Broadening Horizons In The Kitchen

There’s a new way of cooking and eating these days and you’ve probably heard about some of these new cooking methods and foods: Sprouting grains,Whole grains,Locally grown produce,Organic,Agave,Cane sugar,Rapidura,Spelt. I could go on and on.

What is basically happening in the Food World is that folks are tired of being unhealthy, don’t want to start being unhealthy, have all kinds of allergies and sensitivities, want to be more “green” in their food preparation and purchase choices, want to be better stewards of God’s gifts, and just want a more simple way to prepare nourishing foods for themselves and their families.

Its a marvelous thing that has been going strong for a long time. And while there have nearly always been proponents of healthy eating in the U.S., for the past 20 years or so the information has steadily been growing and easier to find. With the advent of the Internet, information on eating better is literally at our fingertips.

I grew up in the southern U.S. where bacon and lard, cow milk and butter have traditionally been part of the every meal. I grew up on a farm where big meals were a part of life. There was variety but there were those staples that are pretty much taboo nowadays.

A cartoon movie I saw once pretty much summer up the view on food groups where I came from: “Whiskey, Beans, Bacon and Lard.” Ok maybe not so much the whiskey. And there are some really delicious, nourishing foods here in the south. But my lifestyle isn’t like my Grandparent’s lifestyle was. I don’t get up at 4 a.m. and start working outside in the fields til after dark. And my body doesn’t need the fat and calories that their bodies needed. They ate a typical southern diet and were not obese at all. They didn’t have heart disease or high cholesterol. Some of that may be genetic, but I think a lot of it is the fact that they were so extremely physically active.

Today I have found a need to broaden my horizons in the kitchen and embrace new and sometimes strange ways of preparing food and eating it. Its as if disease and obesity lurk around every pop-tart. I want to make those changes now so that I can be as healthy as possible and I want my children to have a good start in life.

Here are some of those changes I have made. Do your own research and see what changes you need to make.

Raw Milk – Raw milk from grass fed cows has everything a body needs to live. The human body needs 20-22 proteins to function properly. 8 of these proteins are essential, we have to get them from our food. The remaining 12-14 we can make from the first eight via complex metabolic pathways in our cells. Raw cow’s milk contains all 8 of those essential proteins.

Eliminated white and processed sugars – white sugar is high on the glycemic index and is dangerous for our blood sugar, insulin levels, digestive enzyme count, weight, and the pancreas. It also damages our body’s immune response. There is just so much wrong with white sugar that its hard for me to justify using it at all.

Naturally fermented foods – I make yogurt, naturally fermented beets and other vegetables. I make kefir and kombucha. I use the kefir to make other things like salad dressings. These really aren’t new ways of preparing foods. I grew up with naturally fermented foods. Mother made kraut and put cucumbers down in the kraut to make pickles.

More Raw Foods – We’re eating more and more raw vegetables and grains. I have a great Muesli recipe that is completely raw, even has kefir in it.

Basic Meals – Instead of casseroles with 15 ingredients and complicated dishes that contain processed ingredients, I make simple meals. A meat dish might contain 5 or fewer ingredients and I use the best meats and vegetables I can afford. I grow most of our vegetables organically and use them. We are able to buy organic elk and pork.

Cooking From Scratch – Actually I don’t think just cooking from scratch is enough but it is a good start. I’ve always cooked from scratch but now I am more concerned with the ingredients, where they came from and how they are processed. I’ve always made my own noodles for example. But these days I make sure that I either buy organic wheat to grind or buy organic flour. The fewer pesticides, fungicides,insecticides and other junk in our food the better.

Soaking Grains – I talked about soaking grains and beans and flours in this post. I think its an easy way to get more nutrition into your food!

I’m buying organic free-trade coffee beans, using rapidura, molasses and cane sugar in place of white sugar
in recipes too.

I kind of thought it would be too time intensive and too much work to add to my already heavy work-load here at home to start changing things up so drastically in the kitchen. It really hasn’t been. The biggest problem has been teaching this old dog new tricks, new ways of doing things that I have to do any way.
Once I got over that hurdle it was easy peasy.