Welcome to the home of my Holistic Nutrition & Wellness Website!
I hope you find what you’re looking for, or at least run into something that piques your interest.
Scroll down for an explanation of why this website exists, and how to best navigate the site.
I’m a detail oriented person, so tend to include a lot of information in my posts – but don’t let that overwhelm you.
As you browse around, I encourage you to relax and keep the big picture in sight…. Do what you can, and don’t stress the rest.
Enjoy life. Enjoy food! I hope this website can contribute to that, for you, in some way. 🙂
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While many things have changed for me since my early grade school days, I can’t say that my core philosophies on life are any different today.
Of course, the ever-growing complexities of our modern-day world have moved us away from simple living into an age of fast paced technology, over stimulation, and no rest in sight. The accomplishments and changes we’ve all experienced in our life-time are nothing less than miraculous, but are they all for the greater good?
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Food Has Changed
For thousands of years, food was relatively unchanged. Simply put, food once consisted of things that grew out of the ground, and all types of naturally evolved animals that roamed the earth. Over the past 70 years, substantial changes have been made to make food *convenient* for the consumer and *profitable* for industry. What’s wrong with convenience and profit? In and of themselves — nothing, but tampering with the very thing that keeps us alive and well has led to serious health problems and environmental damage on a global scale.
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Food Has Become “Product”
The unfortunate truth is that so much of what is presented to us as food is not actual food anymore – it’s *product*. How does food become product? It’s mass-produced in depleted soil using chemical fertilizers and pesticides to ensure a large, uniform crop. After a mechanical harvest, it’s radically altered by being stripped of essential components, processed with high heat as well as chemical solvents, and contaminated with a fragrant bouquet of artificial additives. The stripping and heating stages are mostly to secure an abnormally long shelf life – removing parts of the food that are likely to go rancid. This helps to create products such as crackers that are “good” for 4 years and milk that stays *fresh* on the grocery store shelf for 9 months. The artificial additives – flavorings and colorings – are then needed to mask the bland nothingness that is left of the manufactured mass, and sometimes to preserve and extend the shelf life even further. I wonder – In the end, is this really food?
Relying on *product* as a source of fuel (as opposed to real food) has caused us to become over-fed and under-nourished. With this in mind, combined with the amount of stress the average westernized person experiences on a daily basis, is it any wonder the USA comprises the most over-weight nation in the world? Is it any wonder that infertility is at an all-time high? Isn’t it at least slightly startling, that in spite of how *brilliant* we’ve become as a nation, and the enormous technological gains in recent decades, degenerative disease continues to rise at an alarming rate? Could there be anyone out there who thinks the two aren’t related – the way our food has been degraded during the last several decades, and the way our bodies and health have degraded during that same time period?
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Maybe all we have to do is look for products labeled “Enriched” “Low Fat” “Sugar Free” and containing “Heart Healthy Soy” (?)
Unfortunately, the marketing campaigns for these types of product attributes are nothing more than that – marketing campaigns — so that industry has many different ways to sell the same denatured foods to a larger variety of people — those who don’t read the package, and those who do.
MAKE NO MISTAKE…using refined grain to produce bread and sprinkling in 6 powdered vitamins that came from a test tube does not in any way make up for the nothingness the bread is made from. Enduring a low fat or fat free diet slowly starves the body of an essential element needed to function normally and thrive. No one is doing themselves any favors by drinking a diet soda that’s sugar free but contains an artificial sweetener that acts as a neurotoxin in the body while actually sparking intense sugar cravings. Likewise, that heart healthy soy protein is extremely difficult to digest, and likely causing mineral deficiencies, among other problems.
Unfortunately, on top of the fact that our food supply has become overly processed and devoid of nutrients, at the same time, some of the most natural, healthful foods have become demonized by faulty marketing campaigns — leaving people scared of the foods they actually need to thrive, and more comfortable with ones that make them weak.
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What to do? What to eat?
If you value your health and that of your family, I highly recommend either thoroughly educating yourself in the realm of real nutrition — or if you don’t have the time – find someone to rely upon who has already done so. Should you choose the latter, I would be honored to be considered for that role.
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For More Information…
HEALTH TOPICS – Of course, there are very few topics in the nutrition world that don’t have varying perspectives. This is bound to be the case, due to the fact that our bodies & needs are all so different. What holds true for one doesn’t necessarily hold true for another. Without consulting with people individually, I can only offer my general perspectives, and always encourage seeking out other points of view. Additionally, the content on this website will never quite be final. I’ll always be reconsidering, re-evaluating, updating & tweaking all of it — for as long as I’m still researching — which will most likely be ’til the [grass-fed] cows come home.
REAL FOOD RECIPES – I invite you to browse through my recipe blog for hundreds of ideas on how to feed yourself and family in the most thoughtful, delicious way possible. If you place your cursor over “recipes” in the top menu bar, many categories and subcategories will appear as a drop down menu which will make it easy to find the type of recipe you’re looking for at any given moment. All recipes include very detailed instructions and side notes to support even those who are most intimidated by the kitchen. If something’s not clear, or if questions arise as you sift through the recipes, feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of the recipe page in question and I’ll do my best to respond in a timely manner. All comments and questions are welcome!
KITCHEN TIPS – Throughout this section of my website, I share various tips and tricks that have proven useful for me — helping to get the job done! This includes a listing of my favorite kitchen tools & gadgets, holiday menu suggestions, food storage info, preparation techniques for less common foods, ideas on how to put various fresh foods to good use, and a listing of my favorite cookbooks (among other things).
Allergy information/Food restrictions: Please make note that I always include information on the classification of each recipe (dairy free, gluten free, raw, etc…). Simply look for the silver box in the side note section of each recipe, or use the tags I’ve created to search for recipes that suit your needs.
SITE MAP – If you need additional help navigating the site, feel free to use the site map for a detailed overview.
