“The implication of the Price research is profound. If civilized man is to survive, he must somehow incorporate the fundamentals of primitive nutritional wisdom into his modern lifestyle. He must turn his back on the allure of civilized foodstuffs that line his supermarket shelves and return to the whole, nutrient dense foods of his ancestors. He must restore the soil to health through nontoxic and biological farming methods. And he must repair that “greatest breakdown in our modern civilized diet” which is the gradual replacement of foods rich in fat-soluble activators with substances and imitations compounded of vegetable oils, fills, stabilizers and additives.”
The Weston A. Price Foundation -Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
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Here at Chiot’s Run the month of March and the Real Food Challenge was actually not much different than most months. We’ve been transitioning our eating to Real Food over the past 5-6 years. A container with a barcode rarely passes over the threshold here. There are a few areas we are working on, more seasonal and layering in more nutrients to each meal. That’s what we focused on this month and it has been great.
I also need to work on making more and more of our cheese, I make mozzarella all the time and have tried a hard aged cheese once, with a really really sharp outcome (good cheese, just super super sharp). I’d love to master the art of hard cheese making.
We also want to focus this summer on trying to fit more cold weather crops into our small garden space, which is a challenge since we don’t have space and the garden is shady so things don’t grow as quickly. I’d love to lessen the amount of canning I do and focus more on items that can be stored with minimal processing (sun dried tomatoes, dehydrated items, potatoes & squash that only need a cool spot). We also want to keep expanding our garden area so we can provide a little more of the food we eat.
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Jennifer here – Two years ago my hubby was diagnosed with an off the charts triglycerides level. He was told that if he didn’t change his ways that he wouldn’t live another five years. Wow. Since then we’ve really started paying attention to the foods we eat. All “white” foods were removed from our pantry and cupboards. We added even more whole grains and olive oil to our diet, replaced beef with bison, and added more lean fish to our weekly meals. We also eat vegetarian meals quite often. Most importantly, we rarely eat out at restaurants.
For us the biggest part of this challenge has been to eat more locally and seasonally, as well as to replace store-bought processed grains. We’d already established a healthier eating pattern because of Hubby’s diet and this year’s garden will reflect that. I taught myself to bake a good loaf of bread, how to make pasta, and crackers. We reduced our trash by 50 percent and reduced the amount of boxed cereal eaten in our household by 80 percent.
I think most importantly we’ve found several new local sources for food to incorporate this challenge into a new way of life.
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The month of March is almost over and the Real Food Challenge will be coming to an end. Most of us however will be carrying on trying to change our diets. We know that eating Real Food is something that we must do for our lifetimes, not just for a month.
Will you keeping up with the Real Food Challenge after the month is over?
First of all, I clearly need a life– how am I always the first comment?
I’ll absolutely be doing this, and doing it more and better, I think. I need to get my husband more with the program, primarily convincing him to pack meals, since his schedule requires that he work through lunch and sometimes dinner. I’ll also have both adult children back home next year (oh god shoot me now, they’ve been gone 4 years) so they will also get the proselytizing. No idea where I’m going to put them, since DD’s room has been given over to seed propagation, and DS’s to our huge collection of books.
Going to start going to the year-round farmer’s market for greens every Saturday. (I’ve always avoided it because it’s in the heart of sanctimonious yuppieville). I’m also planning to try to squeeze in more winter veggies in my small garden (although I’m not quite ready for potatoes yet), and to invest in a small freezer so I can store more things. Kicking myself for not thinking to check the temp and humidity in my unheated attic during the cold months, but I think a good insulated chest in the garage will probably work fine for some things.
Thanks again everyone, for the jump start. Keep blogging the project, please!
Reducing trash is a great by-product of eating real food. People are amazed when we tell them we only produce one small kitchen garbage bag full of trash every 2 weeks.
Eating real food and taking a direct role in producing a lot of your own food also helps with food waste. We find that we rarely throw food away any more because we spent time and energy making it, growing it, or finding someone else that does so we want to make sure we don’t waste a bit of it.
Finding new sources for local food is always so exciting! I’m always happy to chat with a farmer or producer and get to know the person that is growing/raising/producing my food.
I spent so much time at the farmers market last summer I became known as the “Farmers Market Groupie”.
People were constantly asking me which booth was mine….
This is something that started for us when I found out that I was pregnant with our son (over 2 years ago). We were focusing on whole foods, organic, and healthy options. The real food challenge added the local component for us. This is definitely something that we will continue. Thank you for a great challenge and lots of great input, advise, and encouragement!
Thanks for a fun and at times challenging “Real Food” month. We will certainly keep the real food challenge going since that is how we normally eat, but I now know that even in a crazy busy month we can eat home food rather than fast food. It just takes a little forethought and determination.
Of course we are going to continue with the “Real Food” challenge. As I get deeper into this way of life, I’m finding more and more local sources for food.
Now, if it were only June and my tomatoes were in!
Tomatoes in JUNE – lucky you. I have to wait until late July or August
As a person who came to this life later in it, I am encouraged by the committment of some of the younger folks who come here to blog and comment. And humbled, too, because we don’t come even close to doing what some of you are doing. Keep up the good work. Will we continue to do it? Of course! Every day is a step to a sustainable life. Whether they be small steps or big ones, just making the step is important.
We will absolutely keep challenging ourselves and the foods we eat. The challenge has given us great ideas and jumping off points. Now, when I make my grocery list I take a hard look at what I’m planning to purchase and ask myself, “Is this something I could make or grow myself?” I might not be able to start it right that minute, but it goes on a list. Eventually, I hope to see everything on that list checked off. I feel so good about these changes and about making sure I’m feeding my growing baby boy (and the whole family) good, real food. Thank you for sharing this journey with us!
The challenge was just an excuse to talk about the changes we’re already working on. Plus a great way to see what others are doing and use that as inspiration. Onward ho!
This challenge came conveniently at a time when we were trying to take even more steps to eating real food. It helped push me to sit down with my husband and really get him on board with the choices I was already making. Even though I didn’t blog them because we had company for dinner those nights, it also got me to make corn tortillas and pasta from scratch with excellent results and I will definitely be making (and photographing) them again soon!
I’ll be on the lookout for the corn tortilla post…that is my next challenge!
I will be beginning the Real Food Challenge in our household this month. We live in the suburbs of a large city, in an apartment, and we are blessed with a backyard, garden, and run big enough for our chickens. I’ve been wanting to go “locavore” for a long time, but felt that I lacked the resources to do so. But I finally feel like I am in aplace where I can make a serious effort.
We recently joined a local CSA and have been converting our food sources to local, fresh, and sustainably cultivated foods. I’m REALLY looking forward to April, when we can start harvesting our cut and come again early greens, move the 7 baby chicks out into their outdoor coop, and start picking up our weekly CSA shipments at the farmer’s market. I LOVE reading about everyone’s lessons learned here, and thank you all for the inspiration!
This challenge has been so good for me. I see food and grocery stores in a whole new light. I cook fresh every night and now shop mostly at organic and farmers markets and I am extending my gardening to all four seasons. No more processed or ‘nutraceuticals’ for my family. I have enjoyed reading such books as Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food, The Lappe’s Hope’s Edge, Gary Paul Nabhan’s Coming Home to Eat and Marion Nestle’s Food Politics. I would like to share with you a humorous website from James Lileks who wrote an brilliant and hilarious book about the food some of us ate in the 40′s, 50′s & 60′s called The Gallery of Regrettable Foods. When I pull this book out for friends to read, we laugh so hard, but the reality soon hits home. http://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/index.html