I’ve spent the last week making mental notes of which prepared foods I will be replacing with homemade, and those that will be leaving all together. Getting ready for our Real Food Challenge.
I have gathered some cracker recipes to have on hand for crunchy snacks. I have also dug out the old air popper and stocked up on organic corn for popped corn instead of chips. My oat jar is full and standing by for homemade granola and my grain bins are full ready to be ground into flour for bread and cookies.
I have also been looking around for any information about processed foods and their health effects…
In my recent TIME magazine under the large article called ‘The Science of Living Longer’ one of the suggestions for health was “Choose foods that look the same when you eat them as when they come out of the ground…”
The nutrition magazine that our local health food store has called ‘Better Nutrition’ had a little blurb in it that stated “Eating lots of vegetables, fruits, and fish boosts mood. In contrast, processed foods contribute to depression, according to a study of 3,486 civil servants in the United Kingdom, published in the British Journal of Psychiatry’
Interesting…I always know that you were helping you body with good nutrition but I never had considered your mental state getting a boost from avoiding processed foods. When you think about it anything that is good for the body surely is good for the mind!
And when you have a little time (it’s a long article) you might want to read this article in the New York Times by Michael Pollan titled ‘Unhappy Meals’
A couple of his tips for eating well are…
Don’t eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food,
Avoid foods with ingredients that unfamiliar, you can’t pronounce, have more than 5 ingredients
Get out of the Supermarket whenever possible…you won’t find high fructose corn syrup at the Farmer’s Market
Pay More, Eat Less. Eat foods that are grown well and organic even though they may cost more. Then eat less…
So I am slowly gearing up and getting ready…how about you? Have you thought about the changes you are going to make for our challenge?
Another great tip is to eat from the rainbow – try to have three or more colors on your plate.
I am so consumed with this challenge. Everyone in our house is either excited or anxious about getting started. Hopefully we can make a smooth transition!
I had a chance to leaf through Pollan’s Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual the other day. A fun little book that sums his other books up nicely.
My only problems are tortillas and pasta. Are these considered processed if you buy them? We are excited to try this and my daughter even decided to try it. She is moving to Hondurus, so she might as well get prepared!
That is the good thing about this challenge…it is up to you to decided what is right for you and your family. For me I am going to be making pasta and skipping tortillas (I don’t know how to make and seldom use). But for other it might be making their own sauce for the first time and pouring it over store bought pasta.
The challenge is about making steps towards using fewer processed foods…these steps are very individual! Kim
http://ginghamapron.typepad.com/gingham-apron/2010/01/no-pictures-please.html
Tortilla recipe … so very easy. I’ve made it 3 times, and the last 2 have been double batches for when my boyfriend’s brothers have been over.
No more buying tortilla’s here. It’s been one of the easier switches I’ve made.
Kim—
Is there any way you would part with your granola recipe? One of the big parts of our challenge will be getting rid of the processed cereals. I think a good granola recipe could help with the transition, but I don’t have one.
Thanks for the challenge—and for the mental help in getting us ready!
Hey Shayne…here is my granola recipe. The kids and I don’t eat store bought cereal but getting hubby to give up ‘LIFE’ cereal has been chore, lol! Kim
http://sweetgrace.typepad.com/the_inadvertent_farmer/2009/01/a-good-morning-for-great-granolarecipe.html
I don’t have an issue with the substance (most of it, anyway) of what is being said, but I do have a PET PEEVE. I’ve heard more than one person talk about avoiding ingredients you can’t pronounce. That’s a terrible way to evaluate something. I don’t have any trouble pronouncing “hydrogenated,” “benzoate,” or “diglyceride,” but I did have to be corrected on “fromage.” (You learn in chemistry that no matter how long chemical words are, they are quite regular in their pronunciations – just basic syllables strung together.) And I can say “high fructose corn syrup” in my (very occasional) root beer without getting tongue tied, but I still don’t know to say “quillaia” extract, a natural ingredient, which is also in my root beer.
Thanks for letting me get that off my chest.
Kim, thanks for posting the link to the recipe!
Weston Price has great articles about nutrient dense foods, and what to avoid and what to eat. Nourishing Traditions is a good way to start, more than just a cookbook, it offers insight to what is exactly in processed foods.
Local Chapters of Weston Price are great places to source food producers and recipes and just sometimes for the camaraderie.
http://www.westonaprice.org/
I’ve been trying to come up with some good articles for the month, can’t wait to read about everyone experiences!
I just ordered more hard white wheat berries for my grain mill, and 5 pounds of rolled oats (I love oatmeal pancakes or muesli for breakfast). I’m not sure where you live but Azure Standard is a good family owned resource for bulk organics at at decent price.
HickChick (via Homemakers Who Work) is tempting me with this challenge. Honestly it wouldn’t be a huge departure from what I normally do, and I wonder if I did it without mentioning anything if my husband would notice a difference! I’m glad I have another week to ponder and prepare. Great idea, though.