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Forget “Healthy” Eating

The concept of eating healthy has become so confusing

It is often based on bad science: one of the biggest examples was the low-fat diet which resulted in a highly refined carb and sugar-drenched-everything-from-soup-to salad-dressing leap into 20th century chronic diseases.
Or it chases contradictory data: eggs are bad, eggs are healthy. Butter is bad, margarine is good. Margarine is bad, butter is good. Soy is healthy, soy is bad…

“Healthy” diets and fads can be misleading

Touted by celebrities and “influencers” — paleo, vegan, keto, intermittent fasting – they catch on through social media yet often lack sound nutrition. Or are just not meant for everyone. There is no one-size-fits-all diet. Every individual has unique genetics, physical activity, lifestyle pattern and stress levels.

Marketing persuades us to buy processed “healthy” foods 

In the grocery stores, in our entertainment, on every online channel, just everywhere we go we are drowned in persuasion to eat foods labeled to trick us: Gatorade, Cliff Bars, Veggie sticks…
How long (and how much disease) before the Impossible Burger is debunked like Crisco and trans-fat margarine?

Eating “healthy” is associated with deprivation

We go to extremes. We “go on a diet” based on restrictions and the false promise of calorie counting. We stop eating foods that give us pleasure. Which makes us want to eat them all the more. So we binge. Fall off the wagon. Feel guilty. And we go back to our old habits.

What to do?

Forget “healthy” eating. Nourish your body instead. 🌟

Instead of asking “is this healthy”? ask “am I giving my body the nutrients it needs?”

Keep it simple. Eat real food the way nature intended. That is how our amazing human body evolved over millions of years before the agrarian revolution when domestic wheat and grains began to change the way people ate.

  • Along the coasts – fish and seafood, seaweed and local plants
  • Inland – All varieties of animals from nose to tail, even bones and hooves nothing went to waste. All parts of plants: leaves, stalks, roots, fruits, beans, nuts, seeds
  • In some parts of the world, humans ate mostly animals like the Inuit: whale, seal…
  • In other areas they were vegetarian with a WIDE diversity of plants including herbs and spices

Bottom line: nature was the only source of food.

When you eat

  • carbs from plants
  • fats from nature
  • quality sourced animal products the way nature intended, giving thanks in the way of ancestral traditions

You give your body the nutrients it needs for optimal physical, mental and emotional health:

  • tissue building, enzyme making amino acids from protein
  • essential fatty acids
  • vital minerals
  • vitamins and powerful phytochemicals – the natural compounds that give plants color. Every color represents a family of preventative and healing compounds
  • fantastic fiber so necessary for gut health – center of the immune system and integral to brain health — and necessary for your body’s detoxification and elimination processes

How many foods from nature do you eat? How many colors from plants?

Skip the diet. Enjoy a delicious, nutritious lifestyle.

Here are some recipes to put it into practice:

5 Moroccan Tagines 

5 Delicious, Nutritious Chili

5 Delicious, Nutritious Meatloaves

10 Ways to Use Leafy Greens

For more empowerment:

Nutrient Dense Foods

Good Mood Food

Why Nutrient Density Matters – Chris Kresser

Updated from January 2023

4 Reasons to Buy Local Foods

I love  bringing Mother Nature’s bounty into my kitchen — seasonal, fresh, locally grown.

Buying and eating local food is a daily choice for your health. To become more aware of the food you put in your body. To take climate change action. To support food and growers near you.  An opportunity to help preserve farmland and green spaces. A way to connect with the earth.

Local produce is picked within 24 – 48 hours.

Why does it matter?

Better for Your Health

Locally grown crops are harvested at their peak. Produce arrives at the market within 48 hours of picking; this brings you giving the freshest produce from farm to table. Eating local means:

  • More variety! This means more antioxidants, vitamins and phytochemicals for better health. Local farmers are more likely to choose varieties for flavor rather than yield. Large agricultural businesses that grow produce for distribution across the country choose varieties for high yield, fast growth rate, and ability to withstand long distance transport
  • More nutrient dense because they ripen naturally. Produce that travels long distances is picked before it’s ripe
  • More flavor!
[su_expanding_quote_web source_site=”Hānai‘Ai/The Food Provider” source_url=”https://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/sustainag/news/articles/V16-Watters-BenefitsLocalFood.pdf” target=”_blank” full_quote=”Handling, processing, and transportation also play a key role in the nutritional quality of fruits and vegetables. Careless handling, mechanical harvesting methods, storage at improper temperatures, and lengthy or rough transport can all reduce the quality and nutritional value of fresh produce. It is less likely locally grown fruits and vegetables will suffer nutrient losses from exposure to these conditions, but improper storage and handling can still reduce the nutritional quality of produce. Learning about the harvesting methods and handling procedures of the farmers in your area can help you to choose the highest quality produce for your family.” short_quote=”Handling, processing, and transportation also play a key role in the nutritional quality of fruits and vegetables.”]
  • No ethylene gas, which is added to fruits imported out of season to artificially ripen.
  • Contains less (or no) pesticides. Farmers have to pay an extra fee to become certified organic; some small-scale farmers use organic methods but aren’t certified because they simply cannot afford the certification fees. Even if they aren’t organic, small farmers tend to use fewer chemicals than large, industrialized farms.
[su_expanding_quote_web source_site=”Food Revolution Network” source_url=”https://foodrevolution.org/blog/why-buy-local-food/” target=”_blank” full_quote=”Small, local farms offer more variety. Our industrial agricultural system uses a mono-crop system. But smaller, organic farmers may grow a variety of organic and heirloom produce, which you might not find at the supermarket.” short_quote=”Small, local farms offer more variety.”]

Better for the Environment

  • Eating more local food reduces carbon emissions by reducing food miles (distance food travels from farm to consumer).
  • Buying local food helps preserve farmland and green space from development. When local farmers are well compensated for their products, they’re less likely to sell their land to developers.
  • Farms also provide a habitat for wildlife and maintain the ecosystem.
  • Helps more farmers switch to  sustainable practices. The more you shop at local markets, the more these local farmers will thrive and grow.

Supports the Local Economy

  • Money spent locally stays local. It helps local producers and is reinvested with businesses and services in your community. This helps grow your local economy instead of giving earnings to a corporation in another city/state/country.
  • Local food moves through fewer hands.  The money you spend goes to people growing those foods.
[su_expanding_quote_web source_site=”Civil Eats” source_url=”https://civileats.com/2017/07/04/eating-local-more-than-ever-is-a-political-act” target=”_blank” full_quote=”Eating Local ” full_quote=”When we eat local, we create the conditions under which people are able to live the lives they love. Statistics about the way dollars spent locally stay within a community fail to illuminate what this looks like for individual entrepreneurs and farmers, freelancers and artists, those with the itch to make beautiful things, those deeply invested in living lives wedded to the land.” short_quote=”When we eat local, we create the conditions under which people are able to live the lives they love”]

Creates Community and Connection

Shopping at a local farmer’s market  connects you to where your food comes from.

Through Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) you can purchase seasonal produce directly from local farmers. A CSA-participating farm offer a number of “shares”. Generally you pay up-front. This helps pay for seeds and plants, greenhouse expenses, equipment, labor, and other costs related to the workings of the farm. The farm grows food for participating members. CSA members receive a weekly or biweekly share of the farm’s harvest. It’s a win-win. Community members become shareholders in the farm and the farm has a steady supply of revenues it can count on.

Did you know CSA’s began in Japan in the mid-1960s and 1970s, in response to consumer concern about the increasing use of pesticides in industrial farming?

I enjoy receiving farm fresh, seasonal vegetables every week from Central City Co-op! Find a local market here

For More Empowerment

7 Benefits of eating Local Foods

Why Buy Local Food? It’s Healthier for You and Better for the Environment

References:

  1. Nestle, Mario. (2006). What to eat. New York, NY: North Point Press.
  2. Hyman, Mark. (2020. Food Fix: How to save our planet, our economy, our communities, and our planet – one bite at a time. New York, NY: Little Brown Spark, Hatchette Book Group.

Updated from February 2018 post