Becoming a Traditionalist

For years I’ve had this blog, and for years the posting has been sporadic. The problem has been a lack of focus. I’ve talked plenty about food, and plenty about sustainability, and some about nutrition and some about dieting and some about love. But I’ve never put it all together in any sort of systemic way, with any sort of purpose in mind.

Well, I’ve finally found a purpose. For the past few months, I’ve been focused on the concept of real foods as a way to health. I’m tired of people—for the most part women, but quite a few men as well—who focus on fat calories and run screaming from a pat of butter. Most Americans will pump their bodies full of artifice and chemicals but shriek at the sight of a carton of full-fat milk. Yet even as people make superheroic efforts to avoid fat and cut calories, our nation is one of the fattest on the planet, with the highest rates of heart disease and diabetes. Where are we going wrong?

I (along with many experts, who I will write about over the course of this project) contend that it’s the obsession with food elements rather than whole foods that has brought about the poor health and obesity that plagues our nation. It’s the concentration on specific nutrients, on cholesterol levels, on good fats vs bad fats. When we focus on traditional foods, we’re able to restore our health and maintain an optimal weight.

But.
But but but.

I can’t be a spokesperson for this. I can’t sit down and discuss the merits of whole milk and butter and coconut oil and animal fats because people would look at me and think, oh, honey, but I don’t want to look like you.

And so, my dears, that’s where this project comes in. For the next year (!) I will be eating a diet that focuses on traditional foods. Sure, there will be slip ups. I need to eat some wedding cake, for example. But the past few months of utter laziness—the trips to Red Robin, the pizza twice a week, the cookies for breakfast—will be shunted aside. As that happens, I hope to become more svelte, and actually be able to be a spokesmodel for this way of eating.

I don’t deny this will be difficult. I work full-time as well as take on free-lance editing work. I’m often riding a bus across the lake, or attending sporting events, or heading out for a beer (hey, beer is traditional…thank goodness). I don’t have tons of money. I really, really, really like sugar. But it’s time to make a change. I want to be healthy. I want to challenge the food system. I want to prove that this method of eating is not only good for our insides, but can make us look good on the outside.

And y’all get to come with me! You’ll learn about traditional foods, about arguments against current nutritional advice, about food policy, and about sustainability. You’ll also get a fun little peek at my life, meeting interesting characters, seeing what the city of Seattle has to offer, and probably hearing more than your fair share of whining.

But that’s all for tomorrow. Today, I sent an old life off in style with a scoop of orange dreamsicle ice cream mixed with brownie and hot fudge.