Food Rules

(source: freedigitalphotos.net)

I've been sharing with you some of the things I've been learning about our food and some of the changes I've made in how I purchase/prepare what my family and I eat. Remember how, not too long ago, I decided to go gluten & diary free in hopes of it helping my weight loss? And then how even less long ago I decided that was too complicated? Well, after reading Michael Pollan's book, "Food Rules" I have decided I was on the right track. There is no reason to make things complicated, and when you boil it down to the basics, its pretty easy to eat healthily. Pollan is really great about giving the reader lots of information, and usually its more than I need, but in this book he kind of strips off all the scientific data and just gives you the basic points, or practicals, which is exactly what I needed.

Here is what it boils down to:
1. Eat food

2. Mostly plants

3. Not too much.

Of course, he gives several "mini-rules" for each main rule to help make it clear, all of which I thought were great. There were a few that struck a chord with me more than the others, though.

~Buy snacks at the farmer's market & limit snacks to unprocessed plant foods (i.e. fruits, veggies, nuts)

This one hit me because my kids are snackers, especially my youngest who has a hard time eating enough at each meal to last until the next meal. I've slowly made the switch to buying organic snacks for them, but they are things like cereal bars, crackers, fruit snacks, cereal, etc, which are all still processed. Just because they are made from organic products doesn't make them less processed. I've decided that I'm not going to buy those things at all (if I can manage that) and focus more on having the girls snack on fruits (both fresh and dried), veggies and nuts. This goes for me as well, too.

~Use your freezer.

I do use my freezer, but I'm going to try to do more purchasing of fruits/veggies when they are in season and freezing them or canning them. If I'm the one preparing them than I know exactly what is in them! I am in the process of trying to get my hands on some cucumbers & tomatoes so I can can some pickles & salsa with my mom.

~Have a glass of wine with dinner.

I love this advice since sometimes I do enjoy a glass of red wine in the evening. The key of course is to make it a glass instead of glasses.

~Want junk food? Cook it yourself! & "Treat treats as treats"

I love, love, love this advice. It means there is flexibility and leeway when eating clean like this. Just like in the "old" days, when someone wanted fried chicken or french fries or ice cream or cake, instead of going out and buying it, they put in the work of making it themselves and then cleaning up the kitchen mess when they were done. Not only do you then know what is exactly in your food, but if you are the one putting in the work, you are less likely to eat that kind of stuff everyday and it becomes more of a treat, what it was meant to be. He mentions a rule some people use, the "S-rule" = No snacks, no seconds and no sweets except on days that begin with the letter S. Cool, huh?

~Eat less & Slow down & Consult your gut. I need to work on this. Following my gut instead of my eyes, slowing down to eat and paying attention to if/when I feel full (stopping before I feel full) and just enjoying the process of eating more. Like another of his rules states, "Spend as much time enjoying the meal as it took to prepare it." I need to view meal times as more than just "fuel time", its also time to enjoy being with my family, enjoying the food we've worked hard to bring to the table (through Erik's job and my cooking/gathering) and being grateful for how God's taken care of and provided for us. This one is a biggie for me, I usually eat pretty quickly and so I really need to slow down.

So, if you want to change the way you eat and get back to real food, I highly suggest this book. Its an easy read and yet so practical. Some of the rules and reasons for them are hilarious, I was laughing as I read them out loud to Erik.

Do you really want to eat that?

While we were on our long road trip to Wyoming and beyond, I was able to read this book, The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan.  Have you read it? If you are at all interested in where your food comes from or what is in it, you should. I picked it up after watching Food, Inc. last month (and I would also like to read a couple more of Pollan's books, including Food Rules and In Defense of Food.) I really liked how he presented the information, although at times it got a little too dry/scientific for me to completely understand. For the most part, it was understandable. Although I already knew a bit about the sources/state of our food before reading this book, I feel like I can see the bigger picture as a result of reading it. Now I know why our cows are being fed all that corn (its a surplus of corn) and why the farmers keep producing more and more corn even though the demand isn't increasing. I am also so inspired by the story of a sustainable farmer back East that part of me wants to have our own small "farm" and raise our own chickens, maybe a pig or two and some goats.

One thought I kept having as I read this book, was wistful, "if only we could go back to how food was raised a hundred years ago, before all the processing and junk".  I know that isn't possible, but I think we can each do it in part. Since I'm pretty much 100% responsible for the cooking & grocery shopping at my house, I'm making a huge effort to stop buying food that has been super-processed and get back to more whole foods. I'm working on finding a local farmer from whom we can buy 1/2 a cow (grass-fed, of course) and maybe even 1/2 a pig. I'm starting to buy more organic foods and educating myself as to what foods are in season. I'd love to have a small garden, but its a bit late to start one now so I'm thinking ahead to that for next year and helping my mother-in-law with hers when we're up there--she loves to share some of the bounty with us too! :-) I think that education is a huge part of it, and although I'm discouraged a little by everything I'm learning, I'm trying to just take that discouragement and turn it into action.

Like for example, in the book he talks a little about the favorite eating place of all children (you know what place I'm talking about) and the ingredients in some of their food products. I read that part out loud to Erik as we drove along, and his comment was, "Hm. Well maybe we don't need to be eating there anymore." My thoughts exactly. So, when we stopped an hour or so later for food, we actually made an educated guess about the more healthy of spots to eat. It's a bummer that my kids won't get to eat there anymore, but we explained to them why and they are totally on board. It's amazing what a little education will do! I'm hopeful that by instilling this knowledge and change in our way of eating now, that it will help my girls in the long run and they won't have to make such large changes (as I am doing) when they get older. Not that I ate totally horribly before, but I just didn't know what was in the food I was choosing, well now I do!

How about you? Have you read anything lately that has caused you to change how you do things?

Monday Randomness

Today is the day that I get things figured out for the week ahead of me. I finalize the menu plan, the grocery list(s), do the errands, and basically recover from the weekend and start a new week. It's actually one of my favorite days, as I don't usually plan anything extra, so it tends to be pretty productive. And with that intent of being productive, I don't want to spend a ton of time drafting a huge, thought-out blog post, so I leave you with randomness, which is where my brain is right now anyways...

• My shin hurts. My right one, specifically. I'm afraid I may have overdone it somewhere along the way of my 1/2 marathon training. My shins are quite temper mental--if I increase incline, distance, time, intensity, etc too quickly, they get whiny. So, I will be taking it easy on the running this week (translation: no running, just walking) which I hate to do. I mean its a good thing I still have a month, but then again, I only have a month! Please pray that my shin heals quickly, I will be.
• I made two new things yesterday: Rhubarb compote & rhubarb muffins. Both are yummy. Especially when you use the compote in the muffins, like Shauna does in her fabulous recipe here. Super yummy.
• My girls are done with school on Friday, but before that they have Fun Day today and then the youngest has  field trip tomorrow, both of which I'm helping with. I like helping with their school stuff, its one of the biggest perks of my "job". I hope they realize how lucky they are to have their Mamma at their school as much as I am!
• I started P90X today. I am borrowing the discs from my folks. I wanted something different to shake up my workouts a bit, and I love a challenge. I also love watching a workout video as opposed to trying to follow moves out of a book. I must be somewhat of a visual learner. Anyway, I'm not doing the classic program, but the lean one. It's got less of the upper body weight training and more cardio. Not that it is suppose to be any easier, I just don't need to spend three or four hours each week pumping up my arms. Today was a workout called core synergenics (or something like that) and even though it was tough, I actually enjoyed it. I'm going to just take a day at a time because I don't want to do too much and get injured (more) and not be able to run, so we'll see.
• We watched the movie, "The Fantastic Mr. Fox" this weekend. The girls and Erik liked it. I thought it was a bit weird. I like more of the traditional animation, I think.
• I don't remember how I found this blog, "This Blessed Life", originally, but I am really interested in the journey she's been documenting towards "clean" eating, especially after watching "Food Inc." She's blogging about two foods each month that she's been able to replace the chemical-laden store bought kind with a homemade, chemical-free kind. It's fascinating to me and I've already found several recipes I'd love to try. That's one of the biggest benefits I've seen from going gluten-free, as well, is the amounts of processed foods bought in my house has drastically decreased and I've started to make a whole lot more things from scratch. It makes me very grateful I have the time to cook things from scratch. (Thank you God for my awesome job!)
• Kind of along the same thread as clean eating, I want to ask you, how much do you know about what you put on your face or skin? A good friend, and my Mary Kay consultant, pointed this article from the Dr. Oz show out to me, all about the hidden dangers of beauty. I will be changing a few of my beauty products for sure after reading this. It's not just about what we put in our bodies, but also about what we put on it!

Okay, that's enough rambling. I'm off to help second graders play games, as long as the rain stops! Stop, rain, stop, if just for this afternoon!

Ignorance is not bliss

Not too long ago I never ever bought anything organic. I didn't know anything about eating food in season or locally grown/produced. I read labels, but only to watch out for fat and calories, nothing else. The only thing I worried about in my food was the price, if it was somewhat healthy and if my family would eat it.

Then I read a couple books on healthy eating and tried to start eating more organic food, like milk and yogurt and kiddo snacks. Not too long after that, I read an article on beef. I blogged about it here. That really opened my eyes to the state of our food in this country and I started trying to purchase more organic than not.

But, I must confess, I have gotten out of that habit. I still buy organic milk and I love visiting our local farmer's market, but the rest of it is kind of hit or miss, depending on convenience, price and taste. I have sort of put up this cloud of ignorance to it all again, figuring that it didn't really matter.

Guess what, it does matter though. I watched the movie, "Food Inc." last night and my eyes have been opened once again, but this time to more than just the state of our beef. If you havent' seen this movie, I highly suggest you do so. You will learn a ton about where our food comes from and it will make you think twice about what you spend your money on, and even more so, what you feed your family.

It's a little overwhelming to me. I found myself thinking, "well, how can we change this?" while watching the movie. The cool thing, is that they end the movie with suggestions for what you can do.

You can choose with your money. Every time you spend it on a food item, you are choosing that item and everything that goes into it, whether its locally grown/organic or produced by one of the big food companies. So it's like you're voting every time you put something through that check out line. And yes, most of the time, organic products are more expensive, but the only way to change that is for there to be higher demand for them instead of the other stuff. It's all supply and demand. What are you voting for? Unfortunately I have been voting for the yucky stuff.

So, I've decided that I will change how I feed my family.

I will buy more organic.

I will support local farmers, frequenting my farmers market and finding local farmers who sell grain-fed beef/pork.

I will try to purchase food seasonally. (I need to research this as I have really no idea what is in season and when.)

I will no longer purposely buy anything with high fructose corn syrup in it.

I will cook more meatless meals. I do this already a little, but I need to do it more.

And, of course, I will talk about it, telling my friends, family and you what I think, because the more people that know and that are on board, the quicker things will change.

Have you seen that movie? If so, what did you think? Have you changed how you eat as a result? Or has there been something else that has spurred you to change something in your life?

Ignorance is Bliss....

Over the past 6 to 9 months I've read several books on health and how its linked to what we eat. Most of the books I've read have recommended choosing organic food items whenever possible. I have kind of done that--I make sure to buy organic milk & yogurt, cereal and snack items for the kids, but not with veggies and meat. I just figured that if I grew up on it and I turned out fine, than my kids will be fine too. I also knew that if I really looked into it I would probably be disgusted and go all oranic, and, well, organic is more expensive. It's already a huge part of our budget to buy groceries anyways, I figured saving the $ was more important and hoped it would balance out. By that I mean, if I am making sure my kids (and us parents) are eating all the fruits, veggies & whole grains we should that it wouldn't matter if they were organic or not, that we'd still be getting the nutrients we needed. At least that's what I told myself.

But a friend forwarded this article to me today:
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Sustainable-Farming/2008-02-01/What-You-Need-to-Know-About-the-Beef-You-Eat.aspx

And its really, really eye-opening in a disgusting & scary way. Ignorance is bliss, but not necessarily healthy bliss. I'm totally changing my viewpoint on organic meat as of right now. I would like to say I'll do organic veggies, too, but a part of me wants to research that a little bit first.

It's crazy how different the food supply is today than 50 years ago! So, go read that article--it is long, but well worth the reading. Go, go now!