Well, I suppose someone can….. but that someone is not me.
The truth is that I have gone 101 days eating only foods that I obtained with my own hands. The meat I raised. Fruit & vegetables I grew. Wild edibles I picked. Wheat berries I ground into flour. There were a couple of exceptions, but for the most part – I only ate the fruit of my own hands.
It was quite an adventure & you can read all about it if you want:
- Homesteaders Food Challenge – What it is
- Headaches, cravings, cooking & starvation – Week 1 Survival
- Can I Grow All My Own Food – A Diet is Born – Week 2
- Never Diet Again – Weight Loss, Sugar Detox & Finding your Ideal weight – Week 3
- One Month – No preservatives, no additives, no artificial ingredients, no sugar, no GMOs, nothing but homegrown goodness – Week 4
- Growing all my Food – What Country Does Your Food Come From?
- Can You Say, “NO?” Losing Weight, Feeling Healthier & Having More Energy
- 10 Days Left!!!
- 101 Days May be 98 Instead
- A New Way to Live
- Homesteaders Food Challenge Wrap up
Although it was an amazing adventure & the changes in my body, health & how I felt were impressive, I can’t live on it forever.
I have other things to do besides grow food & cook.
And that is exactly what I did for 101 days. Grew food & cooked it. Nothing else.
So, I am moving forward with my almost ALL real food plan which I have been able to stay on for years.
I can also call this my mostly real food plan.
When I am at home I eat real food.
When I am at work I take real food.
I am either at home (I homeschool my kids so we are home A LOT) or at work 90% of my life ….. so there are not many opportunities for me to eat too horribly (go here to see where I work).
When I eat out I really try to eat somewhat decent – but, ya’ know, it’s hard. I don’t want to reinvent the menu. I don’t want the kitchen chef to hate me and spit in my food. I don’t want to be high-maintenance. I just want to eat something that resembles real food. At most restaurants I know they are probably using oils I don’t eat. They are probably using seasonings I don’t use at home. They are probably serving GMO foods. But, that’s going to have to be OK every now and then.
WHY?
- I don’t eat out often.
- I really enjoy a break from cooking. Meals are all from scratch around here, so there’s no hamburger helper to make things easy.
- I enjoy drinking homemade bone broth and other super-foods that will cleanse, reset, and undo some of the damage those nights out are throwing at my body.
I know there are restaurants that cook with all the healthy things we LOVE. There is even one in a town 15 minutes from where I live. The meat is locally raised. The food is all non-GMO and organic. It’s fabulous. BUT…. boy oh boy is it pricey! YIKES. With 4 children, we run up quite the bill at that restaurant.
So, sometimes we eat pizza.
Interesting Statistics:
According to www.marketplace.org Processed foods make up 70% of the U.S. diet.
According to nationofchange.org and natural society 80% of processed foods in U.S. are banned in other nations.
According to nongmoproject.org 80% of the foods available at the grocery store contain GMO’s (genetically modified ingredients).
Good grief. It is so sad.
It’s sad that America allows ingredients (using this term loosely) that are banned in other nations. It’s sad that our stores are filled with foods that are bad for us. It is sad that Americans as a whole are eating so many processed foods.
What can we do?
My philosophy on food is pretty simple. I want to eat all food, but I want to eat real food. Foods close to the way God made them. I want meat. I want carbs. I want dessert. I really like food.
I don’t skip sweets – I make them myself with things like: organic flour, maple syrup, cane sugar, fresh eggs, and raw sour cream (from my cow).
If you are on a journey to cut out processed foods and eat a healthier diet, choosing real foods is a great way to eat.
One easy way to eat real is to simply choose foods that existed 100 years ago. They are probably going to pass the “real” food test.
Things like:
- Fruit
- Vegetables
- Eggs
- Milk
- Meat
- Nuts
- Rice
- Flour (fresh if possible)
- Beans
- Roots
- Berries
- Lard
- Butter, cheese, sour cream & other unprocessed dairy products
- Coffee
- Sugar (real cane stuff)
- Maple Syrup (again, the real stuff that comes from trees)
- Corn (non-gmo)
I can honestly say that these are the foods that I eat most often. I do eat the occasional doughnut, but most of the time I eat the real stuff.
Even if you make small changes, your body will thank you. If you are just beginning on your journey to reclaim your food….. welcome! It is worth the work. It is worth the expense.
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-Candi
