Nothing to Waste….

I was reading something a couple of weeks ago about some major supermarket and the enormous amount of waste created each week when they dumped all that out of date processed, over packaged, sterile food.  

It’s a shame it was created in the first place – that is perhaps the biggest waste – of raw materials. But, alas it exists and then it goes to landfill one way or the other. Because lets face it, lots of times this food might be bought and taken home only to end up in the rubbish bin there.

Which leads me to another issue – what is it with needing a rubbish bin? We haven’t had one in years and don’t need one. Because we go out of our way to not create waste. Everything is used, nothing is thrown out and certainly everything is eaten.

So, this week we are fasting. Actually, today is day 8 of our before Christmas detox and of course I have been steadily clearing out the supplies of food in case anything might be ready to go off, but I also enjoy cooking ahead at this time of year.

Yesterday I made a huge pot of Nightshade free pasta sauce with pumpkins, courgettes, sweet potatoes, onions, garlic, carrots, seaweed, beetroot, spices and so forth. Then from that sauce I made large trays of lasagna, long grain brown rice cooked in the vegetable juice, and extra sauce for other meals. 

Next, some over ripe bananas and left over coconut balls went into a lovely winter spice banana bread. All of this went into the freezer for when we are done our fasting. These meals also used up any cheese left over in the fridge so it too wasn’t wasted. 

I do remember those days when anything that wasn’t eaten quickly enough or was forgotten in the fridge went out into the bin. It was never a warm and fuzzy feeling.

Now, with the animals to be fed along with ourselves – there is a use for everything. Our goats love the pumpkin seeds and vegetable peelings, the turkeys enjoy left over nettles and herbs from tea, the ducks and chickens fight over any bread and the dogs eat everything else.

Seeing how this all works gives me hope that perhaps inside our guts it’s all working just as well – It’s kind of like a little ecosystem!

April

Honey Cinnamon Oat Crunch & Toasted Muesli now available at Rebel Foods Stall

Creating a food legacy.... The Change Starts with You

One of the things I hope I am getting across here is the fact that we can enjoy great food which doesn't cost too much - but saves you plenty in the end because your health improves. Another point I hope to be making is how easy it is to remove processed foods, sugar, chemicals and other unnecessary nasties from your food chain.

As human being living on this planet never before in our life times of millions of years have we been faced with so much food, and nothing decent to eat. But what is worse 'now' is how so many of us go blindly forward eating all the rubbish shoved into our faces. 

Seemingly without question.

The funny thing is I remember the days when I just ate what was in front of me, or convenient easy to prepare food. Without giving it much thought - I can't even remember if I tasted anything. It seems to me now that everything tasted the same. 

Perhaps because now I have a clean palate and can actually taste and smell very precisely the dishes I am preparing - my food tastes very different to me. Things are sharper, sweeter, crisper or something along those lines. 

Once I had removed the stimulants such as sugar and caffeine - my body calmed down enough for me to make some more rational decisions about the rest of my life. Then once I removed medicated foods such as cow's milk, tap water and meats - my digestion changed almost as fast as my outlook.

I am a person who believes when something is removed something better should be replacing it - when you take sugar away from the diet, other healthy sweet options take their place. Caffeine is a drug and I do not choose to be under the influence of anything - when this went out I found dandelion coffee and have never looked back.

Making significant changes to your diet is no longer a matter of choice - this is an issue of health, well-being and commitment to pursuing a higher path (for those going that way). But just because you should take diet and lifestyle more seriously doesn't mean you will compromise on taste or eat lettuce for the rest of your life.

I have never eaten better food, been so well nourished, felt as fit, healthy and well or been as tuned in to myself and my family as I am at this moment. And I know without a doubt it all comes down to my faith in the food I eat.

It has taken me years to get here - because I did not know enough to eat better and from years of living like that (even at an early age) I could not discern any difference. The best part of living this way, is my children are learning how and what to eat and will grow up to be fit and healthy adults.

 Can't beat a legacy like that! 

April

Me and my daughter

Creating Regular Customers

I have been wanting to address this issue - because it is something that we as a family have noticed quite strongly since we stopped eating processed foods - and I am fairly certain this must be related because they would go hand in hand with each other.

What I am talking about is the phenomena of overeating, or you know how what happens when you buy a bag of salted nuts - you would find yourself eating the entire bag. Or crisps, chocolate bars, sugary treats, you name it - we might be able to lump these all together. 

For us as a family the only snacky food left in our diets which needed to be removed and replaced with a homemade version was the salted nuts. We have long since given up sugar, chocolate and potato crisps. 

When a bag (or a few) of salted nuts would come into the house, it was as if something else took over our brains. We could not help ourselves and could never get enough of these nuts. They tasted great, and were highly addictive!

Once they were left to the wayside with all of the other processed factory made foods, I started to make my own. And the response is entirely different. The roasted salted nuts I make are delicious, very tasty and we love them.

I can honestly say I like them far better then the shop bought nuts because they taste like 'nuts'. However, the one thing we all have noticed is how we are not 'craving' them, we are not desperate to shovel another handful into our mouths...yet they don't last long and everyone enjoys them.

So what is the difference here? Could these processed foods be linking into some addiction centre inside of our brains or bodies (gut?) and placing us on the losing end of a food battle?

This will take some investigation, but at this point I certainly think a couple of things here - one is that there must be other ingredients in the package which are not listed (5% rule) and secondly we are being controlled by other factors. Especially when it comes to our tastes, cravings and diets.

The 5% rule means something along the lines of when a product contains less then 5% of an ingredient at it's final stage, it may not have to be listed on the ingredients. This might mean anything such as MSG...but who really knows anymore!

As for the other factors controlling our tastes and cravings - well this is widely known to be all the non-beneficial organisms living in our guts such as molds, yeasts and nasty bacteria. If there are enough of them in the wrong areas, we can have some gut mutiny taking place. 

Lots to think about here when it comes to processed foods. I mean they are designed to be delicious and consumed in an addictive way - it's called creating 'regular customers'. 

Take matters into your own hands and make something homemade today - something you've never tried before - treat yourself, you are worth it!

April

Path to the top at Lough Hyne West Cork