What do I eat?

This weekend I had the, umm, pleasure (?) of working both concessions at my kids' football game and the Goetta booth at my parish festival. In both places I was selling a bunch of stuff I'd never dream of eating. At the Goetta booth, I mentioned I had never had Goetta because I'm allergic to monosodium glutamate (MSG). A lady answered, "That stinks, MSG in in almost all processed food." And she's right, even "natural" foods have it, though "natural" foods tend to label it "yeast extract." Yup, that's right, MSG is often a hidden ingredient and is in a lot of that stuff you buy at Whole Foods. Trust me, I've learned that the hard way after getting a gut wrenching stomach ache after eating hidden MSG. Here's a list of how it's hidden: Truth in labeling article.

As I was eating one of my favorite foods last night, brussels sprouts cooked in my cast iron skillet in organic bacon grease with organic bacon, I got to thinking .... Am I truly unlucky to not be able to eat much processed food? Let me take another sip of my homemade latte made with organic espresso and non-homogenized whole milk and think on that a bit more .....

Yeah, that's a bit of sarcasm. Sorry, I know it's a cheap form of humor, but it does make a point. What about all the delicious food I do eat? My snack yesterday was a handful of raw macadamia nuts and organic 72% dark chocolate. Is that better than chips or not? I think it is! Or what about my lunch? I hadn't been to the grocery, so I had one of those, "What's in the fridge?" lunches .... an organic chicken/apple sausage and some celery topped with raw almond butter.

Honestly, when I looked around at the festival, there was not any food item I wanted to eat. Even the "healthy" ones were questionable .... like the corn SOAKED in MARGARINE!! Do you know how bad margarine is for you? Here's one article, there are many more out there. Most of the other foods were some sort of combination of bread and sugar, usually fried. Most of it doesn't even look like food.

I often get asked, "If you don't eat processed food, sugar, or grains, what DO you eat?" I'm not qualified to give nutritional advice, but I can answer that question.

I eat fresh, whole foods like meat, eggs, fruits, vegetables, potatoes (all varieties), quinoa, and wild rice. I use fats like butter, olive oil, coconut oil, and for cooking over heat, safflower oil. I've tried coconut oil but my cast iron skillets don't like it as much as safflower oil. I cook on cast iron, which is naturally non-stick. Did you know the fumes from non-stick pans will kill birds? If it's bad enough to kill a bird, what's it putting into your food? I have a whole milk latte in the morning, and once in a while eat full-fat cheese. I also like to drink red wine. If I'm hungry, I eat. I never feel like I'm denying myself like I did when I thought things like, "I really shouldn't eat that, I'll gain weight," when I was eating grains and processed food. Now, I eat when I'm hungry, I don't when I'm not.

Once in a while, on the rare occassion I want ice cream, I'll eat Graeters because it's made from natural things like cream, sugar, etc., but even then I order the child-size scoop. I almost never eat something that has weird ingredients I can't pronounce.

He's holding the photographer's soda, haha

When I was young and I ate healthy (though I ate grains when I was younger), people teased me. Now that I'm almost 50, many of those same people are now asking what I eat. We don't have to diet, botox, and cut out fats to look young. We need to eat real foods, exercise, and lead a healthy lifestyle. It's that radiant health that looks beautiful .... not a lack of wrinkles. It's healthy hair, healthy skin, and a healthy body that we desire. And the nice thing is, it's eating healthy foods that taste great that will give it to you. Once you get off the processed stuff, it no longer even looks good.

I'll try to put more of my recipes on the blog now that we're done with wedding planning so you can see what I mean. You won't miss the processed stuff. But you might have to go to the grocery more often because fresh food rots!