So as I pointed out in first entry, I am planning to take a major step in my eating habits, starting in June: I plan to try to only eat food that I have made myself, from scratch, and eschew all processed foods.
I realize this will be hard. Like, super hard. I honestly may not even be up for it. But I'm sure as hell gonna try.
So, to answer the important burning questions: Why am I doing this? Why start eating only homemade food?
Let me first say that I am not a conspiracy theorist. I don't think that some shadowy entity has duped us all into eating cheese product and soy everything and whatever they put in "chicken" nuggets. There are lots of things commonly found in pre-processed and pre-packaged food these days that are undoubtedly not all that healthy, but I think the reasons they go largely unchallenged have more to do with a free market economy and general nutritional ignorance than some kind of global conspiracy to make us all fat.
That being said, I think very few of us take much time to really examine what's in the food we eat. Studies on the harm of things like high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils are not exactly being enthusiastically funded, so I won't make any scientific claims here, but I think the correlation between the rise of such food substitutes and preservatives and the width of the average American waistline should not be dismissed. I consider this homemade food experiment a way to examine how my own body responds to food that lacks these chemicals. I am NOT expecting some kind of miracle diet here, but I admit that the potential health benefits of eating unprocessed food are a major player.
Another aspect of why I want to try only eating food I make myself is the concept of eating mindfully. This idea promotes eating without distraction, taking time to appreciate and savor one's food instead of absently scarfing down meals while staring at a screen (guilt as charged...). Mindful eating focuses mostly on the consuming end of things, but I think a lot of benefits can be had from "mindful cooking," that is, knowing exactly what ingredients and more importantly how much time and effort went into creating the food on your plate. I think cooking it all at home will force me to be aware of the food that I buy, that I cook, and that I eat, and how to make the best of all those processes.
So, that's the why. What about how? How exactly will this whole plan work? What will you eat? What won't you eat? What's the reasoning here?
The basic answer is that I'm about to seriously increase my grocery bill! But mostly it just means that all my food will either be something that requires no cooking or processing, like a nice juicy apple, or a meal or snack I can cook for myself at home.
The breakdown of what I will and won't eat is still a little fuzzy right now. I have definitively ruled out some foods and committed to cooking others from scratch. There are others I am still on the fence about, and may make a decision later on in the experiment.
First, the verboten: Obviously restaurants and fast food places are out. I may, due to politeness and social obligation, end up visiting some of these places, but that will be the exception, not the rule. Also ruled out are most snack foods, cereal, juice, pudding, and pretty much anything that comes out of a vending machine.
Some things I plan to continue eating, with homemade versions: Bread, sauces and condiments, some snack foods, peanut butter, baked goods, and probably others as I think of them.
There are some other foods I could make one day but I just don't currently have the time, equipment, or let's face it, in some cases the willpower, to make at home. In these cases, I plan to buy these at a store, but will take pains to purchase brands that minimize chemicals and preservatives. Some of those foods are: jelly, ice cream, pasta, cheese, and I'm sure some other stuff I will think of riiiiight before I eat it.
So them's the basics. I have a lot of thoughts about this eating homemade experiment, but this post is already too long, so I will save them for another time.
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