When our family began our journey to simplicity, one of the subjects we began to research in depth was our eating habits. We had previously been oblivious, or at least we chose to be, to all of the “bad stuff” that was in food. There is just nothing simple about a food that contains a list of 30 ingredients and only 2 of them are naturally occurring products. We decided then and there that we would begin to nourish our bodies with only simple foods. After all, our minds, our hearts, and our spirits were feeling quite nourished with simplicity. It only made sense that our bodies would respond in a similar manner.

It was a tough battle in the beginning, and honestly one we still struggle with to this day. But I believe we’ve made remarkable progress and it does seem to get easier with each transition we make. So many of the “foods” we used to claim were necessities we no longer crave. In fact, when the rare craving does strike and we eat something that is no longer normal for us, we typically do not feel very well afterwards. Maybe our digestive systems have become simple and no longer know how to handle artificial, chemically-produced products. Simple stomachs - I think that’s a fairly accurate description!

Here are some of the changes we’ve made:

• I no longer rely on canned cream-of soups, sauces, or gravies. (Here’s a recipe list of how I make homemade substitutions.)
• We do not eat any pre-made foods, such as frozen pizzas or t.v. dinners.
• I read the labels and seek out the “natural” foods. For example, we typically only eat nitrate-free lunch meats.
• We very rarely eat-out, and we eat fast food even less frequently.
• We do not drink pop.
• We have completely eliminated all high-fructose corn syrup from our diets.
• We buy organic food whenever it is financially feasible.
• We replaced all-purpose, bleached white flour with whole wheat flour whenever possible. And we only buy unbleached white flour for the recipes we still use it in.
• With the exception of an occasional box of wheat crackers or graham crackers, we do not buy packaged, processed snack foods.
• We only buy organic, Fair Trade coffee. Thanks to Shane Claiborne’s fantastic book, The Irresistible Revolution*, our eyes were opened to the unfair practices in the coffee market. Because my husband and I drink a fair amount of coffee, we figured it was the least we could do. This speaks to a two-fold simplicity - our bodies and our spirits.
• We eat meat-free meals at least twice a week.
• We are no longer overly-dependent on over-the-counter medications. We look for simple, natural remedies first before turning to that old trusty bottle of Advil or Sudafed. My husband will probably never go back to using sinus medications now that he has learned the power of nasal aspiration with sea salt water.

I’m sure there are also plenty of other things that have changed, but they have now become such a force of habit I’m having a hard time remembering all of them. Next on our agenda for simplifying our eating habits is to reduce our use white sugar and white flour even more. We’d also like to start exploring more avenues for eating only locally-grown and organic produce, dairy products, and meat. We just recently made the full-time switch from margarine to butter and/or olive oil.

This simple nourishment has been a tremendous step on the voluntary simplicity path.

*If you have never read The Irresistible Revolution*I strongly recommend it! Here is a brief excerpt from the book:

It’s too bad that living simply has to be so complicated. Responsible living is a paradox, as it often stirs up questions of privilege. It takes a lot of money or land to “tread lightly on the earth…” Simplicity is meaningful only inasmuch as it is grounded in love, authentic relationships, and interdependence.

This is a book that will challenge you, make you laugh, make you cry, and make you want to do something!

Bookmark It

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