I read an amazing book by Michael Pollan a few years ago called “The Omnivore’s Dilemma.” It was a book talking about the origins of where our food actually comes from. He talks about how most of modern food is from corn and soy beans – the farmers who grow corn and soybeans are heavily compensated by the government to keep prices low for consumers and manufacturing. So, corn and soybeans end up in everything – both are probably GMO‘s (genetically modified organisms) You can look at most of your packaged food and find such ingredients like high fructose corn syrup and other corn and soy derivatives.

Even our conventional beef is fed corn. A cow is not designed in nature to eat corn, it is designed to eat grass. So, I am going against the standard American diet (SAD) and am choosing to be grassfed – eating from the ground. For me, this consist of more of a primal diet. I eat fruits and vegetables, coconut oil and good healthy fats (our bodies need fat to function), pastured chicken, cage free eggs, grassfed beef, wild caught fish, nuts and seeds and a little whole milk organic dairy. I am just so happy that I just found a local source of chicken and beef. A general rule is to stay away from the center aisles at the grocery store and stick to the perimeters where you will find the least processed foods. We try to limit our grains as much as possible.

I personally find an 80-20 rule to be helpful. For my personality, I am very easy to fall into legalism and following the so called “rules” over enjoying life – So, for me the 80-20 rule doesn’t mean that I choose to relax everyday, but relaxing when it counts. Which with my personality sometimes it is good to relax every once in a while. But there are some things I just can’t relax about knowing what it does to me.

So when I relax it is usually a little dark chocolate : ) yummmmm.

So, what do we eat?

For breakfast, I eat a lot of eggs – not plain usually, though. We throw in some sauteed spinach or peppers in coconut oil and a little mozzarella cheese to make a skillet frittata. Usually I’ll eat some fruit with my eggs, the baby will eat yogurt or cottage cheese alongside her eggs or a banana.

Lunch is either leftovers or I make a huge “everything but the kitchen sink” salad with grilled chicken. I love avocado, mixed baby greens, some Annie’s dressing, feta cheese, dried cranberries, and tomatoes. For snacks either yogurt, berries, nuts, or another fruit and nut butter.

For dinner, we eat soups a lot in the winter time: white bean chicken chili, taco soup, green chicken curry, spaghetti squash with turkey marinara, black bean soup, grilled fish and vegetables. Pinterest.com has been a great tool for finding “grain-free” recipes and ideas. We found a very easy grain free pizza crust that is absolutely amazing! There are several ways to make cakes, cookies, and brownies grain free – which is great for a treat. I made the baby some coconut flour crackers the other day and she loved them! I need to tweek the recipe, though.

For more information of why modern “healthy” standards or the SAD may not be the best for your health I would recommend reading “Primal Blueprint”, Sally Fallon’s “Eat Fat, lose Fat”, and “The Maker’s Diet” by Jordan Rubin. I feel the key to health is getting back to nature and out of the laboratories concocting so called “food.”