Eating, outside the box

Cooking a healthy, home cooked meal in our world is the ultimate expression of family love these days. It requires two precious things hard to come by: time and attention. I use to think whipping up one of those frozen pasta meals and adding chicken was healthy. Then I learned better.

Flip that package of Stoufer's over and take a peek at the paragraph of ingredients- I bet you only know what 20% of them are. I'm with ya. We don't know what the other 80% are because they aren't food; they are products or chemical concoctions. As I've said somewhere else on this blog, your body doesn't necessarily recognize these things as food because, well, they're not. It's not sure what to do with these processed versions because its not what the body expects. The RDAs of vitamins and minerals look good, but all that stuff has been artificially put back in. It's not in natural forms or ratios.

I think one of our greatest downfalls as modern humans is the belief we might be wiser than nature. Now, I am in awe of our abilities to learn, invent, and modify. We are highly intelligent beings, but are we humble enough to use these things only where appropriate? I don't know. Sucking out all the natural vitamins and enzymes from a piece of fruit, processing the fruit, molding it back together with man made nutrients seems arrogant. (Pointing finger at myself at this moment) And how dumb to believe that fat free milk is healthier than its purer full fat form? I personally feel nature rules. The closer it is to how it came from its source, the healthier it is. I am sure there are exceptions, but a general rule in my book.

Finally, the point of this commentary is this experiment: Pick a day and feed your family three meals and snacks without opening a box or container. Three meals made purely from real foods. Spices and maybe condiments are an exception made up to you. If this feels overwhelming, stop and think. Meats, fresh vegetables, and fruits are abundant. You're just not use to cooking that way. You can do it and it doesn't need to be elaborate.

Maybe one meal is enough of a challenge at first. Fine. It's a step in a healthier direction nonetheless.

Best of luck y'all.