I have been interested in eating well since before I got married and left home. It is a passion of my mother’s that I picked up through my teen years. When I was 17 I vowed to never eat at McDonald’s again, not for any ethical reason, but simply because I realized I always felt awful afterwards. In the last 11 years I have had only a salad from McDonald’s (when on a road where I had no choice) – and I don’t feel like I’m missing out!

Despite some level of conscientiousness when it comes to eating well, I have been very reluctant to join the ranks of the health food fanatics. You know, the ones who eat all sustainable organic, swallow several dozen supplements, and go on about corruption in the FDA on how everything on a supermarket shelf is killing us slowly. I did not have time for these people – in my opinion they were radicals who lacked common-sense.

Recently, though, I have tried to reduce as much processed food in our household as possible. I’ve been eliminating indecipherable ingredients from the pantry either by avoiding a food or product altogether, using a less-processed alternative, or making it from scratch. Basically, if I could not get my hands on the individual ingredients that were in something, I would not put it in my cart. As I have searched for recipes and ideas online I have been reading more and more about the truth about our food, and my opinion has changed. In a nutshell, I am convinced that most foods in our grocery stores are not only bad for us, but also bad for the planet. Whether its over-processed, preservative-filled convenience food,  anti-biotic tainted milk and meats, or produce that’s been doused in pesticides – there just isn’t a lot to choose from without feeling like I’m compromising my family’s health and wellness.

So – what’s the alternative? Well, I’m not sure. Eating all local, organic food would be great, but the accompanying price tag is hard to swallow. Plus, some things, like raw milk, can’t be bought, even from an organic farm (that’s a whole other can of worms, don’t get me started). The best thing to do would be to move to the country and grow all my own food (livestock included), and trust me, this is an option I am taking very seriously!

For now, though, I am bravely reading Nourishing Traditions (which up to now, I have regarded as radical nonsense), and once that is done Real Food should be available at the library.

I am not too sure where this journey is going to take me, but I cannot keep on with the “see no evil, hear no evil” mindset – I have a commission to be a steward of the earth, and to care for the husband and children God has given me to nourish. It’s time for a change to real food.

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