The Kitchen Clutter You Don’t See - but Your Body Feels with Mira Dessy | Heather Aardema

Does it really matter what we eat?

Yeah. You know what, actually, I love that you asked that question because a lot of people sort of start in a different direction when we begin talking, asking about what are the worst things that are in what we eat. And truly, we have grown up with this myth that, oh, calories. A calorie is a calorie. Like, just eat what you like and exercise more and you'll be fine. And really, it is about nourishing our body on a deep level. So I would love to point out that there is a huge difference between, for example, how an apple is going to nourish your body and how french fries are going to nourish your body. So, yes, what we eat makes a big difference.

What are some of the best things that we can eat that we can consume, and is it different for everybody?

That is a really great question. You know, I think part of the challenge. I'm going to answer the second part of that first is that it is different for different people because we are all bio individual. Everyone's body is different. And so certain people are going to need more of certain things or there are going to be certain dietary protocols that are going to work better for them. I get really frustrated when I see big pronouncements in the media. Oh, everybody should be insert dietary plan here. And the answer is no, it doesn't work that way because our bodies are all different. So we have to learn about that. The most important thing, the best thing to eat as much as possible are foods that are whole foods, seasonal foods. We do much better when we eat in season because the nutrient density of what we're eating is much more intense because it's picked closer to ripeness. If it's picked early and held or frozen. Well, if it's picked frozen. If it's picked and frozen, it's great because usually they pick it in season. But if it's picked out of season and stored in a tank, it's ripened with ethylene gas or whatever. The nutrients are not there as much. We used to eat seasonally. We've gotten out of the habit. Now we go, it's January, I'm in the mood for strawberries. And those strawberries a are either out of season and have been forced ripened or they came from halfway around the world. And it's not great. So that's part of it. So seasonal is great. As unprocessed as possible. Local. Local food is wonderful because it reduces your food miles. The less food has to travel to get to you the better shape it's going to be in and let's be honest, the better it is for the environment. Like that's a good thing for everybody. And so those are the things we really want to try and focus on as much as we can.

I'm glad you brought up the environment. I'm a huge fan of the planet. And we create space. So much clutter and trash that's filling up the landfills. And so I, you just, you just hit on a soft, a soft spot for my heart. Well, you know, you talked about eating in season and right now I live in Colorado and there is a town called Palisade and the Palisade peaches are ripe. And these peaches are out of this world. Delicious. And so every Sunday at the farmer's market we buy a huge box. And at first my husband was saying, what there's no way we're going to go through this, these many peaches and this many peaches. And I will tell you when they are that good because they are in season and that we get the organic ones. Actually touch on that. Doesn't matter if we get organic or not organic.

Yeah. You know, organic is so important, especially for what they call the dirty dozen. Technically, the dirty dozen is supposed to refer to the 12 fruits and vegetables that are most likely to be contaminated by pesticide. They have the highest pesticide levels and we are what we eat. If we're eating plants that have been sprayed with heavy levels of pesticides, it really is challenging because our body can only process so much and we wind up holding lots of toxins in fatty tissue. It can affect our gut. There are a lot of different ways that it can impact us. These days it's actually more than a dozen because they had to take kale, collards and spinach and lump them into one and call it greens. So there's a few extras in there. I will share that peaches are almost always on the list for most highly sprayed. So it's great that you are getting organic Palisade peaches.

Well, it's really fun and we actually know the owners of the farm and it's fun to see, you know, the. Some of the kids that they hire to help them are on my kids soccer team and so it just kind of almost becomes more of a community experience.

Yeah, that's wonderful. And the other thing is, isn't it amazing how hungry your body is for those when they are that good, that fresh, that delicious? There is just something that makes you salivate and want to consume that because our body knows it is nourishing our tissues on a very, very deep level.

Right now I am bringing sliced peaches with cocoa whip, which is a non dairy alternative to like a, a nice whip. I'm like, what is the other word for cocoa whips? Cocoa whip for so long. Yeah, I'm bringing that everywhere right now. And it is a home run every single time. And yeah, there aren't the toxins there, so. So there are. To me, these peaches come without body clutter.

Yeah. And one of the other really fun things to do with those is if you're making like a chia pudding and just dicing those up and throwing those on top, it's perfect. That's all you need.

Yum, yum. All right, so let's, let's talk about the kitchen. It often can be a place of overwhelm. Well, not that the kitchen itself is overwhelming, but our thoughts about the kitchen are overwhelming. And so with so many products, the packaging, expired foods, mystery ingredients, what does, what does decluttering look like when we begin in the kitchen or a pantry?

Yeah. I think one of the best places to start is to figure out what's important to you. What are the things that you would use on a regular basis that you always want to make sure you have them and to figure out where you're going to store them. Like you said, there's so many things, not just food things, but kitchen implements and everything else. I will share, for example, and there are going to be some people out there who are going to go, what? She's crazy. I love mine. I live with it. I do not have an air fryer. Neither do I. I don't want one. 1. It takes up too much counter space. 2. 2. I have yet to find one that I like that has is not lined with non stick coating, which is very unhealthy for us. And I gave up looking and I thought, you know what? I have my instant pot. I have pots and pans. I'm good. I have a KitchenAid mixer, I have a food processor. But like, those are the things that I need that I use on a regular basis. It's what works for you. If you're someone who doesn't use an instant pot, who's not into slow cooking or pressure cooking, well, then don't get one. Just because it's hot and popular doesn't mean you need one, you know? And then the other thing is, when it comes to the food ingredients, to really make decisions about what we're accumulating, I Do encourage people to take the time to go through their spice drawer at least once a year and see what's in there. Spices are wonderful. First of all, they're micronutrient powerhouses. They can provide a lot of nutrition for not a lot of volume. They add flavor to our food, they add complexity to a recipe. But if you bought that jar of asafoetida five years ago for a particular dish and you never used it again, first of all, it's probably not good anymore. And secondly, why are you keeping it? Like only use the things that you really are going to go through on a regular basis and that you're going to enjoy using.

Can spices go bad?

Yes, actually they can. So it's not that they go bad, they're not going to be harmful to you, but they get old. So one good way to tell is to look at the color. A lot of them tend to be stored in clear glass jars. And if they're in the light, you can tell. You can take for example, a fresh jar of oregano and a two year old jar of oregano and look at them and they're different colors because they've oxidized and the light has bleached them out. You can also smell them. You know, our nose is so powerful and if it doesn't smell as potent, it's not okay.

What are some of your staples that you, you told us some different kitchen tools that you love, but in terms of food.

Yeah.

What are some of the staples that you love?

I, you know, and again, this is what different for everybody because part of it depends on your food culture, how you eat, what you eat, how you cook. For example, I have friends who come from India. When I buy turmeric, I buy about this much at a time. When they buy turmeric, they buy this much at a time because they use so much more. I will say some of my staples are things like, you know, a good quality olive oil, a good quality. You know, several vinegars, actually, because I, I like balsamic vinegar, apple cider vinegar, wine vinegar. You use different vinegars for different things. I am a big fan of making sure that I have some of the spices, like I said, that are my top. I really always try to make sure that I have some of the basics on hand. Baking soda, baking powder. But for example, with baking powder, you want to make sure that you're getting one that's aluminum free. So you have to look at the package. I do buy organic cornstarch and you want organic because it's not Genetically modified. It hasn't been sprayed with glyphosate, so that makes it better. I have about five different kinds of salt because different salts for different things. And then I also happen to really enjoy making sure that we have some of the different, you know, specialty oils. For example, a little bit of sesame oil, a little bit of walnut oil. Walnut oil is wonderful in baked goods. It gives it like a rich mouth feel to something. But you don't want to buy the big one unless you're going to use it all the time. Buy the little one. I also actually, now that I'm thinking about it, there are certain vinegars that I buy that are flavored like a BlackBerry vinegar, an apricot vinegar. These are balsamic that you can use to make a shrub. So instead of a soda, you can add a little bit of vinegar to maybe some, some sparkling water and make your own very healthy, very delicious shrub.

What is it? I've never heard of the term shrub before.

So a shrub is just an old fashioned term for adding vinegar to a beverage. And yeah, so I like to use sparkling water. And so you can either get a good quality, clean sparkling water, like a mineral water in a bottle or something, or if you happen, one of those containers where you can make your own sparkling water and then you add, you know, to taste, a little bit of flavored vinegar and it makes a very lovely, refreshing beverage.

It sounds delightful and it is fun.

Yeah.

The reason why I wanted to start off with some of your favorite staples is because so often when we think of the kitchen, there can be a lot of baggage that, that comes along. And we think, you know, maybe we come from a place of scarcity or deprivation or oh my gosh, I can't eat this. I can't have that. And so by starting with some of your favorites, I hope I can hear it. And I hope all of our viewers and listeners can hear the abundance that you are expressing Right. In these fun things. You're not missing anything, are you?

No. You know what? It's about playing in the kitchen. It's about falling in love with food again. We have been sold a bill of goods that started back Post World War II that said, oh, food manufacturers will take care of all of it for you. Oh, you're so busy, you don't have time, like, let us take care of it for you. And then our food got more and more and more adulterated. And I'm not talking complicated. I mean, if you happen to know how to make pheasant under glass and you Want to do that? I say go for it. But really, I'm also thinking there is pleasure in a really well made pan of veggie egg scramble. You know, it's just nourishing on a deeper level. It's not about being complicated, but it's about enjoying it. Because really, if we're fortunate, we get to eat three meals a day, and we get to eat it with people we love, and that includes yourself. And so why not put some of that care into creating what nourishes your body on an emotional level as well?

Feels so light when you talk about that. And it's just a. I feel like one of the ingredients that you haven't talked about yet but has been present all along is this idea of being present while you're cooking.

Yeah.

Or while you're thinking about the meals or thinking about how you want to play in the kitchen.

Yeah, absolutely. And I think the other thing that is amazing to me is, like I said, you don't have to have a huge repertoire. You don't have to be a gourmet chef. You do get to learn what you like to eat and what those you love like to eat and to be able to make that. And it's also, I think so. When my kids were little, I taught all of them how to cook. You know, they came into the kitchen with me and they played. And then my grandkids came along, and they play in the kitchen with me. And you start with, I'm gonna measure this for you, and you're gonna dump it in the bowl. And they're like, I made that. Like, it's really fun. But we get to spend time together. And how much more amazing is it, instead of sending one person off by themselves to the hinterlands of an uninhabited space so that they can toil away to deliver a meal? Like, why not spend time together and do it together? You know? And the funny thing is, a long time ago, and I don't know why I did this, but, you know, my husband would say, can I help? And I'm like, no, I got it. I got it. Like, I felt guilty for him wanting to help. And then I was like, eventually I realized that. Yes, could you chop that for me? Or could you, you know, get this or take care of that or stir that or whatever. Like, we're doing it together. And it just makes the meal so much more enjoyable.

Creating. Creating hurt together. Creating connection. Connection. Creating memories. Yeah, my parents tried. I'm the middle daughter of three, and they really did have good intentions. So I remember at a certain point, we were told we each had to make one meal from a week. One meal a week from a cookbook. We hated it. We hated it. And I think the reason why is because it wasn't so much making the meal, it was the dishes afterwards. And my dad refused to get our dishwasher fixed. We had to do it by hand. He would come in and inspect the dishes, and they were never, never done right the first time. That experience and my. My interpretation of it, my perception of it, sent me down a path of, well, I don't want to cook. I don't want to cook the kitchen. It's just a room to store food that's already been made in the refrigerator. It wasn't until my autoimmune diagnoses, in my 50s, and I'm in my 50s now, not until those diagnoses was it that I gave myself permission to get curious about the kitchen. Yeah, and what a gift, Mira, I want to say, because I learned to cook, I realized it actually can be kind of fun. This was something that I regretted and. Or not regretted, that I really was just. Just totally turned off by before. And now it has been become part of my life, and it feels light, and it's great. So if you know, know that. That it really is how we choose to think about the kitchen that determines our experience there. And so what I want to know, Mira, I want to know about the hidden clutter culprits that you see in the kitchens that you go into that are working against our health or our health goals.

Well, I will share one of the biggest things that I see, and I still learn how to do this. Like, every now and then, I look at my space and decide if it needs to be rearranged. We're so used to thinking that this cabinet must be for this, because it makes most sense to put it there. But does it really? So I have a friend who is a professional organizer, and she taught me about primary, secondary, and tertiary space. So primary is what you use the most. And if you are not using your KitchenAid mixer the most, why is it taking up space on your counter? Put it down below, drag it out when you need it. If you use it all the time, that's where it lives. My Vitamix, for example, lives on my counter because I use it sometimes multiple times a day. So learning how often you use things and where they go, another huge clutter thing. I don't know why. Once we own something, we have to hang onto it. And I am guilty of this. That's why every January, I have my top 15 declutter tips for January for everybody's kitchen. Because we have things like ratty kitchen towels. I'm sorry. You deserve new kitchen towels if they're that bad. You just do. And they're not that expensive. Old oven mitts that don't work anymore. Broken lids. You can buy a new lid. Yes, that lid matched that pot. But so I have. For example, I have a crock pot that my mother got for me when I went to college. And trust me, College was over 40 years ago. I still have it. It still works great. But the lid broke. When I called rival the maker of the crock pot, to get a new lid, they were like, that is so old, we don't even have that model number on record anymore. So I found a different lid that worked. Is it the perfect lid that looked exactly like the old one? No. But guess what? It works. It fits. That's all that matters. So getting rid of broken things and then the other is going through because we tend to duplicate. And maybe it's not every year. Maybe it's every two years or every three years. And all of a sudden, you discover you've got four potato peelers. I don't happen to think anybody needs more than 2 and 2 only because chances are, if you're lucky, somebody will come and help you peel potatoes. But I mean, you don't need four. If you have multiples of a lot of different things, that creates clutter. And chances are, no matter how many you have, you have a favorite. So use that.

Yeah, you're getting. You're gonna use your favorite anyway. And so the other is just taking up space. You mentioned the towels and. Come on. Or that. Yeah, just all the different towels. And we. We deserve new ones every year. And if anybody's thinking like, oh, that sounds wasteful. Listen, those towels can become rags, and you can use them somewhere else in your house or with a different purpose. It doesn't mean just tossing them out.

It just means not using them in the kitchen.

Right, Exactly. And, yeah, like, have things that make you feel light. And I think just like, sometimes getting a new workout outfit makes me feel like I'm. I'm working out even better or even stronger. Having things in your kitchen. The kitchen towels, the washcloths and so forth. Have ones that you like. You'll want to be in there more if you like what you see.

Absolutely. The other thing is, it takes up space, you know, so you've got a drawer that when you Open it, things come popping out, and then you have to spend time putting it all back together. Like, just figure out what fits and do that. Yeah.

Those are great decluttering tips. Great. What about ingredient overload? So processed food items, confusing food labels, not only are they affecting, like, what we're putting in, affecting our bodies, but they're affecting our mental energy, our emotional energy. What do we do about ingredient labeling and so forth?

I am a huge fan of everybody learning how to read the label. Really, it is the best way to know what's in your food. We are very fortunate. We live in a country where they must put what's on the label in the product. Now, if it's less than 2%, they're allowed to say less than 2% of. And then you never know how much is in there or sometimes what it really is because they hide it under mystery names like natural flavor. But if you learn to read the label, all of a sudden you're like, wait a minute, what is that? Titanium dioxide or sulfur dioxide or why are all those colors in there? Or whatever. And then you begin to learn how to hopefully make a difference. Not gonna lie. Little plug here. My book, the pantry principle, is a great way to learn how to read a label and understand what's really in your food. I think also the other thing that happens is sometimes we buy things and then we forget they're there because they get stuffed in the back of the pantry, and so we've forgotten about them, or we liked it, so we bought a lot of it, and then we're not eating that much of it anymore. We either have to figure out how to use it, or we have to find a way to pass it on. Yeah.

For somebody who is stuck on the titanium or sulfur. Sulfur dioxide. What? What is that? Since you brought it up.

Yeah. So titanium dioxide is essentially a whitening agent, and they put it in a lot of foods that are white. Sorry. Yeah, they put in a lot of foods that are white because it just makes them look whiter. They also put blue dye in white foods because blue makes white look whiter. Like, weird. But it's not good for us. And, you know, part of the challeng that so many of these things, because they're so low down on the label, most people look at the first few things to see maybe what the first few ingredients are. They don't read all the way down, Especially once you get past five ingredients. Who takes the time to read it? I mean, I do, but I would like to encourage people to do that. Sulfur dioxide is used in a lot of dried fruits. It's a bleaching agent. One of my. When I'm teaching classes, one of the things I love is when I get the high school kids and they're like, I love golden raisins because they come from green grapes. And like, I'm really sorry, honey. No, they don't. They. They do not come from green grapes because even green grapes will turn brown when they're dried. These grapes have sulfur dioxide, which for some people can cause an allergic reaction. You know, depends on how many you eat, depends on how sensitive you are. But it's just. It's a processing agent that is not good for us long term. So we really want to make sure that we're getting organic raisins so that they don't have all of the pesticides, because grapes also tend to be on the list. They also don't have, you know, the, the bleaching agents and those kinds of things put into them.

Okay. Yeah, those, those items, I mean, what would you say the biggest clutter culprits when it comes to. When it comes to ingredients?

What.

What would you say some of those biggest ones are for us to watch out for?

Yeah, great question. Sugar is number one. And part of the challenge is manufacturers have started to learn that people are being more mindful about how much sugar they're consuming. So one of the ways they hide it in your food is to put multiple kinds of sugar in there so that sugar isn't the number one ingredient, because if it's the number one ingredient, chances are you're gonna put it back. But if it's number three and number seven and number nine and maybe number ten, not going to pay attention. So we have to learn about the different names for sugar. You know, whether. If it's a syrup, chances are it's a sugar. Anything that ends in an ose o s e is a sugar. Fructose, sucrose, those kinds of things. And then also we have things like dextrose, which is corn sugar. So we, we just have to learn to look at that. So sugar is one of the really big body clutter ingredients that are in there. Another body clutter ingredient that I am vigorously opposed to is carrageenan. Is. Comes from a seaweed. In its native culture, how it's used, they take the seaweed, they cook it, they eat it. It's fine, highly processed. It's really bad for us. It's very damaging to the gut tissue. And I will share, for example, I love cottage cheese. It's a great snack. It's a good source of protein, and, you know, it can be a healthy choice. I went to the store the other day. There were six different brands of cottage cheese. Every single one of them had carrageenan in it. So I didn't buy any. I'm going to have to go to another store to look for it, you know, so really. And the problem with carrageenan is it appears in almost every aisle of the grocery store. And it's really bad for your gut. So if you think you have gut health problems, looking at what's in what you're eating can help you relieve that body burden. So those are two of the biggest.

Before you go on to a few more, I just want to tell you, growing up, my mom and my younger sister loved cottage cheese. And I like cottage cheese. At the time. I don't eat it anymore. And I think the big reason is because my mom and my younger sister loved putting ketchup on the cottage cheese. Can you imagine a bowl? I mean, it looked like a bloody mess of tissue and just like. And so just a little memory. A memory that I'm experiencing right now. Yes. And. Right. And this goes back to how we're all unique, our bod, so forth. And when I have any form of dairy, I end up getting symptoms. And so I. I've tried a lot of different types of dairy, a lot of healthy forms of dairy, and my body says no, but these are. These are great things to look out for. Look out for the sugar, the carrageen. How do you pronounce it? The cara.

Carrageenan.

Carrageenan. All right, what. What are one or two more things that we should kind of. Or that we. That we can look out for if we want to?

Yeah. Artificial colors are horrible. They're made from petrochemicals, and they are really bad for us. There have been so many studies, and honestly, back in, I think it was 1964, Dr. Benjamin Feingold, who was a pediatrician at Kaiser Permanente in California, discovered that his pediatric patients who consumed artificial colors did not do well with things like attention related disorders, et cetera, et cetera. How long ago was that? Like, that's a lot of years. And yet we still have it. It's bad for us. Our bodies are not meant to consume petroleum. We are not, you know, motor vehicles. And yet we put it in everything. And part of the challenge is it's in things that you don't even think have color in them. So now I will say that is starting to change. There are more companies that are starting to use natural, you know, plant juices. I mean, anybody who's ever spilled beet juice on white pants knows that doesn't come out ever. But, you know, they're starting to use plant, and that's great. It doesn't mean that it's gone. So you still need to read the label to look for that. I'm not a huge fan of that. Another one that I. And this is not necessarily bad for you, but it comes under the how much category. These days, everybody is talking about how much protein is in this and how much protein is in that. And you just, you need protein. You gotta get protein. And yes, we do need protein. We do better when we get appropriate amounts of protein. Food producers have turned us into a snacking culture that have made it so that we fill up on snacks and then we're not hungry for things like protein and produce and all of that. But do you really need to buy high protein Cheerios followed by high protein Pop Tarts followed by like, I'm serious, I've seen these at the grocery store. No, like, just figure out how many grams of protein your body needs. And the healthiest way to get those, as we were talking about earlier, is to look for whole real food sources. And then if you happen to live somewhere where you've got a farmer's market or maybe there's a rancher who lives down the road from you that you can buy from or whatever looking. So it's also possible to have too much protein. And it's definitely possible to have too much processed protein.

Yes, guilty right here of the processed protein.

Yeah, right.

It's. It might feel easier in the moment, but it's just not long term. It's. It's not because we're.

We're meant to chew, we're meant to digest. And, you know, we, we've been. I think that's the other that comes back to time in the kitchen, too. We've been taught by culture and society that time in the kitchen, like, such a chore. What a waste. But you know what? Think about it. If we have the time to spend in there, there is just so much that we can do to nourish our body on different levels by learning to reclaim that. And look, I'm not gonna say that every moment I spend in the kitchen is blissed out and wonderful. There are days when I'm like, oh, crap, I forgot to make dinner. Like, what are we doing? Or there are times when it's like, oh, my gosh, this is gonna take longer than I thought. We're gonna eat late. You know, I like to try to plan. Sometimes life gets in the way, but really, the majority of the time, if our focus is this is something that we get to do, that is a way to show love and nourishment for ourselves and those we love. Like, how amazing is that?

I love that reframe, you know, instead of, oh, I have to cook, I have to cook, I don't wanna cook. I love that reframe of reminding ourselves, hey, this is, this is something that we get to do. As you said, it's a privilege. It's a privilege to be able to go into the kitchen and to be able to make something and to actually be so present with the experience that it actually. Like, here's what I'll say. Every evening I ask my kids, what were the three best things that happened today or three things that made you feel light. They cook as well. They're making a meal a week. Oh, my gosh. Something that my parents did with me, but we are doing it in a totally different way. And we have a dishwasher that works. My kids will always say, if they had made a meal that day, that is always one of the best things, but they're proud of it. My younger son knows how to make sushi. It's so fun. He delights in it. And so they like that intentional time in the kitchen. And I'm not just like, see you later, good luck. I'm in there with them, we're chit chatting, we're having fun.

And.

It'S really a special experience.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. It really is. And you know, I think the other thing that is amazing is when we learn how to do this and learn how to feed ourselves, we are less likely to. It doesn't mean that it's never going to happen, but we are less likely to reach for things that are not going to nourish our body. And so we are less likely to create body clutter because we're eating crappy food.

Right, right. Okay. So there's a whole different area, although it's connected, that you are an expert in and you spend a lot of time being curious about. And I want to talk about that. And so it's preparedness.

Yeah.

And so how do you define that? Because some people don't even associate that with wellness. What is it and why do you believe it's part of a healthy lifestyle?

You know, I. I think the first thing that I'd like To say before we start diving into that is that once again, everybody's situation is different. There are lots of different settings that can create an emergency of some kind. It could be some kind of a natural disaster, it could be loss of a job, it could be a supply chain disruption, it could be, you know, something that happens that prevents you from getting to wherever you need to be to restock your pantry, your home, whatever. And so thinking about those things and how to make sure that you are able to take care of yourself and your family is really sort of the capsule that goes around preparedness. Now there are people out there who are at a much more intense level than I am. You know, like you see sometimes on the Internet, people are like, I have five years, 20 years, whatever, worth of stuff. And that's great. If you have that and you have the energy for that, that's wonderful. My personal philosophy is I feel like everybody should have two to four weeks worth of supplies on hand at all times and have the ability to know how to provide, you know, heat and light and warmth and safety and water for their family in addition to food. It's looking at what works for your family because I could give you the list of what we have in my house, but your family's different. First of all, I don't have kids living at home anymore. And you know, you have, you have kids living at home, you have a different lifestyle, a different setting, maybe you live in a different area. There's a lot of different reasons why we do that. And then we back it up to what if you have to have a special diet, you have to have gluten free, or you have to have no fodmaps, or you have to have whatever it is and you can't get to the grocery store, what are you going to do? You know, it makes me so sad when I see people who are going through an emergency situation, a flood, or they're cut off because trees fell down over a road and nobody can get out or the grocery store. So I live in Texas and we have hurricanes on a regular basis. And one of the last big hurricanes that we had knocked out the grocery store for five days. They could not restock. And even when they did restock, they weren't fully loaded up, you know, and so if you don't have what you need, how are you going to take care of yourself? And. And so it's not about spending tens of thousands of dollars and having, like I said, you know, an underground bunker with 20 years worth of food. And if you Want to do that? Like that's great, go for it. But for most of us, it's about just having what you need on hand so that you know that you and your family are taken care of.

I think that's a really, your two to four weeks kind of that container, that timeframe sounds really healthy to me as well. Because. Because sometimes what ends up happening is we will be decluttering out our loved ones spaces and we will see years and years of supplies, food supplies. And so there's, I think there can be a fine line too, of hoarding and really being prepared and being intentional and not letting it become something else. And so can you talk about that difference between being prepared really being intentional and then. And then hoarding?

Yeah. Well, I think preparedness is a form of resilience. You know, being able to be self sufficient in an emergency, be able to take care of yourself. There is also a sense of calmness that comes from having a plan, because I promise you. So when, when emergencies happen where I live, I sort of look around, I'm like, okay, do I need any produce? And if the answer's no, I don't go to the grocery store because I do not want to be in that crowd of people rushing to the grocery store panic buying all kinds of things that they may or may not need because they feel like they have to have it. Yeah. And then I also really feel that people over buy because they think that's going to be the answer. When I teach preparedness classes, one of the first things I point out to people is don't buy stuff that your family's not going to eat. If your family does not like oatmeal, please do not buy a 25 pound bag of oatmeal. They will hate you. Yeah, it's not good.

Mira. My husband at one point thought I liked sardines. Like really like sardines. I'll eat a sardine here and there, but I'm not a big fan. He came home with a Costco package of sardines. And I looked at it and I said, there's no way I am going through that. Nobody else in the family likes sardines except for my dog Lulu. And so I had just a tiny bit. And then Lulu got lucky with all the sardines. But yep, if your family is not eating the item, it will be clutter. It will be clutter.

And then also think about, do you know what to do with it? During COVID I do not know why everybody decided that they were going to buy Flour and yeast, because they were going to make their own bread, and the sections were empty. And those of us who know how to make bread were like, do you know what you're doing? Like, bread making is very easy. Believe me, it really is. But you still have to know what you're doing. Or people were buying bags and bags and bags of dried beans. I'm like, you do know you have to soak those, right? Like, you can't just caulk them. And so know how to do what you're buying. What you're using is really important. And then, then I think the third thing that comes into play is making sure that you are mindful and intentional about what you've got. So, for example, let's say you decide you're going to start spending an extra $10 a week to build a preparedness pantry. And this week, you went out and you bought a case of canned tomatoes at Costco. The organic diced tomatoes. Please don't put those in the front of your pantry. Put them behind the other cans, because otherwise the cans that are in the back are going to stay there, and they're going to keep getting pushed further and further back. And five years from now, you're going to clean out your pantry. You'll be like, whoa, those expired a long time ago. Now, because they're canned, chances are pretty high that they're probably still okay to eat. But that's where we have to look at. Is the can, you know, bulging? Is it discolored? If you open it, does it still smell good? If you. You take a little bit of the juice, does it still taste good? But, you know, if it's expired, it's not as nutritionally valuable. So it's, it's, you know, whatever is in the bag needs to come forward, and the new stuff goes in the bag. That's a way to decrease your kitchen clutter. Because you are managing how you stock your pantry. You should actually have two kinds of pantries. One is your everyday pantry that you use all the time. The other is your overflow or preparedness pantry. That's the one you go to the grocery store for.

Okay, you mentioned expired foods, and you mentioned expired spices earlier. My parents come from a generation where, oh, it's expired. Oh, it's still fine. Oh, it's still fine. And there is a difference, though, when we're eating something that's expired, like, can you talk about that difference?

So, as I mentioned, a lot of it, you know, things can get older. They can either oxidize or Just the nutrients degrade over time, so it's not going to be as nutritious for you. Now, I will say, when in doubt, throw it out. Always, always, always. And use your senses. If it doesn't look good, don't eat it. If it doesn't smell good, definitely don't eat it. If it doesn't taste good, spit it out. Don't eat it. Like, pay, pay attention. Doesn't mean that you potentially can't use it. But really, if we learn how to manage. I guess one of the big takeaways that I hope everybody listening to this gets is to spend a couple of hours on a Saturday, go through your entire pantry, see what's in there. And if you've got things that are like, this expired, like, four months ago. Yeah, I would use that. I would use it within the next 30 days to make sure that, you know, put it in a soup or something else. But just really make sure that you're going through and then build a plan so that you know how to make sure that doesn't happen again. Because here's the other thing that's really sad. And this goes a lot with what we were talking about, about the environment earlier and a lot with CLUTTER In America, 40% of everything we raise is thrown out. It becomes waste. So if we. But, yeah, okay, maybe it's only three or four cans of soup in the back of your pantry, but you know what? Somebody had to grow that. Somebody had to harvest it. They had to process it. They had to get it to the store. Somebody had to stock it where you could buy it and bring it home. It is such a loss of food and nutrition and time and energy and everything. So, like, let's commit to not doing that as much as we can.

I really like how you talk about honoring all of the hands that touch the food. Like, I mean, not like, physically, but do you know what I'm saying? That were a part of the process to get the food to your home.

Unless you're growing it yourself. There's a lot of fingers in that pie.

Yeah, yeah. And honoring. Honoring all of that energy and that intention. This is definitely a topic I feel that matters. Mira at School of Living Lighter, we'd like to talk about taking the lighter path. The lighter path can mean whatever anyone wants it to mean. What does it mean to you?

That is such a good question. I think for me, where I am right now in my life, it means feeling free to embrace those things that make me happy, you know? And I think this is a Pretty common thing for so many of us. When we're younger, we do a lot of things out of obligation or we say no to a lot of things because we feel like we shouldn't want that or we're being selfish or whatever. And not that I'm saying you should be selfish at the cost of somebody else else, but there is also nothing wrong with going, you know what? This makes me really happy, so I'm going to do that.

I love that. I love that. Tuning in and listening and asking yourself what makes you happy? And hopefully my goal is, for those listening or watching, it's like, okay, getting curious about the kitchen could actually make me happy. And not in a 1950s stereotypical kind of way, but getting curious about the potential, the positive health benefits that can come from being curious about what is in the kitchen and creating a kitchen that will serve you and the goals that you have.

Absolutely.

Mira, how do we find you online? And I feel like it's been the tip of the iceberg. We could go on and on, on, because this topic is so fascinating. And so how do we find you?

Yeah, well, thank you. So I do have a website, theingredientguru.com actually, you can find me almost everywhere with the ingredient guru, YouTube, Instagram, all of that. I do also have a substack, miradessi M I R a D E S S Y at substack or sorry.substack.com okay. And I produce a newsletter there every week called the Food News you can use that talks about all kinds of stuff. And right now, you know, we're talking a lot about preparedness because National Emergency Preparedness Month is coming up. But I talk about holistic health and ingredients and food news and all kinds of wonderful things. So it's free to subscribe.

We will make sure that we've got links to everything. Last, last message for this show.

I think the thing I want to encourage everyone to do is to remember that this is not an all or nothing proposition. You don't have to do it all right now. You just have to start somewhere because every single thing that you are doing is one thing more than you were doing before and a little bit at a time. I promise you, you look back three months, six months, a year from now, you're going to be like, whoa, how things have changed. So just start somewhere.

And for the person that's like, okay, all right, Mira, I'm sold, I'm sold. I'll start. Where do I start? What would you just say? What, what are a few easy places to lean into.

Well, I think one of the biggest is what we just talked about. Take a half a day on the weekend and go through your pantry and see what's in there that doesn't belong anymore. Or look at all of the ingredients that you have have and think do these really work for me? Am I using these? And then I think the third thing too is to invite yourself and your family to take the time to play in the kitchen.

Mira Desi, thank you so much for sharing your wisdom and your experience with us.

Thank you Heather. It was so great to talk to you. Always.

Always so fun. Now I'm going to go find one of those pale saved peaches. So good. Thank you Mira.

Thank you.

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