Real food Real Health.

Let’s think about this for a minute . . . real food ~ real health . . . What does this mean? We all believe we have the answer. But my answer may be slightly different from what the general population believes.

Once Upon A Time There Was Real Food ~ Real Health

Let’s go back in time to my youth for just a minute. I grew up on a small acreage. We had our own dairy cows, chickens, and pigs, among other animals. We also grew much of our own vegetables and fruit.

I wouldn’t say we had a perfect diet growing up. Once processed food really became a thing, it very much existed in our home. But my mom did a lot of freezing, and my great-aunt took on much of the canning.

However, we didn’t use our own milk. we bought ours at the store. Our neighbor lady would occasionally come over for a cup of fresh-from-the-cow milk when my dad was doing the evening milking. Which as a child I thought was gross. Looking back . . . she was on target!

As time went on, I relied more and more on processed foods to feed my family “homecooked” meals during the week due to our busy schedules of work, school, sports, music events, and drama performances, for all 3 of my daughters.

When my mom started to exhibit signs of Alzheimer’s Disease, I began to do some research on what would cause this. While there was a family history of my great-grandfather having what we called back then, “hardening of the arteries”, he was the only one I know of. I am adopted, but still, all family history starts with someone. And not knowing my biological family health history, it’s all the more reason for me to have healthy habits.

Lessons Learned From the Past

What I learned was that our diet is a huge factor in, not only Alzheimer’s Disease, but in cancer, heart disease, and diabetes, among many other illnesses. As a cardiac nurse, I always knew diet had a big impact on cardiac health. Unfortunately, we were taught all the wrong things about diet and heart health. All the skim milk and low-fat yogurt and other foods labeled as low-fat I ate for many years were not healthy foods at all.

Since the time of my mom’s health decline, I have changed my way of eating back to actual “real” food.

But what I want to emphasize today is that in order to eat healthy food, you will spend more money. But in return, you will spend less on health care in the form of co-pays and deductibles. And you will have a better quality of life.

One way to lower the healthy food cost is to grow some of your own food. And grow it without chemicals that are unsafe for human consumption. Most of the vegetables and fruit you buy at the grocery store, unless you are buying organic, are tainted with chemicals.

The meat at the grocery store, unless you are buying grass-fed, is also loaded with chemicals, hormones, and antibiotics. You are eating what your steak or hamburger ate when it was alive. Or your chicken, pork, and lamb ate when it was alive. Even your eggs look different when the chickens that lay them are not packed in tiny cages.

Today I am linking a YouTube video for you to watch. This man is very well known for the way he runs his self-sustaining farm. Joel Salatin is the farming guru anyone who is farming organically follows. Do not let the title of this video make you afraid to watch. The billionaire bunkers mentioned in the title are not the main talking point in the video. He is talking about the sustainability of our food supply and how it may apply to us today in the times in which we are living, especially in light of the recent shortages we have seen. Food and water are critical for survival, and the closer to home your food comes from, the more likely you are to have what you need.

Moving Forward for Real Health

In light of all I have learned about real health over the years of working in healthcare and doing my own research, I am now actually buying fresh-from-the-cow milk. I buy unwashed eggs that I can keep on my counter for weeks or water-glass for months over the winter in my basement.

I have not had to pay outrageous prices for eggs up to now because I bought dozens and dozens of unwashed, but clean, eggs from a local farmer for water glassing last year. However, water glassing is not something you can do with store bought eggs. They have been washed so the protective “bloom” has been washed off the egg. Store bought eggs of any kind must be refrigerated.

I grow about 90% of my vegetables and about half of the fruit, I have on hand. I freeze, can, and dehydrate whatever is possible throughout the season. I don’t have cows or pigs but I will be getting just a few chickens this year, not to eat, I still have a local farmer for that, but for my own fresh eggs. I am also starting my third season of beekeeping.

Even if you don’t have a yard to grow in, the farmer’s market in your area is a great source of locally grown fruits and vegetables. I also have a relationship with local farmers who raise and sell meat. I freeze, can, and dehydrate meat as well.

It’s so important to stay healthy and strong in these uncertain times. And while I know everyone is not on board with this way of thinking, I don’t want to have to rely on the government for my well-being any more than necessary.

So I’m putting this video out there to help spread awareness. And I am encouraging everyone to start growing something. You will be healthier for it in the long run and once you actually start eating your own food, you will be hooked.

I have a friend who has been growing food in her basement this winter. It isn’t as productive as outdoors in the summer but she’s doing it. I have started some, and will be starting more, seeds under lights in my basement as I do every year which I will plant outdoors when the weather is warmer (I’m in zone 5b in Illinois).

I also grow microgreens in my basement under lights during the winter when I can’t grow outside.

The lights I have are not fancy. They are shop lights that I hang over a metal shelving unit.

This is an example of microgreens that I have started on my shelving unit. In this photo, they are not fully grown. I think this is just after the first day of light they are receiving as microgreens are actually started in darkness and then, once they sprout, are placed under light for several days. It usually only takes 1-2 weeks (depending on the variety) for micro-greens to be filled out to the point you won’t be able to see the growing medium through the plant material and will be ready to eat! And they have about 40 times the nutrition as a full-grown plant!

Sometimes I grow them in a soil-like medium and sometimes on hemp pads as shown in this photo. The flavor is best in soil that I order specifically for micro seed starting but if I’m out of that, these hemp pads are a great alternative, and less messy.