Eating Real Food

Lately, I've been feeling very convicted about how we eat as a family.  Not because we eat terribly, but I've been allowing too many processed sweets into our normal diets instead of them being occasional treats.  I have been watching several documentaries on food and how the obesity epidemic in the United States is getting worse all the time and it honestly scares me.  I read a statistic last week that in 1996, less than 20 years ago, the states with the highest levels of obesity were less than 20% of the population.  Today, the state with the lowest level of obesity (Colorado) is at 21.3%, while the highest states are at over 35%!!  You can read the study, as well as see the list of states by obesity levels as of 2013 here. 

Raising a growing family and seeing these trends makes me realize even more how much of a responsibility I have to my family to give them the tools to eat healthfully and to be able to prepare healthy food for themselves as they grow up.  I feel like we've lost the art of cooking in our society and become so busy all the time, that as a result we've seen the numbers of convenience foods explode in grocery stores.  While convenient, most of these foods contain way too much sugar, salt, and preservatives for me to consider them a healthy choice for my family.

Thanksgiving 2013 (Stephanie, Mom, and Me)

I am so thankful that my mom showed me how to cook growing up and passed down the basics of preparing meals and baking, as well as ensuring that even if we ate out because we were busy, we ate dinner as a family most nights.  But most of all, she showed me how it was a privilege to feed your family and she instilled a sense of pride in a well-prepared meal.  From her example and encouragement, I have since expanded my skills to include learning different techniques as well as learning how to make more things from scratch, especially with regards to baking.   

So what does all this mean for our family?  I don't think we were doing too bad to begin with, we don't drink sodas at all and we try to eat dinner as a family every night.  But I had allowed convenience to trump healthiness and we were eating way too many Pop-Tarts, breaded chicken nuggets, and frozen pizzas and way too few fresh fruits and vegetables.

So, as Step 1 in our quest to eat more whole foods, I am making a concerted effort to include lots of fruits and veggies at every meal.  For example, this morning for breakfast, instead of cereal, we had Greek yogurt with fresh fruit and a slice of sourdough toast with homemade strawberry jam. 

Last night for dinner, we had stuffed green peppers, which I filled with tomato sauce, ground beef, brown rice, and sautéed fresh mushrooms, topped with mozzarella cheese.  Every day at lunch, I've tried to include a bowl of fruit and/or sliced tomatoes for sandwiches or baby carrots for dipping.  Not all of the kids eat every bite, of course, but I have noticed that with more exposure, they are more willing to try and even enjoy the veggies.  It does take some time to prep everything, but I think it will pay off huge dividends in the long run.

I know that there are several other steps that I'd like to implement in the near future, such as baking our own bread, switching to raw milk, and buying only local meats and produce, especially when we get to Boise and can begin gardening and canning again, but we're taking it one step at a time so that we don't become overwhelmed.  I'm sure I'll be writing about those ideas in the near future!