It's Not What You Eat but What You Don't Eat

Have you ever made a trip through the grocery store and read each label you throw into your cart? Have you ever watched television and found yourself excited at the prospect of a “healthy” desert... one that has high protein, low sugar, flax seed. Have you ever noticed how often the actual product of “healthiness” as the government or scientists define it changes from year to year?

At Nate’s request, we have been on what you might call a health kick for some years now. Maybe we have even jumped over the deep end of ridiculous. (Smile) To sum up our diet I would say we try our best to eat whole foods and foods that have been around longer than the 1900’s. So many changes have taken place in American food in the recent decades that much of what we eat only vaguely resembles the food that God created for us. As we have decided to do our best to eat whole foods we have made a big effort to cut out everything that is highly processed such as everything “white” (rice, flour, sugar), all unnatural fats (vegetable oils such as corn, soybean, rape seed which is better known as canola), fake/chemical foods, and sugar (white, brown, raw, organic).

Since we have changed our diet for so many years now it is becoming readily apparent when we eat something that has a negative effect on us. Previously we may have felt a little sleepy in the morning after having ice cream the night before and would have thought nothing of it. Now, however, we usually feel quit chipper and awake in the morning so the post-desert morning sluggishness seems to have a spotlight glaring on it. We also typically enjoy a complaint free digestive system so a small bit of discomfort is readily apparent.

We are currently on a week-long work trip with Nathan and consequently enjoying hotel breakfasts (that I don’t have to cook...), restaurant lunches (that I don’t have to cook...) and restaurant dinners (that I don’t have to cook...). I thoroughly enjoy looking at a menu with dozens of options, selecting one that looks absolutely delicious, and reclining in my chair as it is prepared and brought to me. Getting up and leaving the dirty dishes is yet another lovely perk of this unreal life I am enjoying. I love it! However, I have discovered some of the not-so-great aspects, the main one being that it is nearly impossible to eat whole, traditional foods!

The lack of whole traditional food options doesn’t seem that awful at first glance but I am truly waking in the morning and regretting those delicious tortilla chips I ate, that amazingly moist piece of cake with the wonderful cream cheese frosting, and yesterday’s pre-cooked cheese omelet that is so popular for its super brief cooking directions - pop in the microwave or oven by the dozens and feed a whole hotel at once. You see, I am carrying a small wonder that is due to arrive in December and morning sickness would like to knock at my door and allow itself unapproved entrance. While we were at home I was pleased to note that although I got a bit queasy when my stomach was empty, eating a slice of homemade bread with real, golden butter on it would bring me back to feeling fantastic in moments. Now that I am at the mercy of these wonderful menus I am having a bit less success at quick calming of the intermittent nausea. Last night seems to have been one of the worst. Nathan and I were talking about it this morning wondering what it was that we ate yesterday that caused the grief myself and some of the others were enduring last night. (I had the beginnings of what seemed like a migraine headache (very rare here) as did some of the little guys and I woke feeling quite nauseous this morning). After thinking back over the things we ate and comparing those with the history we have been collecting over the years we think the culprit was as simple as tortilla chips and salad dressing! We have limited the sweets in our life knowing, as so many others, that sweets are not good for us. With such widespread awareness of the negative affects of sugar on our bodies we have always thought that the worst of our ailments could be attributed to the occasions when we eat this scrumptious treat. However, that was not the case yesterday and a quick recollection of the past months reminded us that there were other times when we felt badly that we hadn’t eaten any sugar or large quantities of processed flour. The conclusion we find ourselves reaching is that we have a greater negative affect from bad fats than we have from sugars! Yikes!

This trip has been bringing a daily challenge of picking the most wholesome meal off the menu as well as ample opportunity to see the endless TV adds for food. These opportunities have put my mind to thinking about some of the pitfalls of both american food and american advertising. Both at the grocery store and on TV I have noticed a big push towards catch words and phrases. A few you may recognize would be low sugar, sugar free, high protein, whole grain, whey protein, raw, and organic among others. These phrases are preying upon our tendency to try and eat the right things - focusing on what we do eat. If you read labels, however, you would notice that although there may be whole grains in that granola bar, it is tucked deep in the ingredient list and follows the sweetener, which most likely is some kind of organic cane juice better known as sugar. These contemplations led me to decided that my eating should be more of what I do not eat rather than what I do eat.

Let me explain what I mean. If I were to buy something based off of what I do eat then the olive oil (which is one of the better oils) mayonnaise would hop into my card without a second thought. Since I have pinpointed a number of foods I will not eat I read the label and realize that although there is olive oil, the main oil is soybean oil which is not good for me in the least. Bye, bye olive oil mayonnaise! I recently read how some truly health conscious companies are thinking of avoiding the term organic. I was a bit skeptical at first but now I see their reasoning. If I were to buy bread because it is organic I might very likely be buying a loaf of bread made with white flour and sugar - two things I try to avoid.

From the researching we have done, it is apparent that there are actually very few foods to avoid - fake food (food colorings, chemicals, chemically altered foods - who wants to eat Butylated Hydroxyanisole anyways?), “white” or processed foods (foods with white or all-purpose in their name indicating their natural color along with the nutrients those colors represent have been stripped from them), altered/detached sugars (any sweetener that is not in it original state which includes most “healthful” sugars as even they require lengthly processing and don’t resemble their original state in any way) and vegetable oils/new fats (those that didn’t exist prior to 1900 which includes most of the oils and fats on the grocery store shelves).

I have only listed four main categories to avoid but, sadly enough, this eliminates most of the grocery store along with most of the delicious items on the menus I have been perusing lately. The fun part though, is that these are the only three things you need to remember! What is left of the grocery store is real food and from our experience these “left-over” foods all leave us feeling fantastic, able to easily maintain a great body weight, and full of energy.

Now for the most important part! (Smile) This is the Schauerhause disclaimer... We do what we do because we love it and personally feel compelled to do it and in no way do we expect others to feel compelled to follow us especially if it in any way causes contention in your home! Happy eating and, for the record, we love the taste of desserts!