No Perfection Required: Building a Sustainable Local Food Lifestyle
- Rene @ Little Farm Store
- Apr 22
- 10 min read
Most people assume that our lifestyle of eating local food is some sort of innate talent that was magically imbued upon us and that most “normal” people just have a hard time with this behavior. The truth is we ALL struggle with eating well, even me and Ryan. My personal journey with food has been a long evolution, not something that happened overnight, and I STILL don’t do it “perfectly” 100% of the time. Additionally, I do not believe it is mentally healthy for us to think that we have to live in the realm of 100% perfection to have a “good” lifestyle either. Perfection is elusive and rather arbitrarily outlined and can be a debilitating place to try and exist. When we get too bound up in a set of rules around behaviors, we also tend to get stuck on the yo-yo swing of “dieting”. This behavior can be problematic, leading to a deep sense of defeat that really impedes people’s ability to move forward in the journey of improving their health.
Now, I am not a healthcare provider, just a gal that has researched a lot and worked on my own health for many years, and who still struggles from time to time with executing all the healthy habits. Today, I thought it might be beneficial to share some candid insights and observations about how we make local eating work in our own home.
Make healthy food a priority
Ryan and I know that we want to eat food that is clean and contains real food ingredients and, as often as possible, is grown or produced locally. So we sally forth into our food environments with these 3 simple principles as the backdrop of all our purchases. There have been many studies emerging over the last decade (at least) that show definitive evidence about how various food dyes and additives are messing with our health in a whole host of ways. As a consequence, we make it a priority to work hard at avoiding things that are ultra-processed, containing massive ingredient lists with lab-created sounding names. There are a couple of things to keep in mind here.
First, is that you must really think about the term “processed”, because when we can vegetables at home, or turn flour into bread, those are ways of processing food. Processing itself is not bad; these are actually very useful ways to store the harvest. The issues seem to arise when food is highly adulterated with a lot of extra stuff people should not be eating. These extra compounds are really what has led to many of the diet related health issues in our society. When you make real food items the priority in your food choices, it naturally leads you to eating whole and minimally processed items - which is a huge step forward. Now does that mean we never eat ice cream or crackers? No, it just means that we are very aware of our choices, and it naturally causes us to eat MUCH less of those kinds of items, or we learn to make them ourselves so they are healthier.
Make friends with your kitchen
I used to hate cooking. My mom always bemoaned having to spend time in the kitchen, and was kind of a boring cook, so I grew up thinking that the whole shopping/cooking situation was just a chore that we had to endure. Additionally, as a young mom starting a teaching career (many moons ago) I never felt like I had any time, and consequently cooking also felt like just one of those boxes that had to be checked in the day. So what changed?
In my case, I went through several years where I couldn’t lose the weight from my second daughter, where I was struggling with stress and depression and had repeatedly tried to quit smoking, and where I just generally felt defeated and crappy in my own body. I reached a point where I just knew that this could not possibly be the sum total of life experiences and that the only way I was going to feel better would be to get a handle on my health. I grew up in an active, horse-riding, hard-working home, so I knew that step one was to get busy - just start taking steps, no matter how small in the direction I wanted to go. I went back to my roots and bought a horse so I could get outside and have something to do. This required me to do things like build fences, stack hay, feed the horse, etc. Those familiar routines helped me start working through the funk, but it would be a long, messy journey before I would actually reach the other side. The real message here is to just start and keep trying. The process is not linear and you will falter, but that’s ok - just “get back on the horse” and try again … as many times as it takes.
I struggled with depression for many years, tried several different pharmaceuticals for treatment, some of which just made life even harder, so I decided to try and find other ways to manage these chemical imbalances. I came across some research that showed how certain mineral deficiencies could exacerbate our stress reactions and lead to depression. And THAT was the true beginning of my work with food as a vital part of health. The best part was that it gave me hope - a way to solve the problem, not just mask it. I would learn that it was a combination of several things that solved my troubles, but food played a vital part.
To keep a long story short, one important truth I learned was that in order to EAT good food, I would have to MAKE good food. At first I had to learn to make peace with the extra steps to prepare dinner and the extra time it took to find recipes and to make proper shopping lists, but looking back those things really did become less onerous over a much shorter period than it felt like. And, I simply became more adept at knowing what to put together, so the process got easier and easier as time went on. I also grew to really love a quality sharp knife and to value the physical connection with our food as I touched it and chopped it and made it into something beautiful and satisfying.
In our society, we tend to treat meal times as this thing we have to get done between other things. I think a key component is changing the mindset to slow down and make some of this food time a central time to take a break and to enjoy the family dinner table, to connect with our food and with one another (or even just ourselves). By making these pauses for nutrition pleasurable resting points in our day, I think it helps us to value it, and ourselves, more.
Your kitchen is a portal for health, so making it enjoyable to spend time there is key. Maybe that’s reorganizing it, or getting others in your family involved so you're not doing it alone, or dancing and playing upbeat music while you cook (just be careful with the sharp knives). Whatever steps you need to take to love your cooking and meal time - working towards that goal is totally worth it.
Buy local, buy organic, buy whole - first
The very best foods we can purchase are the ones grown or raised locally on regenerative farms. Emerging bodies of research are truly demonstrating just how important it is to eat foods grown in soils that are active with healthy soil biology (more on that in another episode). Suffice to say for now is that when you can eat close to the source, you will be getting far superior food quality and flavor. Another significant benefit is that eating from your local area may positively impact your gut microbiome and your immune system because it helps your body stay in-tune with its native environment. You will also reduce your body’s total toxic load which allows it to process and filter and generally function much better.
There are also a host of other lovely economic and community supporting reasons we should put our dollars to work locally, but in the interest of staying focused on the healthy function of our bodies, I will keep it short here. When you know where your food comes from, you can make much better decisions about what you are putting on your table. The easiest way to have all the information about your food is to grow it yourself, or shake the hands that feed you.
I recognize that not all the things are available all the time when choosing locally, so that is why the motto “buy local - first” got started. Make local food your FIRST stop in shopping; purchase what you can - whether for economic reasons or availability reasons, making local your first choice is going to have significant positive impacts on your health and the health of your community. Then, you can fill in the rest of your needs in other ways. Vegetables are often about the same price, sometimes even less expensive, coming from your farmers as they are from the organic grocer. Maybe you choose to start with the most consumed item - like hamburger or milk and spend a little more to make that one area of consumption better. Small steps, remember; just start with one thing if that is all you can do.
After regenerative, choose organic. The labeling system with organic foods is actually not what we often think it is, but it is still generally better for your health than conventionally grown items. I know these items are more expensive, so at the very least, choosing to avoid the EWG’s (Environmental Working Group) “Dirty Dozen” list is a great way to get started. This organization has great resources about which food items are most laden with pesticide chemicals, so that we can purchase at least those items organically and make good strides towards reducing some of the toxins in our diets. Again, choosing local organics or organically managed foods is a gold star option, so even if your farmer is not specifically proclaiming regenerative practices, do choose those who are using organic methods.
At the supermarket, your next step is to choose organic options over conventional options as much as possible. Again, we are very aware that expense is a true limiting factor, but each choice you make - even with just part of your food budget - helps you steer the market and vote with your dollars about what kinds of food you want to see available. Just do what you can, it’s a good place to start.
Finally, choose whole foods, nearly all the time. I know this feels hard and kids will complain at first about how “there’s nothing to eat” because there are no grab-n-go snack packs filling the cupboards, but this is THE choice that will really start to change your food environment. It will not take long to adjust to grabbing an apple instead of grabbing a granola bar. Choosing whole food ingredients will make a very big impact on the overall health of your kitchen. This will automatically cut out so many of the artificial flavorings, food dyes, and additives that can mess with optimum body health.
If you cannot afford other purchases, at the very least do this one thing and also purchase a big bottle of vinegar for washing your fresh food items (which you should do anyway). Vinegar’s acetic acid helps break down and remove pesticide residues. A wash solution of 1 part vinegar to 3 parts water in a soaking of about 10-15 minutes can significantly reduce the residues present on your fruits and veggies. A salad spinner is another handy item to have in your kitchen so you can dry off the leafy greens after washing; no one enjoys soggy greens. It may take a little time and conscious effort to make the switch to eating mostly whole food items, but it will be a big game changer in your health.
Final Thoughts
I am still a busy, stressed-out mom, though not quite so young, and it has taken me a long time to make changes towards a healthy food lifestyle. Here are a few tricks that help me with making healthy choices with a busy life:
Work on substituting this for that - like an apple or carrot for some crunchy snack vs chips or crackers.
Read ingredient lists and use the EWG app or Yukka app to start learning about food additives
Do a little meal prepping - make dinner with intentional leftovers so you have a quick lunch to pack the next day, make 3 salads at a time in individual bowls instead of one, pre-cut finger snack veggies to help kids find better snack options
Keep favorite veggies and fruits on hand for quick, easy options - at my house this sometimes looks like bags of frozen peas, which my daughter will consume like popcorn.
Get everyone involved in the kitchen making food for meals, make it fun and turn it into a routine. Having help goes a long way to taking care of busy parents, don’t be afraid to ask for it.
Plan a few really, really easy meals; not every dinner needs to be a masterpiece - let the crockpot (or Instapot) be your friend. Also, a frittata is a great way to clean out the odds and ends of vegetables hanging around in the fridge and they are super simple. Some days, grilled cheese really is the answer. Healthy does not have to be complex.
When you put your time and money to work promoting your health, it will automatically take on more value. I have been truly amazed at how my food buying patterns have changed in just the 3 years since Ryan and I started Little Farm Association. I have learned that we really don’t need a lot of the boxed stuff we used to buy. We have learned to cook and eat differently and to do so with the flow of the seasons. I can prepare a satisfying local meal in 40 minutes or less most days. Willow has learned that a fridge full of leafy things is the norm and that she has to make food to eat food rather than relying on boxes. I think we even actually spend less on food now each month than before, even though the cost of many individual items are more than at the supermarket. We make more things at home and do more experimentation with making tasty dishes based on what is available. Little by little, we are creating habits and an environment for clean, healthy food routines that become just the norms of life. I hope you take away from this some inspiration and reassurance that helps you. I know it can be overwhelming. Just take small steps, and make simple changes. They will add up over time. Happy cooking, my friends!
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