The Garden of Eating: Cooking Tips for a Healthy Diet

by Vin Miller

Most people have become so reliant on the convenience of packaged and processed foods that they feel lost and overwhelmed when they consider transitioning to a healthier diet. Fortunately, with a little motivation and the right information, it’s not nearly as difficult as it may seem at first.

The healthiest diet that you can follow is one that’s based on the natural whole foods we evolved on such as meat, fish, fruit, and vegetables. Despite this, processed forms of grain, dairy, and sugar have become the most prominent foods in the modern diet and this is the reason why so many people are overwhelmed by the thought of limiting themselves to whole foods. Although this is to be expected with the prospect of such a significant change, it’s a change that’s necessary for anyone who’s serious about improving and maximizing their health. Furthermore, there’s a much wider variety of natural whole foods to choose from than most people realize, and as such, a truly healthy diet doesn’t have to be “limiting” at all.

Native Nutrition Promotes Better Health

Despite the popularity of grains and their prominence in the USDA food pyramid, grain based foods are problematic for many people. Dairy is the second most common food in the modern diet and can be just as much of an issue as grain. Whether you believe in evolution or not, these foods were a minuscule part of our 2 million year history, and based on this, it doesn’t make much since for them to be such a significant part of our diets. Although properly prepared grains and raw dairy from pasture raised animals can be part of a healthy diet for some, many people are better off consuming these foods in small amounts or avoiding them completely.

One of the common misconceptions that prevents people from embracing the eating habits of our prehistoric ancestors is the belief that they lived short lives. In contrast to this belief, prehistoric humans who were able to avoid tragic accidents are believed to have lived long lives with better health, strength, fitness, and mental acuity than the modern senior citizen. In fact, the work of Dr. Weston A Price has shown that many of the diseases that plague modern society barely even existed in primitive cultures.

Our ancestors ate very few of the things that we eat today. In other words, the modern diet is more of an invention than a natural progression, and attempting to outsmart nature in such a manner is not wise. To achieve the excellent health and immunity to disease that our ancestors enjoyed, we must return to the natural eating habits that supported us for millions of years. This means we need to eliminate processed foods and replace them with meats, fish, fruits, and vegetables.

The Problem with Most Cookbooks

Once people embrace the value of eating natural whole foods, they’re often overwhelmed by not knowing how to prepare them. Despite the large number of resources that exist for food preparation, very few of them are based on the principles of a natural whole foods diet. Fortunately, The Garden of Eating fills this gap with a wide variety of whole food recipes and detailed information about cooking and preparation.

The Garden of Eating is similar to Nourishing Traditions which is another excellent book based on the work of Dr. Weston A. Price. While they’re both based on a solid foundation of science and contain a wide variety of recipes, Nourishing Traditions focuses more on the characteristics of various foods and nutrients while The Garden of Eating provides more information on food preparation methods and provides a more thorough explanation of why we should be eating the foods that our ancestors ate. Anyone who’s serious about supporting their health through a nutritious diet should have both of these books!

The Importance of Food Quality

Because modern farming practices have significantly changed the quality and even the nutritional content of our food, there’s more to a healthy diet than simply eating whole foods. It’s important to buy grass fed and free range meats to avoid exposure to the hormones, antibiotics, chemical toxins, and imbalanced nutrition that result from livestock being raised in inhumane and unnatural conditions.

For similar reasons, it’s also important to buy organic produce. Although hormones and antibiotics are less of a concern with produce, buying organic ensures that your food is not genetically modified or irradiated and that it’s free of pesticides and other chemicals. The absolute best option is organic produce that’s fresh and grown locally. When this option isn’t available, The Garden of Eating recommends choosing conventional produce that’s fresh and grown locally over organic produce that’s been shipped across the country. Although I’m not completely sold on this recommendation, it’s based on the loss of nutrients that occurs during shipping and the tendency for small farmers to use smaller amounts of chemicals.

How Much Meat Should We be Eating?

Although the authors of The Garden of Eating now recommend a higher intake of meat and fat, the book suggests that your meals should be roughly three quarters fruit and vegetables and just one quarter meat. This is based on the argument that the digested ash residue of meat is acidifying, that the ash of fruits and vegetables are alkalizing, and that any additional consumption of meat would upset the slightly alkaline pH of the body. In contrast, the work of George Watson has shown that the actual process of metabolizing meat has an alkalizing effect on the blood that’s more influential than the resulting ash residue. Furthermore, the work of Dr. Weston A. Price has shown that the diets of many primitive and extremely healthy cultures were based on much larger amounts of meat.

The amount of meat that someone should include in their diet is also based on individuality. Based on the principles of Metabolic Typing, the unique strengths and weaknesses of an individual’s metabolism will dictate how different types of food will effect that person’s blood pH. In regard to meat, this will also determine how much or how little of it they should eat. Based on my Metabolic Type, I eat large portions of meat and truly believe that this has significantly improved my health and well being.

Is Sea Salt Safe?

Even though unrefined sea salt is typically regarded as a healthy source of sodium and other minerals that are essential for good health, The Garden of Eating suggests keeping it’s use to a minimum. However, since the writing of The Garden of Eating, one of the authors has adapted a less restrictive opinion. The recommendation in the book is partially based on the work of Loren Cordain which suggests that prehistoric humans did not consume salt. However, Sally Fallon from the Weston A. Price Foundation disagrees with Cordain and claims that salt was a part of nearly all primitive diets.

It’s also important to note that salt requirements vary by individual. Personally, I like to use sea salt to remineralize filtered water, support adrenal health, and on occasion, to flavor my food.

Modular Meal Planning and Cooking in Bulk

One of the biggest challenges that people face when transitioning to a whole food diet is the additional preparation that it requires. Fortunately, you can save time and frustration by preparing food in a modular fashion.

The recipes in The Garden of Eating are based on the individual components of a meal. For example, preparing a roast with vegetables would require two separate recipes. This is an advantage because it allows you to mix and match various meat, fish, egg, poultry, vegetable, and fruit recipes to produce a nearly endless number of meal options. Even better, by cooking a handful of recipes in bulk proportions, you can prepare several days worth of meals at once and still enjoy plenty of variety.

With this modular approach, you can simplify your food preparation even further by mastering and memorizing just a handful of your favorite recipes. By doing so, you’ll be able to shop for ingredients and quickly prepare a wide variety of meals based on nothing more than memory.

Broiled Steak with Steamed Spinach

The first two recipes that I tried from The Garden of Eating are simple ones that represent a fairly typical meal for me. Because I often eat steak and spinach, choosing the recipes for broiled steak and steamed spinach seemed like a safe bet. The picture to the right shows the end result which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Although The Garden of Eating does include recipes for sweet potatoes, I decided that learning two new recipes was enough of a challenge and didn’t do anything special with the potato. Based on my Metabolic Type, I usually don’t have this much carbohydrate with a meal, but having just played a tennis tournament, it was a welcome and tasty addition.

One of the nice things about preparing meals with high quality whole foods is that they’re rich in flavor, and even if you’re a novice cook, it’s difficult to ruin their taste. I’m far from an expert cook and I did just fine.

Take Your Diet to the Next Level

If you’d like to learn more about the importance of eating whole foods and how to cook great tasting meals that are truly healthy, then I highly recommend The Garden of Eating by Rachel Albert-Matesz & Don Matesz. This book offers a thorough explanation of healthy nutrition principles and provides guidelines for selecting food, organizing your kitchen, and choosing helpful cooking tools. It also includes sample meal plans and nearly 300 pages of recipes to choose from.

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