What is Healthy?

One of the questions that I have noticed pop up quite often in the process of opening my bakeshop is, “Do you offer healthy foods?” It’s not always that exact question of course, but a variation. Being the overthinker that I am, it’s hard for me to reply in the space of a Facebook comment with something that I believe is sufficient. So I blog, therefore I am.

Really, the better question is what is healthy? Everyone has their view on that. There are as many different ideas of healthy as there are donut shops in Texas which I’ve convinced myself must be a front for drugs or something more lucrative because seriously. Enough with the donut shops. I digress.

I’m not writing this blog to prove that my idea of healthy is the best one, even though it clearly is, but more to help people explain why I approach food the way I do.

In my adult life, I have done nearly all the diet fads. I like biohacking, cooking, and experimenting. I’ve worked in R&D (research and development) on health food products for a large food company. I started roasting my own coffee before it was cool. It is cool now, right? Anyway, the only thing I didn’t do was brew hop syrup and pretend like it was beer. I mention all of this because it’s my resume. If you ask me about a certain food diet or type, I probably know what it is and there’s a good chance I also know how to make it. 

Except vegan stuff. If I do anything vegan it’s purely accidental.

After years of being aggressively on different wagons, from Paleo to Low Carb to Intermittent Fasting and so on, I’ve distilled my food philosophy down to a handful of things that I now pretty much live my life by.

And what I have discovered is that there is more to food than just food. “Healthy” is a state of mind. Healthy is how you look at food, not necessarily what the food is – though that certainly plays a part.

What is NOT healthy is stress. So then one must ask, what is stress when it comes to food?

It’s saying no to a cookie because someone on Instagram said you’ll never get a six pack if you eat sugar (lies). It’s taking one diet style too far, too often, to the point of turning into a psycho. It’s not living your life because you’re afraid of what you might eat.

Should we pay more attention to the food we eat? Of course. But if you find you’re neurotic about it, there’s a whole different problem and I would wager it’s not food.

For me, “healthy” means high quality food that brings me joy. Practically, this comes down to a handful of things that might sound either like a diet to you or at least unattainable, but because I am accustomed to it, it’s not difficult. Those things are:

• Organic whenever possible, as much as possible
• Homemade, from scratch, whenever possible, as much as possible
• Balanced, bio individually (according to what my body needs, in other words)
• Brings me joy and health, but not always in tandem

Let’s break those down individually.

Organic

Listen, I get it. Organic is expensive. The good news is that it’s getting cheaper. It’s getting cheaper because it’s becoming more common. You can find a great selection of organic foods at Walmart even. It takes a little more effort and is very much worth it.

We don’t eat 100% organic at home. It’s just not possible, if we ever want to eat something different. Sure, I could probably always be organic if it was taco Tuesday every day, and however much I’m a fan of tacos, that would drive me insane. But why is organic important?

The last thing I really want to do with this blog is cite it, so you’re either going to have to take my word for it or do your own research (which I highly recommend). I did that as a job for years and I’m over it. People don’t read the sources anyway, I’ve discovered. Moving on. 

I am thoroughly convinced that a lot of health problems come from pesticides and other poisons that we here in America use regularly. In fact, I would go so far as to say that we don’t have as much of a gluten problem as we do a glyphosate problem. This is probably a good spot to drop this disclaimer: not medical advice.

Organic food is better for you. And if you think that’s bologna (which is never organic by the way) then consider the fact that organic almost always tastes better. One of the reasons people like my food over the other guys isn’t that I’m an awesome cook necessarily, it’s just that my ingredients are higher quality – AKA organic. Among other things too, but that plays a large role. Which brings me to my next point.

From Scratch

And I mean it! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read a recipe that literally said in the title or subtitle, “From scratch” that then goes on to use canned this and premade that and a half a bottle of ketchup and I’m like, NO YOU JERKS, THAT IS NOT FROM SCRATCH. The reason I’m so angry about it, and I am angry, is because food from scratch is not only better for you due to its freshness but it tastes so much better. All of that “Dinner in 30 minutes Quick and Easy” garbage is just that. Garbage. And it’s never accurate anyway.

You want to know what my lasagna recipe is? The one that everyone loves and says is the best lasagna they’ve ever had in their lives, and they’ve had some pretty dang good lasagna – it’s the one on the back of the box. I do exactly what the noodle box says. So why is it better? Organic, first of all, and second, it’s almost all from scratch. Fresh sliced mozzarella. Fresh leaves of basil. Fresh garlic and onion. The only thing that isn’t from scratch is the sauce, and that’s only because making pasta sauce takes four different lifetimes and a thousand dollars’ worth of tomatoes. But when I do want to spend my entire life and my children’s inheritance on sauce from scratch, it is mind-numbingly divine. I actually just died thinking about it.

Balanced

This is different for everyone, and it depends on your lifestyle. I can eat the garlic bread, because I lift weights. And yes, don’t let people tell you that doesn’t work. Of course, I’m also a 38-year-old male, so that’s an important distinction to make. Not everyone can just go lift some weights and walk away from a polished plate of garlic bread and have the same BF% the next day. In fact, sometimes I can’t even do that. If I’ve been eating cake and cookies all week, it’s going to catch up to me. So I balance it.

My personal favorite eating approach is the cheat day approach. Sometimes it’s a cheat weekend approach if I’m being honest, but same concept. If I have some cake that I want to make and eat, I’ll save it for the weekend and be a good boy through the week, then absolutely gorge myself on the weekend.

You have to find your own balance. How does your body respond to the way you eat? Pay attention to that.

Lastly, food should always Bring You Joy.

If it’s doesn’t, you don’t have a food problem in my opinion. I don’t know what the problem is, but it’s not food. If your food isn’t bringing you joy in this first world where you are rich enough to have a device that can read this blog, then you may want to reevaluate how you eat. I might make a whole blog series off that concept alone, but this blog is already way too long.

So, are the foods on my website healthy? Well, I’m going to leave that up to you. But at least now you know how I feel about it. And if you think my philosophy on food is accurate which undoubtedly you do, then I think you should treat yourself to one of these cookies. Go ahead. It’ll be good for you.