The concept of Make America Healthy Again is polarizing. If I post about it on my personal Facebook page, I get angry strangers screaming. It’s so oddly weird how they want to protect junk food, highly processed food, and bio-engineered/GMO items. It’s great for engagement, and Meta is giving me a few dollars a month for pocket change, but it led me to ponder: Why are they so against eating cleaner? What angers these people so much? Before the Covid years, these same people were railing about how disgusting our agriculture was in the United States and how we needed food that wasn’t poisoning us…but somehow we flipped?
I often argued with Kirk that we couldn’t afford to buy larger quantities of protein and fresh vegetables. Our shopping bills were already high enough. I would rely on carbs to pad out meals so I could feed 5 to 6 people every meal. Stretch the meat and produce, if you will.
I complained bitterly after every shopping trip in the past two or three years. Everything was so expensive. Comparing the prices I had photographed two to four years ago, I could see how prices had changed. It was miserable to shop, to come out with a few bags, and to spend $125 with little to show for it.
But something happened that I wasn’t expecting once we changed how we eat.
I wasn’t paying attention to how many extras went in the shopping cart every trip. It doesn’t matter if it is mainstream brands or organic/non-GMO; it’s a lot of carbs: pasta, rice, tortillas, chips, crackers, pre-popped popcorn, cookies, snacks for lunches, bread, bagels, and granola bars. But once I stopped buying these items? My deal was we could only eat these things if I or one of them made them from scratch. I bought meat, dairy, and produce without raising the bill. Suddenly, I had more money in our budget. I could afford more meat, produce, and eggs in the off-season. We are eating less because of the density of the food. I find I am full quicker during dinner when I am eating grain-free.
When I cook dinner now, it is nearly always keto-friendly, high-protein, low-carb, and focused on fat content (not too much, not too little, and healthy fats only – no seed oils). Some nights, I make a small dish of a complex carb for the boys, or they have tortillas warmed up with dinner. They need enough carbs to grow. I also make bread for them several times a week. I bake sugar-free muffins or cookies using clean-living recipes for their school lunches. Are they always happy? No. But they are adapting. It takes time to change.
This leads to my thoughts on this topic.
Maybe we can afford to eat healthier if we opt out of the system, which relies on us (the consumer) to buy a never-ending stream of processed foods that are often ready to eat.
Why do we feed cold cereal to children before school? When, instead, would two eggs and a bit of meat keep them fueled for hours? Breakfast cereal is quite expensive if it is not on sale. A box for $5 might serve two to three bowls now. And they will crash quickly after the simple carbs wear off. They don’t need that for learning. Eggs, while also expensive (in the western states due to heavy laws recently enacted), are still a bargain due to protein density.
It’s the same for lunches and dinners. Multi-national food companies have indoctrinated us for decades (since the end of WWII) that dinner should look a certain way or that lunch has a sandwich. Portable? Yes, but not necessarily the highest achievement of mankind.
I now spend Sundays batch cooking, so I don’t panic and run to the store to buy treats for their lunches. I make Kirk his breakfasts two times a week. He eats when he is ready, as he is doing some fasting mornings, but it is ready for him.
My big step right now is chopping up, washing, and drying lettuce greens for my lunches. If tucked away, they last in the refrigerator for days, which ensures I make myself a salad many days. If I do the work, I will eat better. Being hungry and not having a solid choice leads to bad decisions.
Another oddity I have noticed?
In the past month, I rarely enter any grocery store aisles. All I am shopping for is the meat, produce, and dairy aisles. If needed, I might wander down the spice aisle.
The other day, I walked into a local grocery store and noticed how oddly colored “food” is in its packaging. We might as well be fish tempted to grab a lure. It’s all colorful; the brighter the coloring, the more entranced you get. It used to be that the “natural” choices had more muted colors, but not anymore. Even brown is vivid these days.
I thought we were an ingedient household for years, I realize now, even that is flawed. Many things I bought then, I wouldn’t buy now. Instead of buying canned vegetables, beans, and even pasta sauce, I have to make it from scratch to stay within how I want us to eat—minimal sugar, minimal wheat, no ultra-processed food, no seed oils, and so forth. I took what I thought was an outlier diet and changed it to a level I wasn’t sure I could do. It isn’t easy, for sure. But I know it’s worth it.
Another thing to watch is eating in season. Do I want blueberries in November? Sometimes, yes, and I will pay for that luxury.
This is forcing me to look at produce when shopping. Buy North America first. Potatoes, apples, onions, and garlic are all US-grown! You don’t need to buy imported all year long.
But maybe I should only use bell peppers in season and not buy grapes from Peru in January.
Because that alone will save me money and allow me to buy more California-grown romaine lettuce!
So yes, I can afford to eat now, but it comes with tight restrictions. Maybe we should all try this: Eat in season, buy as little processed food as you can, and stay out of the inner aisles of the grocery store. You might find your shopping trips faster, more affordable, and better for your body. For me, just eating a lot less has also helped. It’s helping me feel better.
~Sarah