My New Favorite Grain!

You can probably guess the grain I’m referring to, because I’ve kind of been obsessed with it lately. I know, I know, I’ve talked about it ad nauseum, but I can’t help it. It’s just that good.

And yes, I’m once again speaking of spelt. Tropical Traditions (The Best Place to Get Virgin Coconut Oil) sent me a bag of whole spelt to try out, and I had so much fun experimenting with it, I am now addicted. Unfortunately, now I have to support my addiction myself, but oh well. At least it’s a healthy one, right?!

I already wrote a detailed post about the benefits of spelt and why I love it so much, so I won’t go into great detail here. I’ll just sum up the reasons I highly recommend spelt to everyone:

  • It has more protein and fiber than wheat.
  • The protein in spelt is often tolerated by those allergic to wheat.
  • The nutrients in spelt are more readily absorbed and used by the body than wheat.

One big reason why I am planning on using a lot more spelt for my baking is because of My Certain Little Someone’s food allergies. But even if he weren’t allergic to wheat, I would still strongly consider at least substituting part of the flour in a given recipe for spelt simply for the nutritional benefits.

In particular, just like with whole wheat, I highly recommend you use freshly ground whole spelt if at all possible. Tropical Traditions sells the whole grain, which can easily be ground in a Vitamix or a grain mill. The oils in grains go rancid very quickly as soon as they are ground, so any kind of flour you buy at the grocery store is rancid already. It’s best to start with fresh if it’s at all possible for you.

Tropical Traditions is most famous for their coconut oil. Find more information about their coconut oil, and why you should use it, here.

Tropical Traditions generously gave me a sample of whole spelt to try, but I was in no way compensated for this post, and all opinions are my own. This post does contain affiliate links.

Sharing at Fight Back Friday, Freaky Friday, Friday’s Favorites, The Better Mom Mondays,

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The Importance of Fat {Especially for a Woman} and a Book Review

Don’t miss a single exciting post in my Women’s Wellness Series! We’re talking about all aspects of women’s health, plus I’ve got a great giveaway and some guest posts lined up for you! Follow my Women’s Wellness board on Pinterest for even more great articles and product recommendations.

I just finished reading a fascinating book called “The Good Fat Cookbook. It’s not what you might think, especially if you subscribe to contemporary thought that designates polyunsaturated fats as good and saturated fats as evil incarnate. The back of the book will give you a clue, though, as it lists the Good and Bad fats under consideration. On the list of good fats: butter, coconut, red meat, eggs, bacon, milk, and ice cream. Surprised? How about the bad fats? Canola oil, reduced-fat anything, soy, vegetable oil, and more. Doubly surprised?

If you were even mildly surprised by that good and bad listing, you should read this book! Before diving into some delicious and awesome healthy-fat-filled recipes, author Fran McCullough takes you through the history and science regarding all the various kinds of dietary fats, and explains all the ramifications they have on our health. And even though I’ve been a full-fat enthusiast for years, I learned a lot in this book, so I can recommend it for seasoned whole foodies, too.

Here are some quotes from the book:

In 1875, Americans ate 30 pounds of butter per year. … In 2002, Americans have dropped their fat consumption by 17 percent since 1977. The obesity rate has increased by 25%. Americans now eat 5 lbs of butter, 11-12 lbs of margarine, per person a year. Since 1952, trans fat consumption has risen 2500%. We still eat the same amount of food we ate in 1900, but we eat 127% more sweeteners….

According to Dr. Ron Rosedale of the Colorado Center for Metabolic Medicine, fat is the body’s preferred fuel, not sugar (in all carbohydrates). He points out that when the body stores excess sugar, it’s stored as fat, in a good usable form. Fats not only don’t make you fat (unless you eat them to huge excess - and even then, only if you also ingest enough sugars and starches to stimulate your fat-storage system), they’re good weapons against obesity.

We know… that by and large the food we’re eating in the early twenty-first century is not making us flourish. There are exceptions, of course: the Japanese and French, who happen to be the most and the second most healthy people in the world. Both these groups eat quite a different menu from the standard American one, and both their diets are full of good fats (fatty fish and eggs for the Japanese, butter, cheese, duck fat, olive oil, and an occasional treat of foie gras for the French). Right behind these two exemplary groups of healthy populations are the Mediterraneans, whose famous diet, rich in monounsaturated fats such as olive oil, is especially tasty. … It seems that every geographical area supplies essential fats for its population in a natural, accessible form. Among the Greenland Eskimos, traditionally there were no reliable supplies of vegetables and fruits, but fatty fish and seaweed provided them a completely healthy diet, perhaps the healthiest of all. In the Pacific islands, there’s fish and coconut - that miraculous substance. In Mexico, there are avocados and fish and lard. In Russia, caviar is a traditional miracle cure, prescribed for pregnant and nursing women and anyone whose health needs a boost. Even in the Ireland of the great famine, there were fish and seaweed and wild purslane for the taking. Only in America, where we insist on having it all, do we have very little of these valuable foods, mainly because we’ve taken them out of our food supply in the misguided notion that our health will improve as a result.

The food industry and healthy food police, those talking-head health experts with their extensive media exposure, have promoted polyunsaturated fats mercilessly, which is why all of us think they’re so good for us. These fats do reduce cholesterol in the blood, but they have a disastrous downside: they increase it in the tissues, which is where it really matters. They are deposited in the vascular membranes, and because they’re unstable, cholesterol has to come and pave them over to stabilize them. That’s the way, current thinking goes, we get vascular blockage that can lead to a heart attack. but, in fact, only polyunsaturated fats oxodize cholesterol; saturated fat, from animal sources, won’t oxidize that cholesterol, which is what makes it dangerous and likely to trigger cardiovascular incidents and strokes. … And for strokes too, according to Dr. Mary Enig, polyunsaturated fats are initiators, while saturated fats are protective.

I could offer you a lot more quotes from the book, but really, you should read it yourself. Some of the topics McCullough covers:

  • how the cholesterol-heart disease connection came about, and how it is faulty
  • how the different types of fat work in your body
  • why the government and media make recommendations that have been scientifically proven to be faulty
  • good sources of good fats
  • what are the best fats for your budget
  • why polyunsaturated oils are so terrible for your body
  • free radicals, oxidation, and antioxidants
There are some things I noticed in the book that you should be aware of. For one, I find the author to be occasionally confusing, and seems to contradict herself at times. Also, while she is well-researched regarding fats in the diet, she misses the mark on some of her other recommendations (for example, she offers Splenda as a good substitute for sugars in the dessert section of the cookbook). Also, be aware that the book was written 10 years ago, so some of the information is outdated.
Over all, though, I highly recommend reading this book, whether or not you are well versed in the sad history of fat in America. You will find it fascinating and thought-provoking if nothing else. And besides, she’s got some great recipes in the back of the book, like Lemon Posset, and Cuban Roast Pork with Lime.
Since my topic is Women’s Wellness, though, I want to focus for a second on the connection between fats and hormones, which she mentions in the book. Here’s a quote:
What we have deprived ourselves of - the delicious, satisfying good fats of traditional diets all around the world - are also startlingly health-protective and offer many other desirable benefits, such as good skin, great hair, a good sex life, fertility, a vital immune system, enough vitamin E for your heart, optimum hormone production and antiaging properties. (This sounds like a headline list for a woman’s magazine! Only you won’t find these things in bottles or pills, you’ll find them in fat! ~ AS) Your hormones, which control every cell in your body, don’t work properly without adequate fat, and neither does your immune system.
Did you know that your body needs cholesterol to make hormones? Or that eating low-fat dairy products inhibits your body’s ability to ovulate? Or that essential fatty acids can ease PMS symptoms? Read about some more essential roles that fat plays in the body here.
Clearly, our bodies require fats, and not just in small amounts, either. It’s a commonly accepted fact that fat is one of the three macronutrients - foods our bodies need in large amounts in order to survive and thrive. Many people try to reduce either carbs or fats, but the simple truth is we need both.

 

While the media continues to draw the opposite conclusion, it seems to me that all the evidence points to this: fats are essential to health, especially to a woman’s reproductive health. The only kind of fat proven to be detrimental to reproductive health is trans fats, and we all already knew those were evil. But basic biology and nutrition show us clearly that we need to have an adequate amount of fat in our diet in order for all our body’s systems to run smoothly.

 

Women, in particular, struggle with this because of our body shape and image. We want to look skinny, so we follow the contemporary advice that instructs us to eat less fat so we have less fat. The problem is that this advice is flawed on so many levels. First of all, women aren’t meant to be super thin. We’ve all heard of the gymnasts and ballerinas with amenorrhea (absence of menstruation) because they don’t have enough body fat and exercise too much, but we don’t stop to consider that the same thing could be happening to us, just not on as extreme of a level. Maybe we don’t want to look like a gymnast, but we still starve ourselves or work ourselves to the bone trying to get rid of something that’s supposed to be there. (Now, of course, there’s the opposite extreme. Obesity doesn’t help your reproductive system - or any system in your body for that matter - either. I’m talking about a healthy weight here!). Secondly, fat doesn’t make you fat!

 

Which brings me back to what I started with: read the Good Fat Cookbook. Or Eat Fat, Lose Fat. Or In Defense of Food: an Eater’s Manifesto. Or The Maker’s Diet. Or Nourishing Traditions. All of these books will convince you of your need for fat in your diet, and far more eloquently (and accurately!) than I ever could.
So what fats should you eat? McCullough’s “Good” list pretty much sums it up:
  • Butter
  • Nuts
  • Coconut
  • Olive Oil
  • Fish
  • Avocado
  • Red Meat
  • Eggs
  • Bacon
  • Milk & Full-Fat Dairy
So go clean the low-fat, fat-free fake food out of your fridge, and enjoy some real, God-given fat-full food!
This post contains affiliate links.

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Tropical Traditions Coconut Flour Review

Never used coconut flour before? Never heard of it, perhaps? Well, you’re not alone. I had heard of it, but never had used it before, finding it rather pricey for my taste, until Tropical Traditions sent me a bag to try.

Now I’m a big fan, and when that bag of flour is done, I’m going to be very sad! The good thing is, only half the members of this household can eat it, so we should be able to stretch it out pretty far. Maybe.

What’s so good about coconut flour?

  • For one thing, it’s not a grain, so if you’re grain-free for any reason, it’s a great flour to use.
  • And along the same lines, it’s also gluten-free (and wheat-free) if you need to avoid gluten or wheat proteins.
  • It’s delicious!
  • It’s very high in fiber, but it’s a low-carb food.
  • It’s low on the glycemic index.
  • It has a pleasant slightly sweet taste.
  • It has multiple applications and uses.
  • It is high in protein.
Tropical Traditions Coconut Flour is also organic, and has no sulfites.
So what can you do with coconut flour? Lots of things!
  • Replace up to 30% of the flour in your recipe with coconut flour to add protein and fiber to your recipe.
  • Add a spoonful to smoothies and shakes for a tasty boost of protein and fiber.
  • Use as a coating for chicken, fish, and shrimp.
  • Dissolve in a glass of water for a light coconut-flavored refreshing beverage.
  • Try some of the great coconut flour recipes at Tropical Traditions.
I personally tried two different recipes so far: Gluten-Free Baked Donut Holes and Gluten-Free Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies. Both were very successful! Both of them I adapted by swapping some of the other ingredients for more allergy friendly ones so my Certain Little Someone could enjoy them. I was particularly amazed by the chocolate chip cookies - you would never have known they were allergen-free! And in fact, my Certain Little Someone shared them with his friends, and they all loved them! I plan to make them again very soon.
One thing you should know before you start to play around with coconut flour - it needs a lot of eggs and/or egg replacers. It just doesn’t bind together well on its own, and it’s a very thirsty flour. You will probably notice that a lot of coconut flour-based recipes make smaller portions, which helps with those tendencies.

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Why I Love Tropical Traditions Raw Honey


What makes their honey so special?

Glad you asked.

The reasons are many, and you can find more information about their raw honey on the Tropical Traditions website, but here are my favorites:

  • It’s made by bees in remote regions of Canada, and is therefore one of few honeys available in North America that can be certified 100% organic. This is huge because it is extremely difficult to certify honey as organic simply because it’s difficult to determine where the bees have been and what plants source their pollen. Furthermore, the certification process is rigorous and controls all aspects of honey-making from the beginning (the bee!) to end (processing and packaging).
  • It has not been pasteurized. If you’re a fan of Louis Pasteur, you may wonder why this is such a good thing. I’ll tell you why: pasteurizing the honey kills everything that is good about it. The enzymes, yeast, and microbial properties that make it so healthy are often destroyed in the pasteurization process.
  • It is so creamy! The other raw honeys I’ve enjoyed have been either runny or kind of stiff. Tropical Traditions’ raw honey is neither: it’s creamy and spreadable, the perfect texture.
  • Its flavor is light and delicious. The raw honey I usually buy is great, but it does have a strong flavor that not everyone loves. This raw honey will delight your senses with its mild and delicate flavor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Tropical Traditions Palm Shortening Review and Coconut Oil Giveaway

So what is a review of palm shortening and a giveaway of coconut oil doing on a supposedly “healthy” food blog? Aren’t those fats really bad for you? Don’t they clog your arteries? Raise your cholesterol? Give you a heart attack?

The short answer to all those questions is: no.

The long answer is: there is no real short answer to those questions, but blaming traditional fats for the heart disease issues in this nation is misled at best and illogical at worst. I have been reading Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food lately, and he explains so well how we as a nation became duped by the “lipid hypothesis” that affected our diets so drastically to our great detriment. Do fats play a part in heart disease? Possibly. But to say so is to ignore all the many other factors in the Western diet that affect every organ in our body, including our heart: high amounts of refined sugar and flour, low levels of Omega-3s, increased consumption of corn and soy, and on and on and on. Furthermore, this nation first saw unprecedented rates of heart disease when margarine was introduced early last century, and has not improved since then, no matter how much harder we try to avoid saturated fats. Whereas our ancestors, who ate lard and butter to their hearts content, suffered from heart disease at a normal proportion to the population, we avoid saturated fats like the plague and still find that heart disease is our number one killer. While it’s true that deaths from heart disease have been reduced in the past few decades, just as many people - if not more - are being diagnosed with heart disease as they have been since that fatal introduction of margarine. (Most of this information comes from Michael Pollan’s book, but I’ve seen these statistics elsewhere.)

Contrast this situation with that of the tropical nations, whose people consume a diet rich in highly saturated vegetable fats like palm and coconut oils. Tropical countries do not even appear on the World Health Organizations list of the top 25 countries with high mortality rates from heart disease. Once again, boiling down the issue of heart disease to one aspect alone - fat - would be misleading and illogical, and yet it’s an element that cannot be ignored. Certainly, unlike “developed” countries that avoid saturated fats like the plague, those fats don’t seem to be doing any harm to tropical populations who consume them regularly.

One thing to remember, it’s highly unlikely that those countries mentioned are manufacturing and processing those oils beyond recognition, which is what happens here in the United States when those oils are used in food production. This is why Tropical Traditions is such a valuable source of healthy, whole fats, like palm shortening and coconut oil.

Here’s some information about how Tropical Traditions produces their palm shortening:

Tropical Traditions Organic Palm Shortening comes from small scale family farms in South America. These farmers are certified by ProForest, which ensures that they meet strict social, environmental and technical criteria. With regard to environmental criteria, the assessments are carried out at the landscape and operational level at both the farms and processing facilities. These assessments cover environmental impact on the soil, water, air, biodiversity and local communities.

Palm shortening is derived from palm oil. In its natural state, palm oil is a mixture of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids, with most of the unsaturated fat being monounsaturated fat. Palm shortening is palm oil that has some of its unsaturated fats removed, giving it a very firm texture, and high melting point. The melting point of our Organic Palm Shortening is 97 degrees F., making it very shelf stable. It is NOT hydrogenised, and contains NO trans fats!

I had the opportunity to try this Organic Palm Shortening recently. In a word (or 3): I love it! For someone who never used vegetable shortening because of its definite lack of nutrition, it’s wonderful to have a healthy version to use in baking and frying. Palm oil shortening adds no taste, so you can use it in a broad spectrum of applications, like:

  • Grandma’s Biscuits
  • Whole Wheat Tortillas
  • Gingersnaps
  • Pie Crust/Pastries
  • French Fries
  • Donuts

If you’ve never tried palm shortening before, give it a try! From now until Monday, September 12, you can get 10% off your order through Tropical Traditions by using the code 120911. With this sale and the current price, you can get palm shortening for even cheaper than the brands available in the grocery store! Plus, for first time customers, you will receive a free copy of Tropical Traditions Virgin Coconut Oil book.

Disclaimer: Tropical Traditions provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product.

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A New Approach to Food:Change Your Outlook, Change Your Life {Or, Intuitive Eating, A Review}

I first heard about the concept of “intuitive eating” at the FitBloggin 11 Conference back in May, where I attended a workshop led by several bloggers (Karen Anderson at Before & After, Katie at Healthy Heddleston, Christie at Christie Inge, and Shauna at The Amazing Adventures of DietGirl) who have all implemented the philosophy to one degree or another. I left the session with more questions than answers, but definitely intrigued by the whole idea.

What exactly is the whole idea behind intuitive eating? In a nutshell, it could be summed up as “a healthy relationship with food”. We often think of relationships with other people as “healthy” or not: a healthy relationship being one where there is mutual love and/or affection exchanged without abuse, verbal, physical or otherwise. The idea behind intuitive eating is to help you develop a healthy relationship with food, in the sense that you recognize and enjoy its benefits and advantages for you, without abusing or fighting against it, or allowing it to have a hold over you.

There are 10 principles or steps that define intuitive eating, and they are laid out logically in such a way that it is best to start with the first principle, master it and go from there. I don’t have the time or space to discuss each one in detail, so I highly recommend that you read the book “Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Program that Works” by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch. It’s currently only $9.21 at Amazon.com, or you can find it through your local library, which is what I did (cheap, you know!). You can also check out the authors’ website, Creating a Healthy Relationship with Food, Mind and Body, which offers more information about this and their other books.

At the workshop, I was overwhelmed by a lot of psychology, something that I, like Dr. Brennan of Bones fame, have difficulty understanding and accepting to a certain extent. But I could tell that lurking somewhere underneath all the psychological fluff about loving yourself (pfftt, I do a very good job of that already, thank you!) there was some deep truth that I wanted to discover more fully. I was pleasantly surprised that the authors of the concept and the book go a lot further than psychology, basing their philosophy more on scientific research and their own vast experience with clients than on any psychological premise. Besides which, most of their positions and statements rang true to me, and resonated with what I already know to be true. It’s like the missing piece of the puzzle that is my personal approach to food and nutrition.

Of course, I don’t agree with everything in the book. I don’t agree with everything in any book except the Bible. Although in the nutrition section, they cited research and studies that confirmed the importance of fat in a diet, and affirmed the folly of “low-fat” or “fat-free” foods, they still encouraged readers to consider places in their diet where they could cut back on fat without affecting taste or texture. Also, I skimmed through some of the chapters because I just didn’t find them applicable or interesting to me.

Much of the book, though, was spot on ( or at least I thought it was!), and pointed out to me areas in my own thinking that needed a little adjustment. Some of the thoughts from the book that stood out to me:

  1. Step #1 is “Reject the Diet Mentality” This is not only important for those who yo-yo from one fad diet to the next, or for those who lose weight on one diet, only to lose it months or even years later. This is also for people like me, who never go on “diets” per se, but periodically attempt to lose weight by counting calories and forbidding certain foods (like sugar) for periods of time. All the research - ALL the research, and they cite quite a bit of it - proves that forbidding foods (either specific foods or limiting amounts of it) always results in an almost “hoarding” mentality, wherein you binge either before or after dieting because you feel deprived. It’s ingrained in us as part of our survival to make sure we always have food available - we need it to live! So when we anticipate (or experience) a deprivation of food, our bodies naturally kick into preservation mode and begin hoarding food, fat and calories to keep us alive. This is partly a psychological function, but it has its roots in biology, which made the biggest impression on me. I won’t go into the science of it here (because I know I’ll mess it up, science not being my strong point), but the bottom line is that there is a biological reaction that occurs in your body whenever you expect to be deprived of food, or indeed are deprived of food. And that biological reaction goes against the whole idea of dieting, because it causes your body to lose muscle mass, store fat, and eat more food. So from a biological standpoint, there is no point in dieting; it is, in fact, counter-productive. That means no more fad diets, but it also means no more counting calories, and no more eliminating entire food groups from your diet.
  2. That brings me to the second thing I really found interesting in this book: that carbohydrates are essential to the health of your body. I have always believed this to be true, based on my own (admittedly limited) understanding of nutrition and the inner workings of the body, but also based on historical and scientific evidence. I have been disturbed by the growing trend of eliminating grains entirely from one’s diet, and reducing carbs over-all, even by people and groups that I otherwise highly respect for their healthy approach to food and nutrition. It was nice to read some scientific confirmation that carbohydrates - grains included - are indeed essential to your health, and that reducing them has harmful effects on your physical and mental well-being. I know that, in part, the current backlash against grains has much to do with the wide occurrence of celiac disease and the necessity of many people being gluten-free. I don’t think, though, that grains are the root cause of the high prevalence of celiac disease; they are merely a symptom of a much deeper issue. Removing grains altogether is putting a not-very-effective band-aid on a booboo that will only continue to get much worse.
  3. Principles #3 and #4 are “Make Peace with Food” and “Challenge the Food Police”. These are thought-provoking concepts that I agree with to a certain extent. The idea is that you alter your view of certain foods as being “bad”. Here is where a certain amount of psychology comes into play: the more you view a food as “bad”, the more you will desire it. You will try to hold off for as long as possible, but eventually, you will cave. And when you cave, you will end up eating much more than you would have if you had just had a bit of it in the first place. I think there is much truth to that. I am reminded of the Biblical concept: ”everything is permissible for me - but not everything is beneficial. And that everything is permissible for me - but I will not be mastered by anything”. However, it is also true that there really are foods that are “good” for you and “bad” for you. How you view them doesn’t change their reality, and the reality of how they will affect your body when you eat them. I agree, though, that it is healthier to view food through a positive lens overall, rather than constantly struggling and fighting against it. As the authors insist, in the end, it leads to a much better relationship with food over all.
  4. The most useful principles are, perhaps, #2 and #5: Honor Your Hunger and Feel Your Fullness. Barring certain medical conditions, most of us are born with hunger and satiety cues. If heeded from birth, these cues will keep us from abusing food and developing eating disorders of any kind. The problem is, many of us have silenced these cues by constantly ignoring them, or by our well-meaning parents insisting we “clean our plate”. I have observed that my toddler goes through phases (and hearing from other toddler moms, it seems that most are like him) where he will eat very litte, and then a lot. Over time, his body works it all out. Current research suggests that adults who follow their body’s cues like a toddler does, and eat when they’re hungry (and stop when they’re full) will follow the same pattern. The body works out its nutritional needs over a period of several days or even a week or more. We can’t force it to follow a specific pattern of eating a certain amount of food at certain times (400 calories for breakfast at 8, a 100-calorie snack at 10, 300 calorie lunch at noon, etc.). Once again, our bodies will kick into deprivation mode if we ignore our hunger signals. And if we ignore our fullness signals, well. I think we all know what happens then! The authors suggest several techniques to help you get in tune with your body’s hunger and satiety cues, one of which is not to let 3 hours go by without checking into see if you need to eat something. Most people need to eat every 3-4 hours. Other tips include asking yourself questions as you eat, rating your hunger and fullness as you go, and eating slowly.

All in all, I highly recommend this book and the philosophy behind it. I feel we are a nation very out of touch with our bodies’ needs regarding food and nutrition. I believe we are also born with an innate knowledge (intuition?) about our bodies’ needs, and if we listened to our bodies instead of abusing them with either too much, too little, or all the wrong kinds, of foods, we would be a lot healthier!

I really am interested in your feedback. What do you think about the concept of “intuitive eating”? Does it ring true for you? Would you be willing to ditch the diet mentality? Or do you already eat intuitively - no dieting for you?

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Where I Buy Organic & Specialty Foods {without breaking the bank or the budget}

It goes without saying that organic and specialty foods generally cost more than their conventional counterparts… that is because they are worth more! I cannot complain about their higher cost because I am well aware of their higher value.

However, I often think it would be really nice to be able to afford all the organic (and local, grass-fed, free-range, etc. etc.) foods that I want to feed myself and my family. As it is, I do what I can and try to prioritize (according to nutritional and budgetary impact) what foods I do buy in their organic and un-processed state.

One store that helps me do this on a regular basis is a local organic market called MOM’s {MOM’s Organic Market}. They boast that they have the lowest price on “all same brand packaged products of any natural food store”, and at least in my area, it’s definitely true. There are 3 natural food stores within driving distance of my home, and MOM’s is by far the cheapest (and the most easily accessible, which makes it a win-win!).

When you enter the door at MOM’s, you are greeted by a gorgeous array of fresh organic produce:

You can help yourself to a sample or two, and enjoy taking home organic produce at very reasonable prices. Occasionally, they will have seasonal fruits and vegetables at better prices than conventional! Some of the produce is local, and it’s all definitely organic.

Adjacent to the produce section is their bulk section where you can buy dry goods at a substantially lower price than the packaged versions. I’ve just recently started purchasing herbs, spices, and some other items from the bulk bins, having previously been nervous about cross-contamination regarding allergens. (Well, I’m still a little nervous about that, but so far so good. The prices are enough to keep me trying!)

What I really love about MOM’s is that they are always well stocked with So Delicious coconut milk products, like the beverage, coffee creamer (a godsend now that I’m dairy-free while nursing!), yogurt, kefir and ice cream. Even though other grocery stores carry them, I almost always go to MOM’s when I need to stock up on those items, because I know I can rely on them to have them in stock (98% of the time anyway! So Delicious stuff is pretty popular!).

What else do I generally buy at MOM’s? Here are some of the things I buy there on a regular basis:

  1. Wheat-free grains They have the best prices that I’ve seen (except maybe Wal-Mart, but I think even they are comparable, and MOM’s has a wider selection) of Bob’s Red Mill and Ener-G brand wheat-free/gluten-free flours, which are essential for baking for my Certain Little Someone. In particular, I always buy tapioca starch and potato starch there, as well as occasionally sorghum flour, garbanzo bean flour, and brown rice flour.
  2. Local Pastured Eggs They are the only source in my town for these! And they cost $4.29 for a dozen, which I think is reasonable.
  3. Bulk Herbs and Spices This is not my only source for herbs and spices, but it’s definitely on my list, and one I use frequently. I like that they are all organic, and I can buy small amounts for spices I don’t use very often.
  4. Organic Whole Milk Except for when Harris Teeter puts it on sale, MOM’s has the best price for organic milk, even better than Costco.
  5. Bulk Grains and Specialty Foods By “specialty foods” I mean things like wheatberries (which I don’t buy yet because I don’t have a grain mill yet, but I will someday!), sucanat, raw sugar, nutritional yeast (a cheese replacement for vegans and those allergic to dairy and soy products), and the like. They also carry beans, nuts, and a variety of granolas.
  6. Essential Oils They have absolutely the best price I’ve seen anywhere for essential oils, which I don’t buy very often (because they last a long time), but when I do buy them, I go to MOM’s.

They also have a great price for local raw organic honey, and I always check at MOM’s whenever I need a specialty food item for my Certain Little Someone, because I know they are likely to have it (like allergen-free, healthy canned soups to take with us on vacation, and certain snacks).

Where do you like to buy organic and specialty foods? Do you have a local organic market?

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