It’s been a while…but I’m back. As someone said to me today “just busy with life. Life just gets in the way!” It made me laugh, cause I’m always chasing my tail and putting things on the never-ending to-do list. Which brings me to another point: food. Feeding ourselves and our families. What’s healthy nowadays?
Life and all the new world foods seem to have pushed “everything in moderation” out of the way. It’s not just wheat free, gluten free, dairy free, grain free, soya free, caffeine free, meat free…it’s a case of pretty much everything is bad for you and you need to cut them out. What’s left to eat?
I suppose our aim is to try and live a healthy longer life, and the best way to do that is to watch what we put into our bodies. I write this with a cup of coffee in my hand, so maybe I need to start with the caffeine free!
As those who know me and know my blog, I haven’t been able to eat wheat for the last 13 years. Because of that, I pretty much avoid gluten apart from eating oats which I can thankfully tolerate. So for me it’s easier to follow a gluten free diet when cooking etc. Add a daughter who is dairy free into the mix, and it has been a real challenge to cook for a family. It’s only when you are diagnosed with an issue when you notice that dairy and wheat are in so much, even just traces of milk powder can cause issues here. So this has led me to making quite a few meal changes and cooking from scratch. There often isn’t a “quick fix” unfortunately.
I recently watched a documentary promoting wholefoods. It recommends eating as much raw food as possible and advising us to avoid meat as much as possible as it clogs arteries etc which contributes to a lot of diseases, particularly heart disease, heart attack etc. It really hit home and I realized that we eat quite a bit of meat as a family as wheat free and dairy free are off the menu, plus throw in a 5 year old who can be fussy! The aim is to cook a meal that all 4 of us can eat and a meal that is nutritious and that we all like!
I suppose what I’m getting at here is; what is actually healthy now? There’s so much conflicting information out there. I think “everything in moderation” is a complete fob off, The 80/20 rule might be a healthier approach especially for families. If we look at this approach and fill our diets with 80% raw foods and then 20% other foods like breads etc, proteins and a very minimal amount of sugar in our diet. I think we might possibly be “healthier” if we eat like this. Colour on your plate is also another one of my mantras. If it’s colourful, it actually looks more appealing! Plus the fact that it probably contains fruit and vegetables.
The older generation always say “what about the bones, what about calcium?” I try to include calcium in her daily intake. She drinks oat milk which has added calcium and vitamins. We include calcium rich foods where possible and luckily she likes oats, broccoli and beans. I don’t take much dairy either and am an almond milk fan.
You do wonder if milk is meant for humans at all? It is from an animal, so is it really meant for human consumption? You really have to wonder. Again this can lead to arguments and discussions and I’m not going to start that debate here.
I’d welcome a dietician’s opinion and approach without referring to the food pyramid. Full fat, low fat, no fat, I just wonder what foods are really making us miserable, fatter and sicker? Because in reality that’s the way it is. Is life just getting in the way of us being healthier? Are people lazier and just couldn’t be bothered? It’s all food for thought. I’d welcome your opinions.
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