Many years ago, a dear friend of mine shared what she was learning about
nutrition in her
Bradley class. It was then I began to make changes in my own diet and way of doing things. We began substituting whole wheat flour for half the flour in our bread recipe. We switched to fructose instead of regular sugar (we were told this was good for us since it was a "fruit" sugar...we've since been
enlightened otherwise), and began using
sea salt. These were simple and easy to do changes.
I also began to can and perserve regularly. Our landlord lived next door and was something of a renaissance man. He had a large garden and was more than willing to share a bit of land with us and teach me to perserve and make more whole food recipes. All he asked in exchange was that some of my cooking would make its way next door to him. ;)
Then we moved. It took me a bit to ease into my new region (and I'm sorry to say I never did take full advantage of all that was available there), but soon I had met people who helped me learn new things about eating better and using what was around me. We switched to a new
bread recipe that was all whole wheat and began using
Prairie Gold flour. We exchanged our
teflon for
cast iron and went to
stoneware exclusively for baking. We found a
raw milk source and added homemade butter and fresh cream to our diet. I switched from fructose to
raw honey and raw organic sugar and got my first taste of
demerara (but didn't use it real often). We began to take elderberry juice concentrate (not nearly as often as we should, though) and for a time, I took
chlorophyll. I also began ordering from a local
Frontier Coop for a lot of household needs and I switched to
cloth diapers.
Then we moved again. This time to the city. Let me just say city life changes things. One thing it changed in a very bad way was my eating out addiction (and my soda addiction). It was all much to readily available.
Between the time of Emily's last surgery and her
going Home, I began talking with my friend
Lynnette about some new natural things I had not tried before. Lynnette had brought our family many yummy organic snacks while we were in the hospital and I wanted to continue that step in the right direction. However, Emily's death threw me into a tailspin and I could not cook let alone cook healthy. I was barely out of the fog before I found myself pregnant and dealing with
morning sickness. Throughout the pregnancy it was all I could do just to keep the status quo and of course your babymoon is no time to start something new, so now that I am 3.5 months postpartum, I feel the niggling urge once again to address the issues I left behind.
But, where to start?!?
I decided to go back to a forum I spent a brief amount of time on before Emily's death called
Cooking Traditional Foods. I would highly recommend this forum! These ladies are a wealth of knowledge! I've also been going back through my
Nourishing Traditions book (right now I am very overwhelmed by this book!) and my
Whole Foods for the Whole Family cookbook. There are also some great recipes in the
MOMYS Cookbook (currently out of print--the message on this site is old).
Today, via instructions from my Whole Foods cookbook, I started some
sourdough. This is something my husband has been intrigued by for several years now due to his mountain man fascination (more on that another day!). So, I've got that going and hope to make some things with it this week. I'm learning about soaking grains and I am trying to find a reliable raw milk source as well. I've begun making our peanut butter and I'm taking some new supplements (see
Feelin' Frumpy post) I am also trying to talk myself into replacing my soda addiction with a love for
water (pray for me...this is not an easy one!)
I have a good 20 pounds of excess weight on me, so my desire to change things is very much fueled by a desire to lose weight, but I also see where we Americans have very little food that is in its natural state anymore. Documentaries like
King Corn and
Super Size Me really brought that to my attention.
What we put in our bodies matters. My body is supposed to be a temple for the Lord, not an artery-clogged fast food restaurant. What I eat matters because it says a lot about me. It tells whether I am dying to self or feeding my greed. A food addiction is scary and dangerous; it is harder to control because we must eat to live. Most addictions do not require you to continue to use the source of your addiction day in and day out.
But, I also believe that much of what fuels our addiction are the addictive additives that have become our way of life. If I learn to bring my foods back to a more natural state, I hope to find that food has less of a pull on me.
And so begins the next level of my au naturale journey! I'd love to hear about changes you have made or are making to eat and live more naturally.
May the words of my mouth and what I put in it glorify the Lord Who provides our earthly food.
Labels: My Home, My Kitchen, Recipes
