This quest began out of the realization that we spend too much money on food. In November Michael and I read Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover and decided we needed to follow the advice of that book. So, we signed up for www.mytotalmoneymakeover.com and gained access to the budgeting tools. At that point we were eating fast food three to five times a week on average. This, as you may know, is expensive. It's also profoundly unhealthy, but when you're in that lifestyle it's easier to just ignore those facts. Anyway, we decided the amount of money we spent on food was unacceptable and that we would eat at home more. Beginning in December we started our first budget and dramatically reduced how much we ate out. I began preparing meals at home, and we began to feel better about both our financial and dietary choices.
In February we attended a nutrition seminar that highlighted the importance of fruits and vegetables in the diet, and illustrated how shockingly low the average American diet is in these items. I already knew that we didn't eat enough fruits and vegetables, but it was certainly an eye-opening seminar. This led me to start looking for more recipes and a variety of different options for food.
The next development was the series on ABC, Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. In this show, Jamie Oliver of Food Network fame, went to Huntington, WV to start a food revolution. His emphasis is on fresh, wholesome, nutritious, unprocessed food. He works with the school district to eliminate processed food from school breakfasts and lunches, opens a kitchen offering free cooking lessons to the city, and works with families to improve their health. He has a petition to send to the President to improve the food in public schools. Michael and I have both signed it, and you can too if you click on the link at the top of this post. His goal is one million signatures, so your signature counts. This led me to consider eliminating more of the processed foods from our diet. We haven't been eating out as much, but we have been purchasing processed foods from the store. So, I began doing more poking for ways of making snack foods that we like from whole food ingredients. This is less expensive and healthier than store bought crackers and granola bars. In the course of my searches I came across references to clean eating, which is the idea of eating whole foods, not processed, pre-packaged foods. When looking more into this, I came across references to the book Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon. Having never heard of this I googled it to find out more. I also went to the library to try to check it out. The library here does have it, but it was already checked out, so I couldn't get it. However, the online library catalogue generates recommendations of similar material, and the top recommendation was the book Real Food: What to eat and why by Nina Planck, so I checked it out.
I found this book quite fascinating. It describes real food as foods consumed by traditional, non-industrialized societies. This includes unpasteurized milk, grass fed beef, pastured chicken and pork, milk from grass fed cows, eggs from pastured chickens, and organic produce. The book briefly describes common practices on factory farms and why they make our foods less healthy. It also challenges the notion that vegetable fats are better for us and reduce our chances of heart disease. Most vegetable fats don't meet the author's description of real food as food eaten by non-industrialized societies. Olive oil is the only one that meets the criteria, and the only one the author recommends using. Other fats to be used include butter, lard, chicken fat, and beef fat. She also discusses the various health benefits of consuming natural fats and describes the way the human body uses these fats. It's written in an accessible manner, and doesn't delve too deeply into scientific/medical jargon that could make it more difficult to read. It does break down the way things work into understandable terms. As I said, it's a fascinating read. It has definitely changed the way I view food.
I found this book rather serendipitously right before I began having strange joint pain and swelling in my extremities. I went to the doctor on Monday, they drew blood, and the results came back with elevated levels of C-Reactive Protein. This is a marker of inflammation, which points to a rheumatoid-type situation. It's not bad enough for a diagnosis of Rheumatoid Arthritis, and my doctor has taken a wait-and-see approach, which is fine with me. In the meantime, I did more research to dietary changes and supplements I could take to help reduce the inflammation and keep the problem at bay before it gets worse. This means I'm definitely not eating processed foods anytime soon. The information I've found recommends increasing intake of Omega-3 fatty acids, which I plan to do through fish oil supplements (I don't like fish), flax seeds, and eating grass fed beef, milk from grass fed cows, and eggs from pastured chickens (these animal products are naturally higher in Omega-3s than their factory farmed counterparts). I'm also reducing my intake of carbohydrates from grain sources, increasing my consumption of fruits and vegetables, and intending to get more excercise. I'd like to walk, but it's slightly more difficult when it's rainy and yucky. Hopefully the weather will be more cooperative in the next few days. The good news is that the swelling in my hands and feet is significantly reduced (I was able to put on my rings this morning and wear normal shoes instead of my Crocs), and the joint pain is much less. They're still a bit tender, particularly in my wrists and hands, but are getting better daily. Hopefully with the dietary changes, this won't happen again.
On Friday we're touring a local small dairy farm to see about getting unpasteurized milk. I'll tell you all about it afterward.
On Saturday afternoon we were in Spokane for a couple of things, so we decided to have dinner at P.F. Chang's. We like P.F. Chang's, but don't eat there often, so, since it was Michael's birthday weekend we had to take advantage of the opportunity! The final celebretory dinner was last night with Michael's parents at their house. We had steak, scallops, roasted veggies, and salad followed by an ice cream cake. That I made. Here it is in all its glory:
