Off and running for a busy Saturday.

As you learned in our Day 18 email today, it’s best to surf the internet with intention to find the good stuff. But sometimes, something random pops up, and it’s totally awesome.

 

Being a single parent Saturdays are just busy.  That is the way we play the game.  But I had a Parenting WIN today.  When asking my struggling with her weight 13 year old daughter what she wanted to do today,  She stated she wanted to go for a hike. 

 

 

So the kid and I are off for a mommy daughter hike and maybe a manicure after.....

Have a great Saturday.

 

Welcome to Day 19!

If you’ve been following the Whole30 as prescribed, then you’ve been eating some pretty fabulous food lately. Today we’re going to help you take that food to the next level by giving you resources and guidance for eating locally, seasonally, and buying the highest quality meat available (while also remaining conscientious about being a meat-eater).

If you’ve already started incorporating these concepts into your Good Food playbook, congratulations! Hopefully, you’ll find some new tips and tricks here so you can continue your Good Food journey. For example, you might consider seeking out a winter CSA share in addition to your normal summer share. Or you could partner up with some friends, invest in a chest freezer, and buy a quarter of a cow or lamb. Bam! A year’s worth of meat at without making a trip to the store.
If this information is all brand-new, just remember one thing—your only job during the Whole30 is to focus on making good food choices. Food quality can become overwhelming fast, so don’t let the fact that not all your meats are grass-finished or pastured discourage you. In time, and as you have capacity, use the tips in this Whole30 Daily to help you improve your food quality, but know this healthy-eating stuff is a lifelong pursuit. It’s okay if you don’t have it all down just yet.
Happy hunting (and gathering), and have a great Day 19!

Eat Good Meat

You are what you eat, quite literally, and we believe the health of the animals you eat impacts your own health in a far more direct manner than even the quality of your vegetables or fruits. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t purchase organic fruits and veggies when you can—only that you should take a look at the quality of the meat that is on your plate first, especially from a budget perspective.

• Download our Grocery Shopping Guide for more information on buying Good Food on a budget.
• First things first – get to know your Good Meat lingo. Product labeling can be confusing, especially when it comes to animal protein sources. Use these guidelines to help you understand and choose the healthiest meat, seafood, and eggs available in your area.
• During the spring, Dallas and Michelle Tam of Nom Nom Paleo attended 4505 Meats’ Whole Beef Butchery class. Michelle’s husband documented the whole thing in photos. Read about their experience here and find out if getting this up close and personal with your food is for you.
• Ready to track down farmers near you who pasture their animals? Eat Wild has a directory of over 1300 pasture-based farms in the United States. Producers listed on Eatwild.com must meet a hefty list of production standards.
• We love U.S Wellness Meats because the pork they carry is Compassionate Certified, and undergoes third party verification to ensure accuracy. Among numerous requirements, the animals are not allowed to be given any growth stimulants, hormones or antibiotics. Animals are allowed outside as often as they want, and have full bedding available at all times; slot floors and gestating crates are not allowed. Oh, and did we mention they have Whole30-Approved Bacon?
• If you live in the San Francisco Bay area check out Whole30 Aproved Pastoral Plate! They provide a good variety of pastured meat and more. Starting August 2012, Pastoral Plate will even start shipping frozen product across the United States.
• Finally, if you are ready to really take a deep look into why, ethically, it is important to consider the sourcing of your animal protein, these books can help you in your personal development:

• Eating Animals, by Jonathan Safran Foer
• The Ethics of What We Eat, by Peter Singer
• The Righteous Pork Chop, by Nicolette Hahn Neiman
• The Mindful Carnivore, by Tovar Cerulli

Eat Seasonally

Whether you are perusing the farmers market, have invested in a CSA share, or pick veggies from your own garden, eating food that is in season is easy on your wallet, and provides you with nutritious food that is yummy and natural. Take a look at the info below and decide if eating seasonally is something you are ready to incorporate into your new healthy food habits.

• As soon as a fruit or vegetable is harvested, its nutritional punch begins to fade. Vitamins are highly unstable and are largely depleted after just a few days. Since out-of-season produce may be shipped from thousands of miles away, it loses keys nutrients on its path to your table. But when you buy local produce that’s in season, more of the naturally-occurring vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients make it from the food into your body. Bite into more of the benefits of seasonal produce.
• Mother Earth News has a whole series of articles on How to Eat Seasonally including How to Build a Basement Root Cellar and How to Eat in Sync with the Seasons.
• This interactive map from SimpleSteps.org helps you find produce in season, depending on your geographic location within the U.S.
• It’s pretty well-known by now that your local farmers market is a great way to get seasonal, local food without much effort. Check out Farmersmarket.com and find out more about what’s going on in your community.
• Did you know you can even purchase food at the farmers market with your SNAP benefits or food stamps? Hooray for Good Food for All!

Eat Locally

Eating locally is a little like being a hunter-gatherer: you have to learn your food landscape, time your hunt just right, and get comfortable with improvising. The best way to start eating locally is replacing some foods with local ones. Vegetables are the easiest option. Start in the summer, and get to know your farmers at the market. Browse local health food stores and co-ops, and talk to the owners and vendors. And check the labels before buying produce in your normal grocery store, avoiding items imported from other countries.
Here are a few more ways you can start looking into becoming a Localvore:

• Check out our post on Five Easy Ways to Eat Local.
• Edible Magazine produces separate customized magazine issues for different local communities. From their website: “Through our publications, supporting websites, and events, we connect consumers with family farmers, growers, chefs, and food artisans of all kinds. We believe that every person has the right to affordable, fresh, healthful food on a daily basis and that knowing where our food comes from is a powerful thing.” Find one in your area.
• The NRDC has a great Eating Local Food Guide, complete with links to local farmers markets and CSAs, and the facts on Food Miles (how far your food needs to travel matters).
• It doesn’t get more local than your own backyard. If you don’t already have a vegetable garden planted, learn how to start one here.
• There’s no easier way to increase your veggie intake than to have local, seasonal produce delivered right to your doorstep. Find CSA options near you with LocalHarvest) or the Rodale Institute’s Farm Finder.

Beware: Health Food Claims

You may think you’re a good shopper, smartly navigating the periphery of the supermarket, stepping into the aisles only for healthy fats and pantry staples, and reading labels like it’s your full-time job. But even the savvies consumer falls prey to health food claims—especially when they sound so true, and play to our health-conscious concerns. Buyer beware, especially when you see this:

• A good source of fiber: A number of food marketers now claim their products are a good source of fiber, but C.S.P.I. (Center for Science in the Public Interest ) notes that often the fiber doesn’t come from the traditional sources—vegetables or fruit—known to have health benefits. Instead, food makers are adding something called “isolated fibers” made from chicory root or purified powders of polydextrose and other substances that haven’t been shown to lower blood sugar or cholesterol.
• Strengthens your immune system: Through “clever wordsmithing,” food companies can skirt F.D.A. rules about health claims and give consumers the impression that a product will ward off disease. Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice claims to “strengthen your immune system with a daily dose of vitamin C.” Green Giant offers an “immunity blend” of frozen vegetables. And Nestle’s Carnation Instant Breakfast (!) says it contains “Antioxidants to help support the immune system.” Really?
• Made with real fruit: Often the “real fruit” is found in small quantities and isn’t even the same kind of fruit pictured on the package. Tropical fruit flavored Gerber Graduates Fruit Juice Treats show pictures of fresh oranges and pineapple. But the main ingredients are corn syrup, sugar and white grape juice concentrate. Betty Crocker’s Strawberry Splash Fruit Gushers don’t contain strawberries — just pear concentrate.
• All natural: Although the F.D.A. has issued several warning letters to firms making misleading “all natural” claims, the agency has never issued formal rules about the term. As a result, some products containing high fructose corn syrup claim to be “all natural.” One example is Minute Maid Premium All Natural Flavors Berry Punch. Though glucose and fructose certainly occur in nature, the chemical conversions of cornstarch should not be considered natural!

Source: NY Times
Read more about health food claims in this Whole9 article.