Shopping for Whole Foods

   Recently, I've decided to start trying to aim my family's diet more toward the arena of "whole foods". The whole foods movement is simply this: getting back to the basics without added preservatives, artificial color, refined flours and sugars, and without the likes of hydrogenated oils. There are those who take this concept to the extreme, Ala the Raw food diet where all things are eaten raw. But mainly there are those who cut out all of the above mentioned offenders opting for back to basics eating.
    Right now I'm neither. When I say "Whole Foods", I'm simply referring to foods with less added to them. I've switched the family to brown basmati rice (which is good for you) and banned white rice (which is eh, but not that great for you in terms of nutrients). Eventually I'd like the majority of the flour I use to be whole wheat flour, where at the moment it a 50/50 mix of whole wheat to white. I've even contemplated grinding our own flour from whole wheat, which can be soaked (which I'll explain in another post) and is the cream of the crop as far as nutrients. I have a whole list of things I could write, but I'll simply say this: It's nice looking at my pantry and actually recognizing what my food is. There are glass jars of oatmeal, millet, barley, raisins, brown rice, and plain old spices. REAL food. Of course there are still some things that most whole food proponents wouldn't touch, but just a few changes has made me feel better about our diet practices. Change can be motivating and invigorating.
   But it can be pricey. I was an avid couponer, but as cool as getting stuff for free or next to free was, the products and food I was getting was pretty much junk. (If I'm not using conventional cleaners, then I don't need coupons for cleaners. I don't need coupons for cookies and chips that I'd rather not indulge in.) I went to the store, barely got anything and spent what seemed to be a whopping amount of money. Now I will admit, most of what I bought will last a few months, but still. Financially the change to better foods is rough. What makes most foods inexpensive are the fillers, oils, and massive amounts of high fructose corn syrup. I was dazed when I tried to find JAM without additives. Something exactly like the jam you would make at home. I did find some, but ended up paying twice the price for a smaller amount. Needless to say, I will definitely be putting up enough homemade jam to last until the summer of 2012. (And who can resist homemade jam?)  This is a true learning experience.
   What do I expect to gain out of it. Honestly I don't know. I don't expect that Dear Husband and I will lose a ton of weight from the switch in foods, but I hope that our health will improve in terms of his cholesterol and high blood pressure. Mostly I just don't want my daughter to end up like me, the victim of utterly poor nutrition choices. I'd rather see her be skipped over by the family curse of Type II Diabetes, and when the time comes being able to chase her kids around without being winded. In the end I guess thats what this project is truly about. Maybe Mark and I won't see the full benefits of changing our lives on less than a quarter acre of land, but I'm certain that Sarah will. To me, that is a beautiful thing.

What do you dream of?

Cheers! ~ Mama Homesteader