4 Pantry Swaps for Cleaner Eating

I remember going through the sale ads in the Sunday newspaper with my mom, clipping coupons and circling the items we wanted to add to our grocery list. We would go shopping, and fill our cabinet with mixes, canned goods, snacks, condiments, and boxes of Mac&Cheese. The refrigerator held soda, margarine, dips, more condiments, lunchmeat, and American cheese slices individually wrapped. The freezer held boxes of microwave meals. We ate fast food multiple times a week. This was the norm for my family in the 1980s and 90s. My mom was a single working parent who did the best she could, and when I think back to the marketing trends of that time period, the word that comes to mind is "convenience."

I carried these habits into my early adulthood because this was what I knew, despite dealing with chronic digestive distress, frequent headaches, skin and mood issues, and frequent infections. It didn't dawn on me that what I was feeding my body could be impacting my health until I was in my early 20's, and it wasn't until I had children of my own who had chronic health issues that I really began to take food very seriously. Thus I began a huge healthy lifestyle shift, including a return to the time-honored food prep skills that had been lost over the generations, and our health began to improve. One of those early changes was giving my pantry a complete overhaul: replacing highly processed food products with REAL food for daily use, as well as foods that store well. I shifted my perspective of the word "convenience" and learned to fully embrace being an "ingredient household"!

Those coupons that are supposed to save you money? They are for food products that are filled with artificial chemicals, dyes, additives, preservatives, and fillers that your body does not recognize as useful. These food products are formulated to be addictive, and what you might save on your grocery bill you actually pay for with your health. After all, there is a cost to convenience. Instead of meeting nutritional needs, your body recognizes these food products as a toxin that it has to deal with, placing burden to your organs. I explain healthy eating habits to my children like this: we don't just want to fill our belly, we want to truly feed our body. This is the goal! In this post, I will share with you a few ingredients to look out for in your pantry items, and healthier alternatives you can swap them with.

1) Vegetable Oils, including seed oils and butter substitutes. These products are highly processed. They are made under extreme heat with added chemicals that make them unstable. They go rancid quickly, and their toxic free-radicals accumulate in your organs, producing chronic inflammation that leads to disease. Swap these products out with what our ancestors used for centuries: stable animal fats like butter, lard, and tallow which are loaded with essential vitamins, as well as olive oil and coconut oil. Animal fats are easily rendered and can keep for a long time at room temperature. In the US, we use the word pantry, but in Europe it is called the larder. Contrary to modern dietary myths, fats should be prized like they once were.

2) Products containing soy. If you read labels, you will see soy in just about everything. Soy is also highly processed and is often genetically modified. It disrupts our hormones and thyroid function. In some cultures, soy was traditionally consumed only if it was fermented for months first, as in miso. It should never be consumed raw. Our body doesn't need soy when healthier protein sources exist, including meat and eggs. For the pantry, nuts/nut butters, beans/legumes are great options (soaking and sprouting these first makes unlocks their nutrients and makes them easy to digest), as well as jerky (look for clean ingredients or make your own).

3) Artificial and "Natural" Flavors, Dyes and Food Colors. These are "proprietary" chemicals made in a lab that add to our toxic burden. Many of them are neurotoxins, and are especially harmful for growing children. Fruits and fruit leather can be dried or dehydrated, and they will keep for a long time in the pantry as a satisfying snack. Herbs are very easy to grow and dry to add flavor to your meals year-round. There is no substitute for the flavor of fresh food, in its natural state.

4) Preservatives like BHA, BHT, and TBHQ. These are modern industrial chemicals with unstudied effects on human health that are added to foods and non-foods to make them shelf stable. You will find them in many convenience foods. Traditionally, our ancestors preserved fresh, whole foods by a variety of methods including: fermentation, dehydrating, and canning. Now, we also use refrigeration and freezing as ways to effectively preserve foods. Many of these traditional skills are making a comeback, and are great ways to fill your pantry/larder with REAL health-supporting food.

If this still feels overwhelming, remember that these changes do take time, and they get easier to make with time. You can take small steps today. Start by reading ingredient labels. Are there a few simple ingredients? Great! Is it a paragraph with long words you don't recognize or can't pronounce? Put it back on the shelf. Shop the perimeter of your grocery store for food in its natural state. Visit your local farmers market to re-train your tastebuds to enjoy local, seasonal foods at their peak. Learn one simple method of food preservation to stock your pantry with quality food, and your health will thank you!

Blessings,

Kyla