Thursday 30 December 2010

my food philosophy

I've been reading a few opinions on food, and decided to articulate what I think is "healthy." Mind you, I don't actually eat like this, but I think I *should*.

Most healthy (and to be consumed in great quantities): things you grow yourself. Local, fresh, organic fruit, vegetables, and grains.

Next: things others grow. (organic fruits, vegetables, and grains)

Next: Things you raise yourself. Animals and their by products like cheese, eggs, honey, and meat.

Next: things others raise. (Organic, free range.)

Next: any of the above categories grown or raised in a non-organic way.

Next: Things you manufacture yourself. This would include things with bought ingredients like bread (made with yeast), other baked goods (made with sugar and other additives), pickles, etc.

Worst and to be consumed in limited quantities: things others manufacture. This would include boxed food, cake mixes, candy bars, jelly, ketchup, and other canned or prepared foods.

Ingredients that should be avoided altogether are high fructose corn syrup, artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives.

What's your philosophy? Do you live by it?

4 comments:

Ganeida said...

Glad to see you back blogging. ☺ We grow some of our own. We purchase locally from some of the farms & we have a very sweet tooth ~ so we ruin all the good! An apple is just not the same as chocolate.

MamaOlive said...

Good to be back. True, it is hard to choose the apple...

Wil said...

I've read (don't know about the veracity) that the USDA rules for labeling food "free range" and/or "organic" are not very strict, and could include quite a bit of the stuff that people are trying to avoid by buying products labeled as such.

It might be worth looking into before spending extra for those labels...

Otherwise, I totally agree with your statements. :-)

MamaOlive said...

Wil, I agree that the USDA labels don't always mean what the consumer expects it to mean. But if/when I grow my own food, I won't be dousing it with chemicals. And my cow will be grazing in the pasture, and my chickens will be scratching in the dirt all day.

As far as buying at the grocery store, I have one store that sells "Cage free" eggs for the same price as "caged" eggs, so I go ahead and get them. On WICoverseas I got free organic milk, but so far here I settle for milk without artificial growth hormones. Never have tried the "good" meat.