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The Country Food Sources That I Favor

Fresh veggies, fruit, and quality meat products are a byproduct of country living. There are numerous produce farmers who will sell you their products right from the farm where it is grown. There are grocery outlets that will market grass-fed beef and free range poultry from local providers. You can do the self sustenance thing on your own, but you don’t have to. It is readily available and at a reasonable cost.

My wife is always looking online for ads that cater to my idea of the Country Hybrid. You get to meet people growing healthy fresh products that are free from hormones, pesticides, and GMO’s. Most of them are planting large fields to provide supplemental income. You get the price benefits of quantity cost factoring since it makes sense to use machinery you wouldn’t have.

Living in the city makes healthy eating very expensive because your typical options for the best products are only available at specialty outlets. The Whole Foods Market and Fresh Market stores are the ones that come to mind, and you cannot not be sure of where their products are coming from. If you do choose these stores for groceries, your wallet can take a beating as well.

Meeting Friendly Locals At Their Homestead Market Outlets

We met a couple through a social media add that my wife frequents. They live about 23 miles north of us on an 11 acre homestead where they grow produce like watermelons, chilis, potatoes, tomatoes, corn, string beans, and mild peppers in the field next to their farmhouse. Spending some time there with them, we became friends. We visited them when we felt like making a day trip on a countryside outing and often had a BBQ on site or similar cookfest of sorts.

They told us they didn’t have much storage in their kitchen for canned goods. Almost all of their edibles came from their garden and are stored in the freezer. To achieve this end, they purchased a country home that sat empty for 15 years. It needed a lot of cleanup and various vestiges of remodeling before moving in. One year later, they were living a comfortable lifestyle there.

One aspect of meeting local residents is gaining knowledge from them about the best places to buy food at a reasonable cost. In our discussions about the cattle ranches that pervaded the area, they told us where they go to purchase meat. One of those outlets was Howell’s Market In Samson, Alabama which is about 13 miles north of them. The husband said that the owner grows his own beef which is grass-fed and raised locally. When available and tagged accordingly, the price on the sticker is cost, plus 10%.

During special sales events, many meat product prices there are rock bottom. At a recent Labor Day Weekend sales event, savings were incredible. We purchased thick T Bone steaks at $3.48 lb. A 10 lb bag of chicken quarters (thighs and legs) cost $2.80. And other meat items were also offered at similar budget friendly prices. The taste was better, the meat was tender, and I knew where the products were coming from.

Country Fresh Vs. Big Agra And Processed Foods

A recent blood test for me revealed that I was pre-diabetic. I did not know what that meant at the time, but the factor was that my a1c test came back at 6.1. The reference numbers on my chart said 5.8 or below was normal and 6.4 was diabetic. When consulting with my doctor regarding the matter, I stated that I did not want any drugs to solve the problem and also said I would handle the issue on my own with modifications to my diet.

Unfortunately, that meant cookies, ice cream, candy, chocolate malts, French fries, hamburgers, and gravy on potatoes could no longer be a big part of my happy tummy routine. Even though I had lost close to 50 lbs on a diet years earlier, I tired of that program and gave it up. I then shot up to 290lbs as a result of that laxed attitude..

So, after studying the overall results of that test, I felt it was time to research the nutritional contents of the food I ate and what I discovered was shocking. Almost all corn grown in the US is GMO modified. Most canned goods are sweetened with body damaging fructose corn syrup. Processed foods are polluted with endless additives and chemicals. Fat producing carbohydrates and added sugars are creating high levels of obesity in the country.

Big Agra is giving you pretty tomatoes, large corn cobs, and many vegetables at a price to your health. Nutrients in vegetables found in today’s big market produce areas is up to 10 percent of what was found in products 30 to 50 years ago. Meat comes from feedlots provisioned with cheap grains and antibiotics. Flour that is used for white bread, baked goods, and pasta is highly processed.

Country food items are grown where you can see them. The tomatoes, corn, beans, peppers and potatoes are considerably more nutrient dense. Here in Florida, I am told that designated farming areas do not have county pesticide spraying. You can see Black Angus cattle in grassy fields all over the countryside. Yes, there are farmers who grow for high end markets, but they are not selling to the general public in most cases.

Compromised Food Choices and Drug Prescription Conundrums  

Since then, I have found myself doing more research as I seek answers for questions I have regarding the current state of affairs of the American diet. I am not a nutritionist nor a medical expert by any stretch of the imagination, but i do have access to all the data that is out there from trusted and reliable sources. If you don’t do your own inquiries, then you are cheating yourself.

A doctor gets a kickback from the pharmaceutical companies from the drugs he or she issues you. Telling you to improve your diet is not in their best monetary interests. A Statin Drug to control your cholesterol can damage your liver. Diabetic drugs have been shown to do more harm than good by causing heart attacks and leg amputations.

The Obesity Rate in the United States is skyrocketing. It is approaching 60 to 74% percent in many groups of people. Processed food, poor nutrients in fresh veggies, hormonized meat products, and drugs given to solve problems is out of control. The military recruiters are even having a hard time finding candidates that are in reasonably fit condition. What a scenario.

The Bottom Line

I can only take control of my own life and simply inform others about the issues I have come across. I have cut out 85% of the harmful foods in my diet. It has been necessary to eliminate white bread, candies, excessive cookie indulgences, regular potato dishes, and a significant number of  processed foods. I don’t particularly care for pasta and my white rice intake has been reduced to manageable levels.

As a proponent of the Country Hybrid lifestyle, I have taken on more of the cooking chores to help my wife out. More BBQ’s eliminate cooking in oils. Baked goods get the fat drained away. Fresh salads with locally grown tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, and such, often replace starch-based foods. Hamburgers are replaced by meat patties sans the carb-filled buns. Wild Blueberries, strawberries, and local pear trees replace the high-sugar dessert menu. Berries and nuts topped with with natural Greek yogurt like the Chobani brand that I favor are a breakfast staple. Cereals are gone forever. A glass of Ovaltine with milk is a favorite bedtime snack.

By eating more nutritious food that is locally grown and raised, I have seen positive results. Before moving to the country lifestyle, I had ballooned to a weight of 290 lbs. I currently have problems with my legs resulting from an airplane crash some 45 years older. Weight loss to help remove the strain was necessary. I found that photographs of my big fat body were ugly and revealing.

My blood test a year later, after making necessary changes to my diet, showed an a1c mark of 5.4. A nurse from the doctor’s office told me it was the perfect number. Maybe the test was not the most reliable indicator of my current level of health, but it was something I had to work with for a starting point. Another clue is that my weight had dropped almost 25lbs and my digestive processes have been behaving so much better.

If you would prefer to get your answers from a health professional, go ahead. Just try to pinpoint reliable sources. I personally like Wikipedia and the VeryWellFit websites for trustworthy data.

VeryWellFit is a website providing health and wellness information. It was launched on April 26th, 2016 as a media property component of About.com and is its first standalone Brand. The content is created by 120 health experts and reviewed by board-certified physicians. Wikipedia

In any case, you are much better off having your own extensive library of knowledge about the various issues that affect you. You can then better control what is prescribed for medicinal purposes. It takes discipline and some hard work, but living a quality life style for an extra 10 years or more is the ultimate reward.

Side Note: If you don’t have the health-robbing foods in your house that you crave, you don’t sit around thinking about them. Ice cream and cookies are a real weakness for me. Access to a 1000 calorie chocolate malt is only a kitchen away. Out of sight is out of mind. Diets boil down to 2 things: Calorie intake and quality of food that is eaten. Exercise will help, but will not make up much of the difference in calories burned. Note: If you have your own thoughts on this subject, please comment or contact me and let me know. I may even include your feedback in one of my blogs.

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I am requesting that my readers click on the links provided and download a sample read of each book and give a review on Amazon. You will have free access to the first four chapters of each book. My hope is that you will like the story lines enough to obtain either an eBook version or a paperback copy that you can put on your bookshelf as a masterpiece when you are done. FATE STALKS A HERO I: RESURGENCE, FATE STALKS A HERO II:THE FIJI FULCRUM, and THE SAGA OF HERACLES PENOIT. I will be giving excerpts on these works in upcoming blogs to familiarize you the reader with exciting details about the contents of each one. Thank you!
 

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