What is REAL FOOD? Let’s begin with an understanding of what we mean when we say “real food.” For our definition I am borrowing from CHEESESLAVE on her page, here.

“Real food is whole, natural, and nutrient-dense.
* Organic
* Humanely raised (animals on pasture, not in factories)
* Grown locally when possible
* Whole and unrefined (real maple syrup instead of high-fructose corn syrup)
* Processed as little as possible (raw milk instead of pasteurized and homogenized)
* Nutrient-dense (enzymes, vitamins, minerals, and probiotics)
* Free of additives and preservatives
* Free of synthetic and chemical ingredients
* Not genetically modified
* Traditionally produced and prepared

In other words, butter or lard instead of shortening or vegetable oil. Real milk from a cow instead of soy milk. Real sprouted flour (ground fresh or purchased) instead of refined white flour. Real, natural sweeteners like honey or unrefined cane sugar (rapadura or sucanat) instead of white sugar.

If it’s highly processed and/or doesn’t come from nature, it’s not real food!”

OK now that we have an understanding of real food:

What is REAL HEALTH?

Just thinking about this question for a moment makes me realize I need to write an entire post dedicated to answering this question, especially considering the phrase “real health” is part of the name of this blog!! For now let’s agree real health simply means we operate on a daily basis without pain, allergies, colds or more serious ailments, and with plenty of both physical energy and positive mental and emotional enthusiasm — AND that we live in this state of healthy abundance WITHOUT the aid of prescription/over the counter drugs, caffeine or sugar — that we DON’T NEED THEM!!! Fake health, alternatively, is relying on drugs to suppress symptoms and caffeine and sugar for energy. NOT HOW I WANT TO LIVE! How about you?

So, how do we get REAL HEALTH?

Drugs manipulate body chemistry, shutting off symptoms while producing a false and temporary feeling of well being, and not without side effects. In the pursuit of real health we use nutrient dense whole foods to support the balanced and optimal functioning of the body and its organs. This, in a sense, is what we in the Nutritional Therapy field do: we test organ function and support those organs needing support with real, nutrient dense foods (and, when indicated, the judicious use of supplements for additional support). This approach gets at the root of the problem such that the symptom is often removed permanently. The body is given the support it needs to come back into energetic balance the way nature intended it to function. Who needs drugs and fake foods!

Remember, the purpose of food is to nourish, not just to fill. Read that last sentence again, it’s important.  And when food is nourishing it can also be therapeutic by, for example, supplying nutrients needed for natural and gentle detoxification on a regular basis helping to keep us in the best of health. This is HUGE! And that brings us to our recipe today for Real Food Wednesdays,  a recipe that will support liver function — and there is no more important organ in the body! Energy problems? How is your liver? Hormonal issues? High cholesterol? Thyroid issues? Are you obese? All of these can, in part, be traced back to your liver because the functioning of your liver affects the functioning of your other organs! Therefore, supporting your liver can help these situations, sometimes dramatically. And in other cases while supporting liver function is perhaps not the whole answer, it can be an important piece of the answer. And our recipe today is full of foods your liver loves and craves so it can function optimally; ingredients to support liver cleansing, help reverse and prevent fatty liver, support healthy bile formation and flow, etc. It is a tasty salad that can be eaten as a main dish OR as a side dish in which case it will help the digestion of the other foods on your plate.

Liver Cleanse Salad: A Tasty Cleansing Salad with Beet, Cilantro, Salmon and so much more!

Ingredients:

3-4 stalks celery*
1/3 cucumber*
1 lg avocado*
2-3 radishes*
1 lg tomato*
1 lg beet, grated*
1 carrot, grated*
cilantro*
juice of 2 lemons*
Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar*
Cold Pressed Extra Virgin Olive Oil*
Tumeric
ginger
2 cans Wild Caught salmon

(* all vegetables et al should necessarily be organic, especially as this recipe is meant to help maintain health and organ function in addition to being flavorful)

Chop the celery; dice the avocado, radishes, and tomato; grate the fresh beet and carrot; slice the cucumber (cutting the slices in half again); and take a large handful of fresh cilantro. Combine all in a large mixing bowl, adding the juice squeezed from 2 lemons (medium sized). Drain and add salmon (this step can be omitted if only veggies are desired, but we like it as a rich source of Omega-3 Oils and complete protein). Add a generous amount of Apple Cider Vinegar (at least 2/3 cup) and about half that amount of olive oil (about 1/3 cup).  Mix in 1-2 tablespoons of turmeric (be careful – too much can make the salad bitter) and 2 tablespoons ginger (can be powdered, juiced, or freshly grated). Both these ingredients help in the cleansing of the liver, and the ginger will help with digestion and assimilation (especially of the beet). Mix everything thoroughly, ensuring saturation – this salad should be extremely juicy (that’s one of the tastiest and most nutritional parts), with a good amount of extra juice soaking the salad at the bottom of the bowl. Keep mixing to maintain saturation and moisture. Can be served immediately at room temperature or chilled. The lemon will help maintain the freshness of the salad’s ingredients (especially the avocado) for an extra day in the refrigerator.

Serves up to 4.

My thanks to the Healthy Wife Lorraine Joy for this recipe and, by virtue of her making it and feeding it to me, keeping my energy up, my cholesterol down and my complexion glowing!

So if you want REAL Health, eat Real FOOD. But, if you absolutely must eat FAKE food, your doctor will gladly take your money (or your “health” insurance) and patch things up for you temporarily with drugs giving you a false sense of well being — i.e.  FAKE health; until your prescriptions expire, that is. Is that really the way you want to live???

LEARN MORE!

The following books will facilitate your further study of this important subject. The more information you have, the more you can do for your own health and that of your loved ones!

Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats

Nutrition and Physical Degeneration (WITH 134 FIGURES)

Wild Fermentation

This post is proudly part of “Real Food Wednesdays” hosted by Kelly the Kitchen Kop and CHEESESLAVE on alternating Wednesdays.

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