Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Country Pantry Goodies

The Country Pantry is the little Mennonite store that we went to on Monday, and I think it's my new favorite store.  Not only does it remind me of the little store we had when I was growing up, but it is just crammed full of good things, and good deals!  I went specifically to get the wheat I need (to grind in my new grain mill), and I came home with a load of hard-to-find goodies.

In addition to the 50 pound bag of wheat, I got a jar of local raw honey, wheat gluten, Real Salt, alphabet noodles, arrowroot powder, unsweetened carob chips, roasted peas, and whole, hormone/antibiotic free, non-homogenized milk.  When I got home and did a little research, I discovered that they also have grass-fed beef, which is hard enough for me to find that it would be worth going back just for that!  (They also have farm fresh eggs, but I'm getting those for free from a friend.)  After a little more research, I figured out that buying milk from them, I will save $3/gallon over buying from Walmart, and save $4/gallon over buying from the commissary (factoring in the $2 glass milk bottle deposit, of course).  That's a huge savings, AND the best milk I can find!  What a deal!

Are you wondering why all these things have me so excited?  It's partly because of what I've learned lately about food (Have you read that book I recommended yet?), and it's partly because, well, this is my life!  I am a wife and a mom.  I have two adults (usually) and four growing kids to feed.  A large portion of my time is spent in the kitchen cooking the healthiest food I know how.  When I'm not in the kitchen I'm probably thinking about making tasty, healthy food, and sometimes (because there are four of these growing kids!) my time is spent finding the absolute best deal I can find on good, healthy food.  Instead of feeling overwhelmed by my new choices, I have decided to enjoy the adventure and tackle the challenges.  Mary Poppins sums it up well, I think;  "In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun!"  

Yes, I did just quote Mary Poppins.  (What is wrong with me?!?)  And yes, I am having fun!  :)

An Introduction

I'd like you to meet the newest addition to my kitchen.  Isn't it beautiful?  I haven't actually used it yet, but even so, I love that it came with a motorized base AND a free hand crank base too.

This is going to be fun!  :)





P.S.  It's a grain mill!

Sunday, April 5, 2009

The Things I Read

Let me introduce you to my new word of the week:

Orthorexia, from the Greek "ortho-" (right and correct) + "exia" (appetite) = right appetite

It sounds innocent enough, doesn't it?  Eating right is a good thing, but orthorexic is a term that is being used in America to describe people with an unhealthy obsession with healthy eating.  I am spending quite a bit of time and energy on the subject lately, but I am doing my best to avoid becoming one of them.  :)

On the other hand, when I began to avoid foods that contain "high frucsish corn syrup" (as my 5-year-old calls it), I began to wonder about all those other ingredients and chemicals (listed and unlisted) we were consuming mindlessly.  Diabetes runs in our family, and I was (and am!) determined to begin preventing it now, for both myself and for my children, but there are so many theories and diets out there that it seemed almost impossible to know which one is "right".  I've been reading blogs written by nutritionally minded Christian women, and there were a few books on the subject that were repeatedly mentioned.  However, since I refuse to take advice from random people that I don't even know, I decided to read some books for myself and draw my own conclusions.  First I did a bunch of research online and came up with a list of books I wanted to read, and then we made a trip to the library.  I came home with titles like Real Food by Nina Planck, In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan, For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway, and The Omnivores Dilemma by Michael Pollan.

First I read Real Food; What to Eat and Why by Nina Planck, and I learned about things like cholesterol (which I have never understood until now!), why eggs and milk are good for us, and how "they" raise and feed the meat we eat.  It was an interesting book, but as one critic pointed out, the author's sole qualifications are that "she grew up on a farm and her parents served good food, she is healthy and she has managed/owned greenmarket stores".  I also hesitate to take everything she wrote at face value for the simple reason that she accepts as fact the theory of evolution.  If she ignores even the existence of our Creator, how can I possibly trust her to guide me in my quest to eat right? 

In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan, was also very interesting (although also written from an evolutionist viewpoint), and better written (and researched) than Real Food.  It seemed to cover the same ground as Real Food did, but the last third of the book delved into more of howwe Americans eat instead of what we eat.  The author gives advice such as "Eat meals."  "Eat at a table.  No, a desk is not a table."  "Don't get your fuel from the same place your car does."  "Try not to eat alone."  "Eat slowly."  I really enjoyed that book, but the same principle applied; the author ignored even the existence of our Creator.

For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway has nothing to do with food. But it was really, really good!  I had a hard time putting it down.  (But that has nothing to do with orthorexia or the subjects of food and nutrition.)

During my research I had come across another book called The Maker's Diet by Jordan Rubin, so I decided to look into it.  (Literally!  Amazon has that neat feature where you can actually read parts of books.)  It looked like too much of one man's experience and not enough of what I wanted, so I kept looking.  I got side-tracked in my search by the title of a book by the same author, The Maker's Diet for Weight-Loss.  (What mother of four with some weight to losewouldn't get side-tracked by a title like that?!?)  I used the same neat "pre-read" feature, and found almost instantly that that book wasn't for me either.  However, the time I spent researching Jordan Rubin's books was not wasted, because on one of the pages in The Maker's Diet for Weight Loss, he quoted from a book called What the Bible Says About Healthy Livingby Rex Russell, MD.

Ah.  How refreshing!  A book about healthy living (not just eating), based on Biblical truths, written by a man who not only is a Christian, but who has his MD and is diabetic.  All of the qualifications I was looking for, all wrapped up in one author!  I bought this book, and as soon as it came in the mail, I started reading.  It was fascinating!  The text is easy to read, liberally sprinkled with Bible verses and references (as a book entitled "What the Bible Says About..."  should be!), and equal parts "ewwww factor" and funny.  When I finished the book, I immediately wanted to share everything I'd learned from it with everyone I know.  The only problem is that while I was immersed in this book, I was also finishing reading through Romans, (both books cover the subject of "the law").  While I would actually highly recommend reading through both concurrently (Romans shone more light on what I was reading in Russell's book and made it easier to understand, and vice versa), I came across a passage in Romans 14 (specifically verse 22!) that struck a nerve:

20Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. 21It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall.

 22So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves. 23But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.

So, while I would love to tell you what you should and should not be eating, I will refrain, and instead I will just highly recommend that you read for yourself What The Bible Says About Healthy Living by Rex Russell, MD, and form your own conclusions.  

Oh, and The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan?  I decided not to read it at all.  It seems to me that only an orthorexic would read four thick books on the subject of food in one week, so I'm going to keep it to three, and go back and read What The Bible Says About Healthy Living again instead.  :)