Dragonlady
Designing Woman
It's interesting that so many here equate buying the freshest, highest quality foods with spoiled, elitist behavious. I equate it with having parents who raised 6 children most of whom were born before the Great Depression. My parents grew nearly everything we ate in our backyard. We had a large kitchen garden, pear, apple and cherry trees, and a chicken coup. My mother spent all summer canning and preserving everything they grew.
After my father died, I was the only kid still at home, and it was my job to do the gardening as Mom could no longer do it and once again, we could not have eaten well if we hadn't grown our own produce in the summer. Although when my Dad died, Mom had a freezer, which made preserving the vegetables even easier.
Fresh produce is the key to a healthy diet. Produce starts losing nutrients the moment it is harvested. Heavily processed foods have most of their nutrients cooked out of them, and the difference in the flavour between fresh and even a couple of days old, is astounding. Anyone who grew up eating nothing but fresh picked fruits and vegetables never forgets it.
When my older daughter met her husband, he had a typical North American diet, heavy on the pre-prepared supermarket foods and fast food restaurants. He had a range of health problems which required expensive medications, and he could stand to lose a few pounds. Seven years later, my son-in-law is 20 pounds lighter, all of his gastro-intestinal problems are gone, and he is no longer taking any medications.
My youngest daughter's boyfriend moved in with us when his parents moved out of the city. He had a "sensitive stomach" and frequently suffered from an upset stomach, especially if he ate spicy food. Our kitchen motto is "from fresh and from scratch" as much as possible. Snack foods are fresh fruit - apples, grapes, bananas, oranges. After a year, he no longer has a sensitive stomach, enjoys spicy foods and hasn't even purchased stomach medications since his original supply ran out.
My husband and recently spent the weekend at our retirement property, and I told him where we'll put our kitchen garden when we move there permanently. It's one way we can cut our food costs when we're both retired. Plus it's good exercise and it's fun. There is something about getting your hands into the soil that is nourishing to the soul. I cannot explain why.
Those of us who insist on high quality food, do so for our health, not just our taste buds.
After my father died, I was the only kid still at home, and it was my job to do the gardening as Mom could no longer do it and once again, we could not have eaten well if we hadn't grown our own produce in the summer. Although when my Dad died, Mom had a freezer, which made preserving the vegetables even easier.
Fresh produce is the key to a healthy diet. Produce starts losing nutrients the moment it is harvested. Heavily processed foods have most of their nutrients cooked out of them, and the difference in the flavour between fresh and even a couple of days old, is astounding. Anyone who grew up eating nothing but fresh picked fruits and vegetables never forgets it.
When my older daughter met her husband, he had a typical North American diet, heavy on the pre-prepared supermarket foods and fast food restaurants. He had a range of health problems which required expensive medications, and he could stand to lose a few pounds. Seven years later, my son-in-law is 20 pounds lighter, all of his gastro-intestinal problems are gone, and he is no longer taking any medications.
My youngest daughter's boyfriend moved in with us when his parents moved out of the city. He had a "sensitive stomach" and frequently suffered from an upset stomach, especially if he ate spicy food. Our kitchen motto is "from fresh and from scratch" as much as possible. Snack foods are fresh fruit - apples, grapes, bananas, oranges. After a year, he no longer has a sensitive stomach, enjoys spicy foods and hasn't even purchased stomach medications since his original supply ran out.
My husband and recently spent the weekend at our retirement property, and I told him where we'll put our kitchen garden when we move there permanently. It's one way we can cut our food costs when we're both retired. Plus it's good exercise and it's fun. There is something about getting your hands into the soil that is nourishing to the soul. I cannot explain why.
Those of us who insist on high quality food, do so for our health, not just our taste buds.
