Eating Mother Nature

I eat the way I do because I want to eat as close to nature as possible. I want Mother Nature to fuel me not heavily processed foods or food like products that are processed in a factory. I want to eat natural foods that actually are natural, not foods that are disguised as natural using some marketing jargon thought of around the board table. I believe food should be unprocessed and not have a shelf life longer than nature states.

If my organic strawberries go bad a few days after they are picked, then I make jam.  If an apple bruises or a banana goes brown, then I make a strudel or banana cake.  Fresh foods do soil, some lettuces are purchased with a worm inside and organic kale might need a good wash before eating but that’s OK with me.

When I buy foods I don’t want to read a list of ingredients that read more like a science project. Ingredients such as E102, E120, E220 are just some of the ingredients that may show up in everyday ‘supermarket’ foods, hmm what are they exactly? If you don’t know what they are, how will your body? And in the words of Michael Pollan “Don’t eat anything your grandmother wouldn’t recognise as food.”

I eat to fuel, to nourish, to satisfy and to function. I want to be energised and full of life after each meal, certainly a better way to feel than sluggish and tired. Being a mindful consumer doesn’t mean I only eat salad leaves and eating natural doesn’t mean I only eat carrot sticks and celery. It simply means I eat a diet rich in wholefoods, foods that are unprocessed and foods that are organic & biodynamic. I eat from the ground up. I create with foods purchased from the farmer markets or like-minded suppliers who care about what we eat, and I mean really care not care for profit sake.

A ‘fresh natural café style’ soup doesn’t sit on a supermarket shelf for months and still be OK to eat. To me, this kind of soup is created in your kitchen using one pot with ingredients purchased weekly at the farmers market and a soup that will start to sour if not consumed within 3-5 days. Fresh foods do have a shelf life but in my household, that shelf life never expires because I buy often, cook daily and are always eating!

Shopping Tips

When stocking up your Planted panty with fruit & vegetables each week remember to bring an eco shopping bag or ask for a vegetable box for your purchases instead of using and contributing to the production of plastic bags.

The most inexpensive way to do your produce shopping each week is purchasing from your local growers markets. Here you will find ‘in season’ produce and produce that is freshly picked, nothings been frozen or refrigerated here (unless you are buying frozen organic blueberries).

Imperfect is perfect

When imperfect is perfect. After adopting an organic lifestyle over 15 years ago, it soon became apparent that the produce I was purchasing did not look like that found in conventional supermarkets, featured on TV or pictured in magazines. It wasn’t to say that the organic produce I was buying was sub standard; it just meant I was buying produce that fell naturally off trees when ripe and that the produce was grown without the use of pesticides and insecticides. What I noted I was and still eating, was and is nature.

Nature gives us the gift of food, warts and all. I would much prefer to find dirt on my mushrooms, a worm in my lettuce and dark marks on my oranges than buy something that looks like its been airbrushed!

Want to know more?

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