Why Traditional Diets are So Nourishing

It's been many years that I've been on the "health" trail, refining my food choices, exercise program, thoughts, relationships, etc. and I am now at a place where I feel nourished on all levels. Having grown up with a father who was an organic farmer (not his full-time job but the one he was most passionate about), I learned early on the value of growing food, cooking meals from scratch, using good ingredients and sitting around the table with the rest of my family enjoying the "soup to nuts" meal served each evening.  That was pretty much the story of my youth until I left my home at 18 years old and ventured out on my own.  

Now, it's the 1970's and the beginning of a changing paradigm.  No longer is cooking from scratch popular and no longer are some of the traditional foods I was used to eating readily available.  Instead, convenience foods started filling up supermarket space, fast food restaurants were sprouting up everywhere, the Food Pyramid told us to eat less fat and more carbs, the low-fat/no-fat craze was healthy and margarine was the new butter.  Foods that used to taste really good were not tasty anymore (because they added chemicals and artificial flavors to them) and it was more expensive to eat "real" food.  Processed foods were "in."    Foods that were grown locally were now coming from other countries, local farms were closing down and families were missing out on spending time together preparing their meals.  

Fast forward to 2010 when I graduated from IIN and for the first time in a long time realized that I needed to go back to a traditional diet.. foods that connected me to my childhood, to my family.... foods that nourished me physically and spiritually.  I have replaced margarine with real butter from grass-fed cows, make raw goat's milk kefir, bake sourdough bread from scratch, ferment various foods and buy from local farms.  How amazing it feels to eat these wonderful healthy fats again and to know that I'm giving my family the nourishment that not only comes from the foods that I prepare with lots of love but from the knowing that we are connected to something bigger.. to our heritage, our ancestors, to nature and to the universe.