A Deeper Connection With Your Food Will Drastically Improve Your Life
by: Jordan Scroble, Grow Your Own Freedom
As we develop a deeper connection with our food we begin to see more of its inherent value.
Food is nourishment. It provides our body with the fundamental building blocks and nutrients that it needs to function. Of course, the wrong types of food can wreak havoc on our body. But good wholesome whole foods in the form of easily recognizable ingredients like vegetables, fruits, and meat allow us to thrive.
Once we start to connect more deeply to our food, whether it is by growing or raising some of it ourselves, or picking up pastured eggs from the nearest country lane, we start to see more of its inherent value. This food is so much different than what comes nicely packaged in a sterile box. It has life. It has a story. And we can truly appreciate it.
Deepening our connection with our food improves our health, increases our awareness, and allows us to make better choices.
It doesn’t really matter if the improvement in health comes from a little bit of outdoor activity associated with tending a home vegetable garden, the higher nutrient density of fresh whole foods, or from the healthy fats that are found in grass fed and pastured animals.
The bottom line is that our health will drastically improve when we take the time grow some ourselves, visit the local farmer’s market or farm stand, or deliberately choose where our food comes from.
Once we begin to have a deeper connection with the food that is nourishing us, we become more observant, and attentive to what we are eating. We read ingredient labels. We wonder, and are curious about, where things come from.
A few ways you can easily deepen your connection with the food you eat.
We can deepen the connection to our food by growing some of our own, and by shopping at local farmer’s markets and farm stands.
We can educate ourselves about what we are eating simply by reading ingredient labels. If you can’t pronounce an ingredient listed, perhaps you place it right back on the shelf instead of in your shopping cart.
Unfortunately, the modern food we eat today is not even close to what it once was.
But, thankfully, we can learn a lot by reading books by respected authors such as Michael Pollan, Barbara Kingsolver, and many others. I recently enjoyed reading The Perfect Health Diet by Paul and Shou-Ching Jaminet, the Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson, and also Eating on the Wild Side by Jo Robinson.
We can take time even just once a week to prepare a meal entirely from scratch. Or better yet, prepare an entire meal using ingredients from your own garden. Embrace a meal of zucchini “pasta” with a fresh tomato sauce, a side salad loaded with fresh greens and tender root vegetables, and steamed broccoli. It is pretty remarkable to sit down for dinner and identify all of the vegetables or fruit that you and your family grew.
Things will be very different…
When all of us “wake up” and recognize just how disconnected from our food we truly are, things will be very different. Animals will be treated better. They will eat natural diets they are actually designed for. No more CAFOs.
Our diets will drastically change. As a result, our waistlines will shrink, our dependency on long term pharmaceutical prescriptions will decrease, and our overall energy, productivity, and happiness will increase. No more brain fog or afternoon sugar crashes.
And all of that will happen eventually. It starts with each and everyone of us.
As you gain more knowledge and awareness about how the food you eat impacts your health and your life, you can make gradual shifts, changes, and modifications that will improve your lifestyle.
