 Today I ate a half of an Italian sub and realized yet again how horrible my food choices have become.
It's been a downward spiral for a long time, exacerbated by the challenges of a new baby, marriage struggles, and my own metamorphis of rediscovering myself in my new role as mom and wife. Today I felt empowered to really start doing something about it. And honestly, I'm a bit leery of even sharing this struggle with anyone - I have a difficult time sticking to a food resolve. Any resolve. Especially a resolve that has me kicking my sugar and flour to the curb. So I've given myself a time limit. Can I revamp my food, for two weeks, and run a bit of an experiment to see how I feel? So, we're going to start some solid daily journaling, you and me. You can respond, or just lurk, it's up to you. I'll post my foods, my recipes, and my struggles. Starting with... a food list. This list is something I put together after deciding what type of change I want to see in myself. And right now, I just need to feel good again. This isn't a 'Forever and Ever' change. It's just for two weeks. I want to give my body a rest and replenish what I've lost. That would be energy. And my figure. I chose these foods loosely based on their cleansing properties. You'll notice I've basically gone meat and dairy and grain free. It's just for two weeks. Don't freak me out by suggesting I do that forever. Fruits Watermelon Papaya Kiwi Plums Cherries Figs Grapefruit Apples Pears Pineapple Cantaloupe Strawberries Vegetables Artichokes Asparagus Carrots Beets Broccoli Cabbage Kale Brussel Sprouts Garlic Spinach Onions Cauliflower Nuts & Seeds (raw) Pumpkin seeds Sunflower seeds Walnuts Brazil Almonds Protein Fish Tempeh Beans Tahini Lentils Chicken Stock (homemade) Fats Extra Virgin Olive Oil Extra Virgin Coconut Oil Coconut Milk Extras Vinegars Raw Apple Cider Vinegar (1 tsp in water or iced herb tea 4 times a day, between meals) Herbal, caffeine free tea Any good ones I missed that you want to add?... Last week I started working on getting more sleep. This week I will be doing yoga and eating these foods. Who wants to chime in?
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 When you move away from the ocean's edge, the fare at fish markets can be a bit... dubious. Seafood-loving New Englanders are a picky lot though, and they know amazing quality when they taste it. North End Seafood Company is one of those amazing gems. Tucked into a sunny corner of a small plaza in Somerset, Massachusetts, NESC has an impressive array of seafood. Let me stop for a minute and say this: I do not receive a dime for the products, people or businesses that I recommend here. If you see it, or read about it here, it's because I'm so smitten that I just need to pipe up. Regional, yes, but NESC deserves a pat on the back and whatever business I can throw their way. Heck, they may ship it to you if you ask... Who doesn't like getting fresh lobster in the mail?!  Excellent Portuguese and local accompaniments, as well as national brands, are displayed enticingly. If I wasn't going to can my own roasted peppers, I would have brought home a jar just to have that color on my shelf...  Love this seafood case. I really appreciating knowing that a few hundred people have not been breathing all over my fish. I also appreciate that my seafood hasn't been wrapped in plastic. Love the easy to read chalkboard price display. Deep ice, fresh fish, and impeccably clean counters - heck, even my mother-in-law, the queen of clean, would buy fish here.  Wild versus Farmed Salmon I have to admit, I was surprised to see that Jason carries farm raised salmon. His explanation dovetails perfectly with my real-food rant on Facebook this week. Remember the rant? One sentence read: Big agriculture and the processed food industry has used every fake-food trick in the book to replicate the taste of real food, or, get us used to 'almost' (re: six month old potatoes) real food. Unfortunately, farmed salmon falls under the category of 'almost'. Wild salmon, on the left, is only available certain times of the year. Bold flavor, bright color. Farmed salmon is available all the time, is cheaper, and get this: people like it because it is sweeter. Yup, American's like their farmed salmon because their sweet tooth has an opinion. You can read more about the evils of farmed salmon at World's Healthiest Foods. (All I'm going to say is this: that pasty pink color is fake. Fake as the lunch-lady's blue hair!) My mother purchased fillet of sole, and I bought cod fish. The fillet was flavorful without an overpowering fish taste - applauded by Tom, who has only ever eaten canned salmon (bleck!) and frozen haddock (ha-DOCK, as they incorrectly pronounce it in Pennsylvania). My cod cooked up flaky, with a deep fish flavor. Our money was well spent. And I'll probably spend more - when mom and dad come back in the fall, I'll be ordering some fish for them to bring home...  Everyone wave to Jason (and Jessica, not pictured) Viveiros, owners of NESC! We just missed meeting their two year old son. Hope we meet up the next time - would love for Trey to have an NE fishing buddy! Visit North End Seafood Company on Facebook or stop by the market at 970 County Street in Somerset, Massachusetts. You can also read more about their business in this Herald News Article. This is your new blog post. Click here and start typing, or drag in elements from the top bar.
The heroine in my favorite novel is praised for her fluffy, yellow mayonnaise. For years I scratched my head about that, wondering: Why yellow? Then I started reading the treatise/cookbook Nourishing Traditions. I learned all about good fats, healthy eggs and replacing processed imitators with real food. I started making my own mayo. This is SO simple. If you don't make anything else that I talk about, seriously, try it. You'll be hooked. Here's what you need:  1 cup sunflower or extra virgin olive oil | 1 egg & 1 egg yolk | 1.5 tbsp lemon juice | 1 tsp ground mustard | 1/2 tsp realsalt (not shown) Ready? Here we go - Use the wide mouth mason jar to whip it up into. Put the egg, lemon juice, mustard and salt into the jar. (Note - to make your mayo last longer AND give you a good-enzyme health boost, add 1 tbsp of whey - the liquid from your yogurt, or, a tablespoon of plain yogurt.) Using your stick blender (What? You don't have one? Well, use your blender...) quickly mix it all together. Keeping the blender going, start to pour the oil into the jar in a thin, steady stream. By the time the oil is poured into the jar, you should have a thick, yellow mayonnaise. (If you added whey or yogurt, leave your mayo on the counter for about 7 hours, loosely covered. This will activate the good enzymes and bacteria, and the mayo will keep longer in the fridge. Also, if you are concerned about using raw eggs, this should help ease your mind - the mayo has now become a lacto-fermented product, with good bacteria to protect your gut.)  Nice and thick, very creamy and a beautiful shade of yellow! There. Simple. Clean up will take you longer than actually making it.
What about YOU? Do you have a favorite recipe for basic summer foods? Would you post it and share? I'd love to hear what's happening in YOUR kitchen! *Disclaimer* Please do not attempt this with grocery-store eggs. The eggs in this recipe are raw. Raw eggs are great - if they are fresh, local, and pastured. Otherwise, you'll risk lots of nasty bacteria. And really, if you're buying store-bought mayo with eggs in it, chances are pretty good you're eating nasty bacteria that's dead. (Remember the salmonella-egg scare summer 2010? Those eggs were sold to processing plants which then cooked them and used them in processed food. The FDA said that was safe. Go figure.) |
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