I have long had a love of learning about food and nutrition and have read many books and watched many documentaries about it.
Growing up in a rural community as a descendent of pioneers and the daughter and granddaughter of very blue collar workers and farmers I didn't really need to think about where my food came from, I just had to look out the window. From the age of two I was expected to work our half acre vegetable garden that provided all of the veggies we would eat throughout the summer and winter after being "put away" in what seemed like hundreds of mason jars in our cellar along with bushels and bushels of potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, squash, carrots, turnips and parsnips of every description. Our dairy that we bought at the general store along with oats, coffee, flour and other unprocessed staples came from local dairy farmers like the one next door to us to the South. My brothers and I could stand and watch the cows happily roaming free and munching on grass. To the North was a farm that raised cows for the beef that we would buy by the half, lambs, turkeys and chickens would also be bought and frozen in the deep freezes in the back of the kitchen, all of it butchered by my dad's cousin who owned the abattoirs just down the road, who respected the animals and believed in dignity for all living creatures in both life and death.
When I married my hubby and moved to where he had his business in a larger town about 3 hours away I experienced some culture shock the first few times I went food shopping at what seemed like an enormous warehouse rather than the tiny family run establishments I was used to. Over time I have found a butcher shop I like that sells local traditionally raised and organic meats, I green grocer who does the same along with selling local dairy products and even an excellent bakery for when I don't feel like making my own.
I felt like I had it all figured out and was doing my best to eat a very healthy diet where almost everything was made from natural (antibiotic free, hormone free, free range, no spray) or organic ingredients.
Then I heard about The China Study book and Forks Over Knives Documentary and it blew half of what I thought I knew about healthy eatting right out of the water.
Since then I have. Even doing a lot of research reading books, blogs and websites to come up with a plan of implementation of this lifestyle for my family. Soon I will begin to post more about this with as many accessible and non- scary meal plans and recipes as possible.
I hope you find my new project interesting: "Body by Plants"!
