A few weeks ago, my ICAN chapter invited a nutritionist/chiropractic guru to speak to our moms about pregnancy nutrition. It turned out to be a great meeting. I’ve heard, and read, ad nauseum about what we shouldn’t be eating, but I’ve never really had someone give me permission TO eat, or furthermore, tell me WHAT to eat. But this wonderful nutritionist broke it down in the simplest and most positive of terms.
- Packaged foods are not really food.
- If your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize it as food, then it’s not real food.
- You can’t go wrong with whole foods.
- You can, and SHOULD, eat fat.
- No. More. Dieting.
- Eat every 3 hours, otherwise you’re sending your blood sugar on a roller coaster.
- Vegetables at every meal.
- As long as you make it yourself, it’s bound to be healthier than anything frozen or prepackaged from the store.
- We ALL need to be taking supplements – good supplements – the kind derived from plants, nothing synthetic or filled with dyes.
I’ve heard these ideas being floated around before, but it really took a woman, much like me, sitting in front of me telling me that I didn’t need to diet to be at a healthy weight. That’s actually great news because I SUCK at dieting. Ever since the kids came along, I’ve really tried to be more aware of the food I’m bringing into this house, but it gets overwhelming. I’m no cook, and the idea of buying all kinds of foreign spices and oils seems expensive, overwhelming, and, ultimately, like something I’d fail miserably at.
But the last time I went shopping, I decided that instead of buying food in a package, I’d try to buy the ingredients so I could make it myself. I walked through the aisles and tried my hardest to only buy things that I was certain my great-grandmother could recognize. I know – what a novel concept! There are many natural parents and foodies reading my blog, so you’re probably all staring at your screen in horror that I wasn’t doing this before now. You have to understand that I just wasn’t raised to eat healthy, or to cook, or to even care, quite frankly. I try my best, but it falls low on my priority list.
Oh, speaking of horror, when I told the nutritionist in front of the group about how I use at least two packets of Sweet N Low every day, they all gasped and recoiled, as if I’d told them I was mainlining antifreeze or something. That was my kick in the pants to remove that little chemical from my diet.
So, at the grocery store, instead of buying the powdered tea that my Great-Grandmother certainly would not recognize, I decided to make iced tea myself. It was actually much easier, and MUCH more delicious, than I thought it would be. I used four ingredients – all four of which my great-grandmother would surely have used herself.
- Teabags? Check!
- Sugar? Check!
- Honey? Check!
- Lemon? Check!
My great-grandmother would recognize all those things, and in fact, I bet this is exactly how she made sweet tea before “Crystal Light” came along.
Tea is a mainstay in our house. It’s never not in our fridge. The other mainstay is chocolate chip cookies. We have a little ritual where, about twice a week, after we put the kids to bed, John and I sit down to watch some DVR’d TV, and he makes us some “Break ‘N’ Bake” cookies.
Of course, my great-grandmother wouldn’t know what the hell Break ‘N’ Bake cookies are, so instead I bought the ingredients to make cookies. I have never even attempted to make cookies before in my entire life, so I had no idea how these would turn out. Thankfully, that leap of faith paid off, big time! Even though chocolate chip cookies aren’t exactly health food, I know these cookies are better for me than anything that came out of a package filled with preservatives and who-knows-what-else. But besides just being a little better for me, they are also the BEST TASTING cookie I’ve ever had in my life. I mean, c’mon – just look at ‘em! Break ‘n’ Bake ain’t never looked like that. It also feels really good eating something that I was able to make with my kids. I had no idea how much satisfaction I’d get out of putting some ingredients together in a bowl. Now I understand why people do this – and enjoy it!
Many of my other experiments have paid off this week too. I made us the world’s best fajitas the other night with some steak, freshly sliced stoplight peppers, and spicy guacamole. It was so freaking delicious, we didn’t even need the cookies afterward. And now that I know I can really do this, I’m going to push myself a little farther on the next shopping trip.
Before you know it, I’ll have turned myself right into one of those people who cooks, and eats, healthy! Fancy that.
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Alright – your turn. How do you eat? Does everything come from the freezer section or out of a drive-thru window? Or are you one of those people who has Flaxseed in your house and actually knows what to do with it?
I used to make bread by hand and still do sometimes but my bread machine(a freebie from someone who ended up with two) is a life savor. There are six of us, four boys and we go through a 1 1/2 lb loaf of whole wheat bread everyday. With homeschooling and all the other stuff we do there is no way I could make bread everyday or even every other day if I had to do it by hand. I make all my specially breads by hand but life has been so much easier since the bread machine. I don't by mixes and there are tons of bread machine recipes online. It is a three hour(at least, depends on the type of bread) process to make bread by hand and then if our house is to cold it rises really slow. I would take a peek at craigslist to see if anyone is getting rid of one or selling one for really cheap:) We honestly like the "by hand" bread better, but my kids would rather spend time going to the library or playing at the park instead of watching and waiting for the bread to rise. I would definitely try making bread by hand because it is a lot of fun and a lost art, but know that bread machine bread is good too!
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