Having spent much of my childhood foraging and sometimes cultivating my grandparent’s orchard in the foothills of Oregon on the west coast of the United States, fruits and vegetables were close cousins—nourishing, tasty friends who gave the perfect, supporting sustenance when needed. While I still ate meat and low-fat, processed foods too (it was the 80’s and 90’s afterall), nothing compared to the simplest of hand-picked delights—a slightly tart Golden Delicious apple, a Comice pear or a Japanese peach.

Munching along as I tended to these natural delights, I’d experience a delightful connection to each flavor and texture, just like when we cook our own food today.  While not organic, this sustenance was unprocessed and full of sensation.

What made this food so special? So much better than it’s processed and even complicated counterparts?

In simple terms, it comes down to this

1. Whole (foods)—real, unprocessed or minimally processed foods. Foods that are what they say they are. An apple is an apple. A cucumber is a cucumber. Almonds are almonds. Bursting with nutrition,  whole foods—especially in raw and organic form—give real nourishment.
2. Nutrient-dense, unprocessed foods are actually experienced by our body differently from their processed counterparts. Take an apple. It’s full of of nutrients, like anti-inflammatory quercetin and antioxidant vitamin C. As a whole, an apple can regulate blood sugar levels, reduce cholesterol and even aid in the digestion of other foods eaten after this simple piece of fruit.  In short, these nutrients are essential for your brain and complete body function. Foods like Oreos and beverages like Coca-Cola, on the other hand, are full of nutrient-less energy—ingredients like high fructose corn syrup that give a quick and heavy shot of calories, and stimulants like caffeine. They deprive and over time, even deplete, the body of what it needs to survive and thrive.
3. Farm fresh. The moment a piece of fruit or a vegetable is picked, the nutrients slowly start to decrease. When eating straight from an orchard and garden as I was fortunate enough to do as a child, or from a local, organic farmer, as I now do thanks to my local Noordermarkt Farmer’s Market in Amsterdam—where the produce is mostly local and picked shortly before making its way to hungry patrons—it’s at its maximum ripeness and nutritional power. And, when local, humanized food makes its way to our mouths, I believe there’s more gratitude and with it, ‘good energy’, packed in each bite.

From soil to soul, and back again.