Happy New Year. I wanted to get things moving in a positive direction before the new year hit, and it seems I have set off on the right path.
An honest confession
This is the part where I fess up and tell you that I have not always been able to practice what I preach. I had a baby last year, and the nausea and difficulty being in the kitchen stuck around even after I felt better. It was much easier to microwave a bean burrito or make a sunflower seed butter and jelly sandwich. And then, after giving birth, a sweet tooth I had never had took hold — one whose grip has only recently begun to loosen.
I felt guilty about not feeding my body — and the little one who feeds off of me — the absolute best foods. So over the last couple of months, I made a bigger commitment to get back to the farmer's market and to make several nutrient-dense meals at home each week. Before I was pregnant, I made a lot of things from scratch: yogurt, pickled foods, bread. I wanted to move back in that direction.
Getting back to it
Since Thursday night, I have made two batches of apple butter using just apples — no honey or sugar. On Friday night, two different ferments. And in the last half hour: a batch of almond and coconut flour pumpkin spice muffins, chicken bone broth, and beet kvass.
I am telling you this not to show off, but to remind myself and anyone else how we can make foods that are truly good for us, even when we think we do not have the time. It also reminded me how soothing being in the kitchen is for me. While that may not be the case for everyone, I find it genuinely meditative.
Whatever your goals are for the new year — whether it is cooking more at home, spending more time with friends, or taking a little time to read each day — cheers to all of us making decisions that are better for us and our families.
Food is one of the most powerful medicines we have. If you want to know what that looks like as a clinical framework, it is something we work through together in care.