Food For Thought (and Health)

What to Eat? This is not only a question every person asks themselves every day, it’s also the title of a wonderful book I’ve been reading. It was a gift from my oldest son. He of the inquisitive mind must have been intrigued by the questions that pepper the cover. Questions like,

“Is organic always more nutritious? How fair is fair trade coffee? Farmed fish or wild fish? White, whole wheat, or multigrain? Are there pesticides on that apple? Are vitamin supplements safe?”

Or maybe he was just responding to his father’s nudge, “Your mom would really like that book,” when they were out Christmas shopping on a crowded afternoon and he was in a hurry to get home to his friends.

Either way, love the book. It asks all the questions I ask and some I never thought to ask. Marion Nestle is a nutrition professor, and author of two other books (soon to grace my shelves or my kindle) – Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health and Safe Food: Bacteria, Biotechnology, and Bioterrorism.

In her book, What to Eat, Marion addresses the things that plagued the concerned parent when she or he enters a grocery store. How do you sort through all the confusing messages and buy what’s best for your family and your health? The book literally takes a tour of the grocery store expounding on every aisle with helpful, clear information.

I want to share some excellent ideas I found in the introduction. All of us struggle with the immense amount of information and the almost daily new studies that tell us what we should and shouldn’t eat to avoid health issues like cancer and heart disease, have more energy, live longer, and maintain a healthy weight. Although I’m certain there are a few factors out of our control (heredity and all the stuff we already ate that we shouldn’t have before we knew better), Marion’s simple directions make sense -

Eat less, move more, eat lots of fruits & vegetables, and go easy on the junk food.

This is a mantra we can all embrace. If we keep it in mind as we make our food and activity choices each day we can feel we’ve done all we should. Sure, the details like organic, fair-trade, GMO, locally grown, sustainably-harvested will play in to your choices, but bottom line start by eating right before you stress the rest.

Another point Marion makes in the introduction is that it’s very easy to be overcome by the marketing of food. Companies, grocery stores, and even our own government encourage us to eat things that are not good for us. As Marion points out,

“The produce industry does not advertise fruits and vegetables much because its profit margins are low and its constituents are fragmented and competitive (broccoli growers versus carrot farmers, etc.). …the government does not subsidize fruit and vegetable production the way it supports corn, soybeans, sugarcane, and sugar beets….the lack of profit means that less effort goes into making sure these foods are as fresh, tasty, well prepared, and easy to use as they might be.”

I want to share one last powerful point Marion makes. It’s been darting around my mind ever since I read it. She asks the reader to consider this question:

“What industry or professional organization might benefit if you ate more healthfully?”

Like Marion, I struggle to come up with even one. I want to say the government, because then it wouldn’t have to spend nearly as much on medicare and Medicaid. But that’s a stretch, huh? In my fantasy world I would also say the government because it wants what’s best for the people. But I still reside in the real world.

Here are the industries she lists that benefit from all the confusion and bad decisions we make about nutrition and health: food, restaurant, fast-food, diet, health club, drug, and health care industries.

Food for thought. Be aware of the motivation behind the claims. And remember: eat less, move more, eat lots of fruits & veggies, and go easy on the junk food. Words to live by. Literally.

Ready, Set, Garden!

I started the garden this weekend. What a great feeling. I planted eight rows of lettuce (which is crazy I know so make plans to stop by for salad in June), a row of hot purple radishes, 2 rows of spinach, 2 rows of carrots, one super long row of sugar snap peas, and one row of swiss chard (which I’ve never planted before and hardly ever eaten, but the picture in the catalog was too much to resist and swiss chard is supposed to be good for you so I’m going to learn to eat it.). The onion and broccoli plants have a few more days to adapt to real sunlight before they will be installed, but they’re moving in this week.

I haven’t been able to clip the wings on one of our roosters and yesterday I caught him in the garden digging up and eating the seeds I’d just planted! Hugely righteous anger. The kids got water cannons for Easter from their grandparents so I appropriated one to keep on the porch so that I can shoot the rooster whenever he makes his way to the garden (which is twice so far this morning). I’m not sure you can train a chicken, but I’m certainly going to try. All the chickens have been sentenced to living in the chicken pen once again since the garden has begun. It’s a tough adjustment after 7 months of free range life. Some are able to fly over the fence (yes, chickens really can fly- but only about 5-6 feet up and they do much better if there is a hill to give them a running start and a gravitational advantage.) To remedy this problem, we clip their wings which doesn’t hurt and isn’t even visible (their “flying feathers” are hidden behind their “standing around looking like a chicken feathers”). Only problem is none of us can seem to catch the big rooster. It doesn’t help that his spurs are huge and he just looks mean. He’s never hurt anyone and he has the wimpiest crow around, but still. I’m going to try to do it tonight when he’s sleeping.

How do you know when to start your garden? The weather’s been beautiful and it’s very tempting to start tucking in all your seeds. For sure there is still cold weather to come so I wouldn’t chance a tomato or a pepper yet and the soils not warm enough for cucumbers or squash. Seeds need the soil to be about 55 degrees to germinate, some need it warmer. Lettuce and peas like it cold. Tradition says you should plant your peas on St Patrick’s Day, but we were still under snow cover on St. Patty’s day this year.

Another good way to know when you can start planting is the texture of your soil. You want your soil to be like chocolate cake not chocolate fudge. So that’s basically it – chocolate cake that is about 55 degrees and you’re good to go with lettuce, carrots, radish, peas (all kinds), spinach, broccoli, onions and any other seed whose packet lists “as soon as the soil can be worked” or “early spring” as the planting time.

If we get a forecast for a serious frost and freezing temps overnight, I sometimes cover my rows with plastic. But sometimes I forget and they do just fine. Here’s a few other tips for planting that I’ve learned the hard way.

The distances between plants suggested on the seed packets are for real. Sometimes I read them and think they’re being overly cautious. I always live to regret this and end up stepping on plants as I try to weed and performing acrobatic feats just to water the veggies.

Mulch or cultivate the soil between rows on a regular basis. This is how you keep weeds from getting ahead of you. A great tool for keeping the weeds in check is a stirrup hoe (looks like a stirrup on the end of a stick). There is no shame in mulch. If you can save leaves in a pile each fall to use for this task you’ll save money. Straw works OK too, but things creep in. Newspapers are good if you can get them weighted down with water and maybe some stones until they start to disintegrate. (Check to be sure your paper uses vegetable based inks. For you locals – the York Daily Record does use vegetable based ink.)

Don’t plant too deep. I’ve committed this crime many times. It usually happens when I’m planting a lot of seeds in a hurry and use a hoe to fill the row back in. The general rule of thumb is to cover the seed with soil as deep as the seed is big. Most seeds are pretty small. You don’t need much soil over them. The best way to do this is by hand and carefully, patting down the earth over the seed as you go. If you plant too deep you’ll wait much longer to see any action and some seeds won’t make it at all.

Put up big signs. You think you will remember where your rows are. You think you will be able to see the little popsicle stick markers. You assume that digging the seed packet in to the soil at the end of the row will help you remember what’s planted there. Here’s what I know – my memory is fading (I don’t know how old you are, but odds are you are no longer a teenager, so yours is on the downward slope too). Popsicle sticks quickly become camouflaged by the dirt, upended by the trampling feet of children and pets, or blown away when the soil begins to dry. Seed packets disintegrate almost overnight and the wind tends to blow them away. You need big signs – I use scrap wood and paint stirrers (free at the hardware store!) and use paint pens to label them. My daughter and I like to write inspiring things on the backs of these signs too. (See my post April 15, 2009 “Planting Seeds and Inspiration”). If you don’t label your rows well, you may mistake newly sprouted lettuce for a weed (lettuce basically is a weed so this is understandable).

Stay on top of the weeds. Don’t wait for them to overwhelm you. Pull a few EVERYDAY and it won’t seem too bad. If you enlist your children’s help (and you should), supervise their weeding or you may lose more than the weeds. Personally, I haven’t had a whole lot of luck putting the kids to work. They are happy to pick, but weed only under duress for large sums of money. Wish I could tell you different, but I have to be honest.

Plan your walkways as carefully as you plan your planted rows. You need to have somewhere to walk – remember that tomatoes get very bushy and pushy, cucumbers and squash can sprawl all over, and carrots and onions will keep nicely to themselves (but don’t handle being stepped on very well). I’m hoping to make some homemade stepping stones this year with the kids using small pizza boxes and a bag of cement. We don’t order out pizzas, so we’d love some donations from those of you who do (hint, hint).

Put up posts on all the corners of your garden to keep the hose from being dragged over your plants. After all that hard work and diligent weeding, it would be a shame if a hose snapped your almost ripe red pepper plant in two. This is a MUST do. We put four foot tall metal fence posts on the corners (shorter stakes tend to do more damage to my shins).

I’m sure there is more to say, but I’m watching a rooster making his way towards my pea row, so I’ve got to fill my water cannon. Happy gardening!

Some Things That Make It Easier

Here is a list of a few of the things that I found necessary in my efforts to feed my family more responsibly. You don’t need any of them to get started, but if you’re a list maker, you might like to see the list, if not, skip it. You can certainly get started with what you have and add these (or not) later.

Freezer
While it’s not absolutely necessary, a large stand alone freezer will save you lots of money and time in the end. If you are committed to eating more locally, it’s becomes more necessary, or your options become very limited. There are lots of items that can be purchased in bulk, but without some way of storing them, they will go to waste. Most fruits and vegetables are only in season one time a year in any given place and being able to store them to eat all year long truly expands your menu.

Don’t feel you must go out and buy a brand new freezer. Although the newer versions most likely are better energy-wise, there are lots of cheap and even free freezers out there. We got our commercial freezer at no cost (other than hauling it and removing the stink that had accumulated after a year of no use) from a friend who was downsizing. People discard freezers for lots of reasons and unless you’ve ever tried to get rid of one, you can’t appreciate how difficult it is. You can’t put your unwanted freezer out for the trash and hauling one to the dump is a sizable task. Ask around – you may be surprised to find one right under your nose.

Other good places to find freezers are www.freecycle.org and www.craigslist.com. You might have a local community paper that places ads for free – check them or add your own.

Canning Supplies
If you don’t have a freezer (and even if you do), canning is another great way to store local produce long term. I’ve eaten things from jars that were lost for over a year during a move and discovered the food inside still delicious. I know everyone thinks of canning as something your grandmother used to do, but lots of people still can today. Many hardware stores (especially the smaller mom and pop type), Walmart, and even the grocery stores sell canning supplies. You don’t necessarily need a canner, but it does make it easier and they aren’t expensive. I don’t use a pressure canner, but if you want to can meat or broth, you’ll need one. I use a regular bath canner. It’s just a big flat bottom pot with a lid and a metal ring inside that keeps the jars upright and away from each other. I’ll write lots about canning when the canning season begins! (although you can can all year round – I canned cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving)

Jars can be used again and again, so be sure to save the box they come in to store your empties as you use them. Lids and lid rings are also necessary. I re-use lid rings, but not the lids. Different people feel differently about that. Lots of people re-use them, but I don’t. I worry that they won’t seal properly the second time around. I like my canned goods too much to take that chance. The other two tools that help a lot in canning are a lifter and a jar funnel. The lifter is like special made rubber tongs for taking hot jars out and the metal (also found in plastic – but I’m opposed to putting hot food through a plastic funner) funnel is very helpful when filling your jars. You can operate without these tools, but they do make it easier.

Glass storage containers
The verdict is still out on plastic storage containers, but there is enough controversy surrounding them that I stick to glass. It’s been around forever and so far, no bad press. I think glass keeps food fresher and I know it looks better. Plus, they can be thrown in the dishwasher without breaking down or discoloring. Glass storage containers last longer too. They come in all sizes and shapes. The ones I like I got at Target and have a metal lid that screws on. I made neat little labels for their tops and get a strange thrill when I see them all lined up in my drawer. It makes me feel very Martha Stewartish. I store flours (I never knew there were so many kinds!), dried fruit, sugars, nuts, baking powder, corn meal, salt, spices, pasta, and pretty much anything I buy in bulk in glass containers.

Plastic freezer bags
If you are using a freezer, you’ll need lots of these, plus a sharpie marker to label everything. It’s critical that you put dates on everything you freeze. You think you’ll remember what they are and when you froze them – but you won’t. And believe me strawberry sauce and spaghetti sauce look awful alike after they’ve been frozen a few months (so does applesauce and chicken broth). That wasn’t a pleasant lesson to learn the hard way – so take it from me.

Whatever you put in your bags – here’s a few more hints that will help:
Be sure the fruit/vegetable is as air dry as it can be. You can use a salad spinner to help with this.
Always remove all the extra air. This will do a lot for fighting freezer burn.
Freeze flat. After you have filled your bag, push the ingredients around until they are as flat as can be and freeze the bag in this position. Then after it is completely frozen, you can stack your bags up like bricks in the freezer and they take up less room (and look incredibly organized).

Plastic containers (large yogurt containers, small ones, old medicine bottles)
Ok, I’m admitting right up front that I have a container fetish. Ask my husband or check out my basement. Even though you can now recycle almost anything, I still hang on to all useful containers. This has come in very handy for me, not only saving us money, but making my life simpler. Small medicine bottles are great for storing the wealth of dried herbs we grow and large yogurt containers are perfect for freezing applesauce and chicken broth after they have cooled. Having various containers on hand has been a lifesaver when packing for a picnic, taking food to a friend in need, or sending food to school or church for an event. Small yogurt containers also make the perfect pot for starting seeds inside.

Find a place and a way to store plastic containers and you will be helping yourself and the planet. I wish I had a handy tip for storing miscellaneous plastic containers. I put like-size containers together in boxes and bins and shelve them and use the drawers of an old desk for the little containers, but there’s not an easy answer.

Breadmaker
I’ve already extolled the wonders of the breadmaker, but like freezers these are also something that people discard. Check yardsales and goodwill and the basements of relatives and friends. I got mine for $15 at goodwill – brand new still with the directions! This appliance will save you lots of money!

Yogurt maker
These are less expensive than a good toaster oven and are just about the easiest appliance to use in my whole kitchen. You can also make yogurt using your own oven – but I’m fairly sure the money you save will be spent leaving your oven on for 12 hours.

Sorry about the long post. But if you’re still reading this, you must have needed all this information!