Real Food Defined

I have mentioned in several posts that we have started eating 'Real Food'.  By this I mean food that is as close to it's original state as possible.  At the present time, these are the general guidelines I go by when purchasing and preparing food.

• If the food has a label, look at the ingredients list instead of the nutrition information. 
• Can you pronounce all of the ingredients? 
• Would your Great-Grandma know what these ingredients are?
• Are there more than five ingredients? 
• Are there any hydrogenated oils? 
• Are there any preservatives?
• Whole Grain: When eating a grain, eat a WHOLE grain. 
• Whole wheat flour, whole grain corn, brown rice, oats... just look for the term WHOLE. 
• Fats and Cooking Oils:
• Butter, olive oil, coconut oil, sesame oil, and a few others fit the bill. (NO-soybean oil, vegetable oil, canola oil, sunflower or safflower oil)
• Produce:
• Aim to buy as much produce at farmer's markets and through CSAs as possible. 
• When buying at the supermarket try to buy organic if it is fairly cost effective, or at least as local as you can.  I would buy strawberries grown in the USA over organic strawberries grown in Chile. 
• Keep the 'Dirty Dozen' list of the most pesticide-ridden fruits and veggies in mind.  Aim for organic items from this list when possible.
• Meat: Here is my run down on buying meats...
• For chicken, I buy local, organic and pastured whenever possible... at the least organic...and at the VERY least vegetarian fed. 
• Beef, buy 'GRASS FED' and organic.  If possible, look for a local source.
• Sausage and bacon, look for 'uncured' and nitrate/nitrite free. 
• Sweeteners:
• Local, raw honey...NOT from a grocery store.  Raw honey is good, raw AND local is better.
• 100% Pure maple syrup
• 100% juice, preferably fresh squeezed and as a sweetener and not a beverage
• Sugar in (major) moderation.  Unrefined, organic cane sugar is a good choice when baking at home. 
• Dairy and Eggs:
• Eggs should be organic and cage free.  When possible, I buy from a local farmer directly. 
• Dairy should be as whole as possible. 
• Whole milk, cream, sour cream, plain yogurt, cheese, etc. 
• I look for pasturized, not ultra-pasturized milk products. 
• I am exploring the option of raw milk products...like raw cheese.
• Avoid pre-shredded cheese products due to the anti-caking additive used. 
• Avoid canned goods due to BPA used in the lining of the cans. 
• Use dried beans and grains, prepare them yourself
• Frozen fruit and veggies are ok, as long as you don't cook them in plastic in the microwave.   
• Overall, aim to prepare as much food at home as possible!!

Weight Loss thoughts...

Last week I was feeling pretty good.  I *thought* my weight was down to the lowest it had been, but it turns out that I might have had scale sabatoge...there was a piece of fabric under one side of the scale foot that caused it to read differently, boo!  Even so, I did have lower-than-normal real readings putting me down between 9 and 13 pounds on any given day.  Success considering I was at a plateau and feeling frustrated about two weeks ago. 

[I am promising myself that my next post will explain my current eating "guidelines"...not exactly rules, but something I am striving to stick to.] 

I am feeling a little hungry this week compaerd to last week.  Last week I felt satisfied with my food intake and was not having/barely having the afternoon cravings.  This week they are back a little, although not anything like the ravenous sugar addict cravings I would have in the afternoons before.  I am trying to make a point of eating something plant-based and non-sugary when I do feel hungry...an apple, carrots, nuts, or a little trail mix that John made last week.  I did break into my frozen stash of 'healthy' oatmeal cookies yesterday. 

I can totally tell when I have had sugar or white flour, the crash afterward is terrible.  It is bad enough for me to think twice and avoid those foods when possible. 

My new normal is to allow a little wiggle room in my eating on Friday and Sunday nights.  It's like a conditioned response to the day.  I start craving different foods than during the week.  Although the feeling afterward is pretty blech! 

Cucumber's Down

Well, about two weeks in and the cucumbers seem to be gone.  It was either way to early to plant them, or the cold temperatures last week got to them.  (Which also points to it being way to early to plant!)

Unfortunately the zucchini plants are looking pretty bad as well.  I am willing to replant in a few weeks if they keep going downhill. 

On the upside:

• ALL of the lettuce and strawberries look fabulous. 
• The peppers have new growth - all but one plant look really healthy.
• The beets seem to be holding strong.
• All other plants are looking ok as well.

Watering is about every third day, every other day if it hits 70 degrees.  We are looking at some rain this week, so I am hoping it doesn't flood the beds.  Rain is supposed to be good for this stuff, right?!?  :-)

Garden Diagrams

So, I do have real photos as well, but here is my little diagram of what we planted in our two raised-bed garden boxes. 

I have read so much about the need to keep a detailed journal about our garden so I know what to do and not do next year.  Hopefully this diagram will help me remember exactly what we planted this year.
 
So far, I think we have too much. My plan is to thin out the plants as they grow. I will keep the stronger plants and if many are strong I might transplant them. We planted these last weekend, and already the cucumbers look to be a little frail. We did have one evening this week that was pretty close to freezing. I was pretty nervous about all we had just planted, but the rest of the week the temperature was better and most of the other plants still look pretty healthy.

I had no idea how much to buy and planning out ahead of time was tough because I didn't know the best method, there just seemed to be too many factors...

• Plant spacing
• Companion planting
• Size of grown plants
• How many plants came in a container
• What would we try to plant from seeds
• What all we wanted to have in our garden
• What would do well in our climate and though the hot summer
• What would the store have in stock, or was it too early to try to plant that variety

So, I just went with what looked healthiest at the nursery, a decent variety, and what sounded good.

Making the Raised-Bed Garden

I am so lucky in that I have John on board with changing our diet.  We had been planning on building raised-beds for this area for a few years, but it just never ended up high on the priority list.  Thankfully, we have had so many nice weekends weather wise this year,  John was able to build them over Valentine's Day weekend. 

Obviously, a home grown vegetable garden fits many criteria for eating a Real Food diet.  Plus, there are so many other benefits.  (More on that later.)

Here is the area where the beds will go, we had cleared some weeds and John dug down and leveled off enough area for both beds.

We chose to use 12' long redwood boards.  Use REDWOOD or CEDAR, anything pressure-treated will leach chemicals into your home-grown veggies...blech!

John, busy cutting the boards to more manageable 8' and 4' pieces.

And here are the finished boxes!!  8' x 4' beds...so excited to get to planting!!

 
Notice the staggered corners... much stronger.

Positives

At the begining of my research, I found a lot of the information to be really depressing.  Looking back, it sounds so silly.  Yet, despite the fact that I knew a change would be for the best... I went through a little mourning period.  I guess we kind of have to do that when it comes to major change.  Mourn the loss of what was to really move on to what IS. 

In January, as I was really diving into my food research 'eating healthier' was kind of a vague idea for me.  I went to the grocery store looking for better quality chicken, shelf-stable products that did not contain high fructose corn syrup, tried to aviod soy and wheat products, and aimed to buy a lot of fruits and veggies.  There were several foods suggested, and I readily went searching for them, regardless of the cost.  This was a poor decision... and I decided to slow down and make smaller changes. 

Last month, in the process of my reading I came across this blog: 100 Days of Real Food.  This blog is the journal of the Leake family and how they went from eating similarly to the way we did to eating nearly entirely "Real Food".  (I put that in quotes because I realize that term must be defined at some point.)  Through reading that blog I realized that we COULD change our eating habits... it was do-able.  The decision they made and the "rules" they made for what to eat were strongly based on a few books and ideas written by Micheal Pollan.  <---More on Pollan's writing soon!

Through seeing what the Leake family did, I really started to look at this journey in a more positive way.  Instead of what we couldn't eat... I started seeing what we COULD.  Instead of hearing about the diseases that might be caused by the horrible way we, as American's, eat... I started to see the diseases that COULD be avoided by eating better.  Instead of worrying about the food we were now eating being different from what we were used to eating... I started to actually taste the food we were preparing and really LOVE it.

So at this point I am gaining momentum and excitement for this "Real Food" life.