Culinary Wellness 101

How can you create a nutrient dense kitchen from sourcing to cooking without spending thousands of dollars? Read on to find our simple and cost effective tips & tricks for those just starting the journey to total wellness! In this 3 part blog series, we start with sourcing and how to choose the most nutrient dense meats.

It can be hard in this day and age to grasp the importance of sourcing quality, local, sustainable food. When you are always on the go and need something of convenience, it is easy to put the importance of quality on the back burner. So, what is the big deal?

Let’s start with some of the impacts of sourcing food. As food becomes more readily available and shelf-stable the impacts are more detrimental than most of us realize. Because of faster production time and harvesting crops too early to sustain our population numbers, the nutrient value in the food and the soil itself increasingly drops. This in turn does damage to the planet - ouch! Animals that are conventionally raised suffer through inhumane living conditions, poor & unnatural diets, and are pumped full of antibiotics. If the old adage is true “you are what you eat,” think about what that animal ate and that is also now what you are eating and absorbing. When it comes to our fruits and vegetables conventional farming methods are causing a decrease in nutrient & mineral density in the soil and foods themselves. Plants are planted too close together, put in demineralized soil, and showered with chemicals to prevent bug infestation.

We have also lost the connection we once had with our food as we continue to move away from vegetable gardening at home, hunting, visiting butcher shops and mills.

One important way you can start on a limited budget with sourcing quality, local, sustainable food is to buy your produce from local farms that practice sustainable or regenerative agriculture. This means the soil will be more nutrient and mineral dense and the way they harvest prepares the earth in a healthy way for the next season. Visit your local farmer’s market and talk with the farmers. Get to know them and how they care for their farms. Most of them are extremely affordable, better tasting than grocery stores, and will be more nutrient dense. The next time you are at the store look at the produce and compare the color, smell, and texture to that of produce from a quality, local, sustainable farmer. You will begin to see the difference and that is the first step to reconnecting to our food and planet.

…to our second post in the series, Culinary Wellness 102, where we talk food prep! We include a recipe for soaking nuts for maximum nutrient absorption!