- I do my best to avoid refined sugar (think white sugar, cane-sugar, evaporated cane juice, high fructose corn syrup, molasses, dextrose, etc.), modern wheat, soy, pasteurized dairy & cheese and commercial chicken eggs. Read: I am not perfect!
- My family has no plans of going grain-free totally. However, our baby (and any future babies) will not have grain until after he is a year old and at that point only healthy ancient and sprouted grains. (I talk about grains more extensively in my Real Food Resources page.) I also believe it is helpful to go off grains/gluten for a time, and have done so before. That means for the most part tho, that we are not “gluten free”. There are delicious, real grains that are healthful to the body in moderation.
- I make healthy, hubby-tested and approved recipes that include desserts. My sweeteners of choice are raw local NY honey, maple syrup, maple sugar (dried maple syrup), coconut sugar and Xylitol. I have tried powdered stevia, but find it has a funky aftertaste. I’m just starting to experiment with liquid stevia.
- We are not dairy-free. The Bible speaks of the promised land flowing with milk and honey (yum!). We buy raw milk (oh my goodness) from a local farmer, organic butter and raw organic cheeses like: mozzarella, jack, colby, feta-style, baby swiss, cheddar, parmesean, romano and asiago cheeses either from Wegmans, other local markets or online at Farmstead Fresh. Do you get phlegm in the back of your throat or have to clear it often after drinking store-bought, pasteurized milk? If so and if you can, I highly recommend trying raw milk. My hubby, who had no health complaints, noticed a huge difference just in changing that.
- We are not legume free. We love our black bean mess, chili, and most definitely organic natural peanut butter. All of the above are good sources of protein, fiber, folates (B vitamin), potassium, iron, zinc, calcium, and they’re rich in antioxidants.
- We buy grass-fed beef and chicken from a local farmer, but if need be in a pinch we buy organic meat from the grocery store, or meat from a local market.
- We eat sweet potatoes, unsweetened cultured yogurt, organic nitrite/nitrate free bacon when we can find it, coconut oil, organic heirloom blue potatoes from our CSA, tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, Real Salt sea salt and on occasion organic raisins. 😉 On that note, we don’t ‘fit’ into any diet out there. This is a ‘real food’ diet. I’ve found that for just about everything we used to eat, there is a healthy sub for it and often it’s even better! Thanks for joining us on the journey! If I didn’t answer a question you had here or if you’d like to share part of your journey, I’d love to hear from you. Feel free to message me or comment! 🙂
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