This is a list of natural ingredients that are actually good for you! Let’s ditch the chemicals, the toxins, the artificial flavors, the dyes, etc. Let’s get healthy!
I have turned to the organic side of life and really try to wean out the chemical produced non plant based items. I love using Azure Standard & Thrive Market to find foods that I know fit all my wants and needs! They are affordable and fully of only natural, organic, non-GMO ingredients. I found these when I got really tired of spending so much time standing in the isles of the grocery stores reading ingredient labels trying to find stuff that wasn’t built just to have a long shelf life.
GOOD FOR THE BODY, MIND, & SOUL
When you look at an ingredient label can you actually read the ingredients on it? Mostly likely not. You’re going to find a lost of preservatives, chemicals, dyes, artificial flavors, GMO’s (genetically modified organisms), etc.
I don’t know about you but I don’t want these things in my body and I surely don’t want to feed my family these things either!
Now don’t get me wrong with the hustle and expenses of life it can be difficult to find the time to make homemade snacks and meals all the time with cost effective ingredients. With grocery store prices constantly rising and the ability to buy land being more and more difficult, it can be hard to grow or make your own healthy food. Although I always say you make time for the things that you really want to do. Soooo let’s do a little research shall we!
When you think natural ingredients these things are not genetically modified, they contain no chemicals, and have undergone very minimal processing to get to the shape they’re in now. They are mostly derived from plants.
Pantry Staples
- Flour – Unbleached organic wheat flour. You want to find a minimally processed flour, one that uses organic wheat and doesn’t undergo moisture, preservative, or bleach addition. Flour should go straight from wheat harvest to sifting (if needed) to milling to bagging.
- Sugar – Organic cane sugar (if you want to to be more fine, throw it in your food processor for a couple pulses). Granulated sugar is going to be more processed and refined as it goes through a process to separated the crystals from molasses and stripping the natural properties of the sugar, while cane sugar is naturally derived from the sugar cane and it minimally processed and not stripped from any of its natural properties. Now sugar is not necessarily going to be healthy, but if I need to make a mean batch of chocolate chip cookies I’m going to use pure organic cane sugar. Sometimes I will opt for a plant based sugar substitute like Monk Fruit Sweetener.
- Maple Syrup – If it has corn syrup in the ingredients list it’s not real maple syrup. The only ingredient should be 100% pure organic maple syrup. In case you didn’t know the only way to naturally make maple syrup is to boil down the sap collected from maple trees!
- Cornmeal
- Flaxseed
- Chia Seeds
- Baking Soda
- Baking Powder
- Salt -You’re probably going to look at real salt and think “oh that looks dirty” well that’s actually all of the salts natural minerals that make real salt actually good for you. Not table salt, not plain sea salt, you want to find Celtic Sea Salt, Ancient Sea Salt, or Himalayan Salt.
- Arrowroot Powder – This is a great substitute for cornstarch!
- Honey – The only thing on the ingredient label for honey should be: raw honey. Real honey solidifies over time and that’s ok! Ideally you want to buy honey that is local to you, because this is from bees that are using plant nectar in your specific area, so it can help with allergies. Buying honey at the grocery store that is mass produced won’t help your sickness at all, it’s just gonna sweeten your tea!
- Chocolate Chips – Real chocolate is made directly from cacao beans. Using cocoa nibs (in cocoa mass form) and cocoa butter and cane sugar should be the only ingredients you should see on your bag of chocolate chips.
- Nut Butter (peanut butter, almond butter, etc.) – the only ingredients you should see on your label are the nut itself and salt. You shouldn’t have to add any sugar or oil to your nut butter to make it creamy. Roast your nuts and throw them in a food processor!
- Rice – that’s it. It shouldn’t have anything else listed.
- Crackers – they are so simple yet can be so bad for you. Find crackers that are only made from flour, oil, salt, and maybe some herbs or real cheese.
- Pasta – flour, water, and sometimes eggs. That’s all.
Cooking Oils
You want the oil that you’re buying to say “expeller pressed or cold pressed.” These are non-chemical ways of extracting oils. Cold pressed is going to be better for your low heat oils and will preserve the natural body of the oils because of the low temperature. Expeller pressed is used for high heat oils but can have some higher heat processing so it doesn’t preserve the natural characteristics as much but it is still fully mechanical instead of chemical. Here are the oils that I choose to use in our kitchen that are healthier and give me a variety of high smoke point and flavor.
- Olive Oil & Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Avocado Oil
- Coconut Oil
- Sesame Oil
- Grapeseed Oil
- Vegetable Oil
- Peanut Oil
Fridge Staples
- Milk -Ideally you want to find milk that is organic, grass fed, & pasture raised. When it comes to cows you want them to have plenty of natural grass to roam on and you want to avoid cows that are filled with antibiotics, steroids, hormones, vaccines, etc.
- Sour Cream, butter, cream cheese, & cottage cheese – Milk & Cream are the only things required to make these things!
- Meat (beef, pork, chicken, etc) – Organic, grass fed & pasture raised -that’s how we like our animals! You want to avoid animals that are filled with antibiotics, steroids, hormones, vaccines, etc. Sometimes you can’t dodge certain vaccines, which is completely understandable, plus after a certain amount of time it will have run its course and be out of the animal’s system. Remember that saying “you are what you eat?” Feeding them bagged feed and hardly any grass is like feeding a human only fast food and no produce.
- Cheese -buy the whole block of cheese and shredded it or cut it yourself. Shredded cheese is usually coated in a starch to keep it from sticking together. You wanted that nice knife set so cut it up yourself!
- Jams & Jellies -This should only be the fruit, cane sugar, and maybe some citric acid (aka lemon juice).
- Eggs -organic & free range. Trust me, you’ll see and taste a difference!
- Fruits & Vegetables – always buy fresh or frozen, avoid canned. It may not always say it on the label but it does go through extra processing to be canned (not like canning at home). Just make sure to rinse and wash and rinse again your fresh produce to get them all good and clean! A baking soda and apple cider vinegar wash should do the trick!
Needless to say, the less ingredients on the label, the better!
Make your body like you again and treat it with some natural, fresh, and good ingredients!
