Simple Step 3 (next week) will be Think Whole. We’ll talk more on using the whole animal, whole grains, and whole dairy, but first let’s let guest blogger Heather Holland share her thoughts on feeding our families with whole foods. Heather is wife to Dan and mom to seven beautiful children. Read more from her at joyisaverb.blogspot.com.
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Confusion.
I don’t know if it’s ever been more confusing to figure out what’s a healthy diet to feedour families. We have access to so much information! Almost too much. And the advice out there seem to change at the speed of light.
High fat or low fat? Sugar or sugar-free? Soy or no soy? Olive oil or Coconut Oil? And what about Canola oil?
I like this expression that is probably a mix of quotes I’ve read along the way:
Eat the foods that people (who didn’t get sick) ate for thousands of years.
I know that people got sick in the past too, but lots of those diseases came from sources we now have under control with better sanitary systems. Today the rates of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, infertility and a host of other degenerative diseases are skyrocketing. I know, too, that diet accounts for a big part of health, but not all. You can eat really well and still get cancer. But, in general, a healthy diet does a lot to keep us well and enjoying life! So, if you’re asking, in a nutshell, what does that look like? This is for you.
Eat the foods that people (who didn’t get sick) ate for thousands of years.
What History Tells Us.
Weston A. Price, a dentist, and author of Nutritional Degeneration, had the unique opportunity to travel the world in the 1930’s. World travel was possible, but not yet common, and there were many people groups that were untouched by modern foods (processed foods, refined flour, refined sugar). He found fourteen people-groups that he deemed perfect, without a case of degenerative disease (cancer, heart disease, obesity, diabetes, etc.) among them. And he studied their diets, which were very diverse, to see what they had in common. And that right there is great news! There are a LOT of different foods out there that are good for you. Some groups ate a lot of dairy (raw, full fat dairy), some ate a lot of red meat (grass-fed, some raw and not factory-farmed), and none of the groups were vegetarian.
They wasted nothing, of course, and they made nutrient-rich stock with all the leftovers, as Kari told you about here. I would add something acidic to the mix as well (wine or vinegar, just a little) to help break down the bones and release even more minerals. Stock or broth is a food that is easily assimilated and great for someone who is sick or even having digestive problems, making it difficult to absorb nutrition. With your finished stock you can make soup, of course, or reduce it down to be part of a delicious sauce. The other commonalities were:
- All foods consumed were raised in a manner which we would label “organic ” – no pesticides and no commercial fertilizers.
- All foods were what we would call “whole foods.”
- All diets included a healthy source of saturated fat from animal sources.
- None of these cultures consumed polyunsaturated oils.*
- There was usually a source of fermented food, such as yogurt or fermented cabbage (sauerkraut).
- Meat eaters always consumed the whole animal – the organ meat was considered the most nutritious and some meat was consumed raw.
- Grains were always soaked, fermented or soured (to neutralize the phytates in wholegrains: phytates inhibit the absorption of minerals).
About Grains.
Soaking grains is a lot of fun, actually. I love having my pancake mix or muffin batter already made in the morning (because I prepared it the night before). And I’ve been making sourdough bread (no yeast!) for a while and I love it. I can feel a difference, in my somewhat grain-sensitive body, eating sourdough bread instead of store-bought yeastbread. I think it’s for two reasons. Man-made yeast can be hard on the body (it’s only been around for two hundred years), and the grain is actually better for you because of the sourdough process as mentioned above. If we all ate sourdough bread all our lives, there probably wouldn’t be any gluten allergies, because most of the gluten is “eaten up”in the process of baking sourdough bread. If any of this intrigues you, you can read more about it at the Weston A. Price foundation, or get a copy of Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon (a cookbook and nutritional information based on Price’s book, for non-scientists like me).
Don’t Forget the Exercise!
One thing to keep in mind is that most people throughout history have had to struggle to even put enough food on the table. A lot of our health issues are related to over-eating and lack of exercise. We don’t have to walk to get water or wash our clothes by hand, for which I’m very thankful. But while the Swiss group Price studied ate a lot of full-fat dairy, they also worked hard in their daily lives and burned a lot of calories! I still recommend full fat dairy (because of all the nasty fillers that are used in low and non-fat dairy), but be mindful of your caloric intake in relation to how much exercise you get. I would not worry AT ALL about your children’s fat intake. They need good fat for brain development. All of my children are lean and fit and you should see they way they load up on the butter and sour cream and raw, whole milk. 🙂
Small Steps.
So, if you’re feeling that you’d like to make changes but you’re a little overwhelmed…please don’t be. Pick one change to make in your family’s diet this month, or this week,or whatever you can do and have FUN while doing it. Depending on where you are andwhere you’d like to be, it may take awhile to get there, but try to enjoy the journey.
Grace.
Give yourself a lot of grace. Give your family’s taste buds a chance to gradually acquire a taste for new things. If you change things up too fast you’ll lose them along the way! And be sure to honor your husbands in their wishes for the type of foods that you make.
Warmly,
Heather
*Polyunsaturated oils do occur naturally in nature with nuts and other foods, but these groups didn’t use any oils like we do today – canola, safflower, etc.
4 thoughts on “Frugal Fridays: The Simple Diet (Guest Post)”
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Hi Heather,
I couldn’t agree with you more! So true!!! And what you said about eating wine or vinegar with your meat is something I just learned… in order to help digest protein, we need to add acidic food to accompany it, i.e.,
seafood = lemon juice
steak = mushrooms (or wine works too!)
turkey = cranberries
You get the idea… Anyway, thanks for the reminder about Nourishing Traditions—I’m gonna go pick that up and browse through the sourdough bread section again! : )
Funny that you posted this… I’ve been researching a few topics lately and Weston Price Foundation is a main source for my research. Very interesting!
Kari, I can’t believe I didn’t see this post until now! I am so in love with your Simple Diet/Frugal Fridays! These tips will help us a lot. Thank you! And Heather, too. 🙂
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