eating out/fast food

It happens to me more often than I should admit.  It’s 5:00 pm and here’s the dialogue in my brain… “It’s not really 5:00 already is it?  No way!  Crap, Kent will be home in a half hour and I forgot to get something out for dinner!  Now what?”

In these instances, I used to say to myself (sometimes two or three times a WEEK), “Oh, we’ll just go grab something quick, we’ll find some healthy fast food.”  Yeah, right, as if there is such a thing.  (There may be better options, but I wouldn’t call them healthy.)  Don’t worry, I’m not always good about not eating out (read more about My Dark Secrets), BUT, if I have a list of ideas to pick from on those evenings when we’re running kids around or I just plain forgot to plan dinner, this helps a lot.

So here’s what I do, I pull out my list of healthy fast food ideas…

BUT I NEED MORE!

• IF YOU DON’T HAVE A BLOG, I hope you’ll comment below with your ideas.

• IF YOU DO HAVE A BLOG, use “Mr. Linky” below to add a link to the post with your idea to share, keeping these rules in mind:

1. PLEASE be sure to link back to this post, so your readers can benefit from all the ideas, too.
2. And do not link to your home page, only link to the specific post with your healthy fast food idea.  (Otherwise later when new readers stumble upon this post and they go to your link, they won’t be able to find what they’re looking for.)

Lastly, in case you missed the previous topics:

• Last week at Cheeseslave’s blog:    Real Food on a Budget
• 2 weeks ago:  Low-Carb Ideas

Cheeseslave & I alternate hosting Real Food Wednesdays, check out her healthy fast food idea:

LAST MINUTE MEXICAN RICE & BEANS

Now it’s time for you to comment or link-away with all your great ideas!!!

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Yesterday when the kids were watching Spongebob, a McDonald’s commercial came on. It showed all the happy kids, and then said that they now offer “Happy Meals with 1% milk, chicken nuggets made with all white meat, and apple slices“.

My translation:

YIPPEE.

• Milk with the healthy fats removed and replaced with powdered milk in order to get the milky consistency back – powdered milk contains oxidized (damaged) cholesterol…do we really want to give that to our kids? (Read more at the healthy milk post.)
• Chicken nuggets from chickens fed who-knows-what and raised in confinement causing them to be so unhealthy that they need all sorts of drugs to keep them alive, which we then ingest.
• Apples from who-knows-where and probably packaged months and months ago, but you’d never know it because of all the nasty chemical preservatives they’re floating in.

photo by Cosmic Kitty

Yes, it’s good that they’re trying to offer what they think are healthier menu options, but I just don’t want anyone to fall for it!

That Happy Meal is almost as crappy for your kid’s bodies as a typical happy meal:

• Burgers made with meat that is likely from thousands of different cows in every bite, all raised in confinement and fed junk, on a bun with refined flour and trans fats.
• Poison sticks made with potatoes that were probably processed months ago, fried in terribly unhealthy fat. (I don’t care if they end up offering a trans fat-free version, if it’s a newer oil, like canola, soy, safflower, etc., it’s still not a good option! Read about what Cheeseslave cooks her homemade fries in…yum!)
• A pop chock full of high fructose corn syrup, not to mention preservatives, artificial flavors & colors.

What about McDonald’s salads, you ask?

Compared to the menu items already mentioned, yes, the salads would be an improvement, depending on what’s in those dressings (watch for high fructose corn syrup, MSG, trans fats, etc.) But compared to a salad with fresh ingredients from the farm market or your garden and homemade dressings…no comparison! (No comparison in taste, either, as you probably know.)

Deep breath…Ooooh, this is fun to get going like this!

Hopefully I’m not annoying you as much as I do our teenager: “Mom, don’t start.”

OK, fine, I’ll move on now…

In a related article, read this from the Los Angeles Times: Panel OK’s one-year ban on new fast-food restaurants in South L.A.

• My other fast food post – hopefully this disgusting information will really help you break the fast food habit.
• Need healthier options than fast food? This is the list I refer to on those crazy days when it’s 5:00 and I have no idea what I’m feeding everyone.
• Enough about food (never thought you’d hear me say that, did ya?), let’s talk about babies. I take care of a sweet baby girl in my day care a couple days a week and get the best snuggles. Do you know anyone who is pregnant? They might like to read this post about natural parenting. (And good nutrition info for preggies and babies.)
• Speaking of babies, now let’s talk about sex…want to know why & how to get the spark back into your marriage? It relates to nutrition, honest.

(Many more topics along the right in the sidebar!)

Welcome Tammy’s Recipes readers!

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With all the jabbering I’ve done about fast food recently, here’s a restaurant I really think you should give a try, and you don’t have to feel guilty afterward, wondering what you’ve done to your body:

Chipotle Restaurant

I love their philosophies about food! At their site you can read all about that and also find a Chipotle Restaurant near you. The closest to us is in Lansing, but I put in a request that they build one here on the NE side of Grand Rapids – if you live nearby, be sure to do that, too! (By the way, thanks to Bob for sending me this link!)  UPDATE:  we have one on the SE side of GR now!

A little more about CHIPOTLE in this newer post.

FIND MORE healthier restaurants!

• Why eat local, organic, sustainable food?
• Healthy alternatives for school lunches (strive to make hot lunch RARE for your kids)
• A few great book suggestions

(Many more topics along the right in the sidebar!)

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Hopefully the last post, Fast Food Dangers, grossed you out enough so that buying fast food is no longer a temptation, or at the least, I hope it is now a very rare occurrence in your life. But what to do for those times when you’re too busy, too tired, or too whatever to spend much time cooking? (It happens to all of us.) This post will give you ideas for simple and quick meals to help you painlessly go right on by those nasty drive-thru windows.

photo by Simon Davison

LUNCH SUGGESTIONS:

Before we talk about some easy and fast dinner suggestions, first we should touch on the issue of lunch. If lunchtime is the biggest area of temptation for you, then the main thing that needs to happen, if you are ready to completely avoid fast food, is to PLAN AHEAD a little.

(Click here for healthy school lunch ideas.)

• When you’re at the grocery store, grab a variety of foods that will make you look forward to lunch and not even think about fast food. (Remember there’s lots of junk at the grocery store, too, though…avoid the middle aisles in the store whenever you can.)
• Even better, take leftovers in a thermos from last night’s healthy dinner.
• Try some new salad ideas and mix it up with different ingredients. (I load my salads up and never feel deprived – if you make them right, you feel like you’re eating a big treat!)
• Another idea is something Kent started doing a while back: he began taking healthy snack foods to munch on throughout the day while he’s at his desk, instead of having one big mid-day meal. He takes things like yogurt, all natural or raw milk cheese, crispy nuts, beef jerky from the farm (no MSG), granola, see other snack ideas.
• I’m sure all of you have more healthy lunch ideas: please post them below in the comments!

DINNER SUGGESTIONS

We all need a good list of quick dinner ideas to get us through those moments when you might be tempted to say to yourself, “I’ve had a busy day…” or “I deserve a night off from cooking…” or whatever the excuse might be to head for fast food. The best thing when it comes to dinner is also to plan ahead (and maybe do a crock-pot meal for busy evenings), but realistically, that doesn’t always happen. So having a Family Favorite Meals List is priceless on busy days. With only a glance, I can quickly figure out what I can make fast, and which meals we have the ingredients for. So now on our crazy evenings, full of soccer practices or games, dance lessons, school or church meetings, etc., what do we eat?

Here are some ideas:

• Grilled cheese (Healthy grilled cheese sandwiches: use 100% whole wheat bread, preferably organic and even better is a sprouted, fermented, or sourdough loaf, but for sure without trans fats or high fructose corn syrup! And use real cheese slices, NEVER Velveeta or American cheese – both are highly processed junk food! Even better: sliced raw milk cheese from a local farm.)
• Sometimes when we are REALLY pressed for time and have to get out the door, I’ll grab an apple and a cheese stick out of the frig for the kids to eat in the van to hold them over as we’re driving, then we’ll eat more when we get home. (Other snack ideas.)
• Another idea: if you know you’re going to be on the road at mealtime, try “Road Picnics“. I can quickly pack PBJ sandwiches, carrots sticks, apples & water, or whatever, and there’s just something fun about that for the kids, even if what we’re having isn’t anything new.
• Make meals ahead of time to have in your freezer for busy nights. (Or make enough one night for leftovers the next – talk about fast and convenient!) Recently I’d had a busy morning: I helped in my kids’ classes at school, ran some errands, came home to work on my posts, and forgot all about dinner. So I was out of time to make the supper I had originally planned. (I can’t stand it when I let the afternoon get away from me like that.) Thankfully, I had an extra pan of Shepherd’s Pie that I could pull out of the freezer at 3:30, defrost for an hour in the toaster oven, then convection bake it right in there for another hour, and it was ready by 5:30 to eat when Kent got home. Veggies were inside so we just had a little fruit for a side and I was done!
• Scrambled eggs (preferably pasture-fed) or whole grain toast/egg sandwiches.
• Quesadillas (using homemade tortillas, which I haven’t tried yet, or store-bought that have as few ingredients as possible, along with some all-natural cheese or even better: raw milk cheese.)
• Healthy hot dogs – if you were able to plan ahead, you could also make homemade buns. (Also at that post read in the comment section about a new twist on the topic of nitrates.)
• Hamburgers (best: organic, grass-fed beef from a local farm)
• Organic Sloppy Joes, Goulash, or Tacos (you could use meat you had cooked ahead in the freezer)
• Any pasta with a jar of organic (or home-canned) sauce – here’s an easy ravioli recipe
• “Italian Pasta” – preferably organic whole wheat or rice pasta with butter, garlic and grated parmesan cheese (my kids and day care kids love this.)
• A couple more easy meals that kids LOVE – make ahead pizza & calzones
  
• Fried Rice
• Burritos, or these grass-fed burritos that go over better with the kids because they’re less spicy
• Spaghetti
  
• 5 minute meal:  Egg Drop Soup
  

MORE HEALTHY FAST FOOD IDEAS FROM THE Real Food Wednesdays BLOG CARNIVAL

Comment below and add more to this list – I know I’m forgetting some good ideas!

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FAST FOOD FEAR

If you fear fast food and what it does to our bodies, that’s great, because you should. If not, then I’m hoping some of the disgusting information I have to share might help you along.

I love America and am truly thankful to live here, but there are some aspects of what America has become that I’m not proud of. We (myself included) are all so stuck on convenience, the fast and easy way to do things, that we’re getting too lazy and/or too busy to think ahead a little and cook nutrient-dense, delicious meals at home for our families. I have to admit, I’m just as frazzled as any busy Mom on any busy evening, but since I know now that fast food isn’t an option, it’s amazing what other quick meals I can come up with. (Check out this post with our versions of fast food these days – with healthy and super-quick meal ideas.)

Do any of these excuses for eating fast food sound familiar?

1. “It’s cheap and it just tastes so good!”
2. “I don’t have time to cook.”
3. “It can’t really be that bad for us.”
4. “I’m too busy, how else am I supposed to get everyone fed on our crazy evenings?!”
5. “I work hard/I had a crazy morning/It’s going to be a crazy afternoon/I’m so tired/I just got a promotion/I didn’t get my promotion/the kids are driving me nuts… I deserve something easy and hot for lunch”
6. “I don’t have time to pack a lunch”

If you’ve used any of these excuses recently, keep reading…

FIRST, I’LL FESS UP

As I’ve shared in my “food conversion” story, we used to eat fast food a lot. When our oldest son was little we’d think nothing of eating fast food 2-3 times/week! I pray he isn’t harboring some nasty festering condition in his body from all the years we were so lazy and ignorant about the dangers of eating out so much.

If you read about My Dark Secrets, then you know that these days we might still order a pizza now and then from a local place when we have friends over, and if we’re out of town, we may hit a Subway, but this is rare. (However, I’ve been on their site to look up nutrition information and know that none of their breads have trans fats, and I also know to ask for the shredded cheese, not the “American” slices.) Thankfully, I can’t even remember when we were at a fast-food join last.

Read an excerpt from a book written a while ago, “Fast Food Nation, The Dark Side of the All-American Meal” By Eric Schlosser:

OVER THE LAST THREE DECADES, fast food has infiltrated every nook and cranny of American society. An industry that began with a handful of modest hot dog and hamburger stands in southern California has spread to every corner of the nation, selling a broad range of foods wherever paying customers may be found. Fast food is now served at restaurants and drive-throughs, at stadiums, airports, zoos, high schools, elementary schools, and universities, on cruise ships, trains, and airplanes, at K-Marts, Wal-Marts, gas stations, and even at hospital cafeterias. In 1970, Americans spent about $6 billion on fast food; in 2000, they spent more than $110 billion. Americans now spend more money on fast food than on higher education, personal computers, computer software, or new cars. They spend more on fast food than on movies, books, magazines, newspapers, videos, and recorded music – combined.

photo by rensenbrink78

SANTA CLAUS, JESUS, & RONALD MCDONALD

According to the book above, Fast Food Nation, only Santa Claus is recognized more than Ronald McDonald, and the golden arches are now more widely recognized than the Christian cross – what a great job McDonald’s marketing department has done through the years. (I even found some McDonalds play food in our kid’s toys the other day…I threw it away.)

Is it really cheap?

A 99 cent burger may seem cheap, but when you get your pop and fries to go with it, and you do it very often, it adds up fast. Add in the future health care costs and the price becomes much higher. Is that short-term fix really worth it? When you’re done your stomach may be full, but don’t you ever think, “I paid how much? I don’t even feel so good. And I wonder how many pounds I just put on or how much closer I am to cancer, diabetes or heart disease after ingesting all the chemicals preservatives, pesticide toxins, vegetable oils/trans fats, MSG and high fructose corn syrup? Nothing but a bunch of empty calories!” OK, maybe you aren’t thinking that, but that’s the kind of twisted thoughts in my head these days. (I’m beginning to sound like a food snob after all…OK, only when it comes to fast food!)

How much is too much?

Personally, I think anything more than rarely is too much. Once you are educated about what crap fast food is, then it’s not so difficult to drive right on by those joints. When you start eating healthier foods and start to enjoy the taste of real food, then the junk isn’t even appealing anymore. Besides, it’s not like you’re getting it for FREE, you’re PAYING people to feed you food that will make you fat and unhealthy! It doesn’t make sense. I try to train our kids early – when our daughter was 2 or 3 and we’d go by a fast food place, she’d say, “Dats bad for our bodies.” What a proud Mom I was! (Too bad our teenager doesn’t say the same things!)

NEED MORE CONVINCING?

If you still aren’t convinced about how gross fast food is, you’ve got to rent the movie, “Supersize Me“, and be sure to watch it with your kids (only the PG version). It will surely help you even more to fight the temptation for a “quick fix” on the dinner problem. I learned a lot from watching it, but here are a couple of the more disgusting tid-bits:

• One fast food burger could easily have meat from 1000 different cows
• They did an experiment and set out a few different foods out to see how long it would take to mold and get all nasty; after a couple days most things started to mold and by a week or two the sandwiches were almost all black, but the McDonald’s poison sticks (french fries) looked EXACTLY the same, even after MONTHS! That is how nasty and full of chemicals they are and how much they are not even REAL FOOD! (Be sure to click on the link below to watch the french fry experiment on YouTube.)

photo by ElektraCute

WHEN IS YOUR TEMPTATION THE STRONGEST?

For some they’re most tempted on busy nights when running the kids around, and for others it’s during their workday. Whenever you’re biggest temptation occurs, start trying to think ahead more – I know it’s not always easy, but it IS ALWAYS WORTH IT!

“I DON’T HAVE TIME”

How much extra time and energy would it take to grab a few more healthy lunch items while you’re at the store and take 10 minutes before bed to put them into a lunch sack? If that doesn’t fit into your schedule, is it really a time issue? Could it be a lack of self-discipline or a need to re-examine your priorities? It’s true that we make time for the things that are important to us. If you don’t the have time now to think ahead a little, think of how much more time it will take when you’re old before you need to be and it takes triple the time to get up a set of stairs than it should because your pumper can’t work like it used to, or because your arthritis is so bad. All the years you sucked down pops with high fructose corn syrup or fries and buns with nasty vegetable oils and trans fats really does catch up with you.

LET’S ALL STEP UP TO THE PLATE

Who doesn’t enjoy instant gratification? But we need to have the mental maturity to look ahead a few years for our family’s sake – they will be the ones caring for us when we’re too unhealthy to take care of ourselves. We don’t have to feel 20 years older than we are, it’s not just something we have to accept. Let’s commit to leaving the next generation better off than we are. It’s not our parent’s fault that they were fed so much bogus information for years, but now look at us! Many of us are overweight, we lack energy, we’re depressed, our joints hurt, our digestive systems are messed up, we’re infertile, we look much older than we are, and we’re on all sorts of medicines.

Let’s make it stop!

• Healthy alternatives to fast food
• Does McDonald’s have healthy food?
• Here’s a really cute children’s book that teaches about what fast food can do to our bodies, and what a difference being active and eating well can make. It’s called, “The Gulps”.
• What’s in that Happy Meal besides the cheap toy? Brace yourself.
• See the french fry experiment from Supersize me on YouTube. Gross!
• Check out this all-natural/organic fast food chain.
• Study shows fast food linked to obesity & diabetes. Big surprise.
• DOES FAT MAKE YOU FAT? Dieting answers.
• Healthy School Lunch Alternatives
• Check out the new blog I just found and read how one guy gave up fast food, also read part 2: stop eating fast food in 3 steps, and part 3: 20 tactics to kill the fast food habit

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Today I’m continuing a series of posts with various easy kitchen tips that have helped me feed my family healthier meals and save time in the kitchen. If you have more ideas/tips on making extra meals or freezing food, please comment below!

TIPS ON MAKING EXTRA FOOD FOR LATER:

1. When making cookies, double or triple the recipe (easy to do in the Bosch!), then make balls of dough and set them on the cookie sheet. Freeze for 2-3 hours and once frozen, put them into a freezer baggie (labeled with contents and date) – this way it doesn’t take up much freezer space. Now when you need some freshly-baked cookies, just pop them onto a cookie sheet to bake, and you have cookies as easy as the pre-made ones at the store, but without all the trans fats and other junk! (I also bake some extra cookies to freeze and keep in a freezer baggie between pieces of waxed paper, so the kids always have a quick treat to put into their school lunches.)
2. I thought everyone already knew this one until a friend said she hadn’t thought of it before, so I’ll share it just in case: when you’re making a meal, make an extra pan or two, then before baking, freeze it for later. On evenings when we have kid’s activities, church meetings, or whatever, it is a lifesaver to have things I can just pull out of the freezer and bake. This helps you avoid the temptation to pick up fast food on busy nights, and it’s also nice when you have a sick friend or a new mom who would appreciate a meal. Having a couple options in the freezer is always comforting to me, because as all busy moms know, a day can go bad at any moment and getting supper made could quickly become an impossible task. Of course, if I didn’t have my Krups Toaster Oven, getting it thaw and baked in a short time would also be impossible – it is probably my favorite kitchen appliance! It has settings for defrost, bake, convection bake, toast & broil.
3. When cooking ground beef, ground sausage, chicken, etc., make extra to freeze and then it’s all ready to toss into a recipe. For the chicken, my friend, Lyn, shreds some and cubes some, since different recipes call for it different ways.
4. Another possibility to make things easier on yourself is to have planned leftovers. If you know your next day will be crazy, have something tonight that can easily be warmed up the next day. Many Sundays we’ll eat a whole chicken, and then I’ll boil the bones all day Monday for stock, and use the leftover meat along with a few veggies for chicken soup. This is an easy and fast meal.
5. An easy way to freeze muffin dough (and again, to save freezer space): when making muffins, make an extra batch, fill paper muffin cups (in the muffin pan) with the extra batter. Freeze muffin dough in the pan for 2-3 hours or so, and when frozen, put the muffin cups with frozen dough into a freezer baggie, now your muffin pan can go back to the cupboard in case you need it. When you have a busy day, or maybe a friend is coming over, you can pop these back into your muffin pan and then bake like normal. (I usually let them set out a little bit first to thaw.) These are much tastier than the ones you bake first and then freeze, because these are warm and fresh from the oven.

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I’ve mentioned them in my blog before, but this article on Marie Catrib’s Restaurant, here in Grand Rapids, tells you much more about what they are doing and why it’s such a great place to eat. Be sure to check out my comment there and then add your own!

***Another gem I found as I read the above article: scroll down at this site for great information about the various terms you need to understand when purchasing healthy food.

• Here’s the other post where I talked about Marie Catrib’s, including a link to their website
• Meatless/Vegetarian meal ideas
• School lunches – healthy alternatives
• Urban Homemaker phone seminar notes

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We’re having family over for our daughter’s birthday party, so for today here are a couple very important topics and a couple tid-bits for you to read up on – I hope you’ll take the time to check them out.

• This page explains the dangers of MSG and it’s many hidden names on ingredient labels - avoid it! It is a nerve toxin that over-excites your brain and can cause a wide-range of health problems, especially in children. (You’ll need to scroll down to get to the good MSG info on this page, the first part talks about Chinese food.) If you’d like to read more about this, I’ve heard this is a good book on the subject. (If you have trouble getting on the Mercola link above, here’s another link to a page with hidden names for MSG listed.) EXCERPT FROM MERCOLA.COM: “Food manufacturers are not stupid. They’ve caught on to the fact that people like you want to avoid eating this nasty food additive. As a result, do you think they responded by removing MSG from their products? Well, a few may have, but most of them just tried to “clean” their labels. In other words, they tried to hide the fact that MSG is an ingredient.”
  
• Check out both posts I did on healthy fats. Also read: What if it was all a big fat lie? – New York Times writer, Gary Taubes, takes on the “low-fat is good for you” mentality.
  
• Elise Bauer at Simply Recipes suggested I read this book called, “Real Food, What to Eat and Why“, by Nina Planck. I’m only part-way into it and love it already, it’s easy to read and very interesting. I’ve added it to my list of book suggestions. It’s great seeing more of the truth about nutrition becoming well-known and written about, even compared to early 2004 when I first began trying to cook healthier.
• Read here about an awesome local restaurant, Marie Catribs. Their site explains how they use mostly local foods and organic when they can, but they focus on taste as well and make everything fresh daily – I had their strawberry spinach salad the other day and it was the best I’ve ever eaten! A suggestion though: if you’ve always been more familiar with fairly traditional “Americanized” foods (whether you’re cooking or eating), be sure to print out the menu first. There are a few funky items on there and if you’re like me, you may need some time to pick from all the unique and yummy sounding menu items they offer. (Note: If you don’t live near the Grand Rapids, MI area, then just do a Google search – type in your city name along with the words “organic restaurant” or “all natural restaurant” and see what you come up with.) We need to frequent the places that are trying to serve those of us who are more health-conscious, especially when they’re serving foods as delicious as Marie Catribs’!
• Do you know of restaurants in YOUR city offering healthier menu options?  Tell us about it!
  

• My Dark Secrets
• Do diet foods make you fat?
• Trans fat dangers
• Eating healthy, without sacrifices – there’s also a link here to another great article on how we’ve been duped into thinking ALL fats are detrimental to our health
• Are supplements necessary for good health?
• My “Food Conversion” story
• Is Fluoride safe?

MORE HEALTH & NUTRITION TOPICS ALONG THE RIGHT IN THE SIDEBAR!

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(Note: if you’re here for the Agave Nectar information along with a TON of great reading about various sweeteners, it’s all below in the comment section – there’s a lot happening down there! Read more here on sugars and the best choices, including info from Sally Fallon on Agave Nectar.  Also, Anna told me about this informative post for more on the topic of sweeteners. Lastly, here’s why Cheeseslave says to avoid Agave Nectar.)

Yes, even though I’m passionate about feeding my family healthy meals, I’m coming out of the pantry with a few of my lingering issues…

1. We’ll get my most shameful secret out of the way first: I’m a sweets-aholic. I often sneak chocolate chips when the kids aren’t looking, and I order dessert in restaurants almost every time I go out. Thankfully I love to bake, so usually what I’m indulging in is something made with things like healthy fats (NO trans fat which is in most purchased baked goods), whole wheat organic flour (freshly ground here at home), regular sugar (NOT high fructose corn syrup), and more and more I’m experimenting and using Agave Nectar and other natural sweeteners in my baked goods. (Future posts will cover more on which sweeteners to use in which recipes.) ***Note added later: you may not want to use this product now – read the comments from Anna below. She has researched Agave Nectar extensively and shared some interesting information. She recommends organic evaporated cane sugar as a sweetener, or grade B maple syrup, but only in very small quantities.
2. I even compromise when feeding my kids sometimes. (Gasp…) As much as I know I should be totally rid of boxes and bags in my kitchen, I still might throw in a Jack’s frozen pizza now and then (no MSG, high fructose corn syrup or trans fats) or cook up a box of mac & cheese – but it is the Simply Organic brand, because that’s the only healthier one I found that is close enough to Kraft to fly with the kids. (Note: I wrote most of this post a few weeks ago and have since been convicted on this one. I’m always saying to others, “What is more natural?”, and the powdered cheese just can’t get through my filter these days! So I started thinking it wouldn’t be THAT difficult to make a little cheese sauce and stir in some cooked whole wheat organic pasta, for a homemade stove-top mac & cheese. Funny how we can resist some things for years, then when something in you “clicks”, it just doesn’t seem like such a big deal anymore. The question is whether or not my kids will eat it. (Posted later: it was a hit! Check out my stove-top macaroni & cheese recipe.)
3. Cheese. I’m lazy about my cheese. Especially with my home day care, we eat a lot of it, and I want it shredded or sliced or already into little sticks when I buy it. I want to pull it right out of the frig or freezer (yes, you can freeze cheese) and have it ready to eat. Here is some of that lazy-American mentality showing up in me. (Although I NEVER buy “processed cheese slices” or anything close, only the “natural” cheeses with no extra weird ingredients on the label.) As much as I spout off about shortening the distance from the farm to the table, I really need to get over this one. I think I’m getting closer, but I’m not there yet. I can probably get some good cheese right from the farm at the Amish store I often buy food from, and then cut or shred it up…I always laugh thinking of my friend, Anne, when I told her why I didn’t like buying cheese in big chunks. She said, “For goodness sake Kelly, get a knife!” UPDATE 10/18/08: My new BOSCH has changed everything! I buy my cheese in big hunks now (MUCH more economical) and easily shred it myself – no more worries about burning up my food processor motor trying to shred cheese (it happened to me before), this machine can handle anything!
4. Whether or not my coffee is a compromise is debatable, of course, as is every topic out there. Some research shows coffee is good for you in moderation, others say no way. Truth is, I’m not THAT big of a coffee drinker, it’s a “treat” I have 2-3 times per week, and I don’t like anything in my coffee, a fact I’m very thankful for, as I don’t need anymore sugar in my life. But I do loved the flavored coffees. Hazelnut and vanilla are my favorites – these just have a hint of flavor, no flavorINGS – big difference. One thing I should look into is buying organic flavored coffee, but just haven’t gone there yet. My healthy habits continue to grow here and there, even as I write. (Also, I bring my own stainless steel cup into my favorite place, Frenz coffee, so it’s only $1 each time I indulge.) UPDATE: Recently Sally Fallon personally told me I should give up my coffee! Oh no!
5. Because of the high cost of organic foods, I don’t buy every single thing organic, and I don’t always buy the best organic brands there are. (Some organics are not much better than conventional when it comes to their nutritional value – it all depends on how it was raised or made, I often call the companies and ask for information.) It depends on availability and on the price. We all have to pick and choose and do the best we can. One example for me is chocolate chips – I do not buy those organic because the price difference is so great and the ingredient list on the conventional chips doesn’t cause me to hyperventilate like some ingredient lists do. Besides, you’re getting sugar either way, which isn’t great for you whether it is organic or not. (By the way, there is no high fructose corn syrup in the chocolate chips or I would NOT buy them.) UPDATE: non-organic chocolate chips have GMO’s! Now I buy those organic, too.
   
6. We do not eat out often, and if we are thinking about fast food, I try to limit it to Subway (they have some sandwiches that aren’t too bad, check their website for which items have no trans fats, etc.) or maybe Taco Bell (their cheese only quesadillas aren’t TOO bad for the kids), but we only eat fast food once every 6 months or so. (Unless my sister is visiting and she takes the kids to McDonald’s as a treat…take a breath Kel…) Kent & I will eat at a sit-down restaurant now and then, and if we’re really feeling like we want to drop some cash and not enjoy or taste any of the food, we’ll take the kids with us. At those times, believe it or not, I try not to worry TOO much about nutrition. Within reason though. I still discourage fries (“poison sticks” as we call them) and ask if they have applesauce or another fruit instead. If, heaven forbid, there is a corn dog on the menu and my kids see it, I grit my teeth and say, “Sure honey…” I try to get away with water for them to drink, but my teenager usually wants a pop and we don’t make a big deal of it. We try to walk that line in feeding our kids healthy, but at the same time not being too bullheaded about it, in fear that when they move out they’ll go wild with junk food and never want to eat healthy again. We also still order in for pizzas every so often, and I try not to think about what trans fats or high fructose corn syrup might be in them.
7. Another compromise is one most of you might not think is much of a compromise at all because you may have never even heard of it, but because I know what is better nutritionally, I know it is one: it involves grains and how they’re prepared. For example, for optimal nutrition when I make pancakes and waffles, I start the recipe the night before using certain ingredients, and finish in the morning – by doing it this certain way, the phytic acid is broken down in the flour so all the nutrients in the pancakes and the big glass of raw milk we drink with it can be assimilated. The problem is, I don’t use that process in all my baked goods or breads yet. I’ve experimented some, and just need to get back to it again. (More on all this in future posts, or it’s also discussed in the books on my recommended reading page.) UPDATE: Read all about properly prepared grains!
   
8. At Meijer this morning it was irritating trying to find fruits and vegetables grown in the U.S.A. It’s bad enough that I know I really should only be buying produce that is in season and local, preferably organic. But if I did that, we wouldn’t eat many fruits or vegetables all winter, since I’ve not gotten into canning yet like I should. So as nutritious as fruits and vegetables are for us, in the winter I compromise by at least trying to buy those grown in the states. Well, this morning I needed some grapes for a yummy salad recipe I’m making Saturday when my family comes for our daughter’s birthday. All they had there were grapes from as far away as Peru or Mexico – I couldn’t stand having to buy those, and thankfully I rarely have to!

These are all things that I continue to chip away at through the years, as I keep learning more and modifying how we eat. I often think of a quote from Jeannie Weaver (a board member from the local Weston A. Price chapter) in a local newspaper story about eating healthy: she said that her family tries to go by the 80/20 plan – they eat healthy 80% of the time, and don’t worry so much about the other 20%. Mostly though, I don’t want to be a freak about it. Although many of my close friends and family surely believe this is already a lost cause.

• Healthy & delicious Waffles & pancakes recipe
• Great info from Lynn Cameron on sweeteners
• Eating healthy on a budget
• My “food conversion” story
• Are supplements necessary for good health?
• Why everyone should take cod liver oil

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