I've decided to make a statement today
about the “proper” foods to eat... Now I have good reason behind
this. I get so tired of hearing how one food is good for you and how
another isn't. Back in the way olde days,
you know; before “processed” foods were made commercially.
People generally only had to worry about a couple of things when it
came to their food. Could they get it, and in what quantities.
The
various groups in local areas from not even that far back.. middle
ages till probably about the time they started putting things in tin
cans. Sometimes even a tad past that. People ate totally locally,
and seasonally. Which if you pay attention to most of the “big
time” nutritionists out there and the “green movement” all talk
about doing for your health and the environment.
Now
I'm not putting either of those groups of people down here I could
actually be considered part of the green movement per sec... As I do
believe in protecting the environment and getting poisons out of the
ground.. which means getting it out of our food.
I sit
here sometimes and wonder though if some people are just silly... To
tell you that one “natural” food is bad for you then come back a
few years later and discover that it really was ok for you. We need
to stop with the going back and forth.
Back
when what you grew is what you ate, you also went out and foraged for
some of your foods. Some people still do this and even some high
range food items are still acquired in this fashion. Ever hear of
Morel mushrooms.. they can only be “hunted”, I have yet heard of
someone growing them commercially.
So if
you just head back to providing your own food source, you are eating
the proper diet in reality. If done correctly you will provide all
your own fats, meats, grains, vegetables, and fruits any person could
need. Some of it is found through foraging and you have to be
willing to go out and do it. I have taken up to making a wilted
Lambs Quarter salad while that “weed” is growing. I gather
blackberries from the multitude of canes that grow wild here, and I
am learning about other things I can acquire to add to our plates
here.
I
know some people would find it odd that I planted “old fashioned”
daylillies in my vegetable garden. However, the flowers are edible,
as are the flower buds; which can be used as a thickener for soups
and stews. I have been told the young leaves as they are just
starting to come up can be eaten like asparagus. Cattails are also
edible, the roots for one can be dug up in winter and eaten like
potatoes, the pollen can be gathered and used like flour. Again the
young shoots can be eaten as well.
I
have just read the first of the books on the series called “The
Hunger Games” and then looking over what is being talked about
online about food got me to writing this post. It's not hard to grow
your own foods.. or even to eat seasonally. Also to be able to eat
food you prepare yourself, most food does not really take all that
long to prepare, especially since there are so many ways to make it
faster or “hands free”.
Another
pet peeve (as I guess you can call it) is food made from actual food
versus food made from plastics... Take the following for example, a
friend of mine posted it on Facebook:
Margarine
was originally manufactured to fatten turkeys. When it killed the
turkeys, the people who had put all the money into the research
wanted a payback so they put their heads together to figure out what
to do with this product to get their money back.
It was a white
substance with no food appeal so they added the yellow coloring and
sold it to people to use in place of butter. How do you like it? They
have come out with some clever new flavorings....
DO YOU
KNOW.. The difference between margarine and butter?
Read on to the
end...gets very interesting!
Both have the same amount of
calories.
Butter is slightly higher in saturated fats at 8
grams; compared to5 grams for margarine.
Eating margarine can
increase heart disease in women by 53% over eating the same amount of
butter, according to a recent Harvard Medical Study.
Eating
butter increases the absorption of many other nutrients in other
foods.
Butter has many nutritional benefits where margarine has a
few and only because they are added!
Butter tastes much better
than margarine and it can enhance the flavors of other foods.
Butter
has been around for centuries where margarine has been around for
less than 100 years.
And now, for Margarine..
Very High in
Trans fatty acids.
Triples risk of coronary heart disease
...
Increases total cholesterol and LDL (this is the bad
cholesterol) and lowers HDL cholesterol, (the good
cholesterol)
Increases the risk of cancers up to five
times..
Lowers quality of breast milk
Decreases immune
response.
Decreases insulin response.
And here's the
most disturbing fact... HERE IS THE PART THAT IS VERY
INTERESTING!
Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away from being
PLASTIC... and shares 27 ingredients with PAINT
These facts
alone were enough to have me avoiding margarine for life and anything
else that is hydrogenated (this means hydrogen is added, changing the
molecular structure of the substance).
Open a tub of margarine
and leave it open in your garage or shaded area. Within a couple of
days you will notice a couple of things:
* no flies, not even
those pesky fruit flies will go near it (that should tell you
something)
* it does not rot or smell differently because it
has no value ; nothing will grow on it. Even those teeny weeny
micro-organisms will not a find a home to grow. Why? Because it is
nearly plastic. Would you melt your Tupperware and spread that on
your toast?
What
do you think about one of the #1 substances that graces the American
table now? I don't like Margarine... never have. My mother used it
when I grew up because for one it cost less (and yes the “cost”
is less), and because “EVERYONE” said that butter was bad for
you. Ummm... ok if it's bad for you and eating a plastic substance
is good. Why not just stop growing food and feed everyone plastic
from the stores.. it would be cheaper I imagine...
So
in a nutshell my opinion on this is, eat what is food you make
yourself... or that you can find the process of and that it doesn't
include a mixture of chemicals by a chemist. A good rule of thumb is
if you can't pronounce.. or for that fact even know what an
ingredient is.. don't buy it! I buy ice cream this way
as at this moment it's harder for me to make it. I also avoid HFCS
(high fructose corn syrup), MSG, and most other chemical flavor
enhancers. Yes, on “occasion” I do knuckle down if I or Silver
is having a blood sugar reaction; or when I have to shove the kids
out the door before I am awake enough to put a meal together for
them.
What
I find funny is when I have been making my own bread now for over a
year and we for what ever reason needed a loaf of bread and we bought
some. The kids thought the store bought bread tasted bad.
So
Eat local.. eat seasonally, eat REAL FOOD; I
use this term because if it has to many chemicals.. I don't consider
it to being very natural in nature. Now I better climb off this soap
box before I really start rambling on, and on, and on.....
Be
Well, Be Safe, and Blessed Be...
