Healthy Living Reset

I don’t know why this thought had never occurred to me before….I have eaten quasi-homemade food most of my life. We called it homemade, but it wasn’t really. It was a combination of frozen, boxed, and canned convenience items with a few actual homemade additions.

I’m not throwing shade on my mom or on anyone else who cooked or still cooks that way. I always tell folks that my mom made the same two things for us every single night…take it or leave it. Fortunately, I liked most of her cooking and was especially fond of her casseroles. I just had never thought about the influences on her cooking.

When my mom and dad grew up in the post-depression era, most people in our part of the world ate homegrown vegetables, either fresh or home canned, and whatever meat they raised with cornbread or homemade biscuits. A variety of cooked beans figured largely into their diets, also. Despite the preponderance of real butter and the salty seasonings, it was a mostly healthy diet. People’s lives still required many steps and physical exertion, so no one went to the gym or owned a treadmill…they hung their clothes in a closet. Overall, there were very few obese people in the many photographs of family life in the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s.

It may be strange to track the pivot point of modern eating back to the assassination of JFK, but I think that event changed so many things in our country’s history…might as well blame modern home cooking on it, too. So many social and cultural upheavals are associated with that event and the escalation of the Vietnam War. I was five years old when JFK was assassinated and it was the first real national news story I remember. As I entered school and headed into preteen and teen years in the seventies, the prevailing cultural norms were “love, not war”, “if it feels good, do it”, and “I am woman, hear me roar”. It was this last one that began to drive more women out of their homes and into the workforce by convincing them that they were missing out by staying home, managing their homes, and raising children. Granted, some women had to work outside the home whether they wanted to or not. All these working women needed food choices that were quick and easy.

The food industry perceived an opportunity and began to develop and produce a preponderance of convenience food products. I remember the first TV dinner I ever had. I did think it was a cool idea, but the quality was no better than the baked goods my sister produced in her easy-bake oven. Although my mom continued to be a homemaker all my growing up years, she was never a committed cook. She was influenced by older women in our family, but utilized suggestions in women’s magazines and a basic Betty Crocker cookbook to plan about ten standard menus that she just rotated. For her, the introduction of things like frozen pot pies, breakfast cereal, and canned meats offered variety as well as convenience. As more such products became available, she incorporated them into our meals.

For working moms, these convenience foods were actually a necessity. Who had time to bake homemade bread, assemble homemade soups, and do food preservation such as home canning? Many people even ceased to grow any of their own food. So many formerly standard food skills were lost in just a few decades. As with most trends, the pendulum can only swing so far in one direction before it heads in the opposite direction. I believe that we are experiencing a rebirth of some lost home skills and, hopefully, a return to healthier eating.

This trend has been growing slowly for a while, but the lockdowns and supply chain issues of 2020 accelerated its development. Some call it modern homesteading, but I think that particular movement is only a segment of the larger trend. In true modern homesteading, one is participating in some or all of the following activities: gardening, raising livestock, beekeeping, food preservation, fermentation, and scratch cooking with real food ingredients. There are as many iterations of this movement as there are homes. For the families who live on farms, many of the above may be happening. For urban dwellers, it often involves utilization of farming co-ops or even Amazon to acquire real food products to support a healthier eating lifestyle. The food pyramid that I knew has been turned on itself, literally. Although our society is very familiar with  and even nostalgic about fast-food, many more people are slowly making healthier choices..sometimes because a Happy Meal no longer leaves our wallets happy!

I gleaned a basic understanding of what constituted healthy eating when I was young; my  mom’s basic advice was that a colorful plate was a healthier plate. My health classes in school went into details of fats, proteins, and carbs, always stressing balance and eating a wide variety of foods. As an adult I was able to feed myself and, eventually, my husband and child but I fully admit I used many of the convenience foods that were the bulk of grocery store offerings. I remember a story about a young newlywed wandering in a grocery store so long that the manager asked if he could help her find something. “Yes”, she said, “My grandmother says the best foods are made from scratch, but I can’t seem to find that product anywhere in here!”

Since I retired I have had more time to study and learn what used to be basic cooking techniques and food production. I learned how to brine a chicken and then roast it, make homemade pizza dough, make my own granola, and produce a variety of homemade soups. I am anticipating my third year of gardening in my raised beds…this year with heirloom seeds. I will probably never ferment many products or dehydrate my vegetables, but I’m pretty proud of the progress I’ve made so far. I’ve become more of a label reader and have learned at least five words that mean hidden sugar.

Most grocery store foods eaten in our country for decades are overly processed concoctions where nutrients have been minimized for storage and travel. There is extra sugar and sodium in almost everything. We can’t pronounce many of the ingredients and are hearing alarming reports of harmful ingredients in many products. *I want to pause and say that I am NOT a dietitian or a doctor…and I didn’t sleep at a Holiday Inn last night, so I am not offering dietary advice or warnings.* Even if you are consciously making healthier choices and actually doing better, you may still feel the need to occasionally have some flaming hot Cheetos, Little Debbie cakes, or even Hamburger Helper. No judgement from me! However, as our budgets, time, and tastes allow we should all should think about following the growing trend toward old-fashioned food production and consumption in whatever ways we can.

The healthy eating and living reset is an area where the generation under age 40 is truly leading the way and often teaching themselves how to grow, store, and cook real food. Many young mothers are learning basic sewing, utilizing raw milk for yogurt and homemade cheeses, and even homeschooling their children.

I am lost in admiration for their commitment to their family’s overall health and well being. I think their drive and interest in reviving old and more natural ways of homemaking has made the SAHM (stay-at-home-mom) moniker a true and revived badge of honor. I see their seamless integration of technology with old-fashioned skills to maximize their skill, efficiency, and continued connection to the wider world while spending more and more time in the home. There are  innovations such as grocery store pickup that aid their daily efforts to manage a home aa well as endless podcasts to teach, inspire, and entertain. If I’m honest I can admit that I am patently envious that I did not have their opportunities and truly feel that the “feminist movement” of the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s robbed women in our country of the right and privilege of making homes that nurtured everyone in those families. Home tasks can be creative even in their repetition. Teaching your own children and being there for them when they are sad or sick nourishes a mom’s soul. The most powerful and influential job a woman can ever have is as the creator and curator of a home that provides a healthy and comfortable place to escape the noise and confusion of an unhealthy world. I pray this new trend produces generations of children and families who are mentally, emotionally, and physically healthier.