I appreciate seeking out books on wellness and healthier approaches to holistic living inasmuch as I appreciate a wicked good health-conscience cookbook which enriches my spirit to find better ways of combing the foods I love to consume. When I first learnt about the Return to Food blog tour, I was quite happy to realise I could interview the author whilst providing my own thoughts on behalf of her book.
I took this opportunity to ask some pointed questions about curating a healthier lifestyle and the reasons behind why society as a whole might have altered their perception about the realities of health and their mindfulness of approaching wellness from a plant-centered and seasonal point of view. I have been an advocate for the locavore movement in my own community, as I appreciate the farmers who are bringing naturally grown fruit and veg to the farm stands. I appreciate knowing where the food is coming from and how the food is being produced at the farm itself. It is a wonderful way to become involved with the cycle of food and the process of how what we eat (and it’s effect on our health) is in-part derivative of the nutrients the foods may or may not be able to give us depending on how they are sourced.
Join me as I start-up a stimulating conversation with Ms Strong!
Chances are if you are feeling flat, fat and tired, or are experiencing chronic illness, you are not eating real food. If you want to bounce out of bed feeling fit and fabulous you must find out what is and isn’t real food. This book challenges prescriptive approaches to diet, eating and food, with a revolutionary philosophical approach based on over 20 years of working with private clients. This approach has seen thousands of people develop a more pleasurable, healthier, and more sustainable eating lifestyle.
Published by: Influence Publishing Inc. (@influencepub)
Add to Riffle | Public Library | Available Formats: Paperback
Converse via: #ReturnToFood, #heathlyeats, & #vegan
When I first started to read Return to Food what I appreciated the most about the layout of the pages is how it felt like I was reading a personal journal about health. I was curious how did you develop your beautiful hand-drawn illustrations as the style reminds me of art journalists who combine art and words to fuse together thoughts, hopes, dreams, and an articulate guide towards what is deeply personal to them at the moment of creating the journal. The illustrations are a beautiful compliment to the text. Did this style evolve solely out of the life journal for your friend?
Strong responds: Thank you Jorie, I love how beautifully you phrased that question, the illustrations are a deeply person evolution of the book. My best friend was moving to London in 2006, it was also her 40th birthday at the time and we had a policy of no gifts for a gifts sake or more specifically out of obligation. She had the most interesting childhood and life story so in a flash of inspiration I decided to buy a beautiful green cloth-bound book and illustrate her life story. It was the best gift I’ve ever given in my entire life. She was delighted with it and her husband who is a prolific children’s author and novelist suggested I take my philosophies and use the same type of illustrations to express them. From there they continued to evolve over the following 8 years to be more dramatic and carry the themes and they really seemed to take on a life of their own from there.
I agree with you on the benefits of using Coconut Oil, and being that my family has continued to source the best ‘cold pressed and unrefined’ versions of it, we can attest to the changes we positively see whilst we’re using it. Our current brand of choice is Kelapo, and it is interesting to us when we talk about how we find ourselves feeling better whilst we use this oil, others around us who are foodies and health conscience talk down about coconut oil simply due to the ‘smell’ or the ‘taste’. I wanted to ask you as a mutual lover of the oil, what have you found is the best use of the oil outside of the regular recipes we might think of using it for?
Strong responds: Outside of culinary uses coconut oils have MANY applications and the best is for the skin as a moisturizer with anti-microbial properties. The taste factor is interesting as many are deodorized rendering them less powerful as the protective aroma compounds are removed. What I know as a chef and nutritionist is that you can develop a taste for anything if it is exposed to you over a number of times with a positive association which can be other foods we like or information that reinforces how nourishing it is.
Budgets will always be a bit of a road block for most of us who want to radically change our wellness back to a state that is off processed foods and not co-dependent on tins/cans varieties of things we’d rather purchase in either bulk or fresh off the farm. I was curious what would be a good staple of choices to purchase even with a limited food budget that would make the most impact on a health-forward step towards change? Are there key ingredients that can co-relate to each other and be turnt into different dishes without breaking a budget? I would imagine it might be a mixture of farm fresh veg and either grains or other items that are high in cellular benefits.
Strong responds: You are right about the farm fresh veg, they are the primary investment for well-being and the most powerful antidote for the environmental challenges our bodies face. Then grains and beans are other low cost items. There is a myth of organic whole food being too expensive.
People often use money as an excuse for inaction and it is not the truth as there is always something we can do. As I show people in my presentations how people can eat organic for as little as $30 and still eat healthier than the average person eating the SAD diet.
Greens is where we get our most powerful hits of nutrients. Buy them in season, at the farmers market if you can and also directly from farm shares and CSA’s for cost savings. For the most significant cost savings in the household budget, cut meat out as there is more than enough protein in greens, legumes and grains to sustain us and it is the biggest thing we can do for sustainability and food equality. Buy whole grains, rice and oats and combine them with beans, legumes and pulses and top with greens. This step alone is taking out processed foods, equally and in many ways even more costly than meat, has the power to halve hospital visits.
The most important part of this equation is to start to look for ways to eat whole foods that truly nourish and protect your body. Once we take the time and money blinkers off as I’ve helped thousands to do, people start to see that feeding their families whole organic foods can be done as economically as conventional food and if we are talking costs based on nutrient values, then organic food wins hands down.
What do you think is the best transitional food plan to create from going off a regular American diet to a more natural and health-conscience food plan? Are there certain foods that help make the transition easier or is there a guide to how often to eat in-between your main courses to off-set the process of de-toxifying your cells? For instance, what would be a good ‘snack’ to nosh on before your next meal if you felt the transition was difficult at first?
Strong responds: This is a big question and not easy to answer with a pat question. It is our diet mentality that has us reduce our relationship with food to a plan. In this process we stop listening to our body and to nature. My plan would be to start with your body and nature. Eliminate the Lethal Recipe as it strips nutrients from our body and sets up the cycle of addiction and toxicity. So clear it out. Then start to visit farmers markets or even plant lettuces or herbs in a pot, connect with nature, get out however you can to access nature and study the cycles of the seasons, what is available locally, support organic foods which are grown with integrity and think of what is most readily available in nature. So snack on whole foods that are in season in your area, grown by farmers who you know how they are growing stuff particularly without chemicals. Greens, always have a salad available and make it taste good with the Glory Dressing, that can make cardboard taste good!
Right now I’m snacking on sprouted sunflower seeds and apricots dried without sulphites which are SO delicious.
Next to a local farmer’s market where the produce is grown and harvested within a short distance of the market itself is a new format of a local grower’s farm where you can honestly ‘pick’ your own greens, fruit, and veg! Normally I have seen u-pick it farms selling berries or citrus, but to have this new idea where you could cut your own salad greens or hearty kale and chard was quite a new concept. I was curious have you found on your travels other forward thinking farms or community resources where the farm is being re-envisioned for modern foodies who are seeking a more earth-centered and sustainable path towards finding foods?
Strong responds: I have Jorie and the amount of people inspired to create these businesses are growing and it is SO important we support them for the future of the planet but even more immediately because it feels so good on so many levels to support getting our food this way. You just have to start looking and even better if you’re in a job that is sucking the life force out of you in exchange for money, consider working for a company like this or starting your own.
What do you think started the erosion of being food-centered in our society to a society where food is the last thing people want to think about? Is it because of the convenience of having food trucked in from out of state or country or have we simply lost our connection to the natural world, and thereby the fresh state of a farm yielding produce feels out of step with modern society?
Strong responds: Exactly Jorie, when we disconnect with nature and the infinite intelligence encoded in our food, we become disconnected to that which truly powers us, protects and nourishes us. Foods grown poorly with chemicals block the intelligence fed to us through food, then when they are processed the blocks increase and the food can literally dumb us down and disconnect us from true wellbeing. That is why the book is called to Return to Food, what most North Americans are eating is in fact something that looks, smells and tastes like food but is a very poor imitation.
The slow food movement and locavore motivations of bringing the farm back to the table is an inspiring achievement that is going state to state right where were urban cities and rural areas are seeing the benefits of having an open communication between farmers and either the restaurant or consumer directly. Do you find there is a ‘return to food’ centric living where people are starting to see how to thrive on better food rather than opting only for what is quick and fast!?
Strong responds: Absolutely Jorie and there is also a myth that slow food cannot be fast. An apple grown locally without chemicals and allowed to ripen on the tree is slow food and can be eaten instantly. It is also the most delicious way to eat an apple as opposed to something grown on mass with chemicals that block the growth of flavour and aroma compounds as well as many other nutrients. Then it is picked before ripening and artificially ripened with ethylene gases. As most of the nutrients are infused into the plant in the ripening process when it is picked before this, it will never taste as good or feel as good in the body as the tree ripened chemical free piece of fruit. Most fast food eaten by people who are not addicted to it, who have been strengthened by eating real food, find fast food tastes terrible. What we often taste is a confused signal with the ensuing addictive properties of fast food that becomes our dominant subconscious association with the food.
What are your top 7 choices of go-to ingredients where your heart fills up with joy knowing you can cook them into something that will be delish to eat? What do you like to make with them?
Strong responds: What looks best at the farmers market every week. So this week it is asparagus, rhubarb, new potatoes, green onions, arugula, carrots and radishes. Most I’ll eat raw and either lightly steam, saute or season. So the carrots from my local bio-dynamic farmer were mind blowing, it would be criminal to do anything but eat them raw, like the radishes. The asparagus is lightly steamed and goes with the poached bio-dynamic eggs. Then salad is my go to food right now as it is really helping bring much needed mental clarity for a project I’m working on.
Holistic living focuses on the whole body and the wellness of the person vs only focusing on a symptom that is not underscoring the main issue that could be causing the health concerns. What did you start to notice about your own outlook had changed when you found a more intrinsic way to eat that was giving you back more on a level of wellness you hadn’t achieved before?! What were the signs you noticed about yourself to know you had found what was right for you?
Strong responds: The biggest and most dangerous sickness symptom I experienced of the many when I was twice my size and starting out the morning eating half a litre of ice cream for breakfast was depression. This is the most insidious of all disease symptoms because it deceives you into thinking you can’t do anything about it, you are not good enough, it blinds you to the possibilities and even if you could see them robs you of the energy to do something about it. Eating real food is the antidote and specifically organic plant foods, that are as close to nature as possible. Within 3 days of cutting out the Lethal Recipe and increasing living foods, the withdrawal effects started minimizing I noticed the cloud started to lift, I started to feel lighter, more positive, I was sleeping better, my moods evened out and hope started to become stronger, possibility of feeling better was planted like a seed in my gut that when I fed it natural foods, it blossomed. It is no exaggeration to say I felt totally alive and in contrast in 7 days.
What is the best experiment someone can take-on to sort out if they are mindful of food in a way that is more natural than learned through environment or society? Is there a way to chart how the shift occurred or is there a method you’ve found that helps people lay thought to mind on how they might not have realised how far they’ve walked outside the natural cycle?
Strong responds: Do the kitchen audit I suggest in the book and actually see what they feed themselves, how far it is from nature and what percentage of what you are eating is in fact real food, whole, in season and local. There is a direct correlation to how they will feel. For example, the more I live from live foods from my fridge or counter I can chart a direct correlation to how well I feel, the more I live out of the pantry or the goodies cupboard/freezer section or eat fast food, the worse I noticed I felt. Connect with like minded people, find a Return to Food Coach in your area and if there isn’t one, consider becoming one as it is the most powerful way to live this because you are not only learning and inculcating this into your way of being, you are teaching and inspiring others to.
Have you continued to create art journals or expanded your illustrations to a larger scale?
Strong responds: I’m now working on the second illustrated book called, Hungry for Meaning, Thirsty for Change – the food philosophers guide to eating and loving life.
What do you do to uplift your spirit outside of your work life?
Strong responds: My work and my life are interwoven so much and I SO love what I do that the farmer’s market is not work for me even though I use the food for work, it is the social highlight of my week. I walk and hike in nature which is like life force for my spirit and an antidote for the fact that too much of my work is done online at the moment. The biggest and best thing is being with like minded people, friends and family. The work I do now training Return to Food Coaches is the thing that I’m meant to be doing, the reason I’m here and as organic, seasonal whole food feeds my body, my work nourishes and energizes my soul.
Thank you Jorie for SUCH thoughtful and generous questions,
I’ve loved this interview….sending you hugs of gratitude, Sherry
This author interview is courtesy of: iRead Book Tours
Be sure to follow the blog tour as today kick’s off the first stops!
Click through via the badge to find out what else awaits you!
My review of this book is forthcoming this afternoon.
See what I am hosting next on my Bookish Events!
Kindly leave your thoughts, comments, & reactions for Ms Strong in the comments section!
NOTE:
Similar to blog tours where I feature book reviews, as I choose to highlight an author via a Guest Post, Q&A, Interview, etc., I do not receive compensation for featuring supplemental content on my blog. I provide the questions for interviews and topics for the guest posts; wherein I receive the responses back from publicists and authors directly. I am naturally curious about the ‘behind-the-scenes’ of stories and the writers who pen them; I have a heap of joy bringing this content to my readers.
In conjunction with my “The Bookish Foodie” Feature on Jorie Loves A Story:
Quite wicked happy on this being the last cookbook feature on my bookish blog for 2014, before I kick off new features & showcases in 2015 where I am going to be highlighting both fiction and non-fiction Foodie delights! I have always appreciated “Foodie Fiction”, but I am also an amateur sous chef who likes to experiment in the kitchen with her Mum! I grew up with a keen interest in savory and sweet decadence from a Mum whose culinary wanderings spanned the world. We were always a family who were considered to eat ‘bland’ food due to the fact we limited our salt intact, and we never used black pepper! Ironically, it was through the herbs and spices my Mum always fused into our cooking adventures that first sparked my own interest in getting a bit more involved than merely developing a ‘taste’ for what I appreciated. I developed my own yearnings for Indian spices (i.e. Curry Powder, Garam Marsala, Turmeric, etc) and foods, as much as I always had a hankering for extra garlic cloves due to a high concentration of Italian foods I consumed growing up. I wanted to merge my bookish joy of reading ‘Foodie Fiction’ with my quest to uncover a healthier and more vibrant way to eat, live, and thrive. Therefore, I decided to begin featuring what I consider fit under this new Feature of Jorie Loves A Story: The Bookish Foodie! As I am *exactly!* what the title eludes — I’m a bookish girl who has a Foodie soul! Drop back and spend time with me to see where this Feature takes me!
Follow future installments by: #TheBookishFoodie
{SOURCES: Cover art of “Return to Food”, book synopsis, author photograph of Sherry Strong, author biography and the tour badge were all provided by iRead Book Tours and used with permission. Cookery Delights | Savoury & Ambrosial | Cookbook interviews by the Bookish Foodie Banner created by Jorie in Canva. Photo Credit: Unsplash Public Domain Photographer Jeffrey Deng. The Bookish Foodie badge created by Jorie in Canva. Comment Box Banner made by Jorie in Canva. Tweets embedded due to codes provided by Twitter. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2015.
Great questions and interview. Sherry, as always you answer with a depth of wisdom and love. If all of us paused for just a moment before we buy or eat, to ask ourselves these questions and ideas our world would be healed. Thank you for you voice Sherry and for this blog Jorie. :)
Good evening, Ms Simonson!
Thank you for your lovely compliments on behalf of this interview – I had a lot of fun creating the list of questions I wanted to pitch to Ms Strong, and am thankful you enjoyed your visit on this stop on the tour! I will be releasing my thoughts on Return to Food lateron tonight, as like you, I found that the author had a lot of insightful things to share about our connection to food and how food can transform our lives. Always happy to find someone who is appreciating my content and has a happy experience visiting with me!
Thank you Jorie for the wonderful time and attention you’ve put into this, you are clearly a passionate writier and foodie. I’m so grateful for your work. You ask great questions that show you really get the value of returning to eat real food.
I wanted to offer your readers a special gift of a digital gift pack worth of eBooks, some surprises and exclusive webinar ($197 Value) where they can also ask me any questions they like. Go here to register for your free gifts….http://www.returntofood.com/2015/06/05/rtf-life-chaning-webinar/
Good afternoon, Ms Strong,
I was honoured to host you today and what a happy delight finding your comment, and three others awaiting me! I mentioned to them in my replies about your kindness of including the link to the webinar and hope they will return to click on the link. I look forward to sharing my thoughts on the book tonight and giving a capstone to a beautiful day celebrating health, wellness, and the foods which enrich our spirit as much as they give us such a heap of joy to eat!
Thank you for your beautiful compliments on my behalf – I try to remain open about how I feel about the things I am passionate about and I am thankful this is translating well with what I am posting! Always a delight to find that a passion of mine is visible and enjoyed being read. I am hoping this is only the first day of many wonderful days on your blog tour! Here’s to you!
LOVED this interview with Sherry Strong, so simple yet so powerful. I really enjoyed your questions Jorie – very nicely considered and phrased. I enjoyed the entire article and a couple of things really jumped out at me – the huge impact and significance of the link between the Lethal Recipe and depression. This is such a pandemic condition and if only more people were aware that they could make huge changes in this area so quickly (within 7 days!?) simply by making such major changes to their diet… my goodness this could change the world. Sherry have you considered doing a TED Talk about this particular topic – diet (for want of a better word) your way out of depression!? So powerful! I also love the concept of the new book – Hungry for meaning, Thirsty for Change. What a FANTASTIC title and message – I loved Return to Food and I can’t wait to read the next book! Thanks ladies for an inspiring, enlightening article – I’m off to finish my green smoothie :) xoxo
Good afternoon, Ms Bennett,
I loved hearing your feedback on behalf of the questions I choose to ask Ms Strong! She’s only the second author I’ve hosted who has written a cookbook on mindful eating and healthier paths towards wellness. I am not sure if you saw the interview I had with Annie Oliverio who wrote Crave Eat Heal? The two are good to read together because they are both written from the perspective of vegans.
I love offering my readers thought-provoking and stimulating content, which is why when I elect to host an interview or guest post by an author, I like to dig a bit deeper and get into the heart of the subject. It’s a heap of joy for me to realise as comments come through that what I hoped to share and achieve with the feature was resonating with readers — bless you for leaving me such a brilliant comment today!
Just after you posted your comment, Ms Strong left a note talking about her upcoming webinar, be sure to return in order to click the link she shared as I think you would appreciate it. I enjoyed hearing your thoughts on the cross-relations between depression and wellness, as I think it would make sense to anyone who has struggled with their health to denote that when your not eating in balance or in-tune to your own body’s rhythm of life, your emotional keels are going to tip over the scales of where joy and happiness cannot win out. We all have to take extra steps to remain mindful of how things effect us, and this includes the foods we eat. Very powerful lesson to learn, and one that I was thankful you were re-iterating in your comment! Keenly observant and beneficial.
So happy you dropped by today! Enjoy that smoothie — I love all green smoothies myself! #beyondyum!
I’m in the process of reading Return to Food right now by Sherry Strong. I was at her presentation last week called The Reluctant Vegan. I love how Sherry addresses food and our relationship with it from a Physical, Emotional, Intellectual and Spiritual perspective. It got me thinking on all the reasons I rush through eating and how I do it in such a distracted way that I overeat. As I read, I get lovely visualizations of what it can be and how much joy I can add to the experience. I also know that I jump on a band wagon quickly so I’m feeling my way towards: “What’s the one small step I will take first?” so as not to get overwhelmed and then quit. Thanks to Sherry for a thought provoking and holistic approach to this non-diet.
Good afternoon, Ms Chell!
Thank you for dropping by today to discover the conversation I had with Ms Strong! I am thankful that you appreciated the conversation but moreso than that, you’ve already discovered your own path towards wellness by following in her heed! What a beautiful compliment to give the author and I am blessed you choose to share this with her today! Did you know she’s having a webinar coming up? She posted a comment just after yours and shared the details. Be sure to drop back to click on the link! I think it is something that you will appreciate on your continuing journey.
I do agree with you about how food and health are co-linked through the four routes of what makes us uniquely human: physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual perspectives. We are beings who are very dynamic in how we live and how we interpret what we are living through, so to me it makes sense that all four would be co-related into how we process what we eat and how we can thrive by what we are eating at the same time.
Thank you again for your visit and for giving such a beautiful testimonial on your contact with Ms Strong’s resources!