Six Principles that Guide Common Sense Eating
I wrote this post last year after spending over a week on the road… and feeling the ill effects of eating the more industrialized diet. I often think that common sense eating isn’t revolutionary, it simply exists naturally in a more agrarian society.
After all, industrial foods are simply a product of an industrial society. So to get back to a more common sense approach I have put together six principles that should be common sense in terms of food.
1. Eat foods that God created for nourishment, unchanged by man.
This sounds pretty simple, and is something that anyone from a vegan to an ethical carnivore can get on board with. But I do believe that our bodies need the nutrients found in animal products. You can read all about that in part 1 and part 2 of why our family eats animal products.
This also means that I seek out foods that contain all of the nourishment of their most raw forms. Which is why we drink raw milk, with all of its enzymes and friendly bacteria intact. This is also why we eat seasonally, locally, and pay attention to food politics.
God created foods that can nourish our bodies. If we can embrace and explore this we can find that food can be our medicine.
2. Eat like your ancestors.
Did you know that 100 years ago the rates of heart disease and diabetes were a fraction of what they are today? When your disease and obesity rates have skyrocketed over the past century, it is time to go back to their way of eating.
The low-fat craze combined with industrialized foods have gotten us to where we are today. It is time to go back to the days of butter and lard, homegrown meats and vegetables. The rates of disease that we know today did not exist when our great great grandparents ate a traditional diet.
3. Eat foods that make your body feel good.
I am married to a man who is very conscious of what he puts into his body, but feels good when he gets a balance of fats, proteins, and carbs. He can eat sourdough bread without feeling lethargic. He could eat potatoes at every meal without skipping a beat, and he has never struggled with maintaining a health weight.
I am the exact opposite. That is proof enough for me that what nourishes my body may not nourish yours. The real foods my husband consumes make him feel good, carbs or no carbs. Call it metabolic typing, call it bioindividuality. I call it eating the foods that give me energy and a clear head.
By paying attention to your body’s response to different foods you can establish a list of dos and don’ts that help you feel nourished.
4. Get the most nutrients out of your food.
We all want to keep a budget while eating well. I find the best way to do that is to maximize naturally occurring nutrients while minimizing anti-nutrients. This may involve soaking grains and beans. This may mean lacto-fermenting your vegetables. This may mean spending your meat budget on liver instead of steak.
However you do it, find the most nutrient dense way to prepare the foods that you are going to eat. You will save money and nourish your body.
5. Food should be personal, not incorporated.
We live in an odd time when to grow your own food is the exception. It’s perfectly normal to travel and work for most of your days in order to earn money that will provide for your family, but to cut out the middle man and grow your own sustenance puts you on the "extreme" side.
Honestly, that’s ridiculous.
Living a simple life, working with your hands to provide for your family’s basic needs was once commonplace. Now it is at odds with a society claiming that a certain lifestyle is a human right, not a privilege. When a television is found in most homes but a garden is not, we have a serious case of backwards priorities.
6. Food is a priority and someone has to take care of it.
Unless you are very wealthy you simply can not eat nourishing foods without taking the time to prepare them. Having all of the knowledge in the world about what is healthy is worthless unless someone in the family is willing to spend hours per week preparing, preserving, and cleaning up after eating.
I believe that when women left the home, convinced they were being liberated, common sense eating left as well. This is when canned, frozen, and processed foods entered the kitchen. It is also when keeper of the home and home cook took on a negative connotation. The truth is it does take time to procure, prepare, preserve, and plan for feeding your family. And being the person who does this job does not mean that you are a mindless drone, but rather are taking responsibility and care for your family.
We do not base our life around what we eat, but these are the fsix principles that guide our food choices. The undercurrent of our family’s life is to live simply, in community with believers, and in obedience to God’s commands. Fresh, nourishing foods are just one of the "fruits" and perks of this lifestyle.
What principles do you live by that guide your food choices?
Nicely put! Thanks for the encouragement and reminder.
My believes exactly! God bless.
A coworker and I were just discussing what’s good to eat and not eat. I have an infant with food intolerance and since nursing is important to me, I had to take out a lot of foods from my diet so he may have a healthy gut. I was also forced to read labels. This helped me realize that all of the food I deemed healthy are the exact opposite. I’m now on a quest to cook more, bake more, be a better shopper and raise my child in a healthy food environment. I’m at the beginning stages and am doing everything that I can to learn as much as possible. I have a long way to go. Thank you for this post. It couldn’t have come at a better time.
One food philosophy that I have adopted is, if it’s prepackaged and has more than 5 to 7 ingredients -ingredients that either seem wrong to be included or I can’t pronounce – I don’t buy it.
Neveen – Great point on the number of ingredients.
Great points! I recently got Michael Pollan’s book Food Rules which is filled with simple, practical things (like “If it comes from a plant, eat it. If its made in a plant, don’t eat it”). His whole summary boils down to: Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much.
Good advice!
Kait – I think he has some good stuff, but I can’t agree that everyone does well on a mostly plant based diet. I eat lots of plants, but most of my calories come from fat and protein and that is what makes it work best.
Hi, I’m new here. Thank you for reinforcing my own views. I really detest when certain “conquer the world” women look down on me for being the at home type who does a lot of cooking from scratch. Viewing me as a mindless drone for doing it? As if. And as if that negates me from being a positive force in the world. By the way, several of these women that I know have serious health issues that could be solved with a little nourishment. Not that they will take my word for it.
Kristina – I feel your pain. Keep up the good fight! And yes, I agree we could all use a bit more butter :).
of course, I love this post. Especially the “eat the foods that make you feel good” – I get so tired of people jumping on board a diet philosophy just because so and so is. What works for one may not work for another. I totally believe we are made up differently therefore it is no surprise that we need to eat differently.
point 5 and 6 are so so true as well.
Denise – I thought of you, actually, when I was considering my words for that point. I have seen how you eat and would like to eat that way because I believe it to be healthy, but my body simply responds better to a high fat/moderate protein diet.
nice post. I just was on a 7 day trip and my strategy for coping was:
1) cod liver oil capsules daily (we splurged for the trip – normally we use liquid)
2) lots of butter at every opportunity – fortunately there was a butter dish on the table at each meal – sometimes I just ate the butter plain w/o bread.
3) stay away from breads / desserts – though I did cave on the last two days & felt horrible when I got back. (Also, sometimes I would eat a small roll w/four pats of butter – it was mostly a butter vehicle).
4) Biokult probiotics
Jessie – Great tips! I especially love your butter comment. I always start craving/needing butter after a few days without. Since it is so taboo I will usually eat a piece of bread too just to get in a ton of butter. a 1:2 ratio of butter to bread (at least) is mandatory :).
Great post! I agree completely!
This is very well said! I am going to repost on facebook!
I appreciate your comment that the foods that make your husband feel good are not the same for you. I have finally come to that same conclusion for my husband and I as well – what a pickle! 🙂
Thank you so much for this post. I need it badly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I really appreciate the value put on preparing and planning to feed the family. I stood in my kitchen today, snapping, blanching and freezing green beans after spending much of yesterday morning making strawberry preserves. All the while I was thinking about what I had to do to build up enough sourdough starter and what I’ll need to get to make pickles on Saturday. Sometimes I feel like all I think about is food! But when you strive and, because of health reasons, need to feed your family as naturally as possible, this is what it takes. Nevertheless, I do often feel like I’m the only one devoting this kind of time to meals while everyone else is grabbing a box out of the cupboard.
Wow, this was a wonderful post, especially 5 & 6. I will not feel so badly about spending so much of my free time preparing food. I also need more “butter vehicles” in my life.
“convinced they were being liberated…”
Ha!
Love these! You’re so thorough I usually have nothing of value to add except that I completely agree. Thanks
I just write to say THANK YOU for another great post. I particularly struggle with number 6 lately — I still do the cooking, but the clean up seems to be such a burden! I haven’t been doing as much in the way of fermentation and preparation as I’d like, but I’m still doing some. Thanks for your reminders on all these important points. Bless you!
Any thoughts on where to find time and energy for food prep? With a 1 year old and a 6 wk old, I’m finding it to be a little difficult. . .
This was lovely and encouraging…thanks so much.
Love it all Shannon! Have you battled with nausea this pregnancy? I am 9 weeks pregnant with #4 and having a hard time. In my other pregnancies we weren’t eating a real food diet yet and I’d just reach for crackers. If I don’t keep something on my stomach, I vomit. So gross but wondering if you had any advice! I feel like I’m constantly hungry and can’t fill up!
thank you!, well said specialy point # 6 it takes time, planning, effort ect to feed your family in a healthy way 🙂
Hi, I found this post via Casual Kitchen, and I just had to comment to agree wholeheartedly with your thoughts on the way housewives or at least housewifey-types are judged. I am 27, and I have often been teased by previous housemates about what a “granny” I am for nagging people to keep the kitchen tidy, and for always cooking a “proper dinner” for myself, but my response is always “well, I don’t want to live in a dirty house and eat sh*tty food, so I’ll do it myself.” I am often baffled by people my age who just don’t know how to look after themselves, who will eat takeaway food every night, buy over-priced and probably unhealthy sandwiches for lunch every day, and still manage to have a messy kitchen! Call me old fashioned, if old fashioned means “not expecting somebody else to do my dirty work” 🙂
I’m sorry…
“We need to go back to the days of butter and lard and homegrown meats”… so saturated fats, cholesterol, and carcinogens are the answer? Awful advice wrapped in a pretty bow. Eating butter and lard is not common sense. I’ve yet to see a lard tree and, on a diet full of butter, lard, and meats, I’d be too overweight to climb it anyhow.