Our "Starting Traditional Foods" Help List

Over the past several years as we have transitioned and settled into a TF way of eating, there have been a handful of really excellent blogs that were an important resource. They are doing a terrific job of teaching Traditional Foods, so I don't intend to reinvent the wheel. Here's a list of resources and tips I have found useful and hope you do too.

- Traditional Foods is a way of eating, not a diet. If you are sick of diets and want a way of eating that GIVES to you instead of withholding from you, this is it. It is SO not a depriving way of eating. It is rich, colorful, flavorful, and comforting. It's not a complete overhaul into trying to learn to eat things you never knew existed, (although there are some of those for some people!) or trying create a facsimile for what you really wanted, using stuff that isn't at all like what you really wanted. It's the real thing - food, not edible food-like substances.You'll do it your own way. If you still feel good eating a Big Mac once a year, you'll know that a traditional foods foundation will keep such transgressions from degrading your health.

- You'll see references to various books about Traditional Foods, especially Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon. Please, don't start with that one. I like it, it's just not beginner-friendly. Or intermediate friendly either, come to think of it. There are other more approachable takes on real food to peruse if you're the reading type. Nina Planck and Michael Pollan are two authors to check out if you haven't already. Do read Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price - it will answer a lot of questions that come up during your transition to healthful food preparation methods.

-Transition slowly. Don't make a production or announcement about it. It's not going to be very noticeable, except that someone might tell you, "Wow, you really have become a better cook lately!" or "Where are my Cheetos?" Ok, yeah, they'll notice that part. But actually, you can still enjoy all your favorite dishes - and their TF versions are going to be really delicious - not "similar to" the dish you like, but the real thing that the packaged stuff was trying to be.

-Subscribe to an online TF blog- this is the easiest way to get a real-life take on how to transition to TF, especially if you haven't done much cooking from scratch before. Some have courses you can take by email to help you get started. But if you look at their pages on TF basics and just try to take on one thing at a time, you'll get the same information for free. You'll just have to find the techniques and recipes on your own, which is not very hard.

-Don't assume you don't have time for this. It looks like a lot of work at first, and there is some. But like anything else, doing it makes you better at it, and faster. You'll pick up the idea to "Cook once, eat a dozen times" and that alone will save you hours.

 -The word lactofermentation freaks out a lot of people. If you're one of them, just let it go for now.There are a lot of other yummy things to focus on.

Links

Nutrition and Physical Degeneration 

"Traditional Foods in a Nutshell" at Nourished Kitchen
(a great place to start!)

"Nourishing Foundations" at The Nourishing Gourmet

"Real Food Resources" at Kelly the Kitchen Kop


Weston A. Price Foundation's Health Topics page

Kitchen Stewardship

Whole Health Source

The Healthy Skeptic

The Nourishing Cook - where the author is cooking her way through the recipes in Nourishing Traditions, one at a time! We are following with interest and gratitude that she's taken the initiative on this intimidating project.

I know there are other great TF blogs or even cooking blogs that have a TF slant, so if you feel left out, send me a link and I'll check out your site & maybe add it to the list!