Please note: This post has been written as more of a personal diary entry rather than a blog post with details that should apply to anyone else. It is the plan I aim to follow at this point of my life. In other words, it is designed for me by me. It is not a medical or nutritional recommendation for anyone else.
MY LIVING HEALTHIER DAY
My living healthier food plan is key to a good day. As mentioned in Part One, A Living Healthier Plan my day begins with at least 8 oz of filtered water. Next comes a supplement. Then perhaps some fresh fruit. Finally the morning meal is complete with a full breakfast.
Fruit for Breakfast | The Adventures of an Epic Baker from epicbaker.com
EAT BREAKFAST
It is easier to explain what breakfast is not for me than what is. There are so many for what is healthy. Meanwhile there are very few that are not. So this should be a no brainer. For example, the typical working person’s start to the day is the adrenaline rush of giant coffees and a carbo bomb.
The carbo bomb shown in this shutterstock photo, coffee and empty carb, ‘white food’ calories.
Protein with Breakfast Is Good Ideally for me a breakfast with some protein is good. Actually, I aim to eat sort of a reverse diet. In fact it is known by the saying, ‘eat breakfast like a king (or queen). Lunch like a prince (or princess). Finally, eat dinner like a pauper’.
Image of healthy breakfast from saga.co.uk
Protein with Lots of Vegetables at Lunch Is Good So I try to include a protein at breakfast. Then protein, vegetable and even a healthy carb for lunch. Finally an early dinner and a snack if necessary before bedtime. Even though I don’t follow it exactly, I prefer to eat my big meal closer to the middle of the day or afternoon. In fact, we like this arrangement a lot.
A healthy main meal from pngall.com
Eating Later in the Day Another suggestion is to not eat anything after 8 pm at night. Unless I am famished, this is another part of our living healthier food plan. Throughout the day, I include my supplements and am religious about taking certain prescribed medication before bed.
Eggs and Cheese Photography by David Munn from FineArtAmerica.com
Snacks Are A Challenge
Finding healthy snacks is a real challenge for us. Therefore, one of the changes I am attempting to make is to stay away from sugary snacks and help Phil (my husband) to do the same.
Nuts and Chocolate
For example, some kind of protein is preferable to a sugary snack. Personally, I love peanuts and pistachio nuts. Phil loves cashew nuts.
Baked Apple Recipe from simplyrecipes.com
Fruit As Well as Vegetables : Fresh, Cooked, or Even Dried
Fresh fruit, fruit cooked without sugar or even dried fruit without chemicals are other options. Even include certain ‘controversial carbs’ like a baked potato (White or sweet). Certain oils and ghee are like the cherry on top of the sundae. Popcorn is a favorite of Phil’s. In addition, dark chocolate made with monk fruit is very satisfying and does not spike blood sugar.
Raw Cheese
Let’s not forget cheese, made from raw milk as much as possible. At times I have eliminated dairy. But since discovering the digestive value of raw milk cheese, I like to include it in my food plan.
Just A Handful Of Nuts May Help Keep Us From Packing On The Pounds As We Age from npr.org
WHAT FOODS I SHOULD FAVOR I have eaten according to many dietary systems over my life. At different times, different systems have worked best. Therefore I want to record what is the latest find.
Ayurveda This is an ancient system that determines what foods are best to eat according to one’s body type as well as the season. Banyan Botanicals has an excellent test to determine body type and imbalances. Then I can figure out what foods are best for me to eat according to my doshas, any imbalances, and the seasons.
Why Is Ayurveda Important? from Himalayanyoganepal.com
Genopalate
This is a fascinating system. It requires an analysis of DNA results from Ancestry or another company. But it is based on chromosomes not geneology. Somehow it works. In fact when I first started following it, I definitely found an increase in my energy level. I have even created a looseleaf binder of the preferred foods in all their categories.
Crack your DNA Code and Unlock a Healthier You from www.genopalate.com
But as often happens, I have not been diligent about continuing. That is because I like too many foods that are not listed on it. Therefore I tend to fall back into the foods I like. Part of my living healthier food plan is to resume it as much as possible.
WHAT IS YOUR FOOD PLAN?
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COLONIAL LIFE Traditional Food Preparation and Preservation existed centuries before the modern conveniences we rely on today. Without even thinking about it, we can take for granted how relatively easy it has become to procure, prepare, and preserve food to support our nation.
Yesterday and Today
Therefore the contrast between that time’s efforts and today’s is what makes this topic so fascinating. In fact, it is most important that we not overlook this information. Here is the reason why.
The four gardens at Mt. Vernon from MtVernon.org a-upper garden, b-kitchen garden, c-botanical garden, d-fruit garden and nursery
Food Security
Specifically, it was not that long ago that our survival depended upon local food procurement, its preparation and preservation. Once these essentials were established, a relatively short period of time was needed to fight our mother country and start a nation of our own. In fact this seems to have taken only about 150 years.
Political Independence Follows
Documentation of this is the time of the first settlers, the Pilgrims in 1620 and the Declaration of Independence in 1776. As a result, political history and food stability seem to support each other in fostering our new nation.
Open Hearth Cooking-Blennerhassett Kitchen-Parkersburg WV-Fireplace and Utensils from Pinterest.com
THE THREE P’s of FOOD
Procure, Prepare, Preserve
Long before electricity and then renewable energy were available to power even our simplest daily modern survival needs like refrigeration and freezing, early settler of North America had to make due with comparatively primitive systems to obtain, prepare, and preserve food.
Food Stability
Therefore one can see that even though people made due in this new land, it took a time to stabilize life in the colonies. As a cultural aside, and at the other extreme for those who could afford to do so, the opportunities in the culinary arts grew quite a bit. In fact, both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson had slave chefs who were European trained.
Past Preserved Some of the traditional ‘three P’ of the food systems do still exist today. Actually they survive both as hobbies and records of history. But it is essential to remember their origins. That is their necessity for survival that could ultimately fuel the colonies to fight for the birth of a new nation.
Experience the beloved tradition, Christmas at Biltmore, when America’s Largest Home®, Antler Hill Village, and the entire estate are at their most enchanting: beautifully bedecked for the holidays.
HISTORICAL FOUNDATIONS & MUSEUMS Fortunately, historical foundations throughout various states have been established so that these methods of traditional food preparation, preservation, and daily life are remembered and even practiced for posterity.
Traditional Food Preservation
One ways to preserve food is to churn cream to make butter. Historically, cream was the perishable food. Churning cream turned it into butter. But time and technology have provided a major change.
Instead of using a machine to churn, the cream was churned by hand. No need to go to the gym when one worked the arms with this traditional task.
Antique butter churn with hand crank-ebay
Traveling Back in Time
Actually, many other traditional food preservation systems existed then as well.
They are options even today although they may not be the most efficient ones.
But for anyone interested in a taste of the past, these options can be like a trip back in time.
Two descriptions follow this. In fact, they include videos for making butter the traditional way.
Making butter from (perishable) milk/cream-Video One
Making Butter from (milk/cream) Here is another video about making butter the old fashioned way. Making Butter served two traditional purposes. The first is preserving a perishable liquid, cream into a solid, butter. Another is creating a delicious fat that can be flavor other foods. In fact, adding herbs provided extra special flavor.
Butter mold making equipment is available at Amazon.com
Butter Decoration Homemade butter could have two purposes. They were for domestic use while the other was for commercial sale. Although a special design or pattern made it more appealing, branding was the the primary purpose to identity a butter-makers at a local, community market. Think of it as a branding pattern like labels are today(1).
Making butter from (perishable) milk/cream-Video Two
Butter Branding Modern butter is branded by its packaging. On the other hand tradition butter branding was a pattern applied directly to the block of butter itself. A wooden carved mold was used to create the impression.
Butter branding-individual butter pattern and modern butter label
These topics are part of my Traditional Food Preservation Blog Post Series. Their discussion takes place in past and future preservation posts. smoking
drying
salting
burying in ground
burying in fat in a barrel
root cellar storage jar canning
INVENTION
An original glass jar canning method begins with a story that is 200 years old. The technique was invented in 1810(1). A (competitive?) inspiration by Napoleon Bonaparte began in 1795 also brought results 15 years later with metal cans.(2)
The original glass jar had no thread to grip a metal closure onto it. Required instead was sealing with paraffin wax since the canning system had no other means of closure. The paraffin wax seal could last for up to about six months.
ebay antique food canning jars with paraffin wax for 1810 sealing technique
author’s note related to this post
Progression
Actually, about 50 years later in 1858, John L. Mason (of mason-kerr-ball jars) invented a threaded lip jar along with a two piece sealing lid. The result of this invention allowed for a vacuum seal that was essentially sterile. Thus a long lasting storage system became available. Documentation and directions about this is much easier to find in future writings.
Quote from ‘Home Canning with Paraffin Wax’
Paraffin Wax: Short Term Method
As a temporary sealant mentioned above, paraffin was available. But for long term storage, a paraffin seal was not the safest way to seal a jar. Mold could form if the seal was not air tight.
Traditionalists like Homestead Tessie like this old fashioned method. She scrapes mold off the top of jam so as not to waste the entire jar. ‘Waste not, want not’. Traditional canning is part of her intentional homestead lifestyle.
What you need to can your berry favorite fruit jelly or jam. Don’t forget the berries. Supplies from various internet sites.
Dangers Due to heat and cold, expansion and contraction also posed a liability. Lastly, botulism and even death were extreme, out of the ordinary, possibilities. But this wax technique was adopted by Survivalist Preppers for dire circumstances. It is demonstrated in the video below.
Canning Food for Survival with Wax by Paul Helinski
Keeping Traditions
Originally paraffin was the only seal available with jar canning as shown in the video above. It is a system that can be used ‘if the grid goes down’. Once safer methods were available, wax was not necessary. In spite of this, there is more to the story.
Actually, this traditional system is still practiced today. It is demonstrated in the video below. The author also explains why she likes to use it.
Preserving Grape Jam Using Paraffin Wax Keeping Traditions
There are other blog posts in this series that reveal traditional food storage systems. They include:
smoking
drying
salting
burying in ground
burying in fat in a barrel
root cellar storage
cream churning to make butter and buttermilk
jar canning
Definitive American food history narratives are presented in the book by Jessica B. Harris as well as in the video series by Stephen Satterfield based on the book.
JESSICA B. HARRIS American culinary historian, professor, cookbook author and journalist
Queens-Born Jessica B. Harris Receives James Beard Lifetime Achievement Award
STEPHEN SATTERFIELD African-American food writer, producer, and media entrepreneur.
Stephen Satterfield is Changing the Way We Tell Stories About Food
THE VIDEO: High on the Hog
Video of American Food History, High on the Hog
FOOD HISTORY FAVORITES
Actually, I have several favorite anecdotes from the ‘High on the Hog’ story. The yam versus sweet potatoes story is one of them. In fact, yams and sweet potatoes are not the same.
Yams are not the same as sweet potato but confusion about them existsSweet potatoes are often confused with yams but they are not the same
In fact, yams do not even grow in this country. They grow in Africa. On the other hand, the US is home to sweet potatoes. So if you see something in the US named yams, it is not from the US.
The food history narrative reflects the music narrative in Rumble, the history of 20th Century American Music. Both bring fascinating insight into the cultures of American music and food history.
TRACING MORE AMERICAN CULTURAL HISTORY
Tracing the slave trade to America reflects additional cultural history. It is actually the transformation of African American food to American food.
This adds to the rich musical history of America. It is detailed in the blog post, RUMBLE in a previous post.
Video of American Music History, Rumble
Please watch both of these videos to get an educational and entertaining understanding of these cultural histories. I highly recommend them.
author’s note related to this post
