats as well as high fructose corn syrup.  These two ingredients alone are in an incredible amount of the "foods" we ingest on a daily basis, both in restaurants and in store-bought foods.  Avoiding these two ingredients alone was quite the process, and it took a year or so to get through all the various food groups in the grocery store, reading labels, and getting to the point of making "quick trips" to the grocery store again. Another recent one on my "never" list is Red Dye #40...it's linked to a lot of hyperactivity and is in everything from jam, to Capri Sun juice boxes, to yogurt.

While our pantry no longer consists of many mainstream brands typical in the average home, it is certainly a matter of pride that my kids do not expect sugared cereals for breakfast, and, due to the lack of exposure to commercials, they don't even know what they are called.  Not once have they requested McDonalds, let alone any type of fast food; as long as I have control, I'll take it.  However, I'm also no dummy to the fact that soon my kids will be trading lunches and will have the opportunity to buy soda at school as well.  I guess my approach so far is to teach them early, so they can make more educated food choices on their own in the future.

My newest venture is into the realm of local and natural, in the true sense, and not in the sense of "natural" as it is loosely marketed these days.  "Natural", meaning buying meat and dairy products produced the way in which nature intended.  Grass-fed beef, pastured chicken, true free-range eggs, and raw milk dairy products...these are items I order online and have delivered once a week to a nearby drop-off location.  I also order bread products from a local woman who mills her own organic wheat and uses natural leaven instead of yeast.

While all of this is a bit of an experiment and certainly takes a bit more coordination, we feel really good knowing where our food is coming from and understanding the health benefits of whole, raw milk vs. industrialized skim milk, for example.  With that said, I never plan to be so restrictive that we can't eat out or at somebody's house, or allow ourselves to enjoy an Oreo cookie now and then.  But as a matter of routine, we are trying to make these adjustments.

I've enjoyed Real Food, by Nina Plank and Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollan, among numerous other online articles and publications. I hope to soon watch Food Inc. as I understand it does a fair job of illustrating just how "bad" our food system in the US has gotten. Thanks to my friends and family members who are on similar food journeys of their own; it is a great support and I appreciate all the sharing of resources.