my ideal diet

*in no way is this telling someone how or what they should eat but instead this is how we here at Cedar Creek Ranch eat

They are everywhere, the next trend the next how to lose weight fad. Some of them make sense and if they work for you, do what works as long as you are meeting all of your nutritional needs, by all means do it. I honestly, never had to do any "diets" but I give a lot of that to the fact that we eat very seasonally and very little processed food. Processed foods are the devil, yet I'll eat a pack of Oreos just for kicks every now and then. It is all about balance, after all. Me and my house though, eat very seasonally and without extensive knowledge in the nutrition world I feel this is something everyone should strive for.

Let's take a step back in time. How did our ancestors eat? Before the age of refrigerators and processed foods that last abnormally long on a shelf. They ate by the seasons, Winters were heavy in starches, meats and other vegetables that could be kept good in cold storage. Squash, potatoes, even apples if in the right environment can handle being stored in a root cellar. I still practice much of the same, canning what I can to have some of that summertime goodness in the cold months and storing what I can in the root cellar. Cold weather months we consume more meats and animal proteins, but history would tell us that it was the same much before. It was a lot easier to keep meat good in the cold of winter then summer. Thanks to refrigeration that isn't much trouble anymore. Summer and the growing season months our diets change to pretty much what is ready in the garden. We eat a lot of vegetables and greens all year but much more so in the summer when all I have to do is walk outside and decide what to eat. Also ends with me sitting between rows of peas stuffing my face with them. We don't consume much of anything that isn't grown in my climate. I love citrus and will take it when I can get it, but it is not something that we eat regularly.

Besides vegetables grown here, our "fruits" come from local berry farms and apple orchards. We do have our own tree that produces gorgeous apples, many of them go into jars as apple sauce and pie filling. I highly encourage everyone to try to eat as seasonally as possible. There are several ways to accomplish this if you don't have the space for a garden or places to raise animals. Farmer's markets and joining a CSA will give you options on what is seasonally available in your area. This is also the most sustainable because you are helping your local farmers and not supporting big stores. Which benefits your local economy more in the long run.