I’ve been talking a lot lately in many avenues about the idea of “Real Food”. Real Food is just a way of life that we have decided to live, and do our best to try and stick with it as much as possible. The concept of Real Food though, can be alien to some, or unfamiliar, or, given the many different ideas people can have about what constitutes Real Food, it can cause some confusion. So I was asked to consider doing a blog post or two or three about this idea of Real Food. What exactly do I mean by it? Do I mean that we need to all start buying purely organic fruits and veg, drinking wheat-grass shakes and baking mutant brownies out of carob chips and sucanat? Most definitely not.
Real Food is this, for me. It is food that is made with as few preservatives as possible, and as few chemical additives as possible. Many times the idea of Real Food also means something more natural- for example, using cheddar cheese instead of Velveeta- a “processed cheese food”. Sometimes Real Food means that I cook from scratch as much as possible- lately I’ve even been enjoying making homemade noodles- but that doesn’t mean that I don’t still buy a box of rigatoni for that baked pasta dish. In the instances where I need to purchase a pre-made product, I try to search out the healthier, better-for you options. Canned tomatoes, for example. I use quite a few canned tomato products, but did you know that some brands actually add high fructose corn syrup or other sugars to their tomato products? So when shopping for those kind of things- I’m a label reader. I look for the tomatoes that are simply tomatoes- sometimes they may also have added salt and citric acid. Since I add those when I can tomatoes at home, I don’t have a problem with those either, but for those who are watching their sodium intake, purchasing tomatoes without the salt would be beneficial as well. The citric acid (made from citrus fruit) preserves the colors naturally and prevents those bright red tomatoes from turning brown and muddy looking.
One of the more tricky aisles to navigate is the cereal aisle. We’ve actually been eating less and less cereal in our household, but I would be lying if I didn’t say that we still indulge from time to time in a bowl of Trix or Reese’s Puffs. More often though, we lean towards the cereals with less sugar. One would think we would have the best success with that in the organic cereal aisle, but that’s not necessarily true either. On the website “Sugar Stacks” they have a nice representation of how much sugar is in a serving of some breakfast foods. In particular, I like to see the Captain Crunch, which shows how much sugar is in the labelled serving, and how much sugar is in the serving you’re likely to serve yourself. The sugar cubes in the pictures are very telling. Think about the idea of handing your child six sugar cubes for breakfast… Compare that with the plain Cheerios a few pictures up which contain just 1 gram of sugar per serving- you can load that cereal up in the bowl and still not have a concern for an overdose of sugar in the morning.
Does Real Food mean organic food? Perhaps. The problems I frequently have with organic food is one, they often are of a lesser quality- particularly in the produce department. And two, there is a cost issue involved. I could buy 3 avocados for $5 organically, or I could spend just 79 cents a piece on the conventionally grown ones. I just don’t automatically reach for organic anything- however- I always *look* at the organic produce. I have found some amazing deals there- and some delicious treasure. Just this weekend I found some delightful organic heirloom cherry tomatoes at my grocery store- included were some coveted black cherry tomatoes. They were a delicious, delicious treat to share with company yesterday, and I hope they still have some when I go back to the store later this week.
I guess when I really try to think of a good definition for what I call Real Food, it would food that is recognizable, and food that is close to what it started out as. Carrots are a great example of that- I have pretty much stopped buying baby carrots in the store. Why? Because they started out as jumbo carrots that were spun on a lathe and made into the shape we find at the store. Instead of buying baby carrots, I simply buy whole carrots- at a significant price savings, by the way- I peel and cut them myself if I want bite-sized carrot pieces. By Real Food, I mean that if I want dip for those carrots, I’m going to make it myself by using real sour cream, with no additives, and add some fresh herbs, salt and pepper, and some dehydrated vegetables for a delicious homemade ranch dip with no preservatives or chemical additives.
I think that if more people strove to put more Real Food into their bodies, and the bodies of their children, we would have far less obesity and health problems in this country. It makes me sick to my stomach to think about the fact that my children have a lower life expectancy than I do. They are expected to live less years of life than me. Why? Because of the very food they put in their mouths. The scene from last summers edition of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution will probably stick with me for all my days- the scene where a mother found out that she alone was responsible for shaving dozens of years off her children’s lives because of the food she was feeding them. Because of the food they were eating, these children were experiencing type 2 diabetes, heart disease (Heart disease! At the age of 17!), morbid obesity which brings arthritis and joint problems with it.
The thing is, most of America knows the things we eat are not healthy for us. We all do it. We all joke about how we are not eating the healthiest lunches, and yet every day it’s off to the golden arches for a quick drive-thru. Why do we do that? We have to make a conscious effort to break that cycle, and that’s how we came to the resolution that it was Real Food or bust. Only there’s no joke here. We’re talking about our children’s lives, and their quality of life. It’s so easy to blame fast food and video games, but who bought the fast food in the first place? Who bought that bag of frozen chicken nuggets- because hey- what kid doesn’t like chicken nuggets? It may say “made from 100% chicken” on the package, but what it doesn’t tell you is that 30% of that is chicken skin, 35% is chicken fat, 15% is chicken bones, and the remaining 20% is a mixture of water and the gristly bits of chicken usually reserved for animal feed. Yeah, I want that on my kids plates.
Lest you think I’m on some mighty holier-than-thou high horse, let me assure you that I am not. Real Food only works when you adhere to it. I still hear at least once a week from my kids “Can we go to the drive-thru”, and Zander has a great affinity for macaroni and cheese from a box. And yes, we still have that from time to time, but we have it at lunch time, and we always accompany it with some fresh fruits, vegetables, and/or a cup of yogurt. When we do indulge in the drive thru, it’s usually followed by a day or two of eating lighter- salads, veggies, and the like. Sometimes it’s difficult to maintain the Real Food lifestyle. Yesterday was a good example. We had family over for the day, and I needed to have both lunch and dinner available for all. I decided on tacos for dinner, and the easiest thing to do would have been to purchase some taco seasoning,brown some meat and call it a day. In fact, I wanted to do that. But making my own taco seasoning is a piece of cake- it tastes better, has far less sodium, and is lacking preservatives entirely. It just takes a few extra steps that sometimes you really gotta wanna go through.
It’s been argued to me that cooking takes time that many people don’t have. Hey- I’ve been there- my kids were little once too! But when it comes to the health of my family, I have decided that I will always be willing to take the time. The ultimate in irony to me are the situations of sports and activity parents who spend much of their week driving their kids to sports and activities with the idea that they’re getting exercise and using those muscles- all while hitting drive thru after drive thru night after night. For those parents, I recommend using your freezer. Once-A-Month-Cooking has come a long way, with many cookbooks and options out there. When you make a pot of soup your family likes- double it and put half in the freezer for another day. Utilize your slow cooker more- my blog-friend Stephanie O’Dea now has 2 slow cooker cookbooks that I assure you are filled with delicious meals, appetizers, desserts and more. And even better? There are literally hundreds of tried-and-true recipes on her blog as well.
Real Food. You know, people nowadays find some bizarre mountains to cling to and make important. This one is mine, and has been for years, it’s just that I’m feeling more vocal about it this year. Cooking is not hard. It’s not rocket science, and it doesn’t have to take hours. We don’t all have to want to be Julia Child and we don’t all have to have massive cookbook collections. But there is one thing that cooking should be in every household: It should be essential.
I have more to come on this subject- including, tips, tricks, suggestions, and yes, we’re going to do some scaled back Once-A-Month cooking recipes, some slow-cooking, and some shopping trips to try and encourage more at-home-cookery. It’s the number one thing you can do to ensure your children a good quality of life. What could be more important than that?