Think about the foods you eat on a regular basis. How fresh are they? Are they preserved? Did they come from a box? A bag? Do you know whether the 'food' has been prepared by a person versus a machine?- Does that matter?
FOOD STUFF
Refers to items that are being advertised as food, but straying from the original ingredients. Foodstuff is refined, fortified, includes ingredients from a lab, pasteurized, irradiated, preserved, sitting in front of us no longer as fresh food, but rather food STUFF. Perhaps appealing via marketing, flashy colors, slogans, and a deliciously perfect, and researched, flavor triad of fat, sugar, and salt.
Why may foodstuff be important to identify in our diet? Our body is hungry for nutrients. Nutrients are naturally present in fresh foods; the longer we wait after harvesting a food, the more nutrients are degraded and lost.
Foodstuff satisfies our initial cravings but doesn't carry the natural balance of nutrients, enzymes, bacteria, fiber, and water to assist our body through balanced digestion. Have you ever eaten a whole bag of chips, or a whole sleeve of Oreos and only once it was gone, think: oh snap - I just ate too much!
A consistent consumption of foodstuff can leave the body malnourished of nutrients naturally found in whole fresh foods, and it's these nutrients that our body needs for optimal functioning.
For example: upon the introduction of refining and pasteurization, at the industrial revolution, widespread deficiency symptoms occurred across the population. This drove the need to fortify some of our most commonly consumed ingredients - e.g., white flour, milk.
Could the increase in degenerative/autoimmune diseases, cancers, and respiratory issues be partially attributed to our population's growing reliance on and uninformed consumption of processed foods, rather than fresh, whole foods?
Understanding how to use fresh ingredients to prepare a meal or remedy an ailment is a fundamental skill that is directly linked to the long-term health of our society.
We should learn to boil roots first before visiting a doctor, as over-the-counter medications may not always be accessible or affordable! Let's not become entirely dependent on our rapidly expanding infrastructure. Instead, let's build a foundation of knowledge about the human body and how to thrive on this planet.
How to identify food stuff:
Mass-produced and commercially processed foods have repeatedly demonstrated a preference for profit over consumer health. This tendency is evident across various consumer product industries, including beauty, tobacco, clothing, and food, where companies opt for the cheapest ingredients and incorporate chemicals, preservatives, and additives.
Ingredients we can watch out for on our food labels:
See, I used to have a list here of all the things I don't like to see on a label. But honestly, there is a time and a place for everything, in my opinion.
In my lifestyle, I don't like to incite fear or absolutes. Generally, I like labels with words I can recognize and ingredients I could realistically have in my own home.
In our home, we like to shop minimally, use fresh foods as they come and go, adjusting meals according to the season. We like to "shop the perimeter" of the grocery store and visit specialty shops such as butcher shops, bakeries, and farmer's markets.
QUALITY over QUANTITY is something I always try to remember when we are shopping. I ask myself: have we used up what we already have? Do we need this?
Thanks for reading,
Samantha
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