Why Real Healthy Food Tastes So Good

Today I'm being a little introspective, as I was inspired this morning to explore something. I was sitting on my porch in the sun, eating a sourdough Wasa cracker with small slices of locally made raw milk Gouda from my CSA share - a perfect combination of crisp & creamy, salty & nutty. Each bite tasted so wholesome and complete - I could practically feel my body thanking me. I had started off with half of a container of ripe, sweet purple raspberries, and as I finished my second cracker and the last of the cheese, I realized that was all I wanted for breakfast. So that's all I had.

Lettuces (Photo credit: AlyssssylA)

As I was eating, I pondered how perfect everything tasted, and thought about how so many people think "healthy" food is bland, tasteless, or just plain tastes bad. I realized this is because what people usually think of as healthy food often really does!

The problem is that many of us have forgotten what real food is supposed to taste like. If you go by what you find on the grocery store shelves, yeah, maybe the "healthy" stuff doesn't taste so great. With the produce section filled with bland, waxed, under ripe fruits and vegetables picked who knows how long ago, and the common presumption that the "low fat" or nonfat version of everything is the healthiest, you're right - it's not so tasty.  But the difference between a grocery store tomato, and one picked ripe from your own garden in the summer sun, is (almost literally) comparing apples & oranges. The difference between the bag of chopped iceberg lettuce and shredded red cabbage (graying around the edges) from Kroger, and the salad bowl full of 7 kinds of mixed lettuce and greens picked from the garden yesterday (or this morning) that I get in my CSA share every week...well, one can't even hold a candle to the other - and it doesn't take a genius to know which one tastes better.

This year was the first time I added the cheese option to my CSA share, and although I almost didn't do it (it was pretty expensive), I was almost instantly addicted. The rich, tangy, flavorful variety of cheeses I got to experience bore no resemblance to the uniform orange shrink-wrapped rectangular blocks from the supermarket (and don't get me wrong - I  love cheese, of almost all kinds). Plus, they were made locally, using fresh milk from local farms, and contained no preservatives, artificial coloring, or any such junk. Each variety contained only milk (goat, cow, or a combination), salt, enzymes, and cultures. And each was totally different from the other. From salty, dry Feta, with a fresh taste never experienced with store-bought Feta (which I usually love), to soft goat cheese gently smoked and rolled in spicebush berries, to creamy, mild Gouda, each week was a new taste sensation to experience.

Not to mention the wide variety of fresh vegetables that fill my refrigerator - all grown and harvested within a couple of hours from me, usually the day before. Swiss chard (which, by the way, can be bitter after being refrigerated a few days, so if you tried chard from the store and didn't like it, this may be why), salad mix, mushrooms, sprouts, spinach, carrots, sweet potatoes, garlic, radishes, herbs, the list goes on - all of these much fresher, sweeter, and downright tastier than anything you'll find in the grocery store produce section.

CSA Box - Week of April 30 - May 6 (Photo credit: Suzies Farm)

This is real food - whole, natural, unadulterated - grown organically in good, natural soil, picked recently, and delivered to me within hours. And boy does it ever taste good!! And the health and nutrition factor also just can't compare. Vitamins don't survive long after harvesting. Most grocery store vegetables (especially those that are cut) have lost the majority of their nutrients by the time you put them in your cart.

The same is true with other foods too - though. Fresh milk - lightly pasteurized (or raw, if you can get it) tastes nothing like the watery stuff in the plastic jugs sitting in rows in the refrigerator cases at Giant Eagle. Fresh bread, warm from the oven (even the plain old Walmart kind) has no resemblance to the bland uniform slices in the packaged bread aisle. Or try whole grain sprouted bread for a real taste (and nutrition) treat!

And I don't guess I need to even mention the proverbial apples and oranges, as nowhere is the sad lack of flavor more evident than in mass-produced supermarket fruit.

All that said, maybe I couldn't pay you enough to eat a Wasa cracker. And I do admit they are pretty bland and tasteless. I just love them for some reason! But in general, real, whole, fresh foods are not only the healthiest, but also the best tasting foods you'll find anywhere. If you're trying to eat healthier, try joining a local CSA and see just how good healthy can really taste. Or for the ultimate in fresh, grow (or cook) your own!

For some helpful resources, just visit the links below.

Finding a CSA: http://www.newholisticliving.com/csa.html
Growing your own food: http://www.newholisticliving.com/sustainablegardening.html
Cooking from scratch: http://www.newholisticliving.com/cookingfromscratch.html

Organic Products and Raw & Living Foods

Fortunately for those of us newly interested in eating organic and fresh or raw foods, there are lots of products out there. Natural and organic foods used to be found only in natural food stores, and those could be few and far between. While not as ubiquitous as McDonald’s, there ARE many more stand-alone stores. And the grocery chains are catching on too, with more organic selections than ever before. If you don’t see them in your grocery store, just ask. You’re probably not the only person in your neighborhood who’d like to see more of these options.

Many grocery stores now feature sprouts and other living foods in the produce aisle. Of course, if they don’t, there’s nothing easier to grow for yourself than sprouts!

Image via Wikipedia

There are also tons of sites on the Web where you can order raw and living foods. Just do a search on raw foods and you’ll come up with a lot of different places to order the foods you’d like to buy. Many of these sites are also full of useful information, to help you learn about eating raw and living foods, and help educate you on the specific food values. (You may also wish to join a local CSA or frequent your local farmer's market - a great source of fresher foods with more nutrients. A CSA may even deliver a weekly share of fresh produce to your door. For more info on CSAs, visit http://www.newholisticliving.com/csa.html.)

What else? Experiment with what you like. Take the time to learn a little about what the different nutrients in foods do for you. Just a few examples:

Cabbage – High in Vitamin C; important for healthy cell function.

Shitake mushrooms – contain essential fatty acids and antioxidants to support a healthy immune system (I get these in my CSA every week - they are awesome!)

Kale – Rich in fiber and helps reduce calorie intake with less hunger. We like that! (Another common CSA item.)

Barley – Loaded with niacin, fiber and iron and is important for healthy blood sugar.

Pumpkin – Very rich in fiber and vitamins; also helps reduce appetite by filling the stomach with indigestible fibers.