Middle Aged and Living Well

I guess there are stages in changing a diet just like any other life altering activity.  Sociologists have broken down many life altering events into stages.  Whether its a twelve step plan for substance dependency, or the 7 steps of grief, people go through stages to change their lives.  My change from a standard american diet to a more sustainable diet has evolved over a 3 year period.  I think will take 7 steps, maybe more.  In my mind I have completed 6 steps.

Step 1:  Realize you need to change your diet

• My stimulus was that the doctor told me to shed some pounds.  When I decided to lose weight, I did what ever it took to shed pounds.  I started by eating less food (of my existing diet) and exercise more.  Once I ate less, I concentrated on eating the proper  food, but it was hard to figure out what is proper food.  Should I do low fat or low carb?

Step 2: Cook more eat out less

• To approach my goal weight, I became much more conscious of what food I was eating and my goal of losing was replaced with a goal of eating well.  If  I was going to eat less calories, I wanted to pack each calorie with as much flavor as possible.  This led me drop the empty calories of  fast food lunches and dinners and to cook more.

Step 3:  Replace processed foods in the home

• As I cooked more I had a strong desire  slowly replace many of the processed ‘ready to eat’ foods in my pantry with quality ingredients.  Frozen dinners are gone.  We tossed the bottled salad dressings and made our own.  Creating pickled beats was not only therapeutic, but nostalgic. I made my own mayonnaise.   I am contemplating  my own mustard and ketchup. I am constantly looking at my ingredients and trying to see if  I could make it myself rather than buy a processed version.  If I buy a processed ingredient, I carefully read the ingredient list for anything I cant pronounce.

Step 4:  Upgrade your produce

• After I upgraded many of my pantry items, the next step was to upgrade my produce.  Thanks to a tip by Summer Tomato, instead of the nationally stocked grocery store, my wife and I now stroll through the Irvine Farmer’s Market for locally grown, sustainably grown seasonal produce (although I have to admit a lot of produce is always in season in Southern California).  Its fresher and tastier (thanks to many items not being a tasteless hybrid that was created to withstand shipping).  Peaches do actually bruise and tomatoes can be soft, but they are so full of flavor.

Step 5:  Grow your own produce

• We started with herbs, but it has grown to peach and plum trees and pots of tomatoes, tomatillos and peppers in the summer with lettuce, chard, beets, cauliflower, broccoli and brussel sprouts in the fall.  We do all of this in our suburban backyard, mostly in Earth Boxes.  Can you think of anything better than a salsa with home grown tomatoes, tomatillos and peppers?

Step 6:  Change your protein shopping habits

• I thought I was done, but then I realized I had one more area to apply my healthy sustainable diet plan.  Proteins.  Although, I was buying some great eggs from Gama Farms at the farmer’s market, I was still buying my chicken, pork, beef and fish at the national chain markets including Costco.  I had done a small part the last three Thanksgivings by buying heritage turkeys, but I did nothing for our every night protein.  So after some reading (Omnivore’s Dilemma), and a lot of online research (check out my links page),  I have decided to find new sources for my proteins.  I have started with small steps.  First, I found a butcher in Orange County.  I am sure the beef is still from feed lot animals, but I feel a little closer to the product as things can be cut to order. Next I found a fish monger that has plenty of fresh fish.  It would be better to find it off the boat, but again a small step.  I felt slightly better supporting local food businesses, but my quest is not done.

Step 7:  Find sustainably raised protein

• This is probably the hardest change as finding sustainably raised proteins accessible to a suburban home is hard.   A took a first step when it came to poultry.  Thanks to LocalHarvest.org, I was able to find a local (OK, 71 miles close) chicken farm that raises their heritage poultry as nature intended; free range in the warm sun and fresh breeze,  scratching, pecking & grazing on nature’s best grasses, native weeds, wild flowers, vegetables, fruits, seeds, alfalfa, clover & earths natural vegetation with an abundant supply of fresh, clean, filtered water.  I bought a 1/2 share, but my first chickens wont arrive until January, but I am all ready planning the meals from my first delivery.  Next on my protein make over is to find sustainable beef and pork.  It appears this will require buying the product in at minimum 1/4 animal allotments.  This will require freezer space, which I am in the process of adding to my pantry.

Will my end result be perfect? No, not even close.  Even last night, I stopped by the grocery store because I needed sour cream and the store is convenient.  I still go out to eat, but I do avoid chains and look for restaurants with similar standards for freshness.  Doing all this at home is not cheap.  But if everyone took these small steps, our food sources can improve our diets will be healthier, and maybe just maybe we can create a sustainable healthy meal that is cheaper than a Big Mac Combo.