why is processed food so bad?

When I cook I use things like.....
eggs, milk, spices and herbs, along with other real food ingredients.

But when the factory cooks for me it is a different story.

If I was to create a recipe for the commercial market these are some of the changes it would go through in order to even think about putting it on the store shelves.

 

Whole food (fruit and vegetable) supplies are a big challenge first because  of spoilage. Real food is quick to spoil. The second thing is that the food can change in price and quality throughout the year.  For example, strawberries are available year round, during peak season they are reasonably priced they are really yummy, but winter strawberries are very expensive lack that "summer strawberry" experience which brings me to the next part...

Taste.  Each batch of vegetables, fruits, and other whole foods tastes slightly different because of variations in the seeds and growing conditions.  Often food companies do not want to use the real food which can be unpredictable in color and flavor. So what do they do, they substitute with colors and flavors that are very predictable in order to achieve the taste and color they desire.  It is important that they create the same product each and every time with the exact same flavor profile. Spices and fresh herbs are often lost in the process because they also change throughout the season, therefore  dried herbs may be used, but more often "natural flavors" is seen on the label instead so that you will get the same taste each and every time.  Natural flavors is a very deceptive term and is widely used to cover up the unpleasant truth about what is really in your food.  I will include some links at the bottom of the page for those of you who want more reading on that subject.

When I cook I often use milk and eggs. In the commercial food business these are foods that require refrigeration and have many rules and regulations for their use as they are considered "potentially hazardous" They are foods that are easily spoiled, plus there are allergy factors involved.  Many large companies are shying away from the use of eggs and milk and are substituting chemicals that perform the same function in recipes. These chemicals are deemed "safe", but are they really? I would suggest that they may be more hazardous to your health than the milk and eggs themselves.

Cost is also a major factor in food production. The chemicals that imitate the flavors and colors of real food are a lot less expensive than the real thing. They are often used to keep the food cost low. Cutting the cost of food is quite a concern to the leaders of  these companies (how else can they pay for the massive machines that are required for the processing of large quantities of food). Which brings me to the next point; the health cost associated with the machines and processing of foods.


As the food products are pumped through these massive machines, often times there are chemical additives that are used for the sole purpose of making the product run through the machine more smoothly. Not to mention the chemicals that end up in our food from the cleaning of the machines. I once had to throw out an entire gallon of milk, because it tasted so bad of cleaning chemicals (this at a time when money was so short that it really hurt to throw it out). There are a lot of health risks associated with these chemicals, not to mention the heat that is  produced by these machines when they run at such high speeds. The heat and chemicals destroy any goodness that is left in the food and we haven't even got to the stabilizers and preservatives used to keep the product "fresh" and shelf stable so that it can travel to the store and then get to our home and be used, not to mention the chemicals and things added during the packaging process. I am amazed at the amount of chemicals that are used in the processing that do not even end up on the label  they are just overlooked by the FDA as "part of processing".

What may start out as a "good recipe" turns into a chemical cocktail by the time it is done with the food manufacturing process, and yet people still wonder if it is really all that bad for them.
YES! processed foods are bad for your overall health. They are full of toxins that will not kill you right away, but repeated exposure to all of these things can kill.


I choose to cook from scratch and eat real foods.   It helps to keep down the toxins so that I am not in a constant state of toxic overload.  My body is thanking me, after years of overload it is finally finding some relief.

I find that the saying FOOD SHOULD COME FROM A PLANT AND NOT BE MADE IN A PLANT very helpful when I am making food choices.



Additional reading:

Wikipedia on flavorings

Beaver butts as natural flavorings

Wikipedia on pink slime

Is processed food safe?

Tuning the brain to the real food channel

As I have journeyed into better eating habits there are still some things that I really struggle with. These are things that I want to believe, but my brain has been "trained" to believe other wise. It has been a battle inside to retrain my brain, but it is working. I am changing my thoughts and my actions while improving my health. 

 

1. Probiotics.  I understand the fact that there are "good bacteria" that are essential for good health. I know that culturing milk to make yogurt and  kefir have really helped my gut, but sometimes my inner germ freak kicks in. I can't seem to help it when I have thoughts like..... "Food should not be left out on the counter growing things" or, "How do I know that it is not growing the wrong stuff?"

Being the chef and going through the courses that teach the danger of  bacteria because it can kill people, where we heard over and over again "hot foods are to be kept hot, and cold foods are to be kept cold" has made me a wee bit paranoid.  Milk (or any other food) left at room temperature for more than two hours, and/or kept in the "danger zone" sends out a red flag, it says "Danger, Danger, throw it out before it kills someone".  It has been a challenge to retrain my brain on this matter.

 

2. Fat.  Growing up in the low fat era has really had an impact on me. The more I learn about how good fats are helpful for the brain and heart, the more I have to turn down and drown out  those voices that keep telling me lies about fat. My brain and heart feel so much better when they have the proper fuel (fat). I am finally getting to where I do not feel guilty buying and using butter and other good fats.  I can use sour cream without the guilt that used to crush me.

It is still hard at times.  Because I am a large woman, I feel judged when I go to the store and buy full fat milk, butter, and cream. I often feel judged by my sisters who are plagued by the "fat monster" inside of them. They are still of the opinion that fat is the enemy. Fat itself is not the enemy, it is essential to good health, but the wrong fats can be detrimental. When I feel judged by others I have to just know deep down inside that I am getting healthier and the good fats are an essential part of it. I have to remember that they don't know about my inner struggles. They do not understand how badly my brain and body were damaged by a low fat (high sugar and starch) diet. They do not understand how the change of diet has helped my digestive system which was out of order.  One day my outside will reflect the health that I am feeling inside.  





3. Starches.  I do not have to have a starch (pasta, potato, rice, bread etc.) at each meal. As a naturally frugal person it has been hard. Meat has always been stretched out in a casserole or such. Sandwiches and cold cereal (cheap foods) have been a main part of life. We learned early on in school that starches are the staff of life and the basis for a good diet. If you look at the 1992 Food pyramid you will see that starches are at the base it is the foundation of our society. We learn it from a very young age. The first foods we are given as infants are the grains and starches.  It is a way of life for so many of us and it is hard to break free.

 

It has taken a long time for me to believe that I can have a dinner without a starch. Dinner for me would often start with which starch do I want; pasta, potato, or rice? Then I would build around it. In chef school we spent weeks learning how to prepare starches. This is how food is created, sold and marketed to us.  I have had to work really hard at changing things at our house.

I still have hard time thinking that A piece of fish and a salad or vegetable is a complete meal. I still want the starches to go with it. I am getting better. I used to crave starches so much that I would eat a full meal and then go and eat a bunch of carbohydrates a while later just to satisfy the carbohydrate/ starch cravings.  I was not full until I felt the warm comforting feeling of a carbohydrate load in my body. Things are slowly changing.

 I have enough flavors in my life, I have a full menu, but saying goodbye to a long held carb obsession is hard. I can't help but still hold onto it, my excuse;  "it is for the kids."  It is time to let that excuse be gone. I have learned that the kids can learn to love new flavors and textures too. They don't have to be raised to be a carb addict. Things can change; your health can change; It starts with changing you mind about food and it's power in your life.


What about you? What new thoughts and behaviors have you had to create to improve your health? Share in the comments below so we can all benefit.    


 Additional reading

 My first adventures into making yogurt
  My adventures with kefir

Why a high fat diet

Ex-vegetarian goes high fat/ low carb

 

 

 

making bread that is not a brick.

Homemade bread, there is nothing like it. The smell as it wafts through the house seems so warm and inviting, it can bring family and friends together in an instant; but the opposite is true when the bread turns out like a brick. How many times have you tried to make bread and it turns out anything but light, fluffy, and inviting?   Sometimes it seems that bread bricks are easy to make, it is especially true with 100% whole wheat breads. There are very few recipes out there that contain 100% wheat flour, and those recipes are notorious for ending up in the brick category.


As I was in Chef school and learning about bread making there was a notion that you cannot make 100% whole wheat bread that is good to eat. There was an unwritten rule that at least half of the flour has be white flour. I was being trained to work for the factories making modern breads like the ones I grew up with. These "so called" wheat breads were made by taking a white bread dough and adding a bit of wheat flour for taste and color, sometimes caramel coloring was added to turn the bread brown, but It was not whole wheat bread.  There are some better breads on the  market then the ones I grew up with, but there are still many "whole grain" breads out there that seem to be healthy until you read the label. Bread (in my world) should be simple with flour, water, yeast, and salt.  But when the list of ingredients gets to be 20 items long, and there is nothing that you recognize as food, we have a real problem.


I wanted to bet back to the basics and learn to make "real bread" the way it has been done for centuries. It has taken some time, but I have learned to make 100% whole grain breads that are light and fluffy and wonderful to eat.

 
 Here are 3 keys to making 100% whole grain breads that are not so dense and brick-like.



1. Let your flour/grains soak. No, I am not talking taking a bath, I am talking about the very basic preparation of grains that has been all but forgotten in our modern world. Before you begin your bread you need to soak the wheat and/ or the flour.

Why is soaking important? In a nutshell: soaking grains, nuts and seeds makes the nutrients more available to the body(it wakes them up), and it makes the food more digestible. The soaking of the flour also makes a difference in the flavor and texture. The Autolyse method of making bread where you soak your flour and then let it sit before adding your yeast can make a real difference in the texture and flavor.   


2. Take your time. (something that modern bakeries do not do) Soaking your wheat takes time. The other thing that makes great bread is to use less yeast and let the yeast grow for a longer period of time. We see just the opposite of this in our culture. It is amazing to me that modern bakeries can produce a loaf of bread in a matter of minutes. The modern bread bakeries in the United States are achieving this by adding more gluten, more yeast, and more chemicals such as Bromine to the bread products therefore decreasing the amount of time it takes to create a loaf of bread.  It is also extremely detrimental to our health.

3. The yeast matters.  Caleb Warnock has spent time researching modern food and it's dangers. He co-authored a wonderful book about baking with natural yeast. I got a natural yeast start from him nearly two years ago, and I am never going back. Sourdough works here too, but I like baking with a sweet yeast as opposed to the sourdough.  


I hope that this has been useful information that you can use to better your health and the health of your family. For more information check out the links below.


a bread a day  has some interesting information and notes as she blogs about her bread making adventures for a full year.

Caleb Warnock  on why yeast matters

passionate homemaking on why soaking matters

Natural yeast waffles


Happy baking! 


Check out these two great books on whole grain bread baking.





The Art of Baking with Natural Yeast: Breads, Pancakes, Waffles, Cinnamon Rolls and Muffins by Caleb Warnock, Melissa Richardson 1 Spi Edition (8/14/2012)




Please note that the amazon links are affiliate links. You can read my full disclosure by clicking the "privacy policy" tab at the top of the page.

For the love of popcorn

 

A teaser from my newest cookbook that will be coming out sometime in May.

What is it about Popcorn that makes it so appealing? Is it the smell wafting through the air beckoning us to have a handful? Is it the fun of watching popcorn as it grows to be over thirty times its original size?  Maybe it is the popping sound as it explodes into something wonderful?  Could it be the crunchy, yet somewhat creamy texture of popcorn?  Is it the pop-able shareable fun?  What is it that has us in love with this simple stuff called popcorn?

 

Cajun spiced popcorn 

4 quarts popped corn

4 Tablespoons melted butter

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1/2 teaspoon hot sauce

 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

 1/4 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

Heat the butter with the spices for about a minute just until it becomes fragrant. You can do this in the microwave if desired

Pour the hot spiced butter over the popcorn and toss to coat.




In case you missed my first cookbook Quick breads made easy from A-Z  I have included a link

 

 

 

 

, ,,

Pan fried parsnips

Have you tried parsnips?

Parsnips have been around for ages.  They are an often overlooked vegetable from the past.  Here are  a few links that will help you get to know this wonderful vegetable.
Dave's garden/parsnips,  Nutrition and you/ parsnips,  vegetarians in paradise/ parsnip history

                                                                                                   Photo from Bing images 




My absolute favorite way to eat parsnips is pan fried.  It is so simple and easy.  It reminds me of my dear grandmother who introduced them to me years ago. They are wonderfully sweet and yummy. This is what real food is all about. Simple food prepared with nice clean refreshing flavors that linger.

                                                                                    Photo from Bing images







To make pan fried parsnips you will need......

1 pound of medium sized parsnips
2 Tablespoons butter
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
Fresh ground pepper
salt


1. Peel the parsnips and boil them in lightly salted water until tender this should take about 6-8 minutes. 

2. Cool slightly until they can be handled and slice each parsnip lengthwise into 1/4 inch slices

3. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium high heat

4. Add the parsnips and cook until lightly brown (about 4 minutes)

5. Sprinkle with the brown sugar

6. Turn over and cook about 4 minutes longer until browned and tender. 

7. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper and serve  right away

Serves 4-6




This post shared as part of real food Wednesdays

I love to cook my food in cast iron. This is one of those things recipes that I use my cast iron skillet for.  Lodge is the best cast iron company as far as I am concerned.  Check it out, you can buy a starter set from Amazon. Watch for an upcoming post on how to care for your cast iron.



, , This post contains an affiliate link. You can see the full disclosure by clicking on the privacy policy tab at the top of the page.

Salad it's whats for dinner

Want more energy in life? Want better health?




Start with a daily salad.  No, I am not talking about cookie salads, Jell-o salads and other such things. (I live in an area where anything mixed into a  tub of cool whip is called a salad). No, I am not talking about chocolate (which according to the note below some may consider it a salad.) No, I am not talking a bit of iceberg lettuce with cheap cheddar cheese and imitation bacon, topped with a healthy dose of ranch dressing and maybe a tomato slice for color. I am talking real, full of flavor, life giving, yummmmmm kind of salads.

Salads can be anything tossed together.  Truly, it is amazing what you can do in the salad world by combining whatever fruits and vegetables, grains, beans and herbs you have close by. My salads are getting better. I am enjoying different salads and different flavor combos. The kids are doing well with it too. They like to see what Mom will come up with next.  Yes my kids eat salad.  If exposed to good salads, kids (and adults) can learn to enjoy them.


Salads are more than just lettuce. You have to start thinking outside the box. fruits, vegetables, whole  grains, beans, lentils, herbs; they all can go in a salad. Chef Brad's fusion grain cooking show has helped me to learn about some of the less popular grains out there. He often makes salads from the cooked grains. I will include a link to his salad recipes.  My family has discovered they like tabbouleh salad.  It is made from bulgur wheat, chopped vegetables along with healthy amounts of mint and fresh parsley. I have enjoyed making more salads. Salads bring life to my world. 

Take a look at some photos of salads that I found. Notice the variety of ingredients, and textures. Imagine the flavors, and see the endless possibilities (This is just a tiny sampling of what I found.)

 

                                                                           Photos in this post  courtesy of Bing images


Salads can be very nourishing with the exception of  store bought dressings that many douse their salad in. Processed dressings are really no good for you. They start with cheap flavorless oils then they add a ton of sugar, salt, and flavorings to make it taste edible. Then they add preservatives, and emulsifiers to keep it all together. What you end up with is a major chemical bath for your salad. Who wants that?  Yet this is what people eat on salad every day. People will have a typical salad thinking they are doing good for the body and ruin it with a healthy dose of something like ranch. People will literally make salad dressing soup. They float a little lettuce in their ranch dressing and call it a salad.

Go beyond the ranch dressing. For some of you it is the standard go to dressing for everything. You get tired of salad because they are all the same. All salads taste the same because of the dressing.  If this is you, you are in for a pleasant surprise. Wake up with new flavors by changing up your salad dressing.  There are many options out there I have written a post about making your own salad dressing I will include a link below.

Making your own dressings are so easy.  If you start with a good quality, flavorful oil and vinegar you are nearly there. A bit of salt, pepper is all you need to make a simple vinaigrette. If you prefer creamy dressings, avocado or nuts in a blender can really add  to the dressing, making it more like the creamy dressings we have come to expect on a salad. These things can really have a positive impact on your health.

Are you ready?  Are you willing to try?  Will you give salads a second look in your house? We are really glad we did.  We eat a lot less starchy side dishes because we have replaced them with salads. Our health is better because of it. You too can have better health by making salads a major part of your daily diet.

 I have included a bunch of helpful links below to help you get started.
 
My dressing tutorial

Chef Brad salad recipes

101 salads for the seasons (New York Times)

101 cookbooks

Happy salad making!  


This post shared as part of real food wednesdays

Junk out, good food in. Part 2 Cravings

In case you missed it I have included a link to  Junk out, good food in part 1

Junk out, good food in part 1

I last left you wondering if you were going to continue on your journey to good health or go back to those old habits. It is a hard question, and one that so many people have to answer.  There are many reasons to get healthy and change your habits. There are also many reasons to go back to your old ways. Often the old habits win. In the next few posts we will talk about some of our habits and how we can change them.



One of the bad habits we have is giving into those junk food cravings.  Often we feel such shame in giving into them. They can evoke such overwhelming feelings. Junk food cravings can cause you to be so overcome. They can be a major downfall in the quest to obtain better health. Working with the cravings as opposed to fighting them is key.  

One of the troubles is that the fast food and junk food companies spend billions of dollars creating a craveable product. They usually do this by relying on the three most craved items out there, fat, sugar, and salt. They rely on us having these cravings, giving into them, and not being able to kick the habit; bringing us back to the junk food over and over. Many are stuck in this vicious cycle of junk food. We do not seem to have power over it. I am here to help you get that power back. Cravings can be overcome and the process is quite simple. Work with the cravings, do not fight them.  Here is a place to begin to understand that process.





What are your cravings telling you?  To understand our food cravings we have to understand our primal body and brain. Your brain and body are really amazing. Your body and brain can heal itself if given the proper building materials and tools. Our bodies take bits and pieces from the food we eat to build and repair itself. When our body needs more fuel and supplies it calls out for them. The trouble is that the lines of communication are sometimes blocked, but more than that, we have forgotten how to speak that language that our body speaks. It is like our brain and body are speaking in Morse code and we just ignore the banging and tapping because we do not use that form of communication anymore.  So what do we do? We learn to listen to our bodies and hear what it is calling out for. Essentially we learn to hear our body signals, we learn to speak Morse code.

Sounds hard? No, not really. Just a few simple things will get you well on your way. There are usually three main cravings; salt, sugar, and fat. Just think about your favorite go to foods, the ones that you think you cannot live without. Which craving category does it fall into? For some people it will be just one but for many it is a combination of the three.  Now before you run off to satisfy those cravings, stick with. Let me tell you what your brain and body may be signaling to you.



Sweet cravings.

 

Sweet cravings are often the body saying "I need more vitamins, please send me vitamins"  Fruits are full of vitamins. We learn this before kindergarten.  The body knows this, and when it needs vitamins for building it calls out with a sweet craving signaling us to find fruit.  But what do we reach for, candy, soda, fruit flavored snacks, pie, cake, etc. (The list could be endless).  This satisfies us for a moment, the body takes whatever it can from that but is still in need of vitamins. It sends the signal even stronger. Calling out even louder for fruit by telling us we need something sweet. We heed the call with more sugar foods, and the cycle has begun.  Some of us are so much into the cycle that it is no longer cravings, it is habit. We try to eliminate the habit, and then the craving kicks in. Back and forth until we can't tell habit from craving meanwhile our body is starving for nutrition.

Eat fruit, and the body says oh thank you I have what I need for a while. For some people it can be that simple, feed the body fruit and the cravings go away.  For me it was not quite that simple, Fruit helped a lot, the cravings lessened, but my digestive system was so out of sorts that my body could not extract all the nutrition from the fruit, not to mention that I still had cravings for Salt and fat too.



Salty cravings

Salty cravings often can be your body saying I need more minerals to continue on my work. Please send minerals.  Our body needs  minerals the most common being potassium, magnesium, calcium, chromium and iodine.  We get our minerals from salt, water, bone broth, some fruits, also from the dark green vegetables to name a few places. These are being destroyed to the point that we are not getting the minerals from them.  For example, Softened/filtered water, bullion instead of bone broth, and soil so devoid of nutrients that vegetables grown in this soil is no longer a good source of minerals.

To overcome the  salty cravings, Switch out table salt for sea salt or other less processed salt. Eat more leafy green vegetables making sure they are grown in nutrient rich soil if possible. Drink more pure water. Real bone broth instead of bullion. But the fact is you may need to supplement.  There is good scientific evidence to show that a large percentage of the United States population is mineral deficient and could benefit from mineral supplementation.



Fat cravings

Fat cravings mean the brain has run out of fuel.

Our brains are mostly made of fat. Our brain needs fat. Fat is the main source of fuel that the brain uses to function.  The worst thing you can do for your brain is to feed it a low-fat diet. The second worst thing you can do is to try to fill the void with trans fats or hydrogenated fats. These so called "funny fats"  do not supply the body with the fuel it needs, The body has a real hard time breaking these down into fuel that it can use. It is like filling your car with diesel fuel when it is designed to run off of unleaded.

To overcome fat cravings make your fats natural ones.  Avoid cheap processed foods and get plenty of  fat to fuel your brain. fats like olive oil, coconut oil, real butter, seeds, nuts, and avocado. This may be hard because we have had our brains wired to believe that all fat is bad for us. It took me a while to come around.

The truth is junk food will only fuel the cravings for more junk food. In order to get the physical cravings to stop you need to give your body what it needs.  Vitamins, minerals and fats from sources that it recognizes as food.



I have come a long way in my journey toward good health. It is not always easy and it is hard to make the right choices when you are so confused by the media, and not sure where to turn. I am grateful that I am breaking the cycle of dependency upon junk food. My body feels so much better, and my brain is healing. I still struggle daily. I no longer crave the junk food from a physical standpoint, but I struggle with being addicted to food on an psychological level. I was in that very vicious cycle where I could not tell cravings from habits. Now I am in a place that I can tell the difference.

The cravings are less, but those old habits are hard.  I am working on it. Being a rather large person people often look at me and make judgments about me and my willpower to make good choices. They did not understand that for me  it was not so simple. I had some serious troubles brewing inside of me. Cravings which were real because my body was so broken, became bad habits, which in turn became a real addiction that nearly destroyed me. Getting the cravings under control has given me back the power to change some of those other things. Getting rid of the physical cravings gives me the power to begin the change on a psychological level. I feel that I have a bit more power to heal and get rid of those habits and break this addiction for good. 

I have a long journey ahead of me, but I have the strength to take on that journey now. I am healing. I am making better choices. I am better able to navigate it now that I do not have overbearing strong physical cravings overcoming my judgment. I am free to make the choice of what I eat, not what my body is demanding.

Tune in next time as we continue the discussion  in Junk out, good food in part 3


shared as part of real food Wednesdays

Junk out, good food in. Part 1 the begining

So you want to eat healthy!  Congrats. Now where to go?  Navigating the world of healthy can be such a challenge. You are just getting started and you get bombarded with information. It can be so overwhelming.  The messages go something like this.  "Eat more fruits and veg, but not just any fruits and veg; make sure they are whole, organic, certified, blessed by the chief of______"   "No GMO foods" and you don't even know what a GMO is. Then there are Soy foods.  Some say they are the devil, and some swear they are made in heaven.  There is a an entire list of ingredients to avoid (which varies from person to person).  And this is just the beginning!

You meet up with people doing all these special diets that they swear by, but they don't seem to include foods you recognize.  It seems like everyone has a different opinion about the subject. Eat this, avoid that.  Everyone is willing to give you advice. Everyone is saying something different. It is so overwhelming, but you know you have to do something because what you have been doing is not working. You take it all in. You pump yourself up.  You can do this. You think you have formulated a plan. You have a list of the Do's and Don'ts. You are ready.

You have done it; you have thrown out all you junk food and you are ready to make a big change. You venture out to the grocery store and try to navigate a healthier you, starting with the big banners across some of the packages claiming health benefits. You turn over the package and find it full of those things you are supposed to avoid.  But you are so confused, it says healthy things across the front.  You try your best, but your eyes are beginning to blur, and your brain is boggled by the long list of ingredients you can't pronounce  in some of the "healthy"  products. You end up throwing a few packages of overpriced stuff into your cart (because it might be healthier). Then you stop by the produce section. Upon looking at the price of organic produce you leave without anything because it seems that $5 for an organic apple is too much.

You get home and try to eat that healthy stuff you just bought (which is somewhat tolerable), but not like what you are used to. You tell yourself "but I am getting healthier so it is worth it right?"  A few hours later you are craving your favorite food, but it is not in the house because you threw it out. You end up on a midnight run to the store because you can't stand it anymore. Maybe tomorrow you can try again. You realize that it is tomorrow already and there is nothing in the house that you want eat.  Maybe this healthy thing is not for me.

Your first attempts at getting healthy have been a failure.  It is so confusing to know which way to go. There is so much information out there and everyone seems to disagree as to what is healthy and what is not. Your trip to the grocery store have not been helpful. It seems that everything there entices you to put the wrong things in your cart. You are grumpy and unfulfilled because you have tossed out all your comfort/go to foods. What are you going to do?

Maybe, the answer is in the health food store. It is full of good things.  It will be easy to make good choices there. As soon as you walk in the door you know you have made a mistake. Everyone  is still enticing you to buy their product. Some of these packages have even more health claims on the labels than the grocery store. The trouble is; you don't even know what half the products are. You look around trying to find something familiar to grasp too. All your favorite brands are not here, they are replaced with products heralding healthy sounding names. You find a few things that sound good, toss them in your basket and move on to the produce isle.  You find a bit of organic fruit that looks pretty good plus it is on sale, so it is a bit more of a tolerable price.

Now, if only you can remember the name of that "stuff " the Doctor on TV or your friend told you about. You find it, but now you are thinking, "What am I supposed to do with this?"  You toss it into your basket and head to the checkout. At the checkout you chat briefly with the cashier asking them what to do with that "stuff" you just bought. They give you some suggestions (most of which you understand), you nod your head and out the door you go.

Now you are home and staring at the stuff you bought.  You decide to enjoy the fruit you purchased. It tastes just like the other fruit that you have bought on occasion. You think to yourself, "What is the big deal, I can't tell a difference."  Later that evening you decide to cook that "stuff" that you hear is so healthy.  You remember what the cashier said and attempt to cook it.  When it is done, you timidly try it. Maybe its not so bad, but I miss my ________. (fill in your own blank). You begin thinking about it and your mouth starts to water.  Now your heart is racing and you think that you have to get it.  It is looking like another late night run to the store for that favorite food. You have a choice to make.  Do you go on trying to get healthy, or do you give into your cravings and go back to what you know?

Tune in next week as we explore the world of Junk out, good food in part 2

Beans, beans, the musical fruit

Beans, they are good food for the body yet here in America many people eat them once or twice a year. Why is this so? Probably because nearly every six year old goes around chanting a little thing they heard in school that goes something like this "Beans, beans, the musical fruit, the more you eat the more you toot, the more you toot  the better you feel, so lets eat beans at every meal." Is is any wonder that passing gas is so funny to a six year old?

Beans do tend to cause gas for some people because they are are so high in fiber and other things that our bodies have forgotten how to use. For many of us beans/lentils are a foriegn food that our bodies don't know what to do with.  What was once a staple of the diet has become nearly extinct except at the occasional barbecue, and then the jokes start. Yet the key to helping with the gas trouble is to eat beans/lentils regularly. Eat beans 3 times a week and watch what happens. (alot less gas) 



pdphoto.org 

People all over the world eat beans and lentils everyday. Our Grandparents and Great Grandparents ate beans as a staple food. What has happened since that stopped? Heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and a whole heap of other diseases and things have exploded upon the scene. We have gotten away from the goodness of the whole foods like beans and our bodies are telling us. It would do the body good to get back to the basics and eat beans more often. Many of the "preventable diseases" can be helped or prevented simply by adding things like beans back into the diet.

Part of the trouble is the time that it takes to prepare beans. To cook them from scratch takes time. even with a pressure cooker it takes time to cook them. Canned beans can be a great way to begin to add beans to your diet. They are convenient and easy to use. The other part of the trouble is "I don't know what to do with them besides making soup".  They can be used in soups, salads, or tossed into casseroles.  Lentils can be used to extend ground meat especially when well spiced.

If you are in need of some recipes and things to do with beans and lentils The savvy vegetarian has some great ideas, recipes, and tips for adding more of this great food to your diet. Adding in beans/lentils is one of the projects I am working on for myself and my family. I will update later on about how this is going for us.  In the meantime, What is your favorite way to get beans/lentils into your diet? Leave a comment below as inspiration for others.


For more info on types of beans available, more recipes, and cooking tips, check out the sites below.
101 vegetarian recipes
life 123


shared as part of real food wednesdays

obsessed with processed foods

We live in a society that is addicted and obsessed with processed foods. It is hard to escape it. Even those who are on "special diets" still can't escape the call of  packaged/processed foods. They make it so simple to grab and go.

Just this last week on facebook I saw a call for help. It went something like this. I gotta go gluten free for three weeks. Which products do I choose and which packages do I avoid? I loved one of the first comments. "Eat food that God made". A call to go gluten free is really a call to avoid processed foods. The problem comes in the way we approach it. My husband comes home this week and tells me about a study he heard where going gluten free had no real effect on the majority of those who follow. It does not really supprise me. I am sure that those were the people that were going gluten free according to package labels, and not really changing the way they ate.

I see all those who jumped on the low carb/Atkins diet a number of years ago. You would see people eating eggs and bacon three meals a  day. Or a big greasy hamburger without the bun. How can this be healthy?  I read the book. It  talked about eating good proteins as the main part of the meal. It was eating low carb fruits and vegetables. It added in some whole grains and other good foods like nuts and seeds. It was not eat piles of processed meats, although that is how it became interpreted my many.  The book was advocating real food, with a few rules, for helping you keep the processed carbohydrates low by eating fruits and vegetables. People do not want to really give up the foods they love for fruits and veg nuts and seeds. We have gotten to where processed carbohydrates are such a part of us, that parting with them is really hard.  You could eat processed carbohydrates as long as you offset it with fiber. So all these "low carb" processed foods had a high amount of processed fiber additives. They added all kinds of fiber stuff to make it "low carb friendly". The other thing about the low carb was the sugar substitutes and alcohol sugars. These things really caused havoc on peoples bodies. It is no way to live for the long haul.

Vegan diets. Avoid all animal products. OK I get that. There are some good reasons to get rid of conventional animal products. There is alot going on with our system that I do not agree with, but the extremes that people go to on a vegan diet amazes me.  I imagined that people on vegan diets were eating mainly things like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds. What I have found with vegans is things like Vegan hot dogs, cheese, and burger substitutes. Things like Oreo cookies and other processed foods that are vegan friendly. It  really kills me. I don't see how this can be healthy for your body. It is not real food, yet it is made with no animal products so therefore it is good?

Then comes Paleo/caveman diets. I understand the call to get back to basics. They ate whatever was available to them. I am understanding how going no grains can be beneficial considering what we have done to our food sources.  I think it is more how we process the grains with all our technology  and the fact that people think that wheat is about the only grain to eat. Again I see the paleo diet as a call to avoid processed foods, yet people don't get it.  I see all these paleo friendly dessert recipes out there made with peanut butter and coconut flour. I am thinking, caveman did not eat like this. People are missing the point.

There are a ton more diets out there that I could go on about it all day, but the point is..... People are taking these things to the extreme. So many of these diets have so many rules, regulations, and guidelines. Don't eat this, don't do that. It is counting carbs, fat grams, calories, fiber grams, sugars etc and the list goes on.  People are taking these general rules  and guidelines and making them the gospel truth, and usually they are picking only one of the rules to live by. They take these rules and look about to see how they can still eat the foods they are addicted too and still make it fit into "the rules", and not getting the fact that the rules were intended to help guide you to whole foods and a change in the way you eat.  The large food manufacturers want your business. They want you to be addicted to their processed foods. They want to keep you coming back and buying these products. They will do all they can to somehow fit their products into your rules  or thoughts about eating. 




Is this the way your grocery bag looks,
full of fruits and vegetables?




My take on all this. Get out of the fast food/ boxed food mentality. Get away from what I can't or shouldn't eat. Look for what you can eat. Start eating whole foods. Buy fruits and vegetables and then eat them. Find ways to cook and prepare them in a way that you will enjoy. Learn about whole grains that are available. Eat real food as it is grown. Grains, beans, nuts and seeds are good food and are meant to be the staple. Eat beans more than the twice a year that most people eat them (as baked beans at a summer barbecue).  Make eating whole foods, fruits, vegetables, seeds, and nuts the main event. Make these things the rule rather than the exception to the rule. You can still eat the other stuff, just in small amounts.  You will find that the boxed and bagged foods that you once loved will loose their appeal, and you will learn to love the good wholesome food. Try it and see what happens.

Don't worry we got a pill for that.

As seen on a T shirt advertisement for a clever chiropractor

I take aspirin for the headache caused by the Zyrtec I take for the hay fever I got from Relenza for the uneasy stomach from the Ritalin I take for the Short attention span caused by the scopederm T's I take for the motion sickness I got from the Lomotil I take for the diareah caused by the Zenikal for the uncontrolled weight gain from the Paxil I take for the anxiety from the Zocor I take for my high cholesterol because diet and exercise and regular chiropractic care are just too much trouble.

It is incredible we get so many commercials on television for these drugs where they spend the entire time listing the possible side effects that these drugs may cause. Magazines are full of three page ads explaining the side effects of their prescriptions. Sometimes I think I would rather live with the symptom than live with the side effects of these drugs. Oh, and then there are the new drugs that you didn't know you needed until you hear it on the TV.  The commercials go something like this, "Is your bellybutton misshapen, we can fix it. Is your big toe a little too large Dr John's shrinking cream will have that big toe back to the right size within two weeks time." You go to the doctor and it is like this, "You only take three prescription drugs? I will help you keep up with the Jones' who take seven prescription drugs a piece." Oh you have a family history...... you better take this pill "just in case".  And now there is, "You have Pre-whatever they think you might get"

Family history and genetics are only a very tiny part of the risk factors for so many of the preventable diseases that we worry so much about. (Did you catch that..... preventable diseases). Yes, Diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, obesity, autoimmune diseases, and many forms of cancer are preventable diseases.  These things can be prevented and even reversed by treating the body well. Your food  and lifestyle choices can help or harm you. I choose to eat food that is nourishing and helps my body to run well. I am starting to be actively engaged in my health. There are many things I can do to prevent getting these dreaded diseases that those who sell the test equipment and prescriptions have convinced us all that we are going to get. They have convinced us that it is all a matter of time until we all get these diseases and there is nothing you can do. I call bullcrap on them. It is hard because society is so overwhelmed with this stuff that makes it easy to live the bad lifestyle and seeming impossible to escape.  But it can be done. 

I agree with Hippocrates. Let medicine be thy food. Eat well and live well.  

Come back often here at life less hurried for tips and tricks on how to live a healthy lifestyle in an unhealthy world. 

Rethinking real food.

Growing up in the eighties and early nineties we got a  message burned into our brains. FAT IS BAD, FAT IS EVIL. The message was everywhere.

see, hear, speak nothing of high fat foods, only low fat varieties

 It was all over the news, billboards, books, and infomercials showing us how to knock out the fat. Everywhere you turned you saw and heard about the benefits of a low fat or non-fat diet. The saying was "Fat is what is making you fat". We all followed these crazy low fat diets and what happened? We all got fatter and we still screamed for more low fat foods because doctors and health Gurus are telling us that low fat is the way to live. Food producers trying to keep up with the demand were loading up food items with sugar, salt and all kinds of flavorings and chemicals to make up for the lack of fats. It is not a good combination for health yet people still believe that low fat is the way to go because it has been beat into our brains that low fat is the way.

One of things that I am having the hardest time with is rewiring my brain to believe that FAT IS GOOD. It has been so ingrained in me that any and all fat is bad, I have struggled with buying those "high fat" foods. I have started buying whole milk and yogurt and real sour cream. Butter, and cream (which were so against the rules) are now a staple in my fridge.  I have started cooking with real olive oil and coconut oil.  I have added nuts, seeds and avocado as the major source of the fats in my diet. I feel better and my brain is working better because I am fueling it with the fats it needs to thrive, yet I still struggle with the thoughts that it might be bad for me because it is so ingrained into my brain that fats are bad.

Dairy farmers know that fat is good. They just supply what the public market is demanding. We are demanding low fat dairy products so they keep supplying them. It is so ingrained in us. Low fat dairy is being sold to us for our children's health telling us that our kids will get fat if they eat full fat dairy, but know this, a calf that is not fed enough fat will die. Mother nature made milk as a good start for growing babies. Even our own babies need the fat and nutrition in mother's milk to survive. We need fat to survive. Our brain is sixty percent fat. We need the essential fatty acids for our brain to engage properly. So many are getting the wrong fats and an overload of them. We are getting plenty of fat into our diets, yet our brains are starving  and crying for fat because we are not getting the right fats that our body and brain can use.

We need real fats, the fats produced by nature itself. Olive oil pressed right from the olives, coconut oil squeezed right from a coconut, avocados, nuts, eggs, seeds etc. These things I understand. Many of the other oils I choose not to use as often. Soybean, canola, cottonseed and many other oils are so unnatural. Take some plants that have a relatively small amount of oil in them and grind them up, mix them with  toxic chemicals  and put them under extreme pressure in order to extract that small amount of oil. Then it goes through a whole process of heating and more pressure and more chemicals to clean and deodorize it so it does not taste and smell of all the chemicals. Take this highly refined oil and run electricity through it along with other stuff to hydrogenate it and you have something that our body does not know what to do with, yet we eat this stuff by the boatload. Nearly every packaged product on the grocery store shelves (and many in the health food stores) contain hydrogenated oils. These are the bad fats that we should avoid and for good reason, yet so many of us are eating a ton of these processed fats because they are hidden and we do not see them and do not really register that they are there.

Because it is so ingrained in us that fat is bad, we are eliminating the added healthy fats  (the ones that we can see).  It is easy to eliminate those things we see.  so many  people avoid things like avocados, nuts and eggs which we really should be adding to our diets.  "They are high in fat,  so I can only eat them occasionally." Yes they are high in fat, but it is the good fat that our body is trying so hard to get into the brain. We should be eating so much more of them and so much less of the junk we are eating.  So many avoid cooking with butter or olive oil and use a nonstick cooking spray which I avoid like the plague (more on that in another post). Learn to cook with real fats. Avoid the processed foods. Just about any food that comes in a bag, box, or can that is ready to eat will have some form of these over processed oils in it not to mention the preservatives. We need to eat food as nature made it, not as man made it.

I have had to work hard on eliminating these negative thoughts about fat. It is getting easier  because my brain and body are saying "thank you." I am feeling so much better because I am eating well. I will continue to eliminate the junk that does nothing to fuel my body and brain.


photos courtesy of Microsoft images

shared as part of real food wednesdays

Apricots; Food of the Gods?

Apricots are  food that has been nourishing people for years. It is a wonderful fruit that is good for the body and skin. They are high in the B vitamins as well as magnesium. The oil from the apricot pits is used in beauty products around the world. It is a wonderful thing to add to your diet.

Apricots are a wonderful fruit that are so easy to prepare, just wash and eat leaving the pit behind. The pit is easily removed, even my littlest could do it.  Last week we had some and our children ate so many of them I felt lucky to get any of them. They just flew right out of our fruit bowl. It seemed like I brought them in the house and they disappeared into little bellies.  I love that my children are loving and eating vegetables and fruits.

Fresh is the way I prefer to eat apricots. I do not care for canned or dried, yet they are wonderful. Apricots add a wonderful sweetness to many dishes. We have discovered that canned apricots make a wonderful smoothie base.  I am finding ways to eat the apricots I canned. An apricot puree made from canned apricots is a nice topping for pancakes or waffles. I just do not enjoy them straight from the can or jar. Canned apricots have got a bad rap in the military. There is a bit of superstition surrounding those who eat them. I have included the link to that story below.
Apricots causing superstition in the military.



One of the most popular ways people enjoy apricots is dried. I avoid many dried fruits because they use sulfites to aid in the drying process. I tend to have allergic reactions to these products. But for those who do not have such reactions dried apricots offer a powerhouse of nutrition that can be enjoyed on the go.  Dried apricots can go into salads, sandwiches breads and other things. It can be a great way to get good fiber and nutrition into your diet.

I really enjoy apricot nectar. It is wonderfully thick and rich in flavor and texture no wonder is called the nectar of the Gods.  I do have to watch what I buy, as so many of the popular brands are using less apricot and more corn syrup or other things. Watch what you buy, but  make sure you enjoy this wonderful  food. We tend to eat the same two or three fruits, apples, bananas, and oranges being the most popular here in the United States, but there are so many more choices out there. Expand your horizons get out and enjoy more fruits and vegetables including apricots.






apricot recipes
health benefits of apricots


shared as part of real food wednesdays

Yes, you can afford real food

I can't afford real food! I hear it alot. If you are buying processed "health foods" yes, it can be expensive. If you are paying for brands and labels it can be overwhelming. The biggest part of eating real food is finding the sources of "good, whole food" at prices that can fit into your budget.

1. A well stocked pantry and fridge is key.  A well stocked pantry includes herbs and spices, good oils, and wonderfully flavored vinegars. it also includes beans, lentils, rice, and  a variety of whole grains as well as canned fruits, vegetables, and beans. Keeping the fridge stocked with  fruits and vegetables is important.  Keep fruits and veg cut up at eye level.  Keep pre-cooked grains and beans in the fridge. They can be thrown into soups or salads if they are cooked and ready to go.  Dinner can be made in a snap if the time consuming work is already done (veg chopped, grains cooked). Cooked grains and lentils/beans will stay good in the fridge up to 10 days.
2.  Invest in a freezer. Buy good quality meat in bulk. Buy half a cow. Buy a pig. Grow your own produce and store it. Buy when there is an overwhelming bunch of produce and it is dirt cheap. We bought blueberries this last week and now we have enough berries to last. It cost about 10% of what it would have been otherwise.  It took just a few minutes to wash and freeze them for later use. Learning a few simple preservation skills is essential to eating and living well.

3.  Buy in bulk. Start small, but work up to buying in bulk. Pre-packaged grains are fine in the beginning while you are finding out what foods you family likes.  Find out what your family will eat, and then buy those things in bulk. Some of the grains can be so expensive in a package (2 or 3 dollars a pound) yet, in bulk those same grains can be  super cheap (less than a dollar a pound). There are options out there, you just have to search them out. Ask your store to expand the health section or get a bulk food section. There are online resources that can be utilized. Sometimes if you buy in bulk you can save on shipping. Find a few friends with similar values, and share the cost of bulk buying with them.

4.  Learn how to navigate the grocery store.  Shop the perimeter, and lower/upper shelves of the grocery store. The middle isles  right at eye level are where the most unhealthy foods are located. The store is arranged with the big brand, over processed foods at eye level. (even the health food stores do this)  Look up and down. The healthy foods are usually located on the highest and lowest shelves. I spend 90% of my time browsing the outer perimeter of the store. I rarely go down those middle isles and when I do, I usually keep my eyes near the ground, looking up only to scan the upper shelves (and watch out for other shoppers)


5.  80/20 rule.  This means that you strive to eat well and get good nutrition 80% of the time. This gives us room to have cheat days. It does not have to be an all or nothing thing. So many people get on an "all or nothing" kick. They then beat themselves up when their diet is not perfect, then they give up because they cannot achieve this elusive "perfect diet". There is no perfect diet. The key is to make the changes for the long haul that are sustainable. 100% perfection for a week, and then collapsing on the floor and going back to the junk because it was to darn hard, this is not sustainable. Simple choices and changes one peice at a time makes it easier to incorporate it all into a sustainable way of life.



6. Change the mind set. We get it into our minds that if we eat differently, people won't understand why I make these choices. We get into the mind set of some foods are "evil". Many men and children have the mindset that healthy food tastes like dirt. There are many who are of the mindset that vegetables and grain are for animal feed not for humans. There are many stories that we tell ourselves about the food we eat, Some of it conscious and some way back in the depths of the sub-conscious mind. For me, I had to get over emotional eating issues. "I eat to fuel my body, not to feed my emotions"  I had to repeat that over and over again until it became a part of me. It is not a diet for the short haul it is a journey of good health.

I hope that I have helped you to change your mindset to "I can do this". Take your family on the journey of good health. It is a journey well worth taking.





This post is shared with several link-ups including well fed wednesdays