A Simple Feast

Note: I read and enjoy every single comment. At the moment, though, the blog isn't letting me reply to them. I hope to resolve that soon!

I had an amazing culinary experience yesterday. It probably helped that I didn't eat until 5:30 pm, ensuring that I was good and hungry. I love food to  begin with, obviously, but when I'm hungry I really enjoy it.

Anyhow, one of my errands was the grocery store and I bought a lot of fresh produce and found some cheap  inexpensive packages of meat. One of those was a $2+ package of raw shrimp. It was a generous single serving.

As I was putting the food away, I boiled water for the shrimp and dumped them in. I then cored and sliced the fresh pineapple I'd purchased. I intended to make a nice green salad, too, but somehow I found myself eating the flesh off the core and rind of the pineapple. I have the handy-dandy utensil that creates a spiral of beautiful slices in about 15 seconds flat, but there would be quite a bit of waste if you threw away the trimmings. Besides, it's more fun (as far as I'm concerned) to gnaw the good stuff off the trimmings, kind of like corn on the cob, than it is to eat the "prime" slices.

Most of the slices went into the fridge for tomorrow because the core, rind and ends gave me a nice portion of fruit. I also ate a few fresh strawberries but that stung after chewing on the pineapple; my lips and tongue were quite sensitive and they let me know right away that the berries were still acidic and not summer-ripe. Note to self: Eat the strawberries first, then the pineapple!

I took the hot shrimp out of the shells and poured some melted butter over them. They made a great counterpoint to the pineapple and strawberries and I had no interest in additional food so the salad fixings are still in the fridge and on the counter.

I'll have to remind myself today to make and eat the salad before I taste the pineapple and/or meat. if I don't, I may just skip salad again. I have no clue why, but I'm a maniac for fresh pineapple right now. I reacted the same way at the recent pot luck and buffet visits (see earlier post, Out of the Shadows, Into the Sun.)

Of course, the very best thing about my feast last night was that it was so delicious it felt somehow naughty, yet it was totally legal under my easygoing paleo approach. I didn't eat until I was actively hungry, I ate food I liked and I skipped the salad because I no longer felt hungry. The only item worthy of possible debate would be the butter and I'm not asking for feedback on that. I use butter on hot shrimp, period. If I had chilled them, they would've gone into my salad with the usual vinegar and EVOO.

What is a Whole Food Anyhow?

Note: I am still "in training" for maintenance and will post my next update on that at mid-week but this post was dominating my thoughts--namely, the importance of shopping  versus eating choices. Nance

Once you get home from the store, your near-future eating choices are pretty much defined--only the sequence remains in doubt. Therefore, the time to grab hold of your emotional commitment to improved health and body profile is on the way to the STORE, not your kitchen. 

That said, as I walked into a store the other day I pondered my mantra of "eat whole foods." What does that mean, I asked myself. After all, I usually start my day with ground/heated/filtered coffee to which I add cream and honey--nothing in that mug can truthfully be called "whole" and I am at peace with that. 

BUT I am standing in a personal commitment to optimize my health and avoiding a dependency on prescribed drugs for as long as possible. So how does "eat whole foods" influence  what goes into my shopping cart? Picture if you will the insides of your local grocery store. For the moment, erase the non-food products such as pet food, cleaning/hygiene products and birthday cards, school supplies, etc.

Half or less of what's in your store is intended to be chewed/swallowed. And of those items, less than half are still close enough to their natural state for easy recognition. Don't scoff! Open that bag of chips/crackers, or cake mix, or even a can of Mountain Dew and identify ALL the ingredients without looking at the packaging--take your time, I'll wait.

Point made, I hope. When I go to the store I walk around the outside first and grab fresh vegetables and fruits plus chunks/pieces of meat and fish/shellfish. Hold any of that in your hand and you won't need a label to tell you what it is. I duck into the aisle to grab canned salmon/sardines--open those cans and you can indeed name them without a label. I walk down another aisle and by visual clues alone I can find olive/coconut oil although I frequently buy online for better quality. In similar fashion, eggs work and even Kerrygold butter, organic cream/milk and frozen organic fruits/vegetables are fine.  And yes, I also buy ground coffee beans and I don't plan to stop but at least they are not the exclusive result of a chemical mixing process with a goal of simulating nutrients.

See? It's really pretty easy and once you accept the concept that to be "food" it must be identifiable by appearance, smell and taste you don't have to be an "expert" to select whole foods. Or make them 90% of your nutrition.

Once you get home with your bounty, just fix meals using the most perishable items first and let your eyes/stomach decide the sequence of the rest. Sounds like "eat whole foods" to me!

What Does an Ancestral Shopping List Look Like?

Sorry if you’re disappointed, but I don’t go out and hunt/gather my food. I go to Safeway. I’ve also ordered some grassfed meat from US Wellness but frankly, I’m on Social Security and I can’t afford to buy grassfed meat exclusively so I also buy a lot of chuck on sale.

So, the shopping part of ancestral eating is the easy part. You walk around the outside of the store and you buy produce, meat and dairy. More on dairy in a minute.  You duck quickly into the aisles for a few things and you’re done.

In the produce section, the best choice is organic to the extent your store has it and your budget can handle it. If you have to compromise, there are lists available online of which organic foods are most important. I buy salad greens with rich color, fresh celery and cucumber. I also rotate a variety of fresh vegetables and fruits. With the exception of corn, there isn’t much in the produce section that will get you in trouble. It’s okay to grab a bag of nuts as long as they are unsweetened. Raw nuts are best if available.

Moving on to the meat section, your first thought should be marrow bones, roasts with bones in, soup bones, etc. Making bone broth will keep your bones as joints as happy as they can possibly be. You should have bone broth in the form of broth, sauce or stew liquid every single day.

For muscle meat, beef is my staple. I supplement with seafood, either fresh, frozen or canned and I occasionally eat poultry. Poultry is not preferred choice because the type of fat in poultry isn’t as desirable as beef or seafood. When I do buy poultry, I buy Cornish Game Hens, duck or turkey because I like the flavor better of both the meat and fat. I buy bacon, normally uncured, but I avoid hot dogs and sausages unless they say “no hormones, etc.” In general, buy what YOU like and just remember to avoid meat choices that lack a normal level of fat (skinless, boneless) or are highly processed. Try to rotate in some organ meat such as liver or heart or kidneys.

Okay, now we reach the dairy section. Most people in the ancestral lifestyle eat at least some eggs and many eat butter. Some add heavy cream. Beyond that, many avoid dairy. In my case, I am lactose intolerant but I do fine with heavy cream, butter and home-made, full-fat yogurt. I’m more interested in healthy nutrition than exactly what people ate 10,000 years ago and I find home-made yogurt  (without all the commercial additives) is a rich, wholesome food. The main problem with milk and other dairy products is that they have lists of ingredients that are sweeteners, stabilizers and/or preservatives. They’re not ancestral unless you can find real, whole products and preferably organic. Even organic products may have additives so be careful. For butter, look for Kerrygold or any brand of butter made using milk from pastured cows.

Okay, now comes the scary part—going into the aisles that hold all the tempting and forbidden “Neolithic” foods. I buy coffee, honey, vinegar and olive/coconut oil. End of food list. In my case, I don’t buy any cleaning or hygiene products either (don’t panic, I use soap nuts and vinegar which can be the basis of a future post.) If I weren’t already getting my water from a well, I’d also buy spring water for the minerals.

I should mention here that I visit health food stores for a few things: I buy unprocessed salt, kelp powder (for the iodine) and cod liver oil. I’ve bought some other things but those are the 3 I actually use frequently.