Food Independence for Newbies: 3 Tips (Healthy Living DIY)

Happy Independence Day to all of my US readers! One of my most appreciated freedoms living in this country at the present time is the many options we still have regarding where our food comes from. Citizens of many other regions can say the same. We're all fortunate.

I suppose it can't go without saying that food choices are an integral part of anybody's healthy living plan. In fact, if we were to spell out a "gold standard" for healthy food choices, here are the basics that many of us would like to begin with:

1. Eat a variety of foods
2. Produced locally, in the same region you live in
3. Grown in fertile soil
4. With no chemical herbicides or chemical fertilizers involved
5. Freshly harvested or naturally preserved
6. By someone whose lifestyle and growing practices you are familiar with

It's a tall order, but a worthwhile goal to work toward. Most of us won't make that goal tomorrow, but this isn't a black and white issue. If last year you met the "gold standard" goal 10% of the time and this year you make 20%, then you're moving in the right direction.

But what if you're a complete newbie? Someone whose best sense of healthy cooking is a box of Hamburger Helper prepared at home? What if the list I just made comes as a complete surprise? What if you just picked up Kevin Trudeau's "More Natural Cures..." book and heard him say: "Do not eat any food produced or sold by a publicly traded corporation or a "brand name" product?" (Pg. 268)

Where is a motivated newbie supposed to start?

Here are 3 simple tips you can use right now to get moving in a healthier direction:

1. Grow something yourself. I realize it's not practical for everyone to produce all or even most of their own food. Our culture is too diverse and we need people's talents in other areas. If we were all required to produce our own food, we'd never get much else done! It's labor intensive and skill-based.

Yet...

There is something unreplicatable about picking a fresh piece of produce out of your garden and using it for dinner tonight. It's more than just the fresh taste. There's a true sense of connection with nature and the source of your food that you want to get organically set in your body. The best way I know of to make that happen is to grow something yourself.

Even if you live in an apartment with just a window for sunlight ... put some herbs in a pot and season with them. Plunk a cherry tomato plant in a container on your patio. Find some community garden space. Or, if you can, convert a sunny little corner of the yard to veggies. Just a few. Eat them freshly picked and you'll start to get what I mean.

2. Make a field trip to your local farmer's market. Up here in the northern reaches of the country where I live, our local farmer's market opens next week. Down south, they're well into the season already.

While you're there, find a friendly-looking vendor with healthy-looking veggies and try some out. Chat a bit if you can; find out if they spray their garden with herbicides or insecticides before you buy. You can't tell by looking and not all small organic growers go to the trouble and expense of aquiring the certification required to post a sign.

3. Begin to consider where your store-bought food comes from. Comes from as in,"Where exactly is the field that pea was grown in?" Organic is important, but so is where the product was produced, by whom, and under what growing practices. If you really trust the Jolly Green Big Guy (he is cute, isn't he?), then find out why.

A quick visit to the General Mills website will be enough to convince you of their commitment to increasing shareholder value for their investors. Yet what do you know about the soil those peas were grown in, the cleanliness of the water they were irrigated with, and the nature of the pesticides, herbicides, and preservatives that also arrived on your shelf in that well-presented can?

When I visited the website, I was able to easily learn that General Mills' fiscal 2007 results exceeded their targets, but I could not find answers to the second set of questions.

I don't mean to pick on a particular company ... I have nothing against General Mills. Only to suggest that as health-minded consumers, perhaps we could pay a little more attention to how we feed ourselves. And I feel relatively safe in suggesting that the average American's kitchen shelves most likely house more than a few products produced by this particular company.

Ok, well in my area of the country it's too early yet for fresh corn on the cob. But I've got some fresh romaine and leaf lettuce that might be a really nice addition to today's festivities. Have a good one, wherever the holiday finds you!

Elizabeth Eckert can help you explore how simple everyday choices create health — or undermine even the best of intentions. With a background that ranges from energy medicine to structural bodywork to developmental psychology, this "Stick-To-It Coach" has the experience to support you in creating the healthiest possible expression of — you!

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