Real Food Kitchen Makeover Series: 5 things you can easily switch out

Real Food can be straight up overwhelming. There is so much information out there and much of it is conflicting. The best thing to do when you are beginning is to take baby steps. For me, it was switching from margarine to butter about 10 years ago and the rest of the changes I've made so far have come gradually over time. Keep in mind that any changes you make will make a difference in the long run. Do what you can and gradually make new changes as you go. Here are five changes you can make easily that will make a BIG impact!




Healthy Cooking Oils

If I had to choose one place to start on a real food journey, cooking oil would be what I would begin with. Modern day vegetable oil has claimed to be "heart healthy" for most of the time I've been alive. I mean, it's "vegetable oil" so it must be good for you right? What many people don't know is that once mainstream America began to replace traditional cooking fats with modern day solutions, the obesity trend began to climb. Millions of dollars have been spent to devalue butter, coconut oil and traditional fats like lard and tallow (think when McDonald's was pressured to switch to vegetable oil for their french fries). Nutrition is a relatively new science and what the mainstream experts are beginning to find out is that fat does not make us fat. Things like refined sugar, high fructose corn syrup and the various things we can't pronounce on food labels that are added to modern day convenience foods are the culprit. Low fat, low calorie foods unless they are naturally that way by nature always have something added to them to make them taste good and that something is usually sugar or sugar in disguise. Be wary of anything that says fat free or sugar free and check your labels.  I plan on doing individual posts over all of these, but here's the short version:

Olive Oil: use it for dressings and low heat sauteing. Olive oil used at a high heat will ruin the qualities that make it so healthy for you and will turn rancid like the vegetable oils on the shelf. You also need to make sure your olive oil is ACTUALLY olive oil (crazy). Until I can do an informational post over that, I will just tell you I have switched to olive oils from California. My wonderful mom brought me some from a farm in Northern California that I use in dressings, but you can also find oil from California Olive Ranch in Walmart these days.

Coconut Oil: Organic and unrefined is the way to go. Use it for higher temp cooking and even raw in smoothies and mixed with your Shakeology. Coconut oil is also great for baking.

Grass fed Lard and Tallow: Great for high temperature cooking. The key is to find a quality source. Never buy the lard in the grocery store. If you are in Oklahoma, you can find grass fed quality lard and tallow from local farmers here

Butter or Ghee- Always choose butter over margarine and ghee which is just butter oil with the milk solids removed is excellent for high temp cooking and used in many fine restaurants.

Natural Salts

The regular old white salt that most of us are familiar with is what is responsible for the bad rap salt gets in regards to a healthy diet. Did you know your body actually needs salt though? What you don't need are the anti caking agents or even (gasp) sugar that is in commercial white or sea salts. While there are several different types of wonderful salts you can use (varieties of Himalayan salt, Celtic salt) we use Redmond's Real Salt in our house. Real Salt is an American product from an ancient sea bed in central Utah. I first learned about it while we lived in Utah and it contains over 60 trace minerals that your body benefits from along with the salt itself.  We buy the refill packages at Sprouts and it lasts us for quite a while You can read more about the benefits of healthy salt here

3. Natural Sweeteners

Keep in mind that even natural sweeteners should be used in moderation, but whenever you need a sweet treat, you can easily switch out refined sugar with natural alternatives in a 1:1 ratio. My favorites are pure maple syrup, coconut sugar and raw honey. Coconut sugar has become my "go to" for baking. As for honey, like I mentioned with the olive oil above, you actually need to make sure the honey you get is REAL. Most of the honey on the shelves at the store is imported and test after test continues to show that many of these brands contain sugar rather than actual honey. Your best bet is to find a local source. I have been able to find this at our local Sprouts, Whole Foods, and the Oklahoma Coop (which is linked to above).



4. Raw Nuts and Seeds

Raw nuts are GREAT for toppings on a salad or by themselves as a mid day snack. Nuts are full of oils that are great for you, but roasting them decreases the  nutritional value of the healthy fats they contain. You can also take an added step of soaking nuts to increase the nutrition available by reducing the natural phytic acid that seeds and nuts contain naturally.

5. Sprouted and soaked grains or grain products

Grains are the bad guys in most nutrition advice these days and  a lot of the reasons are valid. I could write pages on everything that is wrong with modern grains and the way they are grown, which affects our bodies, but we have plenty of time to touch on that down the road. What you need to know is there is a way to enjoy grains in moderation along with plenty of protein, vegetables, fruits and healthy fats unless you have a health condition that requires you to abstain. Soaked grain products are the way to go if you don't want to make your own products. We keep Ezekiel sprouted bread and tortillas in the fridge at all times. You will find them in the freezer section of  stores (we buy ours at Sprouts or Whole Foods around here). Keep them refrigerated though, they don't have the additives that make the majority of bread products last longer on the shelf.


So there you have it, my beginner recommendations for cleaning up your pantry. Do you have an ingredient you have switched out to make it healthier? I'd like to hear about it!