Eat natural food
Why I eat natural
Natural and unprocessed foods are at the heart of my diet lifestyle. At times I’ll sound like a hippie, but I’m ok with that. The hippies are on to something.
I believe our bodies work best with the most natural fuel sources. Our bodies have evolved to excel and grow with the natural foods of the earth. Our bodies are not prepared to handle foods that are processed or contain non-natural ingredients. For that reason, I want the food I eat to be as close to nature as possible.
Because I believe in this mindset, and I feel significantly better when eating natural, it has become a core part of my eating strategy.
Mostly all food I consume is organic, non-gmo, and free of pesticides, antibiotics, and hormones. I have hand picked providers for most of the foods we eat in the house. Foods that go through any type of unnatural processing or have unclear ingredients are avoided. I’m very particular and dedicated to my ‘banned ingredients’ list.
Why do I care so much? I can feel the the natural diet when I go out to restaurants. Restaurants understandably have less care for buying their food organic and their meats grass fed. There is also widespread seed oil and unnatural ingredient use where I live. When I go to a restaurants, there is a very high likelihood that I’m breaking my banned ingredient list... and I can feel it.
I never have an uncomfortable stomach or lack of energy after a home cooked meal. Never.
I have an uncomfortable stomach or lack of energy after eating restaurant (around 50% of the time).
My newest favorite place to eat is my house. I find a lot of happiness in eating a delicious meal that is makes me feel great. When I’m in full control of the ingredients, I can amplify the deliciousness and still feel great afterwards.
What I look for
I look for these words when I am buying food
Small and understandable ingredient list
- I should be able to understand the entire ingredient list
- I should be able to purchase each ingredient on the list from a market
Fruits, vegetables, grains
- Organic
- Non-GMO
Chicken and eggs
- Pasture raised
- Hormone and antibiotic free
- Organic
Meat
- Grass fed
- Hormone and antibiotic free
- Organic
Sourcing natural foods
I was fortunate to find a local ranch near me that supplies me with most of the items from the list. Everything above with a * is from the local ranch, which shares the same “natural foods” mindset I have.
Cows are grass fed, chickens are pasture raised. No antibiotics, no additives, no hormones, no vaccines, all natural animals in a natural environment.
The quality is excellent and I have peace of mind that my food comes from a source that cares about what I'm eating. They deliver to my front door weekly. I highly recommend you look for a local ranch or farm near you. Do a few Google searches! You may be surprised with what you find.
My "no" ingredients
No sugar
Avoid sugar in all forms. I don't only avoid the ingredient "sugar" because there are over 60 other words that mean sugar! What the 😤Sugar is disguised many different ingredients.
Basic Simple Sugars:
- Dextrose
- Fructose
- Galactose
- Glucose
- Lactose
- Maltose
- Sucrose
Solid or Granulated Sugars:
- Beet sugar
- Brown sugar
- Cane juice crystals
- Cane sugar
- Castor sugar
- Coconut sugar
- Confectioner's sugar (aka, powdered sugar)
- Corn syrup solids
- Crystalline fructose
- Date sugar
- Demerara sugar
- Dextrin
- Diastatic malt
- Ethyl maltol
- Florida crystals
- Golden sugar
- Glucose syrup solids
- Grape sugar
- Icing sugar
- Maltodextrin
- Muscovado sugar
- Panela sugar
- Raw sugar
- Sugar (granulated or table)
- Sucanat
- Turbinado sugar
- Yellow sugar
Liquid or Syrup Sugars:
- Agave Nectar/Syrup
- Barley malt
- Blackstrap molasses
- Brown rice syrup
- Buttered sugar/buttercream
- Caramel
- Carob syrup
- Corn syrup
- Evaporated cane juice
- Fruit juice
- Fruit juice concentrate
- Golden syrup
- High-Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)
- Honey
- Invert sugar
- Malt syrup
- Maple syrup
- Molasses
- Rice syrup
- Refiner's syrup
- Sorghum syrup
- Treacle
That's a lot of names for sugar. I don't eat any of them because of their influence on glucose spikes and insulin release.
No vegetable and seed oils
I choose to avoid most oils because of the way they are processed. Most seed oils are ultraprocessed.
Cooking with these oils at high heat can potentially oxidize the oil, which is terrible for us. Seed oils in their most pure form may be OK, but they are likely processed by the time they get to the market.
I avoid vegetable and seed oils in all forms, 100% of the time.
- Vegetable oil
- Canola oil (Rapeseed oil)
- Corn oil
- Cottonseed
- Grapeseed oil
- Soybean oil
- Sunflower oil
- Safflower oil
- Peanut oil
Dropping seed oils means dropping most packaged snacks. Seed oils are added to many packaged food products. As someone who wants to get as close to natural food as possible, avoiding most packaged snacks is a great lifestyle decision.
When I go to restaurants and my stomach feels uncomfortable, my top suspect is the vegetable and seed oil used to cook.
No hydrogenated trans fat
Hydrogenated and partially-hydrogenated oil was created to keep foods fresher for longer. Hydrogenation is a process where manufacturers add hydrogen to a liquid fat, such as vegetable oil, to turn it into a solid fat at room temperature.
The problem is that hydrogenated oil is known to be very harmful to the body. It’s ultra processed.
Anything with trans fat or any type of hydrogenated oil is a hard “no”.