Trail Guide to Nourishment
Plated smiles by Stephanie Stamati
Summary
Eating healthy is a relative term. If there were a perfect diet, scientists probably would have discovered it by now. What’s probably truer is that needs evolve with circumstances.
Most people would classify Olympic athletes as the best in the world; that is literally the whole point of their job. Many of them also eat highly processed foods, especially before games. This goes against the mainstream advice that only whole grains, fruits, and vegetables provide adequate nutrition and energy. Amongst all the conflicting advice, how do we choose our next meal?
Most experts agree eating at home is better for you, but cooking requires planning meals and making a shopping list based on those plans. The following guide covers everything from choosing what to eat to learning how to cook.
Skill Levels
To begin cooking, equip your kitchen with essential tools and ingredients. Basic cooking tools include good knives, cutting boards, pots and pans, measuring cups and spoons, and mixing bowls.
This guide from the New York Times on how to stock a modern pantry can help you obtain the basic ingredients needed for most recipes. Having these basics on hand makes it easier to prepare various recipes.
Easy
Find Inspiration: Identifying chefs and cuisines that inspire you. Maybe they run your favorite restaurant or your favorite TikTok account. Consider what types of food you enjoy most and seek out chefs known for those styles. As you explore their recipes, you'll build a repertoire of dishes and techniques you can adapt and personalize.
Meal kit delivery: Meal kit delivery services make cooking at home easy. Providing pre-portioned ingredients and step-by-step recipes eliminates the guesswork and intimidation often associated with meal planning and grocery shopping. This guided approach builds confidence in the kitchen and imparts essential culinary skills that can be applied to future cooking endeavors. To help you decide between your many options, Bon Appetit has researched the best meal delivery services based on various needs.
Inspiration in Restaurants: A great place to find inspiration is restaurant menus. This is a niche hobby, sitting at home and reading menus, imagining to recreate or adapt dishes allows you to discover new ingredients and flavor combinations that you might not have considered otherwise (without spending any money).
Relaxation Techniques: For individuals struggling with obsessive thoughts around food and eating, relaxation techniques can help reduce anxiety and create a calmer mental state, making it easier to engage with food more intuitively.
Don’t detox: In recent years, wellness cleanses have been marketed as quick-fix solutions to detoxify the body and promote weight loss. These cleanses often involve restrictive diets, fasting, or consuming specific juices, teas, or supplements to eliminate toxins. The liver and kidneys process everything that enters the body. If your organs are functioning normally, you don't need cleanses. You just need to support your self.
Farmers Markets: Direct access to fresh, locally-grown produce supports the local environment and fosters a sense of community and connection to the food we eat. By relying on local sources, communities become less dependent on global supply chains.
Medium
Youtube Series: If you find a creator you like, they might have longer videos on YouTube where they teach you their cooking methods and tricks. Alison Roman’s videos (especially her holiday guides) and Bon Appetit Test Kitchen videos are great for teaching beginners how to cook.
No-recipe recipes: From the mind of NYT cooking editor Sam Sifton, this is a way to approach creative cooking when you are venturing away from following recipes step by step.
Eat Seasonally: Reconnect with traditional seasonal eating practices by focusing on fresh, locally-sourced foods that are in season. This not only supports your body’s natural rhythms but also aligns with a more sustainable way of eating. Seasonal foods are often more nutrient-dense and flavorful, providing a natural incentive to eat intuitively.
Practice Mindfulness: Mindful eating involves paying full attention to the experience of eating, including the taste, texture, and smell of food, as well as your body’s hunger and fullness cues. By eating slowly and without distractions, you can cultivate a deeper connection with your body’s needs and begin to trust its signals over external diet rules.
CSAs: Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) boxes are a great way to support farms directly and help them plan how much food to grow. Signing up for a box helps guarantee you will have access to fresh food and a direct hand in supporting your community.
Increase fiber: This carbohydrate in plant-based foods is essential for various bodily functions. Fiber is not digested by the body. Instead, it passes through the digestive system, aiding bowel regularity and promoting overall gut health. Individuals with the highest fiber intake have a significantly lower risk of developing colorectal cancer than those with the lowest intake. As a bonus, foods with fiber are good for the environment.
Hard
Julie & Julia: The film "Julie & Julia" intertwines the lives of Julia Child, an iconic chef who revolutionized American cooking with her French cuisine, and Julie Powell, a young woman who embarks on a year-long project to cook all 524 recipes from Julia Child's cookbook, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking."
By immersing herself in Julia Child's recipes, Julie not only hones her cooking skills but also develops a deeper understanding of the effort and creativity that goes into each dish. This process allowed her to connect more meaningfully with her food and transforms her relationship with cooking from a mundane task to a source of joy and fulfillment.
ALSO SEE: Annie and Alison, an Instagram by home chef Annie following Alison Roman’s cookbooks.
Flavor Profiles: Learning how to pair ingredients is an important part of moving past recipes and beginning to cook intuitively. Try The Flavor Thesaurus or What Goes With What by Julia Turshen
Build a Recipe Box: Once you learn how to cook, you might feel overwhelmed by the question of what to cook. There is no right way to do this. If you want to keep yours simple and add your grandma’s box that you inherited, you should do that. Either way, here are some things that are interesting to track, whether in a digital database or on the back of an index card:
Best season, time of day, personal notes
Digital options - Digital storage options allow you to sort your recipes by different properties which is great if you have a lot to choose from. Download our free template.
Elimination Diet: An elimination diet can help you identify foods that may be causing discomfort or adverse reactions. By removing common allergens or irritants like dairy, gluten, and processed foods for a period of time and then gradually reintroducing them, you can better tune into how different foods affect your body. This process helps build awareness of your body’s signals and reinforces the practice of listening to what your body truly needs.
Caloric Restriction: Many wellness cleanses involve severe caloric restriction, leading to nutrient deficiencies, weakness, fatigue, and a slowed metabolism. Extreme fasting or prolonged periods without adequate nutrition can also compromise the liver's ability to operate effectively.
Build A Garden: If you have ever tried to start a garden, you know it is not easy. If you have the space, plant a few perennials— plants that come back every year, like mint, strawberries, asparagus, tomatoes, eggplant, squash, and many others (google is your friend). Over time, these plants can establish strong root systems underground and become reliable sources of food long term.
Preserve Seasonal Bounty: Learn preservation techniques like canning, freezing, drying, and fermenting. These methods allow you to enjoy the flavors and nutrients of seasonal produce year-round. Online creators like Alexis Nikole(@blackforager) create educational content that can help you build a reciprocal relationship with your local environment.
Note: Please be aware of AI-generated foraging books, which can have dangerous consequences. Proper plant ID is essential for safe foraging. As Alexis says, “Happy snacking, DON’T DIE!”