Did you miss the 28-day Real Food Challenge? You can always view the challenge’s archives, or why not sign-up as we give it a second go?
Twenty-eight days later, and here we are – at the end of the 28-day Real Food Challenge. Throughout the challenge briefly examined the fundamental aspects of improving that which nourishes our bodies by ditching the packages of processed food and learning to prepare natural foods to maximize nutrient density. We’ve learn, in short, how to eat Real Food.
Over the last week, we focused heavily on meat, fish and fowl: learning to source these vital foods well by purchasing grass-fed, pasture-raised or wild-caught foods; moreover, you may have accepted my challenge to prepare a nourishing, mineral-rich broth or even to incorporate nutrient-dense organ meats into your family’s meals. Tonight, in our home, we’re serving chicken livers fried in pasture-raised lard, gravy prepared from mineral-rich stock, a huge green salad with a naturally fermented, probiotic dressing and fresh vegetables served with plenty of butter.
The Daily Challenges
- Ditch processed, packaged, refined foods.
- Choose wholesome, natural foods.
- Improve your grains.
- Start your sourdough.
- Sprout your grains.
- Mill your own sprouted flour or make wet-milled sprouted grain bread.
- Relax and evaluate.
- Fats for moderate and high heat.
- Fight against GMOs.
- Fats to eat raw.
- Bake your sourdough.
- Find real milk.
- Get your (good) bacteria.
- Relax, evaluate and eat some dark chocolate.
- What’s a SCOBY?
- Get cultured (veggies, that is).
- Make yogurt at home.
- Make cheese at home.
- Prepare nuts and seeds properly.
- Maximize the value of beans and legumes.
- Vegetables and salads and another reason to eat your fats.
- Why you should eat red meat.
- Eat your bacon, eggs and lard too.
- Homemade broth and stock.
- Not-so-awful Offal.
- Fish and seafood.
- Grow your foodshed.
- Beyond the challenge.
See the archives here.
What’s next for you on your real food journey?
Today, it’s time to relax and reevaluate not just our final week on the challenge, but the challenge as a whole. Where did you thrive? Where did you struggle? What will you take with you as the challenge winds to its end and you’re left with a decision to either revert back to prepackaged, processed foods or to expand further by introducing more nutrient-dense foods to your family’s plate? If you’re like many participants and see the challenge as a beginning, rather than an end, please getting involved here at Nourished Kitchen or subscribing to the RSS email updates which are sent Monday through Friday and feature wholesome, nourishing recipes, activism alerts, tutorials and information about how real food and sustainable agriculture can help you. Moreover, beginning this March you can cook along with me through easy-to-follow video tutorials featuring from-scratch cooking.
Prizes:
Don’t forget about the prizes! If you’ve successfully finished the challenge, please check-in by comments or through the widget below. We’ll be drawing for the Cultures for Health Prize and Nourished Kitchen Recipe Cards on Thursday!
- 2 Participants will receive a 1-year Subscription to Nourished Kitchen’s Recipe Cards by Mail checkout the current giveaway..
- 1 Participant will receive a Real Food Ingredient Guide by Kelly the Kitchen Kop (WON by Danielle V.)
- 1 Participant will receive a culture kit containing water kefir grains, dairy kefir grains and a kombucha mother courtesy of Cultures for Health (see their listing on the resources page)
- 1 Participant will receive a free registration for the Fundamentals of Traditional Foods class at Gnowfglins (WON by Shelly of Epic Organic).
Share how Week #4 Went for You:
If you blog, share a link (or two or three) outlining how you handled this week’s challenges. What proved difficult, what proved easy? What did you learn, what did you already know? And, of course, what are you eating on your real food journey? If you don’t blog, just share your experiences in the comments here:
Jenny,
Wow – an article on cnn.com. Way to get the word out about nourishing foods! I wasted some time reading the comments. Unfortunately, so many people get hateful when they disagree about something.
It’s so great when folks raise awareness about eating real foods, though it is sad that it may make them targets of some vitriolic attacks.
I just wanted to say thank you for doing this.
Malena
This was a great challenge. I think I did pretty well and will continue on past the 28 days. Interest and motivation are not problems for me at all when it comes to traditional food. My issues are finding the time to prepare these healthy foods with a full time job (I don’t know how those of you with children do it!), and the reluctant husband. If I can find a way to combat these two things, I’ll be in great shape!
Real food is the food nature gives us as is, not cooked. Bread does not grow on trees and rice is not edible without processing (sprouting and cooking.) These are not “real” foods. I have been eating real foods for years. No food preparation, no jars or boxes, not even a stove. I invite you to take the next step to what is really real.
And no, not vegetarian either. Hunting and gathering the way nature gives it to us. We have been brainwashed to fear bacteria in raw animal products. Commercial “food” is not safe, but real food is more than safe and needs no processing (cooking, sprouting, fermenting) at home either.
Sorry people… but butter, grains, and dairy are not ‘real foods’ They are processed in order for us to eat them (unless you are making butter straight from the cow’s udder and churning it yourself, or eating grain stalks in a cereal field somewhere). Want to eat REAL FOOD? Go PALEO!
I like your idea and it is great. Eating real healthy food is the key to good health.
People complain about health care while eating like pigs.
Our health is in our hands.
USA is the most obese country in the world. Billions of dollars are spent annually on health care in this country to keep the unhealthy people alive with no quality of life.
It is a big racket and nexus of food companies, pharma companies and the special interests. We should not fall in to the trap.
Keep up the good work all.
I just heard about this and am glad you started this challenge. I’m a few weeks into my own personal 40 day real food challenge and I’m just now hearing about yours. Kudos!
I’ve been following a paelo/primal diet for about a year now and it’s incredible. It just makes sense. Nice work on spreading the good news.
Just found this from a link at Huffington Post. Too late for the challenge. But I did do their eating in challenge.
While I haven’t gone to the extreme of rendering my own fat and grinding my own flour (sorry but I’m single and work full time and just can’t afford the time.) I’ve been eating real food (as defined by Michael Pollan) for quite some time.
I decided to give up high fructose corn syrup last May. Then restrict my intake of corn. Then reduce my consumption of “white”; white rice, white flour, white sugar. I bake my own bread (I’ve done it the old fashioned way but I use a bread machine now) so I can slice it very thin. I freeze it and it lasts for several weeks. I make my own cocktail sauce and will be attempting my own ketchup and mayonnaise soon. I made sausage last week. I’ve done pasta, but not lately since I’m trying to cut back. I have bought raw milk but sometimes go the pasturized organic route when I can’t shop for milk often. Being single an entire half gallon spoils quickly before it can be used. I do make soup from scratch. I don’t churn my own butter. And I won’t make my own cheese.
I’d like to do more but until I retire in a few years, I’ll have to live with my compromises. As is, I feel I’m still eating a lot of real food. Certainly better than I have been the last few years.
Earlene -
It sounds like you did beautifully on the challenge. That’s interesting that you mentioned your cheeks are rosier. I’ve heard that indicates the presence of better B vitamin intake.
Blessings!
- Jenny
Lisa -
I’m so happy you enjoyed the challenge! The topic of sustainable seafood is, undoubtedly, a tricky one. We purchase our seafood from a local man who leaves town in the summer to fish in Alaska. We purchase wild salmon and spot shrimp from him. I can also find a few options at the local grocery store as well. I’d buy it at Whole Foods when I can, but it’s a 5 hour drive for us so we only make the trip once or twice a year when we have many things to do in the city.
Blessings -
Jenny
Heather -
That’s fantastic news that you’ve been headache-free since ditching the processed foods and sugar! YAY! Let me know how you prepare that liver.
- Jenny
Ren -
Thank you so much for your warm wishes about the article. I’m still in disbelief that it made it to CNN’s homepage. I hope that if the message about real and traditional foods doesn’t get through this time, at least the seed will have been planted.
Yours,
- Jenny
Hi Jenny.
I cook and eat “real food” for years.
It was necessity, lack of money, health reasons. Eventually it became a habit.
I’m old, I learned cooking when preparing chicken started with plucking its feathers.
Well, package of chicken legs is better.
Still, I enjoy making my own pierogies, cakes, jams and pickles.
But it takes time which working moms have not.
So, my hat is off to you.
The least you achieved is that your kids develop taste for good food rather than McDonalds.
Yours truly,
VeryOld