A change of pace in comparison to my regular blog posts!
This is about two diets that since I started following them my weight and health have become better than ever. I believe if more people adapted the lifestyle and embraced the fundamentals of these two diets. It would change the way the world works, it is not a easy life style choice as there is very little convenience involved. Which is the point its about eating fresh in season food with high natural fat content as the main fuel for your body. It is about going back to the basics before when focused on the calorie value of our food and before we were able to eat our favourite foods all year round because they have been flown from all around the world. Now that we no longer eat with the seasons we continuously eat food that we like, unfortunately historically they are not the health lean foods. We never move with the seasons there is a reason why there are lean seasons and bountiful ones, eating with the seasons gives our diets the natural control of nutrients.
Firstly I will define the two diets:
The Ketogenic diet focuses on high natural fat, as the main fuel for the body with a balanced amount of protein and low carbohydrate.
The Palleo diet focuses on types of foods presumed to have been eaten by early humans, consisting chiefly of meat, fish, vegetables and fruit no dairy.
For me the amalgamation of both these diets works, they create a balance of the two extremes. I try stay away from the mainstream staples of potatoes, bread and pasta but with young kids that is not always practical. I use dairy as currently we need butter, cheese and cream as a great source of energy. Sugar is a big NO! We use sweetener when required and stay away from high carbohydrate fruits, due to the fact we don't need to worry about lean periods like our ancestors.
Before I started looking at the environment side of what my family eats, I had no idea how the agricultural industry operated. I watched a documentary called "Sustainable" and "in defence of food" both available on Netflix, these documentaries opened my eyes to the food we eat, how it affects our health and our planet.
The cost of local grown food is higher than the mass produced meats, vegetables and processed products, but by supporting local micro farmers who farm in ecological ways or even just local people who grow their own food in their allotment, and sell there surplus. we can change these industries, the old school financially driven institutions that care nothing about our health or the wellbeing of the animals but care greatly about their margins.
Gathering of ecologically fair trade foods can become a very rewarding way to live. Its a bit like how our ancestors lived, although it seems difficult its much easier than they way they lived. Time is an illusive commodity when living a mainstream life. Working 8 to 10 hours a day does not leave much time for finding food and there in lies the part where people give up, Rome was not built in a day. I have started small cut out one item of convenience at a time look for local sources. If they cannot be found I plan to start growing our own and sell or give away some of our surplus via my Facebook page.
Food like everything else we see is driven by marketing, they manipulate us into believing we need what we don't, now in my previous post "planning food for a minimalist family" I highlighted the importance of creating meal plans to save money, this has worked out very well for the finances now I'm working on expanding to incorporate meals sourced in sustainable and environmentally friendly ways. I searched the internet and found a site with this seasonal grow chart. The next stage of my families eating plan is to start eating more seasonal dishes. Reduce the amount of meat we eat weekly from 7 days to 5 days this will not only save us money but it is kinder to the environment. I read this article on how livestock damage the environment and it made me really take stock. My family consumes vast amount of dairy an meat, now we are not going to become vegetarians or even vegans but we are going to reduce our consumption.
Finding alternative is another time consuming endeavour, we have grown up eating commercially viable foods. We need to train ourselves to think about meals differently, which is difficult as all our knowledge comes from main stream media and books focused on the mass population. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is one of the few writers / broadcasters who fights for seasonal eating.
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