If she's hungry, don't give her a cracker. Feed her real food! This is what my mother would tell me when my toddler was hungry. She always pushed aside all of the granola bars, goldfish crackers and food pouches and would reach for something that she considered "real food" - some homemade Arabic food, usually a bowl full of cooked vegetables, soaked rice and meat, seasoned and cooked in broth, and topped with plain yogurt and nuts browned in butter.
Now that's how you feed a child. And an adult.
We believe that food should be satisfying, delicious and nourishing. Here are the foods that we focus on in our household:
Fresh Fruits and Vegetables
plentiful, in season and local
Healthy Fats
grassfed butter, ghee, cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil, unrefined coconut oil
Whole Grains, Nuts and Legumes
always sprouted, fermented or soaked
Quality Proteins
grassfed meats, poultry, wild-caught seafood, organ meats
Fermented Foods
cultured condiments, cultured dairy and vegetables, kombucha
Full-fat Dairy
milk, cream, cheese, butter
Natural Sweetners
molasses, honey, maple syrup, coconut sugar, sucanat
Homemade Broths
from chicken, beef or lamb bones
We are "traditional foodies" - we believe that the most nourishing foods are the foods that have sustained generation upon generation of foods, prepared by time-proven methods.
Ah, your first two sentences in this post make me smile.
ReplyDeleteDoes your mother say the same thing? :-)
DeleteHi Jessica,
ReplyDeleteI have thoroughly enjoyed reading through your posts and you have inspired me to take a different more wholesome approach in my kitchen. I went through a period of being desperate to lose weight to have the "healthy diet/image" promoted so intensely in media. I achieved it and I will tell you how I felt, tired. I had no energy I wasn't very happy and generally experienced low moods. It was the journey I took this summer from London to KSA to perform Umrah that brought to my feet a world of laban, olive oil and a diet rich in fats. I was for the first time filled with energy, happy and my dark circles packed up their bags and in their place was glowing healthy skin. I came home and found your blog and have been loving every post and every moment. Coming however has brought another reality to light, weight. I would like to know what you do in light of this nourishing wholesome way of eating to maintain a healthy weight which are content with.
I must also add, that every time I am reading your posts about Palestine and the community cooking and oneness of a place in the world, it brings tears to my eyes. It reminds me of the Palestine I know, a place where like you eloquently put, the land is fertile, the people are fertile, it was an oasis in the world. Looking at the human loss is something that shakes my heart, like your post mentioned we have one enemy and this fear, oppression, pain, waking up to have a family massacred one boy sat in the rumbles, wondering when this nightmare will end, when he will wake up in a world where he is not so utterly alone. May God help them all and have mercy on them. They are in my prayers.
Thank you for sharing the wonderful memories of a more peaceful Palestine and sharing foods that give us what Palestine no longer can.
Kind regards,
Hannah
Hannah,
DeleteThank you so much for your comment. It is so incredible to connect with my readers and to hear about your journey into whole foods. I am passionate about eating fats, and have discovered that my health is much, much better when I am enjoying plenty of real fats! I am glad to hear that you have discovered the same thing!
As for the weight issue, well, that is a very, very complicated one. I could write a great deal about this, but I will try to keep it short here, and really, can only speak from my own experience, and I should add that right now I am 9 months pregnant with my third baby. :-)
My first thought is the Western world has an absurd view of what a "healthy" weight is. Before real food, I always flirted with being underweight. When I switched to real food, it was the end of that for me. I decided to exchange my pursuit of vanity and instead pursue vitality, and I let go of my scale. For me, that was the right choice. It was very, very difficult for me to make that choice because I was a very vain young woman who wanted to fit into my clothes just so.
Having said that, I don't think that eating a traditional food diet always makes you gain weight. I was probably underweight, so I gained a little weight, but it was not much, and it wasn't a continual weight gain, just a small initial weight gain. I have heard of many who were overweight who have lost a lot. I have other friends who switched to traditional foods and had no weight change. I don't think that a traditional diet is about gaining or losing weight, but it is about finding a way to nourish your body so that you can feel as well as possible.
Having said that, I do think that it is important to minimize sweets, even traditional ones, and to keep your blood sugar levels stable by eating fats with your carbohydrates. I am a big fan of eating enough to satiate yourself, and taking pleasure in your food. I also believe that your hormones are probably the greatest players in your weight, and so I try to focus on supporting my overall health, by getting plenty of sleep, keeping myself moving, reducing stress, and eating foods that support hormonal functions.
Having said all of that, this will be my first time to lose the baby weight while eating this traditional food diet, so stay tuned. :-)
Thank you so much for your kind words on Palestine. Our hearts are all very heavy right now. Thank you for praying and standing with us in solidarity.
In peace,
Jessica