The last 18 months I have really been paying attention to my relationship with our food system. With the good food and the junk food I eat, I question: what it is, how is it made, why I am eating it and what does it do for me.
With most foods I ask myself if could I make it "from scratch." I then get frustrated asking, what is "from scratch?"
- Do I have some processed foods and make it "from scratch?" Like homemade cookies; The chocolate, butter, vanilla extract and sugar are processed.
- Do I make a dish from all single ingredients? Like a homemade pizza; flour, water, yeast, cheese (the flour, cheese and the yeast are gimmes), tomatoes and basil.
- Finally is "from scratch" something I grow or forage for and prepare? Like a salad from the garden.
I always am looking for a way to do most of the work myself. I don't think there is a definite answer to what "from scratch" cooking is. I feel it is in the middle of my three choices. But we should be challenging ourselves to be more responsible for gathering and making our food- to have a more DIY attitude.
From food I start to think: what else do I use in my day to day life that I could make? Stuff like: medicine, teas, toothpaste, soaps, lotion, shampoo, shoes, clothes, gardening equipment, etc...
It's funny, I have standards and I am not able to live up to them. I have been watching videos and listening to interviews with Daniel Vitalis. He has been inspiring. I don't believe everything he talks about, but some stuff he says makes sense. He talks about "living water," water that is from a spring, right from the earth. He has several websites, one of them is findaspring.com, which tells you where springs are in your area. For the past week I have been going to the Schmidt Brewery Well. The well is not 100% spring water, but it's a step up from unfiltered tap water. He also is not a fan of plastics. So I am thinking how I can get spring water and get rid of all the plastic in my house; WHILE drinking pop from a plastic jug.
My diet has been absolute CRAP since we started to move. It's nuts how change in your routine can mess with exercise and diet. I have gained at least 10 pounds, maybe 15; I don't care to step on the scale. I am at or close to the heaviest I've been.
I have all this awesome knowledge in my head and I have a better idea of what I want my lifestyle and diet to be, but I really am not practicing it. I know it's gonna come where I am closer to practicing my ideal diet, I am just not there yet.
Most of it is: I have been eating crap food. I have been saving seeds, making an AWESOME echinacea, hollyhock and raw honey- kombucha (post to come,) making wine (post to come,) learning about foraging, traditional medicines and more about local farmers. My diet is just down the toilet.
There are a lot of reasons for my diet being crap and I need to have a better understanding of them to move on. There are some minor emotional reasons. The reasons I am thinking of are: my three kids, a wife, work, laziness, lack of knowledge and convenience. You know, life! Over time you gain knowledge and it is easier to practice what you know. I feel like my body will catch up with my head.
There is a sensitivity your body has to your diet and your environment. While I am eating crap food I am not as sensitive to my body. I want to be more in-touch with how I am feeling and how I could feel better and live a healthier life.
I have done some thinking on the topics of this blog. I started to think they are too broad and I need to narrow things down a bit. When I first started to write my thought was: I want to write about my struggles, my ideas of eating and living a healthier lifestyle. The past month or so I started to questing if my topics were too broad; Like I am a Food Network TV personality and I have to fit in a nice organized box. I was then told- this is my blog and I can do what I want. The food system is complex, food history is complex, cultures are complex and yes, I am complex. (Insert laugh here.) So that's where the randomness of these posts come from... or not so random. And I have no desire to be Guy Fieri.
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