The Goods Are Odd

2009! Expect the unexpected

A very happy new year it seems to be already- so many possibilities and new opportunities for change. After a few weeks of vacation from the computer and lots of reading I have some major resolutions about diet and eating. I think the goals I have set forth are logical extensions of the basic Mind to Mouth premise: eat the best food even with limited resources by being creative and having high standards. There really isn’t any way around the fact that optimum food comes from your own kitchen and takes some skill and time to prepare. This is a deterrent for many and a challenge for most but I think it is important to be honest about the fact that each step towards convenience is a step away from health.

Here’s why that is: The best food for you is higher in nutrients than energy, so you can get your daily load of vitamins, minerals, digestive enzymes without going over the limit of calories we need everyday (which isn’t much compared to the opportunities we have to consume them) So a variety of high nutrient and relatively low energy food is the right balance. High energy foods are those that are more active and alive or at their peak of freshness, this all equals a relatively fragile food. Fully ripe fruits and veggies, sprouted seeds and grains, fresh oils, sourdough breads, fermented drinks, fresh meat, fish and eggs. These are optimal foods and don’t tolerate much processing, storage on shelves, or travel time. (Well stored fats (without exposure to light and heat) and highly stable fats (saturated, like lard or coconut oil), properly stored raw but un-sprouted seeds and grains,  properly stored  root and winter veggies all are good foods that last and good foods can last longer via freezing and home canning methods.)

Why are active and alive foods best? Because food should be pulling its own weight when you eat it and adding to your body’s store of the vitamins and minerals you need to live. Foods that are not active don’t bring along with them the enzymes and nutrients your body needs to function and to process food. If food is not adding these things then the body has to use its stored up enzymes and nutrients to make up for it. Intuitively we can see how this depletes our health over time. Refined wheat and sugar have no vitamins and minerals to contribute so they pull from our bones and teeth and other sources. A diet of only cooked food adds no enzymes needed for digestion so our body has to provide those as well overworking our pancreas and under-nourishing our other organs. Whole fats have a lot more going for them then we have been led to believe and are crucial in our body’s ability to absorb vitamins and minerals. So you can understand what a mess we are in if we are giving our bodies food that deplete its stores of vitamins and minerals and additionally not eating the fats necessary to provide more. As we look at where we are generally this new year it is easy to see parallels between how we behave economically as a nation and how we eat; we want to spend resources we don’t have and don’t want to be responsible for adding to the savings.

But like with the economy our body’s balance sheets eventually catch up with us and we realize we must change.

The great thing is that we do know how to prepare foods to be active and to provide us with the right balance of vitamins, minerals, and enzymes without getting too many calories to do so. It takes the right balance of raw, naturally processed (fermenting and soaking), and cooked foods. To boot humans have been eating food optimally prepared for much longer than we haven’t. So the right diet is out there, we just have to reallocate our resources (time and money) to get to it.

I’m looking forward to sharing the strategies and practices I am learning to make sure I get the most bang for my buck in the foods I eat; not paying for food that is going to deplete me, and taking the time to get my food to the point where it can give me its full potential and of course be the most delicious! A taste of what’s brewing so far:

A half gallon of raw milk sitting with a sealed lid on my counter (!) to sour and separate into whey (used for future fermenting and activating of other food) and “cream” cheese (really the starting point for any cheese, but a little funny with nothing done to it). I’ll post that process in the next week.

A kombucha mother waiting for the right sized jar to start making fermented tea

Oats soaked overnight (and longer for tomorrow) in a water and yogurt mixture for an activated breakfast porridge.

I purchased lard from the farmer’s market and have it in the fridge for a whole fat option for frying and baking

My kitchen has seen the end of bottled salad dressing which pretty much uses exclusively soy or canola oil which are both highly processed and fall into the category of asking too much of the body rather than contributing good stuff as it goes down. Homemade salad dressing is too easy- just put olive oil and vinegar with sea salt and pepper in a jar and shake, only get fancier if you’d like. The money saved is noticeable.

That’s a pretty good start for 2009 so far I think. Stay posted and share thoughts. And for the source of my kitchen revolution start here.