Living Deliberately: Daily Food Choices
My food philosophy is rather simple:
Eat food. Not too much.
But, what do I mean by "food"? That's the kicker. To help me determine the difference between food and what I call "edible food-like substances," I use a couple of rules of thumb.
1. Eat foods in their natural, God-given forms. The more we process, break down, refine, and manufacture our "food," the less it resembles something actually good for us. This means eating whole foods and raw foods. It means eating meat and dairy from animals that have been raised without confinement, without antibiotics or growth hormones, eating their natural God-given diets of green grass. It means only consuming natural sugars like honey, agave nectar, raw evaporated cane juice, and maple syrup.
2. Prepare foods as they've been traditionally prepared for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Newfangled, industrialized methods of food preparation have not stood the test of time. We have no idea what sort of effect they'll have on us. Indeed, most evidence suggests that industrialized diets are the primary cause of the group of degenerative diseases known as the "Western Diseases" (cancer, heart disease, diabetes). This has been further verified by studies that watch traditional people groups who transitioned to a Western diet and subsequently got heart disease or diabetes who then return to their traditional diets only to experience a rapid recovery. Traditional diets have withstood the test of time. So, this means doing things like soaking or sprouting our grains, fermenting vegetables and beverages, relying heavily on bone broths, and eating seasonally and locally.
In an effort to do both of those things, we made it our goal to make sure 60-80% of the food we consume is raw or fermented/soaked/sprouted.
Our most commonly eaten foods:
Breakfast Foods
- Fruit smoothies (fresh fruit, raw milk, raw eggs, freshly ground peanut butter, and some ice)
- Eggs, toast (homemade, soaked grain bread spread with a)organic butter & raw honey, or b)homemade yogurt cream cheese & raisins), fruit, a glass of raw milk
- Porridge (steel cut oats soaked overnight in yogurt or whey, then cooked) w/organic butter, raw honey, raisins, sunflower seeds, fruit, a glass of raw milk or fermented lemonade punch
- Cold breakfast cereal (homemade by soaking equal parts bulgar wheat in yogurt, then adding raisins, pecans, and coconut) served with raw milk and raw honey.
Lunch Foods
- Sandwiches (homemade, soaked grain bread)
-- Homemade yogurt cream cheese & sliced tomatoes or avocados
-- Lightly grilled (or not) raw cheddar w/homemade enzyme-rich mayonnaise, (variations include: homemade lacto-fermented pickles, homemade pickled jalepenos, or in season veggies like chopped broccoli, spinach, or other greens)
-- Lightly grilled (or not) tuna salad (made w/homemade enzyme-rich mayo) & raw cheddar cheese
-- Fresh-ground peanut butter & raw honey or homemade jam
- Quesadillas (lightly grilled corn tortillas made from corn soaked in lime) using raw cheddar cheese and homemade, lacto-fermented salsas
- Salads (whatever's in season, topped with homemade salad dressing)
- Soups (made from whatever's in season, plus any leftovers) served with sliced bread (again homemade, soaked grain bread)
- Raw veggies & fruits with homemade raw yogurt dips
- Fermented veggies & fruits (think: pickles, chutneys, sourkraut, etc.)
- A glass of raw milk, fermented lemonade punch, or kombucha
Dinner Foods
Here the variety is too much to count. I usually cook the main dish with good, pastured, hormone-free meats and try to use bone broths and wholesome, enzyme-rich oils in my cooking. Side dishes tend to include salads, raw & fermented veggies, or cooked veggies. Grains tend to be brown rice or homemade, soaked grain bread. I don't usually do pasta since I'm no good at making that and I can't get the grain soaked/sprouted/or fermented otherwise (although sometimes I find some buckwheat pasta and I may use that for a dish of spaghetti). Again we drink raw milk, fermented lemonade punch, or kombucha.
Eat food. Not too much.
But, what do I mean by "food"? That's the kicker. To help me determine the difference between food and what I call "edible food-like substances," I use a couple of rules of thumb.
1. Eat foods in their natural, God-given forms. The more we process, break down, refine, and manufacture our "food," the less it resembles something actually good for us. This means eating whole foods and raw foods. It means eating meat and dairy from animals that have been raised without confinement, without antibiotics or growth hormones, eating their natural God-given diets of green grass. It means only consuming natural sugars like honey, agave nectar, raw evaporated cane juice, and maple syrup.
2. Prepare foods as they've been traditionally prepared for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Newfangled, industrialized methods of food preparation have not stood the test of time. We have no idea what sort of effect they'll have on us. Indeed, most evidence suggests that industrialized diets are the primary cause of the group of degenerative diseases known as the "Western Diseases" (cancer, heart disease, diabetes). This has been further verified by studies that watch traditional people groups who transitioned to a Western diet and subsequently got heart disease or diabetes who then return to their traditional diets only to experience a rapid recovery. Traditional diets have withstood the test of time. So, this means doing things like soaking or sprouting our grains, fermenting vegetables and beverages, relying heavily on bone broths, and eating seasonally and locally.
In an effort to do both of those things, we made it our goal to make sure 60-80% of the food we consume is raw or fermented/soaked/sprouted.
Our most commonly eaten foods:
Breakfast Foods
- Fruit smoothies (fresh fruit, raw milk, raw eggs, freshly ground peanut butter, and some ice)
- Eggs, toast (homemade, soaked grain bread spread with a)organic butter & raw honey, or b)homemade yogurt cream cheese & raisins), fruit, a glass of raw milk
- Porridge (steel cut oats soaked overnight in yogurt or whey, then cooked) w/organic butter, raw honey, raisins, sunflower seeds, fruit, a glass of raw milk or fermented lemonade punch
- Cold breakfast cereal (homemade by soaking equal parts bulgar wheat in yogurt, then adding raisins, pecans, and coconut) served with raw milk and raw honey.
Lunch Foods
- Sandwiches (homemade, soaked grain bread)
-- Homemade yogurt cream cheese & sliced tomatoes or avocados
-- Lightly grilled (or not) raw cheddar w/homemade enzyme-rich mayonnaise, (variations include: homemade lacto-fermented pickles, homemade pickled jalepenos, or in season veggies like chopped broccoli, spinach, or other greens)
-- Lightly grilled (or not) tuna salad (made w/homemade enzyme-rich mayo) & raw cheddar cheese
-- Fresh-ground peanut butter & raw honey or homemade jam
- Quesadillas (lightly grilled corn tortillas made from corn soaked in lime) using raw cheddar cheese and homemade, lacto-fermented salsas
- Salads (whatever's in season, topped with homemade salad dressing)
- Soups (made from whatever's in season, plus any leftovers) served with sliced bread (again homemade, soaked grain bread)
- Raw veggies & fruits with homemade raw yogurt dips
- Fermented veggies & fruits (think: pickles, chutneys, sourkraut, etc.)
- A glass of raw milk, fermented lemonade punch, or kombucha
Dinner Foods
Here the variety is too much to count. I usually cook the main dish with good, pastured, hormone-free meats and try to use bone broths and wholesome, enzyme-rich oils in my cooking. Side dishes tend to include salads, raw & fermented veggies, or cooked veggies. Grains tend to be brown rice or homemade, soaked grain bread. I don't usually do pasta since I'm no good at making that and I can't get the grain soaked/sprouted/or fermented otherwise (although sometimes I find some buckwheat pasta and I may use that for a dish of spaghetti). Again we drink raw milk, fermented lemonade punch, or kombucha.