What would life be like.

So I am in the middle of my return flight back to Seattle, and I have been tearing through the book “In defense of food,” by the author of the article that Patrick sent us when we first got started.  So here we are in the middle of our last 30 days and I am thinking about all the things that we have learned and while reflecting on the content of this book I realize that I have had some very concrete examples in my life of the power of food over the nutritionism that has dominated our public heath thinking for the last generation.  

So I decided I would jot them down real quick in a post.  (WOOT! In-flight WiFi. Bitches.)  I grew up in rural North Dakota and my Grand parents were the first generation children of Norwegian and Swedish immigrants.  These immigrants ate a mixed diet of grains and fish prior to moving to the US.  Based on where they live and the traditional foods that I grew up eating on special occasions meat was prized but not abundant.  Potatoes, beets, and rice were the primary food source.  Needless to say they loved meat, creating some very unique preservative methods for fish.  Check out Lutefisk or Pickled herring.

Growing up with my parents managing a restaurant I actually spent a lot of my days as a kid at my grandparents house. Now I am particularly blessed because at 30 years old my grandparents are still alive and as healthy as a pair of 80 year olds can expect to be. But their lives, although not without health problems, have not  been unusually long for immigrant families in my home town. (Our town once boasted 15 Centenarians of Scandinavian descent.)  

I would attribute much of their health and long lives to a couple of factors.

• Activity
• Religious discipline
• Quantity and quality of meals

I am going to discuss each of these in a little detail.

Activity

My grandpa retired in 1994 from the home construction and moving business. Instead of fishing and relaxing he continued to remodel homes, drive van at the local old folks home and began creating an incredible wood working shop in his basement.  He always gets up at the same time and goes to bed at the same time.

My grandmother and him walked places in the summer and have always been a fan of local auctions in the summer.  This is not exercise in the traditional sense, but in a world were most people are sedentary the one activity that was rare was TV. The most notable exception was the evening news and wheel of fortune.

Religious Discipline

It is not my place to tell people how to believe, but it seems with faith traditions there is a discipline for those that truly practice that I believe must have a positive outcome.  My grandparents are the kind of Christians that are rare. They are certainly not loud about their convictions, but the live the practice they believe in. Every morning begins with prayer and before the go to bed they would read the scriptures and pray for each and every member of our very large family.

I think this played an important role by keeping them focused on things that matter (Family, Self improvement, Relationships, maybe other things.)  My generation is so focused on self, ego, and stuff that we don’t enjoy life or each other. 

Quantity and Quality of Food

Growing up, I have participated in every kind of meal at my grandparents house.  I want to describe a couple of things I remember from their meals.

1. My grandparents ate 6 times a day.  Breakfast, Coffee break, lunch, coffee break, Dinner, Coffee.
2. My grandparents ate small portions of meat. (Meat is expensive and they were frugal).
3. Food was often combined into stews or “hot dishes”
4. Vegetables were plentiful and required.
5. Vegetables were almost never the same. 
6. Bread was important to every meal. What else would you dip in your stew.
7. Composting was a regular activity when it was just dumping the leftovers in that bin with the leaves and grass clippings.
8. Growing food is for fun, profit, oh and eating.
9. Rhubarb is poisonous, unless baked in a pie
10. Did I mention Lutefisk?
11. All meals took at least an hour, this includes coffee breaks.
12. All meals meant having discussion like: What are you working on? What do you think of the heat? What do you think of the Cold?  Did you hear who died?
13. Coffee breaks included … Coffee, lots of mixed nuts. I remember copious amounts of mixed nuts.
14. We were never in a hurry.
15. I was always in too much of a hurry.

My grandfather once lamented to me that he felt like a failure as a parent as his children did not drink coffee. While he may have been talking about actual coffee, I have always taken this to mean that he was sad they didn’t stop and drink coffee with them; or something like that.  I don’t know.  But I have decide the key to health and long life is lots of coffee, long meals and food (real food). 

I highly recommend reading this book, because when I think about the way I want my life to be I want it took look a lot more like my grandparents where the thought of nutrients vs. eating foods that were enjoyable and practical almost always landed on the side of the food.

When my project ends what will my life be like?

Jeremiah