In Perspective: Real Food

I have an all or nothing personality.

If I'm going to do something, I'm going to give it my all.  If I can't give it my all, I'm not going to do it.

I'm going to be a teacher - then the curricula isn't good enough for my precious students.  I must use a variety of sources to create my own.  I'm going to grade all the papers myself.  I'm going to have daily contact with all 30 sets of parents.  Oh, I want to be a mom?  Then I can't teach because there aren't enough hours in the day to give 110% to my students and a 110% to my child.  Oh, someone is stopping by the house?  I must clean the house from top to bottom (which may take days!) even though they may only set foot into the kitchen (I am, by God's grace, getting much better at this!).

This is a little peak into how my crazy mind works.

It's not good, it's not bad, it's just me.

So when it came to my discovery of the Real Foods, I nearly went crazy.  Only 5 ingredients?  Organic?  No whole foods stores within 200 miles?  Baking (I hate baking)?  Only grass-fed meat?  Oh no, what do I do with the hundreds of $ of corn-fed, hormone injected beef and hog in my freezer?  Stressed. 

The LORD has helped me put my desires for real food in perspective; He has helped me see how much real food, realistically, our family can eat (based on availability of non-processed ingredients (Northern Iowa, you suck), Mama's energy, best use of time & money, Daddy's love for processed foods, etc.).  I've stopped freaking out (if I die of cancer from processed foods, it's OK - God is Sovereign).  In fact, Aidan and I recently had two lunch dates: one at the DQ and one at McDonalds (where we share a two-cheeseburger meal and a high-fructose-corn-syrup drink).

While I'm not all or nothing about non-processed foods anymore, there have been some significant changes in our eating habits:

-We eat a lot more fresh fruits & vegetables (they make up at least 1/3 of my grocery bill each week).

-We eat a lot of green smoothies.

-I check the ingredient list of everything I purchase.  I do strive to only purchase items with less than 5 ingredients or ingredients that I recognize (and I'm not a chemistry major).

-I've added a number of Lisa's (from 100daysofrealfood.com) recipes to our meal planning list.  Some favorites include: 

Alfredo 

Chicken Enchiladas 

Banana Pancakes 

Pizza Pockets

-When I am using a "normal" (normal is defined as a recipe from anywhere other than 100daysofrealfood.com) recipe, I do my best to make sure all of the ingredients are as "real" as possible.

I'm continuing to trust the LORD, as in all other areas of life, with our eating and health.  He desires us to honor Him with our bodies so that we can serve and glorify Him in all we do - being super stressed and Nazi-ish about real food eating wasn't honoring to Him.  Thankfully, now He's helped me put it into perspective.  May the Lunds honor Christ through our eating (that includes even being thankful for the stores that are in the area and not grieving over the ones that aren't (yes, I may have had a slight (or complete) meltdown on the way home from Fareway last week).  If you live near a Trader Joe's, Jumbo's, Earth Fare, Whole Foods, etc., be thankful!

I appreciated your helpful comments in my last post.  If you have any other ideas or recipes, I'd love to hear from you!  Thanks!

Real Food

I took the plunge today;

I purchased ALL real foods.

This means that I am going to have to cook.

and bake.

UGH.

But, honestly, I'm not dreading it because this time I have a purpose.

I'm baking and cooking non-processed foods for my husband and son (who are so worth all the extra labor!) so they are not consuming chemicals such as sulfur dioxide, ferrous sulfate, thiamin mononitrate, high fructose corn syrup, etc.

From recent conversations with whole-food-ish type friends, the amount of people I know who have recently been diagnosed with cancer, a sister-in-law who went gluten free, and the online research I've done, I've become convinced that I need to do more to help my family eat whole, real foods. 

I wasn't sure where to start, but I found a website I really enjoy:

100 Days of Real Food

If you "like" her FB page, you'll have access to four weeks of meal plans, recipes, and shopping lists.

Yesterday I got everything organized and today Aidan and I did the shopping.

(He was a perfect shopper, by the way.  No meltdowns!)

We shopped Target for a few items and then went to the Organic section of Hy-Vee. 

 

I'm not completely sold out on organic (I don't buy organic fruits or vegetables; I wash them with soap and warm water); instead, I look at the ingredients.  I'm following Lisa's (of 100 Days of Real Food) rule:  Foods purchased must contain less than five ingredients that you recognize (and can pronounce!).  I haven't yet found bread or corn tortillas that meet this requirement.  Any suggestions?  I'm a wee-bit disgusted by the USFDA - why are they allowing such chemicals into our foods?  How can formaldehyde be OK to consume?  That's what we preserved our specimens in when I taught biology.  This could get me going on another tangent: Am I going to let this crazy government educate my child?

As I shopped today, I was filled with uncertainty: Shouldn't I just trust the USFDA - they're the experts?  Is it worth all this time and effort?  Is it worth the extra cost?  Thankfully, this face relieved me of any uncertainty:

Aidan ate more today at lunch than he has in three days.  He was ravenous and ate up the cucumber sandwich with cream cheese & dill, blueberries, sunflower seeds, and bananas. 

Now we just have to convince his chocolate, cookie loving father that this is what's best for our family's health!

***

I want to thank the families in our church who have so graciously donated their beef and pork to our family.  Just today, I picked up 1/2 a hog that a family gave us.  We are so thankful for the ways it supplements Brian's salary and enables us to eat healthy, farm-raised meat!

Please let me know if you have any other suggestions for our journey to whole food eating!  I'll let you know how long it lasts (but I hope it's not just a fad - I'm not a quitter!).  :)  And, please, don't let me become a granola (or "crunchy" as I heard referenced last weekend).