This blog post is a simple approach to get started in the nourishing foods journey for busy families. This post show you the first 3 nourishing foods to add to your life now.
What are nourishing foods?
The simplest answer is no over processed food aka no fast foods. Thats the FAST answer.
Now for the slow answer:
Nourishing foods are those slow cooked , nutrient rich meals that your ancestors would make to feed the entire family. It’s in those passed down recipes with secret ingredients. They are nutrient rich, minimally processed, promotes overall wellbeing, and support different body needs.
You may be asking : “Umm, Brenda, how the heck am I gonna make a slow cooked meal when I am too f!@#$ busy? I have kids, a husband, a job, a dog, a car, a house to clean, after school activities, a manicure appointment, hanging out with friends, hair appointment, [insert more responsibilities here] you must be living in a dream world or don’t work, etca, etca”
Y’all! There is NO ONE way to add nourishing foods in your life. Thanks to some small businesses (and some big ones) there are so many options for us busy people. Let’s use the power of the internet and social media to get us close to resources that makes our lives easier and more enriching (and gut healing) for our children and us as we continue to live this life.
And if some items are beyond your budget, contact your local meat market and produce farmers to see if they can assist you with finding similar foods within your budget needs. There are even local non-profit organizations to assist you with getting access to local produce, I’ll list some below.
So, what should you make first? I must make you aware before you start your nourishing foods journey is that it will MOST, DEFINITELY, POSITIVELY TAKE TIME! I can’t say this enough. This is no fast-food walk in the park type of journey. BUT, y’all, once you master it, you will customize it to your lifestyle. Let’s make this work. Afterall, this is YOUR LIFE you are putting into your own hands. You are in charge of your health and your childrens health for the long run.
I always say it’s better to invest your time and money into nourishing foods Now than to have an expensive a@@ medical bill in the future.
Okay, now to start off on this nourishing journey let’s begin first with identifying what you have time and patience to create in your life right now.
Below is a list (in no order) of items you need to start your nourishing journey that will have the biggest impact in your life now and the future.
Buying and Eating Local Produce
Find your local and urban farmers who are often found at farmers market. Buying local foods means that you will be getting the immediate nutrients from these sources. Also taking the time to visit the farm will give you a glimpse of how the vegetable are cultivated. In my day job, I have across many local non-profits and I must say that you can definitely find something for you and your family that meets your needs.
If this is not accessible for you, go to your local grocery store and select what’s fresh that week. I’m not here to judge if you purchase everything in that store, just focus on getting majority of your items in the perimeter of the store.
Some people have even resorted to growing their own small or big backyard gardens, container gardens, indoor herb garden or raised gardens. I have only 2 herbs inside my house. I have basil and rosemary, which I found at Whole Foods. It may not seem much to many but boy this is very helpful for me as I have immediate access to herbs.
Starting small is already a large step for mankind.
If you live in the Houston area, here is a list of some small urban farmers and nonprofits:
Broths
One of the first foods I got into while searching about nourishing foods is soups. Learning to make chicken, beef, fish, or vegetable stock/broth. What is the difference between stock and broth you may ask?
Stock is generally made from bones and Broth is made with bones and meat included. Vegetable stock is not a broth because it does not have bones to become gelatinous.
They are all simmered for hours but broth is the longest,slow cooking. You can cook it in a regular stove top, Instant Pot or slow cooker.
Where can you find a video recipe for broth? I have used Mary’s Nest recipe for the Instant Pot to make my chicken broth and it’s been successful. I HIGHLY recommend you check out her YouTube channel. She is like the online Nourishing momma we all need.
Brands I recommend to help you with adding broth/stock in your life:
No you don’t have to make your own if you are tight on time. My go to for ready made broth is from the brand Bonafide Provisions. I always find them (hidden) in the freezer isle of HEB. If I just want stock, I get the HEB brand Central Market because it has less sodium. I even find it at Joe V’s (HEB’s economically disadvantaged baby) for a lesser cost. Another backup I have is the Better than Bouillon brand which has saved me many trips to the store because all you need is water and it’s WAY better than those dry a@@ cubed powders. Just sayin’.
Books I recommend for broth recipes:
Nourishing Broth: An old-fashioned Remedy for the Modern World by Sally Fallon Morell and Kaayla T. Daniel, PHD, CCN.
The Bone Broth Secret : A Culinary Adventure in Health, Beauty & Longevity by Louise Hay and Heather Dane.
Check out the website Eat Wild to get more information of local animal farmers to get you started on your broth or stock journey
Breads
Make your own breads at home. One of the most diverse breads is sourdough.
I’ve taken some of my precious weekends learning to make sourdough. Yes, the bread SOURDOUGH. OH my GUDD, I did not know what I was missing out on with home made bread. I have huge, huge appreciation for bakers especially sourdough bakers. The whole process from starter to baking it is a whole novel (as is a long novel book!) experience. It has taken me 6 tries to bring my sourdough starter from little bitty bacteria to loafs of bread. I luv it! I’ll show you my experience with it in a video soon. I’ve been recording the entire process, failures and all.
Getting back to the main point, learn to make your own bread. I don’t know if I recommend sourdough to new people because it’s time consuming. If you do make time for it, check out the brand Cultures for Health for a shortcut.
King Arthur Baking Company has easy bread baking recipes to follow. I use their bread flour when I make my sourdough. I also recommend Jovial Einkorn wheat which I buy from Vitacost. Get started anywhere you feel comfortable with and also what fits your schedule.
Don’t want to make it yourself, that’s cool, just find a bread with more nourishing ingredients. Find bakers in your community. I heard Facebook Groups or Nextdoor are a good place to start though I’ve never used them.
Our Mexican family did not grow up eating European style breads. Growing up we did have Mexican bakeries but what I remember the most is an artisan wheat bread from our small hometown. My mother always brought some back to Texas whenever she visits our family across the border. It has the most beautiful taste I can’t describe into words. You can literally taste my hometown in it 🥲🇲🇽 I have not been able to find the name of it because everyone calls is “wheat bread” in Spanish. Like, how am I suppose to find a recipe online for it??
Ancestral Foods
Tortillas, Bean & Rice. The trifecta of foods I ate growing up. Coming from a Mexican immigrant family, I grew up eating all of that daily, for many years. I used to think we were struggling because we ate that all the time, which we kinda did, but hey I didn’t know any better as a young girl. After college, I was introduced to American fast food, and while it was convenient and tasty, it wreaked havoc on my skin, body and teeth. If there’s one thing I regret in life is not listening to my mom about taking care of my health by eating REAL food.
When I became a mother, I didn’t really know how to cook because I relied so much on eating junk food or at restaurants and never really had the patience to learn from my mom to cook her homemade foods. Over-processed, fried and Texas sized foods have caused me poor eating habits. I didn’t have the same mind frame as I do now. Time is truly precious and you must be mindful how you use it. I got into nourishing, homemade foods only because of me having kids and the pandemic made me more self-reliant.
I started my own journey to return to my Mexican cooking roots. Let’s say it’s been a bit overwhelming. I truly thought corn tortillas would be easy to make but nahhhhh, I can’t even make a proper one. I use a shortcut for making tortillas which is the Masienda brand. I’ll bring you along for this journey because I have so much to show you. Don’t get me started on learning to prep mole (spicy sweet sauce). I still don’t know how to identify all the different types of dry chiles.
Many of the meals of your ancestors will help you reconnect with something you’ve lost over time or maybe never got to learn from anyone. Examples of cultural foods include cheeses, fermented foods and yogurts. Those that take time to prepare and experiment with heritage foods. I have made my own fermented foods like kimchi and pickled veggies, but have yet to make cheese and yogurts.
Reflect on your heritage and think of the foods your grew up with or what your ancestors would have eaten in that region. Food has a way of connecting us to our roots. Even if you like food from another culture that is not your own, it’s still a great idea to explore why you like it and recreate your own recipes.
Timing & Shortcuts
I am all about asking how long does something take to make and if there is a shortcut. Like most regular working class people, time is short and we always try to maximize every minute or hour.
Some of us like to keep our lives action packed that we don’t make room to cook these slow foods. I have listed above the brands I use whenever I do need to stock up on nourishing foods whenever I have become too busy to slow down to cook.
Also, there are many local farmers that do “farm boxes” delivered to your door. Yes you may have to take time to wash and prep but at least you know its fresh. No one is judging you how you eat your greens. If you can, buy organic precut, pre-washed produce from the big store groceries so at least you’ll have your vegetable intakes. There are several grocery stores that do front door delivery now and even pickup. I have used HEB delivery myself on many, many occasions.
Living in Houston doesn’t give me the access to getting fresh tropical fruit like mangoes because those are not native to Texas. Unfortunately I still have to rely on big stores to ship in those “exotic” fruits for me from other states or countries.
Don’t get overwhelmed with making all these foods in one day. You can set up a schedule per month of when and what you will be prepping. It will take a bit of time to get a routine of cooking and preparing your own nourishing foods. And never start hardcore because you will get burned out. I make nourishing meals at least 1x per month and placed items in the freezer for future use such as broths and soups or frozen vegetables.
Do you have to make everything yourself? No, you don’t have to. Is there a local baker who sells a perfect sourdough? Then get that one. Does your neighbor make really good beef broth and willing to share with you once a month? Ask them if they could share or perhaps pay them to make you some. I don’t think you will ever be able to do everything yourself unless you let it consume your entire life existence. I think it’s great when you can find a community that is willing to help each other out in the nourishing journey. Heck, I got my sourdough starter from a friend of a friend for free.
If you are the type that wants to make lots of time to begin a nourishing foods lifestyle, I would highly recommend you get refrigerator containers ready to save broth, vegetables, and soups for future meals. Just like people do their meal planning for their diets, making nourishing foods is the same.
Why should I start adding these in my life?
In a time where we have extensive accessibility to finding foods by just browsing through our internet, why aren’t we taking the opportunity to bring those rewarding foods into our homes? That Instagram account with foodie spots look so great with their decor and piles of fried foods. Then there is the Pinterest feed of pretty looking foods with great lighting. Nourishing foods don’t often look like those Instagramable or Pinterest worthy pictures. They look like the foods your mom, grandma or great grandma made at home. In messy, dimly lit kitchens with unmatching dishware is where the magic was happening.
Nourishing foods is available to anyone. Find your shortcuts. It’s gonna be okay. Not everything is going to have a perfect nourish meal every time of the day. Just do your best to incorporate them in your meals more often than usual.
But Brenda, why are you pushing for nourishing foods cultish vibes? you may think.
Well, after messing up my liver for the sake of fried, greasy junk food (including those delivery or frozen pizzas), I wouldn’t want any of you to have to go through that dilemma. We are so disconnected from foods and animals that picking up that greasy drive thru burger that is made from unidentified meat will help soothe our hunger. It will but only temporarily. As we age, our bodies are changing requiring different nutritional needs. Think of us aging like Benjamin Button. We may be getting older in age and skin, but we are getting as fragile as newborns. We don’t see that nourishing foods helps in how we heal when sick or injured especially as we age. That daily piece of fried chicken or sloppy burger is not going to help you heal better.
Take what you will out of this blog post. Read some books about nourishing meals like I listed above. Afterall, we have to look out for each other as we age in this society.🙂 More importantly, let’s support each other in taking better care of our bodies.
Share in the comments what’s your family’s heritage & enriching foods.
*** I am by no means a doctor so I’m saying this a disclaimer that this whole post is not medical advice. I think you will be able to find that research online through medical journals and medical books and also seek advice from a medical professional***