Organically Aussie

G’day friends,

I thought today I would talk about my personal eating journey, and how we have evolved over the past decade in what we eat. I grew up in a family where both parents worked. Most food I was eating was prepackaged or frozen or canned. Breakfast was toast or cereal, and on weekends could have been bacon and eggs cooked in vegetable oil, or pancakes with fake maple syrup. My school lunches were white bread with margarine and some kind of spread, one piece of fruit, a sweet (mini muffins, biscuits, cookies, something like that) and a bag of chips. Dinners could have been anything from spaghetti bolognaise made with cheap mince and premade sauce and cheap powdered parmesan cheese, to pork chops with canned beans and packet pasta mix. Snacks could have been sugary, flavoured yogurts, chips, packaged sweets, fruit, crackers, all the super yummy, unhealthy foods that kids love. Whenever I went to stay at my Nans house, I got chocolate and lollies and ice creams and all the thins grandmothers love to feed their grandchildren.

Once I left school and moved out of home, I had no idea to cook properly. I was always told growing up that I was a picky eater, and I truly thought I was. Before I got married, my now husband and I went vegan to try and lose some weight. We went to the gym all the time and circa 2015-16, everyone was shilling vegan diets as the healthiest. We were eating so much processed crap, with some extremely nourishing meals, but so much highly processed crap (Oreos are vegan after all). We would eat the meat alternatives, dairy free cheese, but we drew the line at fake eggs. For 3 months, we thought we were doing well. We had lost around 10kg each and felt pretty good. The 4^th month saw both of us experiencing a lot of issues. We started to put weight back on, we were extremely boated and gassy, and my IBS problems began. Our sleep was affected, our body was terrible and we were always fatigued and lethargic. We ended up buying some eggs and chicken and within the week, our bloating was gone, our body odor improved and we could sleep again. Our performance in the gym improved and we just felt better overall. Needless to say, veganism did NOT last very long.

After veganism did work out, we decided to try the ‘If It Fits Your Macros’ style of dieting, and that was also NOT healthy. If you aren’t familiar with this style of diet, and you probably aren’t if you aren’t big in the gym scene, its basically a set amount of calories and macros (protein, carbohydrates and fats) that you are to hit each day by using a calorie counter like myfitnesspal. This way of eating encourages low calorie, highly processed foods that use artificial sweeteners and zero sugar sweeteners to keep calories as low as possible. This is not only unhealthy because of the high amount of ultra processed foods, but also encourages a poor relationship with food and can facilitate eating disorders as lots of people become obsessed with the numbers. This did, unfortunately, stick with us for a while. We stayed eating like this until after our wedding, when we got tired of counting every single calorie.

After a traumatizing miscarriage, I fell into a deep depression that took over a year to claw my way out of. During that time, I baked…. A lot. Loads of cakes, cookies, cupcakes, muffins, anything I could, and these baked goods would be eaten in just one or two days, then I’d bake more. I would eat lots of unhealthy meals as well as the baked goods. During this time (about 18 months total) I gained around 25kg. Needless to say, it made me feel horrible. When I finally had the ‘oh shit’ moment, I started researching how to regain our health. We encountered the paleo diet, and tried that for a few months, but it didn’t stick. Cutting so many food groups did not make feel very good, we had bad sugar cravings and bread cravings. So then I came across the Mediterranean diet, which was much more sustainable long term. I still use many of the principles now. The way we eat now has a focus on whole foods, like meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, fruit, homemade bread, and quality dairy. We still have baked goods, but I have a focus now on making them from scratch, not more than once per week, and using good quality ingredients. I love to cook and I love making delicious meals and treats for my family. I don’t have a label for how we eat, and I think that’s the best way. To not exclude any food groups, but to have a focus on quality. Modern society seems to have a weird fixation on labels, and my goodness there are sooooo many eating styles now, its madness, there is no need at all. We have very simple meals most days. The day I am writing this post, we had some steaks with steamed broccoli and mashed potato. Simple, delicious, nutritious. The only things we do avoid is seed oils, soy in all forms, food colourings, non-sugar sweeteners, MSG and ingredients you wouldn’t find in a normal kitchen like emulsifiers, starches, lecithin’s, etc. We avoid all the processed junk. The entire processed food industry is revolting, and what they do and their marketing schemes is disgusting. There are multiple documentaries and videos with experts and medical professionals that delve deep into the issue with ultra processed foods. If you haven’t looked into the problem of ultra processed foods, I really encourage you to do it, it will change the way you look at your favourite snacks.

Anyway, I went of on a bit of a tangent there.

Talk soon

Ashlee xx