First let me clear up that unprocessed for me means not processed in a factory, doesn’t come in a bag/box, and is as close to the way it was harvested as possible. Cooking, canning, fermenting, and freezing are all ways of processing foods, but for this challenge we’re not using the term for these methods. So a fried egg for me in unprocessed, even though technically it’s a processed food. I’m guessing this is the way you are all thinking processed as well. When you’re trying to make a choice, choose the least processed. For example, if you’re looking at cheese, buy a real cheese instead of something like Velveeta or American cheese. If you can, find a local raw milk cheese or an artisan cheese made with old-fashioned methods.
Snacking is probably the hardest area to go unprocessed. Often you’re out and about and you have to do some preplanning to avoid the packaged granola bars, bags of chips, and bottles of juice. Here at Chiot’s Run we follow the Nourishing Traditions parameters for eating, and we try to fit our snacking within those parameters. When I snack I prefer salty, protein rich foods, instead of grain and sugar based snacks. What kids of snacks will you find me eating at home, and when I’m on the road? olives (I brine my own), fermented pickles, kimchi, sauerkraut, hard boiled egg, yogurt, kefir, artisan raw milk cheese, toast with lots of butter, sauteed seasonal vegetables, a fresh salad, a glass of raw milk, a raw milk latte, a small cup of custard, pumpkin pie, etc.
We actually don’t snack much around here, once we switched a Real Food diet of minimally processed foods, the less we felt like snacking. I think it’s because we’re eating more fat and our bodies are being nourished. I believe that feeling hungry and snacky between meals usually means you’re not eating enough at meals (especially healthy fats) or that your body is undernourished and needs some vitamins and minerals. Along with trying to transition to healthier snacks, try to add more nutrition to your meals by: adding more herbs and spices, consider taking a fermented cod liver oil supplement, include some kind of fermented food with each meal to help your body absorb more from your food.
What are some of your favorite unprocessed or homemade snacks?
I can also be found at Chiot’s Run where I blog daily about gardening, cooking, local eating, maple sugaring, and all kinds of stuff. You can also find me at You Day Magazine, Not Dabbling in Normal, and you can follow me on Twitter and on Facebook.
Haha, more snacks! Yay!
This is a great snack list Susie. We also do homemade beef jerky, home pickled or smoked fish, lots of cheese, homemade hummus and veggies, apples and nut butter, or homemade fruit leather along with some fat and protein like soaked nuts. I completely agree – snacking on grains isn’t supplying my body with the nutrients it needs and takes away from eating more nutrient-dense meals.
How could I have forgotten jerky? We make jerky from the venison Mr Chiots gets for us each year – it’s the perfect traveling snack! We try to always pair nuts with yogurt or raw milk.
One other thing we do that you do too – baked custards. And we also do steamed eggnog this time of year (the homemade kind, with a tinge of maple syrup and lots of egg yolks…)
MMM, eggnog. I love it too – so healthy and delicious. I always think about Farmer Boy when I make it, how he told of his mom bringing it out to the fields when they were working. I usually make my eggnog raw, so raw milk, raw egg yolks, vanilla… now I’m craving eggnog!
Those snacks look great. I agree, most people need to stay away from the grain based snacking…it is a weight gain trap for me. I do occasionally like tortilla chips for salsa and such that I have canned though.
Occasionally we do tortilla chips & salsa too – I’m so happy that I just found a source for local tortilla chips made with organic grown Ohio corn and Ohio organic sunflower oil (although I wish they were fried in lard). The corn is even limed before making the chips.
I’m a grain-based girl–you’ll pry my homemade whole wheat crackers and herbed goat-cheese out of my cold dead hands! (Although carrots and the cheese will do in a pinch)
Roasted garbanzo beans… salty and crunchy!