i'm nuts

I wanted to update you a bit about some of my experiments with healthy eating/cooking.  In the midst of all of this transition, I've been trying to make more food from scratch, with whole grains and some fermenting as well.  Here's what happened.  You know I wanted to learn more about eating healthy foods, so I read this book, called 'Real Food: What to Eat and Why.'  I really liked it.  It was just what I was looking for, and it jives well with some of my own ideas. The basic premise is that 'real food,' or food that hasn't been manufactured in a lab or otherwise, is actually good for you.  Real butter for example.  It doesn't clog your arteries when the butter is made from grass-fed cow's milk. Of course it's there are a lot more specifics in the book.  Along with this book I've been trying out some recipes from 'Nourishing Traditions', which is top on my wish list now (I checked it out from the library).  It's been fun.  Here are some of the changes we've made:

All butter and olive oil for cooking/eating.

Trying to eats lot's of fruits/veggies, most of them organic.

Grass-fed cow's milk.

Some fermenting with whole wheat (fermenting, or soaking, is suppose to break down the phytic acids to be easier to digest, or something like that).

So far cage-free eggs, hopefully "pastured" eggs after we move

Limited pre-made foods.

The way we've been able to afford this is by not buying the several boxes of cereal, granola bars, and other snacks, cans of soup, cookies, refrigerated biscuits, etc. that we were buying.  We're also not a big milk-drinking family (grass-fed cow milk is uber expensive), and we keep meals pretty simple, not tons of different ingredients.  It's definitely more work, but I'm getting used to it, and it's worth it to me.  It's taking a bit of adjusting for the kids.  Z's not very fond of whole-wheat pancakes, and lately L wants very little to do with veggies.  But I have hope that as I learn, I can make things taste better.