Tag Archives: food

On The Mountain, Update from the Mountain

Hope and Gratitude: Spring Perennials

Leave a comment

Since I am new to the whole-hearted efforts of gardening, it is beyond refreshing to have the perennials on the property come blasting into renewal on auto-pilot with their Spring buds. This self determination on the part of these hardy plants gives me much hope that I can grow food that needs deliberate planting and attention.

The apple trees are appling.

Early Fuji apples

The blueberries are bluebelling.

New blueberries

The kiwi trees are budding beginner kiwi fruit.

Baby Kiwi fruit

The blackberries are blooming everywhere.

blackberry blooms

And the chives just keep on...

ChivingI continue to be grateful for the gift that these perennials are. During changing times where systems are often unreliable, it is even more appreciable that nature renews and endures.

Mrs. Cog - May 23, 2014

Mrs. Cog's Corner

Processed Foods

1 Comment

 From Mrs. Cog's Corner

Every day more evidence comes to light that most aspects of "processed" food are unhealthy. From toxic packaging to manufactured ingredients that our bodies reject, there is no way to fully understand the potentially harmful effects of consuming artificial chemicals with and in our food. But it is not looking "good".

This article elaborates on 9 ways processed foods are slowly killing people. The citations for clinical studies within the piece are quite thorough. In addition, another recent publication on the worst ingredients in processed foods can be found here.

In my opinion the most alarming piece of information that relates to processed foods is that many people are starving themselves into obesity. It turns out that when you eat processed foods lacking in nutritional value, your body actually requires even more nutrition to metabolize what you just ate. The more you give it, the more it needs. (Sounds rather like quantitative easing, no?)

The solution, of course, is to eat real foods. There is a clever adage that advises us to stay away from the center isles of the grocery store. Along the edges you will find fresh produce, meats and dairy. Here is a handy guide to avoid eating processed foods.

Further reading:

A recently published list of foods banned in countries outside the U.S. has riled the plates of many in the food industry. http://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/Food/11-foods-banned-us/story?id=19457237

Processed foods are an illusion, often appearing to be healthy (with claims like low fat, low carb, vitamin fortified, no trans fat, contains omega-3s, etc.) when these foods are in fact the very thing making a lot of Americans unhealthy, sick, and fat.  http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/10-reasons-to-cut-out-processed-food/

Junk foods at fast food restaurants as well as processed foods at grocery retailers represent the largest sources of sodium intake from refined salts. The Canadian Medical Association Journal sent out an international team of researchers to compare the salt content of 2,124 items from fast food establishments such as Burger King, Domino’s Pizza, Kentucky Fried Chicken, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut and Subway. http://www.trueactivist.com/scientists-officially-link-processed-foods-to-autoimmune-disease/

Resisting the urge to drink that soda pop or eat those chips can be tough, especially if you have grown accustomed to eating these highly addictive foods as part of your normal diet. But once you understand a little bit more about how these and other processed foods affect your mind, body, and even your soul, it becomes easier to make healthier food choices that enrich your being rather than sap it. Here are nine motivating reasons why you should cut processed foods from your diet for good. http://www.naturalnews.com/039743_processed_foods_eating_reasons.html

Overweight people more often than not suffer from gross malnutrition because the nutritional values of the basic foods available to us have been steadily dropping for the last 50 years even as toxic exposures increase. Obese people tend to eat too many processed white foods with the fiber removed along with many of the vitamins and minerals. Not enough fiber is another common problem with the obese. http://www.naturalnews.com/033376_starvation_obesity.html

While there's no single definition of clean eating, the general principle behind the movement is to eat the purest, most natural foods possible. In other words, it's about eating unprocessed foods, which helps your body run more efficiently. http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/health/fitness/getmovingblog/2014/01/tips_to_clean_eating_in_an_over-processed_world_1.html

Processed food NOT fat is the real cause of heart disease, claims heart surgeon who says a diet of natural food can even reverse the illness. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2548066/Heart-surgeon-confesses-processed-food-slowly-killing-natural-food-answer.html

Eating too many processed foods with high sodium levels contributed to 2.3 million deaths from heart attacks, strokes and other heart-related diseases throughout the world in 2010, representing 15 percent of all deaths due to these causes, according to research presented at the American Heart Association’s Epidemiology and Prevention/Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism 2013 Scientific Sessions. http://www.trueactivist.com/processed-foods-cause-2-million-heart-related-deaths-worldwide/

Mrs. Cog's Corner

Going Gluten Free

Leave a comment

From Mrs. Cog's Corner

If I had been the first person in the family who needed to start eating gluten free (GF), I would have been upset and pouting. No more pizza deliveries, ice cream cones or pastries. No grilled reuben sandwiches on rye or pumpernickel bread, no slice of birthday cake when one is passed to you, or sitting down to pancake breakfasts at the local fund raiser. Oh the things we take for granted.

But it was a child unit, and a teen at that, who was first to run into gluten issues, so we immediately shifted into making lemonade out of lemons mode. Instead of focusing on what she couldn't have, we sat down and made extended lists of what she could eat and the lists were surprisingly long. In the beginning, we tackled this meal by meal.

For breakfast, there were still eggs and bacon and thank goodness for Fruity and Cocoa Pebbles cereals. Most Chex cereals including Honey Nut, Chocolate and Apple Cinnamon are GF as well. Later we were able to add in GF pancakes, bagels and toast as we discovered different recipes and various grocery stores with these items.

Lunches were easier and larger because packing for a teen with after school sports and other activities often meant packing a bag with ten hours of mostly healthy grazing foods. We included cheese and GF crackers, many baggies of fresh fruits like grapes, strawberries and blueberries, plenty of potato chips are gluten free, tupperware containers with small portions of dinner leftovers such as rice and meats or quinoa and chicken. We have found GF cheesy crackers and graham crackers to add, but also new healthy snacks like raw nuts and sunflower seeds that never would have been included otherwise.

Occasionally we bake GF bread for sandwiches, but our teen thinks (and many on the web agree) that it is better toasted, so we save that for sandwiches, like grilled cheese, at home.

Dinners in our home are pretty straight forward. There are many types of GF pasta available. We found the Barilla brand (pictured above) to be most similar to our regular pasta. Many items, such as this GF pasta, are not available at our local grocery store so we order it in bulk online. It stores well for over a year in the proper conditions like regular pastas. Otherwise, dinners are mostly meat and veggies. On hamburger nights we baked a big GF roll. Most types of Ore Ida french fries are GF too. Our burger nights blow away the typical restaurant food and we have the satisfaction of knowing what went into making them. For quick dinners we have canned many types of gluten free soups and often boil up some pasta or rice to add into them before serving.

It took a while but we have finally solved the pizza dilemma. While most pre-packaged GF pizza just don't get it done for the teen taste test, glutino pizza was found to be the most acceptable. THEN... Pillsbury came out with tubs of GF pizza dough and it simplified homemade pizza crust and empowered the teen to start creatively making her own pizza creations. Classico pizza sauce, shredded cheese and all the shredded bacon she wants... sometimes with pineapple. Oh to be young again (sigh).

Most recently we have started making our own homemade gluten free granola blobs (in small cupcake tins) with all wholesome ingredients including local honey, organic (and non GMO) oats and sometimes dark chocolate chips for good measure. The very act of searching for new gluten free healthy things to eat has changed the way we look at food in our household. It really is a journey I recommend everyone to explore.