By Nikki Hughes, Contributing Writer
When I first started my “real food” journey, I was all in! I committed to more than I could handle and tried to completely transform our life all at once.
As I explained in my post “Why I Continue on my Real Food Journey”, there are many reasons why I believe this diet lifestyle is the best for my family. What I need to address, however, is that I don’t stick to all aspects of “real fooding” (yes, I just made that up!).
I began fermenting, sprouting, dehydrating, soaking, freezing, preserving and I am sure there are more processes that I am forgetting. The problem? I didn’t know much about any of these things. I had two little ones at home (both under the age of two) and I was dealing with health problems of my own.
Learning curve to say the least. Everyday I would spend hours in the kitchen and on the computer. Trying to learn new styles of preparing foods. Trying to learn about new foods. Trying to get all of the unhealthy foods out of my house.
I was heading down a sleep slope to burnout-ville. My husband knew it, and I knew it. It was too much at one time. You can probably find “baby steps” to a real food journey all over the blogosphere. I won’t delve into that process here. I will however tell you what I started and what I stick with.
This is by no means “the ultimate list of what you should do as a real foodie” it is merely what works for me. I do consider myself a real foodie (there is truly no question about that) but I don’t let it rule my life.
My kids, my husband, my God and my laundry is far too important for that.
Here are 5 big changes I made (and if I am still sticking with it). These happen to be the biggest changes I made, but I believe everyone should decide what is most important for their family:
- Change #1: Homemade cereal/hot cereal instead of boxed, store bought cereal
- Process: I didn’t toss all of my cereal (that would be wasteful). I did however, opt to not replace it. I began making my own homemade cereal.
- Still sticking with it?: Yes! This is (in my opinion) one of the easiest changes to make. If you take one thing away and add several things that taste better, how is it not a win win? Better for you and better tasting! No, I do not always make my own cereal (as I say, “Life happens”) but I do serve oatmeal, steel cut oats or rice for breakfast as alternatives.
- Change #2: Cut out margarine, canola oil, spray oils and Crisco
- Process: I did toss these. I felt like they were so bad for me that I just had to. And honestly, they weren’t that expensive (unlike boxed cereal that is through the roof!). The amount I saved by not buying boxed cereal could be put into my new oils: butter, coconut oil, olive oil (already used that but wanted to include anyway), and palm shortening, beef tallow, and chicken fat (to name a few).
- Still sticking with it?: You betcha. These make a huge difference in my skin, my energy level and my weight! Oh, and they taste SO MUCH BETTER.
- Change #3: Lacto-fermented veggies instead of store bought (pickles, sauerkraut, etc.)
- Process: They are so much better for you! I made sauerkraut, pickles, eggs, chutney, salsa, and so much more. It is more nutritious than eating raw or cooked veggies. It is also nice to be able to grab quick bites out of the fridge.
- Still sticking with it?: Um, no. This adds a lot of extra time to my kitchen routine. “Something’s gotta give” and this is what it was for me. It was a lot of work and to be honest, we didn’t “love” most of it. I DO love the sauerkraut though…I stick with that!
- Change #4: Stop buying bread and stop buying store-bought flour
- Process: I finished what I had in the way of store bought so I wasn’t wasteful. I bought a grain mill so I could grind my own flour.
- Still sticking with it?: Yes and no. My husband loves sandwiches and I haven’t had a chance to always make a recipe and stock up in the freezer. I keep some sandwich bread in the freezer just in case. I have not been making homemade bread lately because my daughter and I have a gluten allergy and intolerance (me intolerance and she has an allergy) so we do a lot of GF cooking. I do however always grind my own flour when using regular flour.
- Change #5: Sourdough instead of regular uses for flour
- Process: Instead of regular homemade wheat bread, I opted for sourdough bread. Much easier to digest and it was even healthier than just soaking my grains. I also love sourdough pancakes, english muffins, and tortillas! Oh, and donut holes!
- Still sticking with it?: No. As I mentioned with change #4, we have cut back on the grains in our house. Oh, and the real reason? I always kill my starter. Always. I should not be allowed to be a mommy for a sourdough starter. Bad mommy.
Those are just a few…trust me there are more (I really threw myself in!).
What are your biggest changes and what have you stuck with?
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TESTING!
Thanks for your honesty, Nikki! I go back and forth on what I stick with. Sometimes it’s homemade yogurt, other times it’s sauerkraut. If I make kraut one week, I buy organic yogurt and vice versa! You didn’t mention kombucha, and I know you are good at brewing that! : ) I’m sticking with that so far too! Oh, and I always grind my own flour now…I have the grain and mill, so there’s no excuse!
Thanks Megan! I didn’t mention Kombucha because I was trying to only mention 5….but yes, that is something I changed to that I have stuck with! So happy to hear it is still going well for you! Grinding your own flour is so much tastier AND healthier!
Thank you for your honesty and transparency, Nikki. I see no point in a long, healthy life, if a person spends it alone in the kitchen, researching on the computer, and stressing, while everyone she loves is out living a real life.
Thanks for being real and taking the burden of perfection off people who find the weight too much and ultimately quit.
We have stuck with the elimination of almost all processed foods. Same as you, we don’t have cereal. We also make all our own bread, but we’ve done that for ages, so that’s old news now. My 8yo (and her three older sisters) can make bread from scratch, so I have quite a bit of help. Our grinder broke, so we have to use storebought or grind by hand, which is a challenge in a family of nine. We gave up lacto-veggies, because we always ended up with mold in our kraut crock, and nobody liked the other things we “lactoed.” They all loved the mason jar kraut, however, so I will make more of that…someday…soon…ish. My kefir grainsand sourdough are hibernating since the baby was born, but this weekend, I think it’s time to bring them out.
I feel the biggest thing for us is to continue to avoid most processed foods. I’m not going to stress about it, and when my hubby brings home a bag of chips, I will inhale them with everyone else, but it’s a treat and not a rule. And for the love of Pete and me, if we go to a friend’s house and they serve us frozen pizza, we’re going to eat it and love it!!! Ahhh, Tombstone, how I miss your cardboardy goodness!
Oh, and yogurt! Making homemade yogurt is easy as pie…easier, really, so we make that two gallons at a time. In all honesty, however, I have not made any for six weeks because of our new baby. It’s TIME! This weekend, I’ll be back on the wagon, soaking nuts and oats, making yogurt, awakening my kefir, and daring to look in my sourdough jars.
Thank you for sharing Christy! Sounds like we are very similar in our focus (though I only have 2 kids!). I miss the convenience of processed food but must admit that I feel like poop if I eat processed foods. My body has really come to depend on the good real food!
You mention that you enjoy sourdough (and are GF) even though you kill the starter, LOL. I am interested in starting a GF starter soon but my DH (who is GF) claims he has no symptoms when eating sourdough wheat bread. Do you eat sourdough wheat bread without feeling sick?
I killed my starter and THEN went GF. We found out I was intolerant when we found out my daughter was allergic (she is a wee baby). I have never made a GF Starter!
Oh, I see! It is a challenge to come up with free information about making a GF starter so I plan to jump in and experiment on my own! My main reasoning is just because we really love sourdough bread and its great that its good for us too, LOL. I know two of my three kids have reactions when they eat wheat bread so we all eat a GF diet in our home but it would be so wonderful if we could have them all diagnosed as not even my husband knows (Celiac or allergy or intolerant) but gets real sick digestively-speaking when he has any. Thanks for your reply and I enjoyed your post!!
Thanks for this post! I would love to hear more about what you have tried and whether or not you have kept doing it!
Holly I will probably do “part 2″ next month!
Yogurt is something I am sticking with. Still experimenting with various DF yogurts for my food-allergic littles, but the regular yogurt is too easy not to do it! Healthy fats, too, although we’re pretty much down to butter, palm shortening and EVOO. Eliminated the coconut oil once child #2 was discovered to be allergic to coconut. sadness! I do make my own bread using the artisan in 5 min method, which is kind of a cheating soaking/sourdough method that isn’t completely one or the other but works for me! Other changes I am making along the way, and adding them in slowly, like pastured eggs, and uncured bacon/sausage. I haven’t yet switched to sucanat (too expensive) or grass-fed meats (again, too expensive), and I go back and forth on what kind of milk I buy (organic, pasteurized -not-ultra creamline milk, and non-RBGH milk. Raw not an option here). And I did switch to arrowroot starch from cornstarch until I realized how darned expensive it was! Now I’m switching to middle-of-the-road tapioca starch. At least it’s not a processed GMO food!
I have never made yogurt and since two of us are DF I probably won’t anytime soon!
I get the sourdough thing. I didn’t kill mine, but I felt like it was a heck of a lot of trouble to keep alive….way to much trouble. So, it went bye-bye. You gotta do what works for you. Amen.