Rededicated Food – a quest for mastery over an uncertain food world
February 10, 2009 in cooking, Gardening
Ever since I have not been spending every moment either driving to or from work or at work, I have been able to spend some time at home reconnecting with the family in ways I have not been able to do in the whole of this past year. There is some qualitative difference for us between 2 and 3 kids that made me feel wildly out of balance with respect to making work and life mesh. Now that I have been able to decompress a bit and even tho the stress doesn’t end due to continued unemployment, I have been able to concentrate on something that was simply beyond my capacity before – our day to day food.
Sure, we have our own dairy goats but we have only one in milk and that was mostly for the toddler (with pasteurized cow milk intolerance). We have still be supplementing with conventional 1% cows milk.
We have bred the girls and there is some chance that soon we will have a visit from the caprine stork who will leave us baby goats (kids) and mommas in milk, thus increasing our milk output. I will be pushing hard then for a total ban on milk from the store.
Sure we have our own chickens and we buy no store eggs but we still have been eating conventional meat (organic store bought meats are WAY beyond our budget). I have been having to buy mostly chicken because that is whats inexpensive (99c/lb often) even though I KNOW that this meat is filled with unknown additives and are veritable nutrient-depleted bags of estrogen and estrogen mimics that are hell on our bodies (many cancers are estrogen-activated).
I have been putting together the seed starting schedule and I have already started indoor mesclun spring mixes for nibbling in the mean time. I have lots of tiny little seedlings which one day will give us fantastic organic nutrient rich eggplants and squash and cucumbers and lots more!
Yummy green sprouting lettuces
So, as you can see, we teeter between fantastic home-crafted food and cheap store-bought staples – considerable cognitive dissonance for me.
It has been an ambient undercurrent that had been festering for me for quite a while and then just recently the boil burst (to put it crudely) and I was left with an epiphany of sorts.
On the one had our diet didn’t suck all THAT badly. Its not like we drink sodas or eat frozen pizzas day in and out or any manner of things but on the other hand why do I feel so utterly unhealthy and have so much weight to lose? What part of this equation is not working. I think part of this is timing. Its been MANY months since the fresh bounty of our garden – we have not been eating fresh green things, fresh fruity things because those things in ADDITION to meats are expensive.
My epiphany boiled down to the fact that we do not experience natural health because of the things we buy from the store and our bodies are depleted of vital goodness (vitamins, cofactors, fruity juicy goodness).
For this reason I am exploring a diet that brings more living fruits and vegetables into our world, even in the dead of winter (I am looking out at several feet of snow as I type).
I am learning about the raw food diets out there and think I have decided that what makes sense to our family is not your traditional raw food diet. We already drink raw milk and I intend on keeping it that way. Our raw diet will mean that we will not drink any more “cooked†milk from the store. We wont start eating raw eggs but we will look for ways to use them that are easier on the proteins. We will eat MANY more fruits and uncooked vegetables.
We here includes our family of young kids and 2 adults. My personal diet is going to be even more raw and less egg intense than the rest. I am enjoying learning how the vegan raw foodists have crafted all manner of recipes that bring texture and variety to the raw table. One way to do this is by using a dehydrator. You can take sprouted seed and grains, add other ingredients (fruits, coconut for sweet; spices, peppers, shoyu for savory) to make crackers and flat sheets that make great wraps or other dish elements.
This doesn’t have to be about salads all the time! (If it were, I could not do it, I need more depth to my cuisine than that).
We already had a juicer and a butch blender so getting the dehydrator was the final step in preparing for this new way. I am also teaching myself the simple craft of sprouting beans. Tested the family on store bought sprouts and they seemed to like it so its a yes-go!
As with any diet, there seems to be no end to the fantastic health claims that you see associated with raw foodism (take a peek at the abundance of YouTube testimonials). I am not interested in all of that. I just know that my body is not thriving on the standard american diet (SAD). Neither are the other bodies in my family. If the SAD is what we have tried, not sure how bad it can be (and I am thinking there has to be an enormous upside) to adopting a more raw approach to our food.
Tell me if you have any experience with raw food and if you have any favorite recipes, sites, books, mentors.
I will be writing again about recipes that I like or that I come up with that fit in this category.
I am not big on making faux burgers and such so I will be exploring how raw food recipes can move beyond that inherently disappointing goal on to a more holistic celebration or exploration of food in it’s raw state.
Resources:
Following a fast at the beginning of the year I’ve been making an effort to eat much more raw food. I’ve posted a few recipes on my blog. Best of luck with your exploration.
My sister gave me a great raw food book titled, ” The Live Food Factor,” written by Susan Schenck. I was totally skeptical til I read this book. I have been trying to use at least one recipe each day and I realize now how much better I feel.
While I do always try to eat as much veggies as possible, and try to get the freshest, highest quality (within reason) local produce and raw dairy, I’m not a huge fan of raw foodism other than the novelty of certain dishes when such prepared.
There’s a lot of pseudoscience that goes around about about ALL cooked produce losing “nutrients”, but it seems more in line with the ‘ “toxins” are everywhere!’ fearmongering. High on suspicions, but low on actual information.
Science-based medicine has a pretty good article on this today-
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=372
“My epiphany boiled down to the fact that we do not experience natural health because of the things we buy from the store and our bodies are depleted of vital goodness (vitamins, cofactors, fruity juicy goodness).”
Well, processed foods are processed, debased, and that’s absolutely not a bad idea, but on the other hand, we have cooked food since the discovery of fire to better *unlock* the trapped nutrients in our food that we cannot do through digestion alone.
In moderation, I don’t see raw foodism as a bad thing, but I don’t see it as a wide-sweeping necessity.
Anyway, apologies if any of this is seen as a slight, I’ve had some unfortunate encounters with family and nutritionists/dietitians and I’m a little sensitive on the matter
M: Sorry that you have had issues with family and others around raw food .. i cant imagine what it might be but it sounds like you are your own person and are coping with it.
As a non-religious scientist myself, I have exactly zero use for all the drama around natural hygiene and such. I have no issues with germ theory, having worked side by side with lots of helpful germs in the lab.
I do go a bit in the “extreme” in that I am of the conviction that the food (both conventional and “Big Organic”) that we get in the store is grown on depleted soils that leave fruits and vegetable bankrupt of value.
Vitamin C and other nutrients are heat labile so I totally understand why raw sources are superior (if they are grown in healthy soils which I do in my backyard). I feel strongly that I have been raised on depleted food sources even though my parents were health nuts to some degree. I also believe that using vitamin supplements are quite inferior to getting the vitamins and cofactors in situ, within the context of wholesome foods.
We have been lazy and not paying enough attention in our diet during non-gardening times of the year!
I appreciate your link and your caution and its great that you are able to get raw milk and want to drink it!
Maya: Your blog is delicious! Am looking at the porcini recipe now – makes me crave it badly! Will take a peek and more, thanks for sharing!
Becky: Thanks for the rec! Have been looking around her site and learning things – might get the book!
Thnx again
[…] Nika added an interesting post today on Rededicated bFood/b – a quest for mastery over an uncertain bfood/b b…/bHere’s a small readingI am not big on making faux burgers and such so I will be exploring how braw food recipes/b can move beyond that inherently disappointing goal on to a more holistic celebration or exploration of bfood/b in it’s braw/b state. b…/b […]
Congrats Nika! For being aware of what may not be safe in canned or processed foods. Organic food in my country is also not cheap. We’ve saved considerably by reducing meat (now I and my brother are vegetarians while the rest of my family reduces meat intake).
I now appreciate fermented olives and gherkins more now. They taste good with “bland” vegetable salads and almost any vegetarian meal (I don’t always use mayonnaise or tartar sauce). I salivate at snowpeas like how most people salivate at barbequed meat.