What foods to store from a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner's point of view

[freemotion]

Yes, that is my training, received five years ago, and I've worked with many clients since then. One thing I know is that most diseases people face nowadays are firmly in the category of "lifestyle disease" and most of those lifestyle choices are around food.

Not just processed food. I made a huge leap in my own health during my nutrition schooling even though I'd been raising most of our food and was completely off processed foods for a few years. But my macronutrient ratios still supported lifestyle disease, much to my shock and initial disappointment. I've since corrected that with much improved health.

I'm starting this as a new topic because I want to express my (educated) opinion on this topic without insulting anyone or arguing. My education on this topic is not USDA-based, and remember, the USDA was created mostly to help market farm products...most of which are now corn, soy, and wheat. And mostly GMO. The various food pyramids show this push to sell grains, and even My Plate is skewed by the salesmen mentality.

So, to start this out, I am firmly in the "skills" camp. And the "store what you eat and eat what you store" camp. To this end, we can make huge changes in our health by dramatically reducing carbs IN ALL FORMS in the SAD, Standard American Diet. Even if home grown, organic, and properly prepared. Yes, grains are easy to store. But if we needed to rely on stored foods for a year or more, we would be very, very sick and low in energy by the end of that year with the typical SAD macronutrient ratios.

Now I will be leaving for work for a few hours but will leave with this little fact: Carbs (grains, fruits, starchy veggies, and outright sugars, even honey and maple syrup) use up a lot of the bodies' resources in order to utilize them. Many minerals are used up and are very, very hard to replace, magnesium is a big one. Many enzymes are depleted, more so than the body can replace if continually bombarded with a high carbohydrate diet.

This creates a cascade that is difficult to reverse. It can take YEARS to replenish minerals in the body, even with a great diet of home grown food and the addition of targeted supplements. Strict carb restriction is critical during this time.

My go bag is completely different now, too. Dehydrated veg soup, tinned sardines, coconut oil, jerky, dehydrated home made broth, lots of waterproof containers of salt are the mainstays.

Discuss.

 

[sumi]

This is a great topic for discussion, Freemotion. Thanks for starting it! I've never paid much attention to what or much I eat and didn't stop to think about what my body needs, until I found myself on a scale the morning of my second round of cancer surgery (just over a year ago) and nearly 30 lbs underweight. I've since had wonderful discussions with a scientist friend who got interested in nutrition and told and taught me a fair bit about healthy eating and what our bodies need.

I've since adapted my diet to include more un-processed and fresh foods and a bigger range of foods to make sure I get all the needed nutrients and I feel amazing. (And I gained nearly 17 lbs!) You really are what you eat

 

[NH Homesteader]

so excited to learn about this!

 

[Britesea]

I just watched a documentary about nutrition, and noticed that all the experts they interviewed- doctors, nutritionists, athletes, and even some alternative care specialists - had all obviously "drunk the Kool-aid" Every one of them stated that the only healthy diet was a completely plant-based diet. According to them, you can get all the protein you need from brown rice, and all fats except olive oil are evil.

Can't help wondering what they will be telling us in 50 years?

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Would LOVE to know more. We are in the low carb camp with DH's diabetes. But, I tend have a tendency to 'splurge' on carbs when I'm not with him. I know I shouldn't and I'm carrying the extra pounds to prove it.

I'd love to hear you expand on the subject of salt. We don't do 'table' salt - we usually do the Himalayan Pink Salt. But, salt can be used to preserve things too - what salt would you use in that situation?

 

[Britesea]

I am NOT a nutritionist, so if I have made any errors in this post I hope that @freemotion will correct all of us.

I'm pretty sure any salt works for preserving, although I believe Pickling salt is pure sodium chloride, with no impurities to cloud the liquid. Regular table salt actually has sugar (in the form of dextrose) added, to keep the salt flowing in a humid environment (remember the saying When It Rains It Pours?). Kosher salt doesn't have the dextrose in it which is why people feel it actually tastes saltier. Sea salt and Himalayan Pink salt have impurities, but they mostly take the shape of being trace elements and such that are good for you (although I wonder about sea salt coming out of the Pacific Ocean, these days). They are also considerably more expensive than other forms of salt. Coarse salt (Kosher or otherwise) is great for corning, brining, etc. but you can use more finely ground salt if you can figure out the conversion rate.... since 1 cup of coarse salt might not equal 1 cup of finely ground salt (more air spaces). Finally, Iodized salt is table salt with just enough iodine added to prevent goiter... but you can get your iodine from lots of other sources from kelp or nori to cranberries and strawberries, although the amount of iodine in land vegetables depends on how much iodine is present in the soil it's grown in.

Oh, I forgot... don't use rock salt (the kind used in ice cream making) for anything you plan to eat, unless you like grit in your food. Rock salt has not been cleaned of the materials it was mined from.

 

[freemotion]

Here is my rule on salt: Mined sea salt mostly, but there are some decent brands of salt made by dehydrating in clay flats, like Celtic. Redmond Real Salt is easily found at places like Whole Foods.

I use Himalayan salt almost exclusively because it can be purchased in bulk for a very good price, so I do all my brining, pickling, cheesemaking, etc with it. Who cares about cloudiness or reddish bits in an otherwise white goat cheese? Not me. I prefer my food to be real and healthy, thank-you-very-much. Clear and pristine everything is a modern idea, requiring many chemicals and processes to get foods so sparkley clean.....looking.

I don't have any of the other popular salts in my house and haven't for a few years. I did make salt for a while, from sea water that I filtered, but it destroyed the pans I simmered it in on the woodstove so until I figure out a good alternative, I'll just buy it. I still have a couple of pails of sea water in the cellar, though.

As for processed foods, they are not foods. They are "displacing foods" at best, displacing our urge and appetite for real food, time and meals that we cannot get back. Our bodies just were not designed to manage the chemical onslaught, and as I said in my opening post, it costs us a LOT to process these foods into anything resembling energy.

Macronutrient and ratios later, or tomorrow. Gotta go squeeze the goats. Plum is leaking all over the place, poor gal.

 

[freemotion]

PS: Expect me to pontificate and be preachy on this topic. We were well designed and our food was well designed. That humans think they can do better in a factory is just crazy and insulting to our Creator. Besides, real food is amazingly delicious! Seriously!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I am THRILLED that you started this thread! Thanks!

 

[NH Homesteader]

Me too!