When you’re creating meals at home, the reality is that eating whole, fresh, complete foods is always the way to go if you want to be your healthiest self. This is the best rule of thumb to remember while you’re preparing meals for your family.

However, years ago we wrote a post on a large swing in trends that we noticed related to how we define the “best” foods to feed our families. That trajectory continues to this day, so we decided that it was time to provide a little update!

Are you curious as to how we got to where we are now?  Then let’s dive in a bit deeper to see how we’ve moved from “health food” to “healthy food.”

PHASE 1: Health Food

Right around the late 1970s through the early 90s, we began to see a larger-scale concern for “health.”  Working out with Russell Simmons and Jane Fonda started to become a craze, Suzanne Somers made the Thighmaster a hit, and the term “health food” started to become a bit more mainstream.

While the idea of being “healthy” started to become a more common interest, it was typically understood as being a way to maintain weight, rather than something that we chose to do for the betterment of our families and ourselves.

Health food was seen as being “hippy granola” type food – something that existed, but it didn’t taste good and the public wasn’t wanting to regularly make it for their families unless absolutely necessary.  Specific diets started to become more commonplace, making room for vegetarians, vegans, and those moderating their weight to make more mainstream choices.

It was around this time that we started to notice that the substances we consumed as food impacted our overall health.  That’s a realization that is still benefiting us today.

PHASE 2: Substitution Cooking

As soon as we, as a public, started to realize that food impacted our overall health and well-being, we started to look for ways to make it appetizing to our palates.  Using our old, favorite, family recipes, we’d substitute specific ingredients with the goal to make the dish healthier.

We’d enjoy a small, microwavable version of lasagna to help us with portion sizes, we’d use butter substitutes to limit the impact on our arteries, or we would do everything we could to make tofu taste like a natural burger.

As a public, we started to realize that good-for-you food doesn’t always have to taste bad.  In fact, it could taste really, really great when we used the right recipes and mix of ingredients!  But we weren’t quite ready to creatively design new recipes around our newfound love of all things health-related. At least not yet…

PHASE 3: Enjoying Healthy Food

Once we got a taste of how appetizing good-for-you meals could be, we started to turn our consciousness towards healthy, delicious food regimens.  Now, we build a delicious meal from the ground up, using fresh, healthy ingredients and combining them together to make a symphony of flavors that are pleasing to the palate.

Over the years, we’ve learned that less processed food tends to equal more nutrition.  And that it’s relatively easy to combine those simple, unprocessed ingredients into truly delightful cuisine.  As we, as individuals, learn how to properly cook ingredients in a way that healthfully fits our family’s tastes and preferences, healthy food becomes easy, affordable, and delicious to make at home!

What’s next?

We’re proud to have been even a small piece of shifting the social consciousness towards natural, healthy foods.  We’ve seen first-hand how eating healthfully can change lives in a positive way and we hope to continue this trend by educating and inspiring generations of cooks to make time in the kitchen approachable and affordable.

Did You Know…

We have a class designed specifically to teach you all of the foundational skills that you should know in the kitchen.  Our class, Basic Skills Every Cook Should Know, will get you cooking with confidence, making healthier, tastier choices, and will save you time and money with a classic repertoire of culinary techniques.

If you are interested in cooking delicious and easy-to-make meals at home, our cookbook “Mix Match, Make Take” is the ideal healthy habits primer for you. This award-winning cookbook is designed not only to help you make fresh and healthy food but also to teach you how to mix it up and pack it up for your next day’s lunch or the following day’s second dinner. The ingredients focus on fresh proteins, grains, vegetables, and fruit and contain very little gluten, refined sugar, and dairy. This cookbook is perfect for people looking for insight into creating healthy food, or as a helper for people already familiar with the concept.

We’re excited to continue being a guide in the industry, helping you cook at home in a confident, healthy way!

To learn more and to sign up for “Basic Skills Every Cook Should Know”, click here. To learn more and purchase “Mix Match, Make Take”, click here.