Tag Archives: additive-free

How to Eat “REAL” at Social Gatherings

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Do you ever feel like you have to choose between fellowship with friends and family or maintaining your dietary preferences? Does it seem unfair that every social situation revolves around food that you can’t (or aren’t willing to) eat?

In her guest post below, Heather Smith shares with us a few of her tips for handling these situations. So what about you? Have you ever encountered this dilemma? What tips do you have for dealing with these situations? We’d love to hear from you in the comments section below….

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“Chances are you have a group of friends that like to meet up every once in a while to socialize and catch up, however not everyone shares the same “real foods” lifestyle that you do. This doesn’t mean you have to skip out on the next hang out session, it’s learning how to make do with what you have and work it so that you still stick to your choices:

  • Eat beforehand: Sometimes it is just easier to plan ahead and decide to eat beforehand. The main reason you are meeting up with your friends is to enjoy their company and talk. Eat a solid meal before you meet up and sip on some water once you arrive. Plus, it saves money!
  • Modify: Find out where the meeting place is and view the menu beforehand. Try to find something on the menu that would be easy to modify to fit your specifications and needs. Most restaurants are happy to please their customers by doing so.
  • Host it: Instead of going out to meet, offer to host a get together at your own home and provide the food. Hosting the get together will help you have full control over the menu and what is being served. You may have a mess to clean up afterwards, but definitely a mess you are willing to make.
  • Pick it: Throw out some suggestions to your friends of places that you like and that they may like. Chances are if you are the first one to give their opinion the faster everyone will be on board with your idea.
  • Pot luck: Another way to ensure that your diet is not being tainted, offer to go pot luck at your next gathering. Not only is this helpful to the host but it’s a fun way for everyone to get involved. Be sure that your dish is hearty and plentiful.

Eating real in social gatherings is really easy; it just requires that you plan ahead. Find out the location beforehand and view the menu or offer to help host or bring a dish to the next hang out. Remember the real reason you are meeting up with your friends and don’t let the food waiver your decision to see them. Have fun catching up and enjoy!”

Author Bio
Heather Smith is an ex-nanny. Passionate about thought leadership and writing, Heather regularly contributes to various career, social media, public relations, branding, and parenting blogs/websites. She also provides value to www.nanny.net/ service by giving advice on site design as well as the features and functionality to provide more and more value to nannies and families across the U.S. and Canada. She can be available at H.smith7295 [at] gmail.com.

“Living Abroad: My Personal Revelation about Real Foods”

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In the guest post below, Mariana Ashley shares with us her story of how it took living in another country for her to truly understand what it meant to eat a natural diet composed of REAL foods – – truly real foods; not the pseudo-“natural” processed stuff promoted by much of the American food industry.

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“If you live in America, you know how difficult it can be to maintain a diet completely composed of whole, unadulterated foods. Of course, the slow food, green movement that’s blossomed in America over the past decade or so has made it easier in some ways, but there’s just as much marketing of supposedly “healthy, natural” foods that has served only to confuse consumers who want to live a genuinely natural lifestyle.

After years of subsisting on American staples, eating fast food several times a week, going out for dinner, etc., my mother tried to switch things up by committing to natural, organic foods. Unfortunately, most of these foods were processed and packaged, and they paid only lip service to natural foods. If it was labeled natural, organic, or diet, my mother–God bless her–just assumed it was healthy and wholesome.

It wasn’t until I studied abroad in Russia my junior year of college that I realized what it means to actually consume “real food.” Of course, don’t get me wrong—there are plenty of McDonald’s and other American fast food chains in Russia, and there were lots of food items at the grocery store that were far from being healthy or unprocessed. But in Russia, especially outside very urban areas, eating whole foods is far from being an expression of trendiness as it is in many parts of the developed, Westernized world. It’s just a fact of life.

Grocery stores in Russia are very unassuming places. Most of them are the size of convenient stores in America and carry only the essentials, like milk, eggs, cheese, a few selections of meat and produce. If the vegetables and fruits are not in season, they don’t carry them. For most items, there are only two or three brands available at the most. Some items, like milk, had only one choice. The simple, red-and-white label read “Milk.” No skim, no two percent, no brand label with pictures and marketing. Just milk.

For someone like me, who is completely overwhelmed by the overabundance of brand choice in your typical American grocery store, going to a Russian grocery store became an actually enjoyable experience precisely because of this simplicity. Look at your typical grocery store item in Russia, and you could bet your bottom dollar that the number of listed ingredients could be counted on one hand.

Most Russian families make quick trips to these grocery stores. When it came to purchasing items for making full-fledged meals, it was off to one of the many outdoor markets, which is an experience in and of itself. The Russian family I lived with loved food and loved the bonding experience endemic to meal times in your typical Russian home. I’d never experienced anything like it.

In America, it almost seems that families eat together out of a certain sense of anxiety about the breakdown of family values. Children and teens in America cannot wait to leave the table and get on with their lives on their cell phones or televisions. In Russia, at least in my experience, the whole family, both young and old, genuinely enjoyed meal times. There were always several courses, dessert, beer, wine, or vodka for the adults, free-flowing conversation, banter, joking—in a word, joy.

And it was through this experience of living abroad in a culture that doesn’t fetishize real food but actually and truly enjoys it—partly because they don’t really have much of a choice–that I learned to embrace whole foods. I’ve carried with me this Russian gusto for real food and meaningful conversation, and it’s truly changed my life.”

About the Author

Mariana Ashley is a blogger and freelance writer, whose posts offer a college guide and news for prospective students and parents. She also enjoys writing about sustainable living, parenting, personal finance, and more. She welcomes comments via email at mariana.ashley031@gmail.com.

From Pain to Purpose: My Journey from Fibromyalgia to Food

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“Fibromyalgia” stole several years of my life. In 2002 (at age 25), my health began to deteriorate. I was extremely weak and fatigued, and I was in so much pain that some days it was all I could do to get out of bed. Among other symptoms, I suffered from digestive distress, sleep disturbances, chest pain, and an intermittent racing heart beat. After more than 15 different prescription medications, never-ending appointments with various specialists and more than a handful of diagnostic procedures, I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia.

I was in constant pain – many days it was too painful even to hug my own husband. On good days, I felt like I was 90 years old. On bad days, I felt like I should be in the hospital. I was in pure misery, suffering from an “invisible illness” for which there was no treatment, no cure and no known cause. In 2005, after much consideration, I resigned – I resigned from my position as Executive Director of the after-school program that I adored, and I resigned myself to the medical “fact” that I would suffer with chronic, untreatable pain for the rest of my life. (Click here if you’d like to read about my illness and recovery in much more detail.)

Fortunately, in 2007 I stumbled upon some books that changed my life forever. Among other things, I learned that there are ingredients in processed foods (e.g., high-fructose corn syrup, MSG, artificial colors/sweeteners) that are making people sick and are often hidden on food labels under innocent-sounding ingredient names like “natural flavor” and “yeast extract.” This information made such an impact on my husband and me that we immediately purged our kitchen of convenience foods and mystery ingredients. We started eating only those foods which we could clearly identify as having come from a plant or animal in nature. And in just a couple of months, ALL of my Fibromyalgia symptoms were gone – completely gone! In fact, I now feel better and have more energy than most people I know!

It sounds so silly, but I never realized before just how good we should all feel. We should sleep well, feel great and have all of the energy we need to do all of the things we want to do. Each of us deserves that! People need a wake-up call – we truly are what we eat, and we need to make a conscious decision about what we are putting into our bodies. I’m not saying we need to spend half of our paychecks on obscure berries from distant lands; but we do need to stop eating FAKE food and return to eating things that are grown in nature rather than invented in a lab.

The Standard American diet is destroying our health! Meanwhile, we are bombarded with unhealthy messages and advertisements for junk food; and eating has been turned into such a “rocket science” that it’s no wonder folks feel defeated before they even get to the grocery store. Low fat? Low calories? High protein? Biggest meal at night? Biggest meal at breakfast? It’s enough to drive a person insane! Unfortunately, what most experts fail to advise is that what matters most is what’s in the ingredients list of what we eat!

Even when folks come to the realization that processed food is bad, they often have no idea how to make changes or what to eat instead! So I have dedicated my life to teaching people how to read ingredients labels, how to shop for and prepare REAL foods, how to use various kitchen equipment, etc.

I know that these changes aren’t easy and there are a million-and-one “reasons” why you “can’t” do it. Believe me! Just five years ago, I was eating fast food, candy, diet pop and frozen dinners. I was the stereotypical American “junk food junkie.” Unless I needed to lose a few pounds – then I was a calorie-conscious crash dieter. (I used to think that calories, carbs and fat grams were all that mattered and that if I wasn’t overweight, then I had nothing to be worried about. Boy was I wrong!!!) Five years ago, I had no idea how to cook! I was also battling a chronic illness and suffering from extreme fatigue, weakness and pain. So, if I can make these changes, anyone can!! There is nothing special about me that somehow made it easier for me to make these changes. After all, I hate doing dishes just as much as anyone else! It’s just a conscious decision that each of us must make – basically, you just have to want to change more than you want to stay the same.

This may sound cliché, but I know that everything happens for a reason. While suffering with Fibromyalgia, it was really hard to see any purpose in the pain. Now, I realize that I suffered for those years so that I could educate and inspire others to take charge of their diets and their health. So many people are so apathetic about what goes into their bodies – I was, too! Eating really shouldn’t be this complicated, and it is unfortunate that things have gotten to this point. It isn’t fair that food companies are allowed to add harmful ingredients to the food on unsuspecting consumers’ plates, and I am determined to do what I can to help people become more aware and make the necessary changes!

Although my particular symptoms were diagnosed as “Fibromyalgia,” you could insert countless other health conditions and get this same story and solution; and I’ve witnessed the transformation in many other people with a variety of ailments and diagnoses throughout the years. So if you’re still eating processed foods, I truly hope that you will consider this information and begin making changes in your own life.

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