Just because it has a few blemishes or bruises doesn't mean it lacks value, nutritionally or otherwise.

If you overlook that imperfect piece of produce you are casting a vote for sameness. For every Red Delicious apple to look alike and perfect in a way that nature does not intend.

Of course there are limits to what you want to eat, but stretch your boundaries a bit. Nature will thank you for it.

2. Eat lesser-known fruits and vegetables

Variety is not only the spice of life, it is an elixir for our food system.

Nature craves diversity. And keeping demand up for what have become less well-known fruits and veggies helps stimulate a market which encourages bio-diversity.

As it is, the biotech industry has produced a culture of seed sameness and we have lost much of the richness and variety that was once part of our agricultural heritage. We might not be able to reclaim it all but we can help with this one shift in thinking.

3. Ask questions

Whenever you buy food - whether it's at a supermarket, farm stand or restaurant - they should be able to tell you where it was sourced.

It is not hard to ask - and can be kinda fun. A lot of people serving food are completely unprepared for questions like, "where was this cheese produced" or "was this chicken raised without antibiotics?"

So, just by asking you are saying that people care about the source of their food. And, you never know, if enough people ask, they might start looking closer themselves.

4. Cook from scratch

It doesn't have to be fancy or complicated but cooking from scratch not only connects you to your food supply, it increases the market for whole foods.

How hard is it to, say, cook a potato in the oven and chop up some vegetables rather than buy something processed? It's all conditioning and it's not that hard to create new habits.

Want quick food while also helping the food system - buy fruits and veggies for your next meal.

Okay, you're saying, you don't eat cleaning products - but you kinda do.

Anything that you use in your home or on your property ends up in your drinking water and food supply.

You can even use edible cleaning products like white vinegar or baking soda, which I personally think work great. Check out a story I wrote:
Nature's amazing little fermented ALL-PURPOSE cleaner!

January 20, 2015

Greetings and welcome to the first issue of A Return to Simple's newsletter!

The future of our food system is in your hands. Good for you for wanting to help heal it. I hope what you find here inspires you. So, let's get to it. Come with me as we Return to Simple together.

On the left, you will find things you can do in the course of your days to help to heal our food system as well as links to a sampling of recent blog posts. Below this message, you will find a recipe by Alicia Ghio of the Local Food Rocks blog and more.

Thank you for being a part of this exciting new chapter for A Return to Simple! I hope to hear from you along the way.

All the best,

Laura Modlin
President, Aspetuck Media, LLC
Publisher, A Return to Simple

So, when I started planning this newsletter, I wanted to launch it on a day with significance in nature. I felt that the first issue should be in January 2015, to coincide with the five year birthday of my blog. Then, syncing up with nature, it occurred to me that the January new moon would be a nice time to start this fresh chapter.

New moons are about beginning, and, as it turns out, this month's new moon falls just three days after the five year anniversary of A Return to Simple's birth.

This is the first of six supermoons, or perigee moons, in 2015 - with the next two super new moons taking place on February 18 and March 20. You can expect my newsletter on those two dates as well.

Ginger Kale Smoothie
by Alicia Ghio
localfoodrocks.com


(Photo by Renato Ghio)


 I'm not going to lie; drinking a hearty green smoothie in the morning isn't for everyone. It's taken me baby steps to get to the point where I actually look forward to it. The thing is, it is a really healthy way to start the day. It packs a lot of good-for-you nutrients in an easy to make, easy to sip on the run breakfast.

 

According to the lunar calendar diet, the new moon (which just so happens to be when this newsletter is hitting your inbox) is supposed to be a day of detoxing and consuming only liquids. Let me be clear, I'm not one for fad diets or "how to lose weight fast" plans, but it is interesting to consider the influence of nature's rhythms on our health. Of course, truly any month, any day, is a good time to eat fresh and healthy.

 

Click here for the full article with recipe!

It's all in your mind

The mess our food system is in has a lot to do with the ways in which we have been programmed to get through the days. In a society where quicker is better and image is everything, a premium has been placed on marketing. It's not enough to provide something useful, you have to convince as large a number of people as possible that they cannot live without it. Often done through engineering the premise that they need to have what "everyone else" has or be lacking.

This process of selling sameness occurs by skimming off individuality, which is what makes us who we are.

And so, while sameness is a measure of success, it creates a burden to those buying it. Because you lose pieces of your sense of self. That complicates things, making them less simple.

It happens to groups of people within small-minded communities, it has pervaded our food system with ideals of how food should look. It has also taken away some of our freedom of expression because of expectations.

Or so we think.

Really, it is all a reflection of the same malaise (or sameness malaise.)

Fixing the food system is not just about food. The way our food is grown - and environmental factors affecting things - did not occur in a vacuum. And we will not fix it until we heal something within ourselves.

As in storytelling, our plots - what we come upon along our paths - are there to reveal who we are and to challenge us. I don't want my emotions distilled down to emoticons, for IT pros to determine the colors and fonts of my story. That is all mine.

Tell your story in your own manner. Try new things, go off the beaten path. That's how you write a unique story and the attitude we need to rescue our food system.

Anything that alters the genetic structure of living organisms affects humans. That's what Rachel Carson asserted in her 1962 book, Silent Spring, a warning about the dangers of pesticide use.

Reading the book, you cannot help but think it could be written today. We were warned over 50 years ago and it makes you question what has really changed.

The book  became a rallying cry for the environmental movement. Its title refers to the demise of the songbird population due to the use of toxic chemicals on our lawns and agriculture.

I will say it again - We were warned.

Carson was an outsider, passionate and driven and also an educated scientist who breaks down the issue in a way that does not rely on emotion.

Give it a read and buy it for someone you know who believes the claim that pesticides are safe for humans.

Thank you so much for being a part of the launch of A Return to Simple's newsletter. I hope you found something worthwhile here and I look forward to communicating with you again soon. There is so much for us to explore in the natural world, including within ourselves.

Thanks also to Alicia Ghio for being a part of my newsletter. She is the real deal and you should check out her blog - localfoodrocks.com - for great recipes and food insights.

A Return to Simple's next newsletter will be coming to you on the February 18 new moon. In the meantime, there will be stories posted at areturntosimple.com.

Take care,

Laura Modlin