Monday, November 8, 2010

Embrace the Bacon

For the past few weeks, I've been pouring over blogs such as Keeper of the Home, The Nourishing Gourmet, and Cheese Slave. I'm a little bit obsessed with FOOD PORN.

I used to watch the Food Network all the time and drool over Paula Deen's cream and butter soaked everything. I also had some very vivid dreams about Sandra Lee style "table-scapes". I realize I'm a nerd.

Then I realized I was unhealthy. Not just fat...because that was pretty obvious, but I realized although I'm young and still in pretty good health at the moment, my life would not remain so unless something changed. Enter: weight loss.

For the past several months that's what I've been concentrating on. At first, like any other "normal" dieter everything I bought was fat free, sugar free, boneless, skinless, and flavorless. I was not a happy camper. Gradually, I started doing more and more research and what I found was extremely obvious, yet surprising.

You see, over the past 60 or 70 years, our scientists have made gigantic discoveries about the human body. We only need x amount of calories and there are different types of cholesterol, and this type of food can do this and this other type of food will do that and so on. Enter the world of diet food. Low-fat, low-calorie everything. So logically with all of these new discoveries and creations people started eating healthier, maintaining healthy weights, and living full, active lives. The End.

Only except that's not what happened.

We, as a society, have gradually been becoming more unhealthy, in the midst of all this diet food hype. HOW CAN THAT BE?! Clearly something else has come into play. Processed food-like substances.

Yes, back in the day my grandmother cooked with lard (gasp!), drank whole milk, and probably didn't waste a whole lot of her time worrying about dark meat and light meat and trimming fat. People often say they didn't know any better back then...but look how much healthier they were. My grandmother is nowhere near obese, and meanwhile I'm sitting at 243 pounds and have probably shoved more "diet food" in my mouth in my lifetime than she could ever imagine.

That's why I'm embarking on a new journey to health. I hope I'll lose weight on the way. The more I research, the more I believe that processed foods of any kind not only damage our health (obviously), but actually prohibit weight loss.

Of course I'm not going to go out and stuff my face full of bacon and eggs, everything needs to be in moderation. But eggs are one of the most nutrition-packed foods out there. And bacon? When it comes from a healthy pig can be nutritious too. Some fats are essential for mineral and vitamin absorption and digestion!

So, (moderately) bring on the bacon! Bring on baking from scratch! I'm not afraid!

Here are some of my "food goals." I'll probably be introducing one or two a week. Something I consider "big" will be my only focus for one week (like baking without refined sugar) or I might do a few small ones in the same week (like making my own mayo and dressing).

-Eat more fish
-Pastured, organic eggs
-Grass-fed beef
-Organic chicken
-Organic milk/dairy products (cultured when appropriate)
-Fermented vegetables
-Soaked/sprouted grains
-Plant-based diet
-Local foods when available
-Bake my own bread
-Make my own yogurt and kefir
-Make my own mayonnaise
-Make my own salad dressing
-Remove refined sugar from my diet except on special occassions
-Make broth
-Fermented vegetables
-Make my own pasta
-Drink non-homogenized, pasteurized at low temps, whole milk

Check back to see my progress!

1 comment:

  1. I LOVE THIS POST!!! you hit the nail on the head! That is what is wrong with us - I've been on every diet there is and consumed more 'diet' food than I care to mention and not only didn't LOSE weight, but gained! Now that I'm sticking with REAL food, it's amazing! I can't wait to follow along on this journey because you are tackling some of the things I've wanted to learn more about but haven't taken the plunge! (i.e. sprouted grains, making my own pasta, etc) It's not always easy, but you have my support!!

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