Our bodies are begging for healthy, whole foods, but busy lifestyles all too often have us reaching for the ready-made. Jennifer L. Orth uses her 4Real Wellness Company to coach clients in pursuit of greater health, from diet and exercise to homesteading skills like gardening, beekeeping and fermenting. Here's her take on taking in more whole foods.
Phony Foodstuffs
The processed foods we want to avoid have vitamins, minerals, fiber and water stripped out or diminished, and sugar, preservatives and unhealthy fats added in.
Orth's enemy number one is refined sugar. It's addictive, delicious and associated with chronic and debilitating illnesses and suppression of the immune system. “The WHO recommends less than 25 grams a day,” Orth says, “but the average adult consumes almost four times that.” If you can manage just one tweak, make it less of the highly seductive sugar, replacing it with whole-food sweeteners like dates, applesauce, honey, stevia or monk fruit.
Refined grains like white rice, pasta and white bread quickly metabolize into simple sugars, so you may consider them enemy number two, and try opting for high-quality carbs like whole wheat, oats, millet, buckwheat, amaranth, beans and legumes. Our final adversary is unhealthy fats like hydrogenated oils, including palm and canola. Healthy fats include extra-virgin cold-pressed olive oil, unrefined coconut, ghee, avocado, tallow and, believe it or not, lard.
Take Notice
Get curious about what you're eating. Start to read the labels at the grocery store and in your own fridge and pantry. Aiming for products with five or fewer ingredients simplifies things. The good news is that options abound. “If you have a snack bar with refined grains and corn syrups,” Orth says, “there are so many other bars at the store you can swap in.”
The Valley's restaurants include a plentitude of options that serve local food and wholesome recipes (Orth likes Café Santosha in Trexlertown and Allentown's CoreLife Eatery), so going out and eating on the go can be a scrumptious and healthy choice.
The idea is to crowd out the bad with the good. The more whole foods you eat, the better you'll feel and the less you'll crave the junk that left you unsatisfied. But if you're feeling like you're just not the sort of person who even knows what amaranth is…
Baby Steps
The nice thing about processed foods is that they're largely ready to eat, no kitchen or little prep necessary. There may be no real way around the fact that sourcing and preparing whole foods requires forethought and time, but easing in incrementally and laying the groundwork with every advantage can make changes sustainable.
“Small incremental steps are best,” Orth says. “I challenge people to try something each week.” It could be getting the kids to eat quinoa—maybe in the form of brownies! It could be a new ingredient, a new recipe, a new prep skill like soaking grains to make them more digestible. “If you eat out a lot,” Orth says, “maybe just try cooking at home.”
Don't compare yourself to TikToks about waking up dewily at 5 a.m. to harvest organic no-till smoothie ingredients and grind non-GMO local wheat for an impeccable artisan loaf dyed with heirloom beetroot. “It's all or something,” Orth says, “not all or nothing.”
Celebrate every small win and interesting experiment, because each little change makes a difference to your health and happiness, and that's what matters.
Your Eating Infrastructure
The best food is fresh and local from farmers' markets or a CSA. “The nutritional value is higher than food trucked across the country or world,” Orth says. But shopping local can be tough when it requires two- or three- or four-stop shopping. Some CSAs will bring farm food straight to your door, like Willow Haven based in New Tripoli. And if you need your supermarket's precut veg delivered to feel like you have time for a healthy option, get it!
Supply your home with intention by planning meals ahead of time or meal prepping on weekends. “There's so much knowledge on the internet,” Orth reminds us. Any recipe, ingredient or technique has tutorials aplenty online. Tools like a Crock-Pot, pressure cooker and food processor can also vastly speed up or take the work out of cooking, so get equipped.
Start Stockpiling
Fresh vegetables are notorious for hiding and putrefying in the crisper, so find ways to freeze the excess. “You can also freeze flours and grains, nuts and seeds, bread, meats and cheese,” Orth advises.
Keep your pantry stocked with staples like the condiments, marinades and spices that make the simplest foods taste fantastic. Having the food you want to eat available sounds simple but it creates so much convenience and sets you up to have healthy, whole foods flowing.
Published as "Ask the Expert" in the October 2022 edition of Lehigh Valley Style magazine.
