Eating Well Makes a Difference

I sometimes wonder why my husband and I go to all the trouble we do to eat the food we do. Shopping at all the different places; the farmer's markets, health food stores, and Three Stone Hearth are activities we have to fit into our schedules. Cooking... all the cooking! From scratch! Not to mention preserving, fermenting, dehydrating, stock making. We always make lots of food, so we have leftovers, but then we have to be careful they don't eventually disappear into the back of the fridge and take on new life forms.

But why do we do this??!!! It's so much more trouble than going to Trader Joe's and opening up a frozen bag, or Whole Foods and opening up a jar, boiling pasta, throwing together a quick salad and calling it dinner. It's not like we aren't busy people - me with my own business, a 13-year-old-daughter with a very active life, my husband who works full-time and just finished a master's degree, and who is now embarking on a writing career in his spare time!

No, it's not always easy to make certain we have our meals prepared in a timely way (in fact with summer suddenly appearing and daylight so much later, we've eaten dinner at 8:00 twice this week!), and that we have the energy to make it happen at the end of the day. That reminds me, I must cook those lamb shanks today!

So... again, why do we do it? Well, because we feel so much better. We eat three cooked meals a day, always with some protein and fat (to digest the protein), as well as vegetables, and maybe rice or sweet potatoes, or soba noodles, and some fruit. We rarely have any hunger between meals, and if we do, we eat nuts or a coconut bar, or a piece of fruit or a carrot. We have plenty of energy to do all the things we do, we rarely get sick, and again, we feel good. I know when I don't eat as well, when I have to eat out and can't find the high-quality food my body is used to, I just don't feel satisfied in the same way and I want to keep eating and eating. And it's often the sweet carbs that I turn to when this happens, partly because they're so readily available (so many darn bakeries!).

I must disclose here that we don't do all of our own cooking. My friends at Three Stone Hearth know I buy at least a jar or two of their delicious soup or stew just about every week, and we've been buying a lot more of their wonderful beef and chicken stock that we add liberally to other dishes. It works out financially for us, we can open up a jar of say, Lentil and Lamb Soup with Greens, and get four good-sized servings out of it, which is a lot less expensive than getting take-out just about anywhere, not to mention how much better the local, organic and nutrient dense food is for us and the planet!

One of the best things about eating nutrient-dense foods is that we are sated with a relatively small amount of food and don't need to continue to eat. If we even want dessert, a small bowl of fruit with cream or a coconut milk dessert is plenty!

With all the choices of diets, places to buy food, and ways to prepare it, it may seem crazy to spend as much time and effort to eat well, but in our house, it is so worth it. My husband and I think about it as a health insurance plan that we actually use. We want to live long lives and feel good well into our 80's. We are so happy to see how healthy our 13-year-old is -- no need for braces with her beautiful set of teeth -- and her strong body. The more we eat well, the more likely our bodies and minds will function well. Even if we spend more than the average American (who, by the way spends less and less of their income on food, while Europeans continue to spend about the same percentage they always have!), in the long run we'll come out ahead in so many ways.

Comments

[Flight Simulator]

In a healthy body lives a healthy mind...it is important to include healthy food in your diet...

where can i get recipes for healthy cooking?

Thanks
Femina

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