WHAT IS “REAL FOOD” ANYWAY?

Isn’t it funny that we even have to ask the question, “What is “real food” anyway?” About 100 years ago I can tell you no one in America was asking that question because 99% of what was eaten was real and real good for you.  

“When it comes to food, if it doesn’t grow on a tree, vine, bush or in the ground, doesn’t walk around, fly or swim in the water, it’s not food.”  Jenny Matthau – President, Natural Gourmet Institute

And, to simplify it even further…Whole food = real food = one ingredient = itself

More than anything this is the point I want to make to anyone who is willing to listen, the food we eat should be a simple, wonderful life-supporting thing.  Not some complicated web of chemically altered foods that make up a large portion of what you see in grocery and mega-chain stores today.  I love honest to goodness food because of how it makes me feel and how it improves my health, not to mention the joy of sharing a home-cooked meal with a loved one. Sorry, I digress.  Back to whole – real – food. 

Think of it this way. God made you and He made the whole – real – food to nourish you.

So what does God’s food look like?  Well, I can tell you that it doesn’t come in a box.  It may come in a shell, pod or a husk but real food does not come in a box.  And, divine, wholesome food doesn’t have a little tag attached to it listing words you can’t even pronounce.  It’s crazy to think that we manufacture way more food in America than we grow and it’s showing up in how sick we are as a nation.  

O.K., enough doom and gloom.  Let me be really literal now and list some real food and some not so real food:  Brown rice not white rice.  Whole oats not instant oats.  Real maple syrup not maple-flavored syrup.  Gray sea salt not refined salt.  Butter not butter substitutes/spreads.  Edamame (soy beans) not tofu.  Coconut oil not partially-hydrogenated palm oil.  Whole eggs not egg substitutes or egg whites.  Organic peanut butter not conventional peanut butter.  You get the idea.

Please know that when I had a health crisis about 8 years ago I began the process of starting to eat real food and it has been a journey to say the least.  Very painful at times because I had to “un-learn” what I thought was real and good for me and begin again.  Now I learn something new everyday about what I eat and how certain ingredients affect my body and because of that I’ve never been healthier.  Because when we know better, we do better, right?  So, my mission is to help you “know better” so that you’ll “do better” and feel more fabulous than you ever thought you had a right to.