May 16, 2025 • 38 mins
In this episode of Crunchy Stewardship, cousins Katie Fiola Jones and Chrissy Rombach discuss their journey into bread making and its surprising health benefits. Chrissy shares her experience with grinding wheat berries and how transitioning to homemade bread has significantly improved her gut health. The conversation expands to the broader topic of whole foods versus processed foods, touching on synthetic vitamins, food intolerances, and the pitfalls of manufactured nutrition. They offer practical tips for listeners to start making their food from scratch and emphasize the importance of intentionality in holistic living. Join their Facebook group, 'Crunchy Christian Mamas on a Budget,' to share recipes and continue the discussion.
Episode Takeaway:
Consider the ingredients in the bread and other processed foods you consume. Could making your own bread with freshly ground, quality wheat be a beneficial step towards better gut health and overall well-being?
Chapters:
00:00 Welcome to Crunchy Stewardship
00:58 Our Passion For Bread
02:22 Chrissy's Bread Journey
04:04 The Benefits of Freshly Milled Wheat
08:07 Understanding Wheat & Flour
14:43 Exploring Gluten Free Diets
22:41 Homemade Ice Cream Adventures
25:15 Financial Decisions with Healthy Choices
33:50 Encouragement and Takeaways
Mentioned in this Episode:
- Countertop Wheat Grinder: Countertop Wheat Grinder
- Wheat Berries: Wheat Link
- Wheatland Seed Website
- Whole Wheat Recipe Book: Whole Wheat Recipe Book
Connect With Us:
Join Our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/crunchychristianmama
FREE How to Afford Non-Toxic Living Workbook: https://crunchystewardship.com/how-to-afford-non-toxic-living
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Katie (00:00):
Hey, and welcome to Crunchy Stewardship.
My name is Katie Fiola Jones.
Chrissy (00:05):
And my name is Chrissy Rombach.
We are two cousins who arepassionate about learning and
and sharing knowledge to equipothers to steward their
spiritual, mental, physical, andfinancial health In order to
honor God In every aspect oftheir lives.
Katie (00:21):
our podcast, we are taking a deep dive into what it
means to steward our lives asGod originally intended for us
with the resources that God hasgiven us.
We will look at topics likefood, medicine, finances, mental
health, and lots more through anatural lens with a biblical
(00:42):
foundation.
So in today's episode, we aregoing to be talking about bread.
And it's funny when we werecoming up with a topic today to
talk about.
Both Chrissy and I really lovemaking bread.
I think maybe Chrissy more sobut I think this episode is
actually a very natural one forus to have because when Chrissy
(01:07):
and I were first, Kind oftalking about what we wanted to
do with our podcast, or evenjust before we were talking
about having a podcast ingeneral.
One of the conversations you andI had was all about bread, and I
very vividly remember sitting onyour parents' back patio about
bread, and you were explainingto me how you now grind your own
(01:32):
wheat berries and make bread
Chrissy (01:35):
I do.
Katie (01:35):
walk with our whole family, and you and I talked
about bread for so long, and howgrinding your own berries now
has been like this wonderfultreasure for you and your gut
health even.
Chrissy (01:50):
It is, I, I'm very much in the camp that bread has
healed my gut you will not hearanybody else make that claim.
Katie (01:59):
I feel talks about how
Chrissy (02:00):
how
Katie (02:01):
bread is ruining their gut and, and everybody like some
sort of gluten intolerance yeah.
chrissy, why don't you justshare with everybody about your
bread making and wheat berriesand all the funness.
Chrissy (02:16):
Absolutely.
So the process started rightaround the time my husband and I
got married in 2022.
we were trying our best,honestly, it was a one of our
first steps in saving money.
So I eat bread very regularly.
I've always loved bread.
you know, my breakfast usuallywould consist of eggs and toast
(02:40):
and my lunch would generallyconsist of a sandwich, and that
has kind of always been how Imade my breakfast and lunch and
my husband and I were looking atways to cut down our spending
and.
I thought of the idea of makingbread instead of buying bread.
Now buying bread, it cost usabout$4 a loaf.
(03:02):
Um, with the brands that webought, I thought I was buying a
little bit of a healthier brand.
then I looked at the ingredientsand realized that I was wrong.
It was not actually all thathealthier, nonetheless, we
looked at the price of makingbread by just buying the raw
ingredients and with regularflour from the grocery store.
(03:22):
This was before our wheatgrinding even started, with
buying the raw ingredients tomake bread instead of purchasing
bread from the grocery store, itsaved us.
A dollar and a half per loaf.
And so we decided, you knowwhat?
Let's just go ahead and buy it.
Make start making our own breadbecause.
(03:43):
Just to save money.
You know, my husband wasworking, uh, kind of a hybrid
job at the time, and so he couldmake bread easily at home.
I was still a student and so Iwas in and outta the house
frequently, Um, so we startedthat.
It was working great.
My gut originally loved it.
It was doing fantastic.
(04:04):
I felt better.
I had more energy.
I was less bloated.
It was overall really good.
And then about a year later wehad moved to North Carolina and
I was having a conversation withone of my patient's family
members, and he was telling methat him and his wife have been
(04:30):
milling their own wheat to maketheir bread at home with fresh
ground wheat for 30 years.
And I looked at this woman'smedical history and she had
nothing like hypertension.
Katie (04:44):
actually find this really fascinating'cause you and I have
had a lot of conversations aboutthe that you see at the
hospital.
And how so many of them comeinto the hospital and all they
want is to be slapped with somekind of medication because
that's what they thinkhealthcare is.
So it's actually very intriguingto me that your kind of crunchy
(05:09):
journey also was propelled bysomebody that you encountered in
the hospital as a patient, thisseems so counter to all of the
other patients that you havedealt with.
So, that's really kind offascinating
Chrissy (05:25):
Now, mind you, she was not in the hospital because she
was actually sick, she had a hipreplacement.
So, my patient's husband, hewent home that night and he
actually, copied a paper intheir like recipe book and gave
me a copy of their bread recipethat they use for their whole
(05:46):
wheat bread, and then gave me alink on Amazon to buy this wheat
mill.
It's a countertop sized wheatgrinder that they've been using
for 30 years.
And I went home, I told Max allabout it.
and he thought it was a greatidea.
(06:07):
So we did the math again with.
Buying the wheat berries insteadof flour.
It came back to about the sameprice as buying that loaf of
bread from the grocery store,you know,$3.50,$4.00 a loaf.
and we buy the wheat berries,actually funny enough off of
(06:27):
Amazon in 25 pound bags.
And so they're very large.
They last a long time.
we only have to buy them likeevery three months or so.
So the initial upfront cost wasa little bit higher since we had
to buy the wheat grinder also.
But once we started milling ourown wheat and then using that
flour to make the bread, my guthealth improved tremendously
(06:51):
again.
Now mind you, at this point inmy health journey, I was still
eating Chick-fil-A probablythree times a month.
That obviously was not helpingwith my gut health, but I was
suddenly able to tolerate goingto Chick-fil-A
Katie (07:12):
more
Chrissy (07:13):
so than I was before.
Before, changing the wheat inour bread, I would go to
Chick-fil-A for dinner andreally not have energy to do
anything else for the rest ofthe night.
And I'd be hungry again beforebed.
And then after changing thewheat in our bread, then I was
able to go to Chick-fil-A andafterwards, didn't feel nearly
(07:35):
as bloated and, didn't feel likethe sluggish effects that I
usually felt from going toChick-fil-A.
Now, is it still good for me?
No.
Does it still give metachycardia?
Yes.
But, I was convinced that thewheats that we had been using in
(07:56):
our bread had fortified my gutso that I was more able to
tolerate the crap food when Iate the crap food.
And so I was really curious asto why exactly that is.
And I did a little bit ofresearch into why when I take
(08:17):
the whole wheat berry and grindit up, why do I feel so much
better?
You know, I've always heard likewhole wheat bread is so much
better for, you always want toeat wheat, but it doesn't taste
that good.
So I never wanted to eat it, youknow?
So looking at it, I think wementioned this in a previous
episode, but we'll talk throughit again.
(08:39):
When wheat is harvested, it istaken off the stem, so to say,
and the part of the wheat thatwe actually eat is called the
berry.
So in a wheat berry, wheatberries have anatomy just as
every other plant, animal, thinghas anatomy.
(09:01):
So there's three main pieces tothe anatomy of a wheat berry.
There is the germ, which is likeif you're thinking of an egg,
it's kind of like the yolk, theendosperm, which is kind of like
the white of an egg.
And the bran, which is kind ofthe shell of the egg if you are
(09:22):
thinking of it in an egg idea.
So what happens is when thewheat berry is ground, it
exposes that germ.
The yolk part of the eggs, so tosay, to oxygen, and when that is
exposed to oxygen, itimmediately starts to oxidize
(09:44):
and starts to lose itsnutritional value.
So once a wheat berry is groundup, that germ that holds all of
the nutrients in this wheatberry starts to go bad.
And it only has a shelf life ofjust a couple days unless it's
frozen.
So, big food companies knewabout this, and so in order to
(10:09):
create flour and to create breadthat was going to be able to
stay on the shelves in a grocerystore for longer than three
days, they had to figure out away to improve shelf life.
So they took out the germ fromthe wheat that they ground and
then bleached the rest of it.
(10:30):
So when you buy flour from thegrocery store, you are getting
merely just the endosperm of thewheat berry, which is pretty
much kind of just filler.
There's no nutritional contentto it, and they realized that,
you know it, it's crazy they dosomething and then they realize
(10:51):
the effects of that thing and sothey, they do something else.
It's a cascade of interventionsand so there next intervention
to fix this problem that theyhad created by taking out the
germ was not to put the germback into.
The wheat because then they'd bestuck with the original problem
of not having a shelf life.
So they decided to fortify theflour with synthetic vitamins
(11:18):
and minerals.
So when you are reading aningredients list and you see
fortified, enriched white nonbleached flour or whatever, you
know.
That is them saying, we took allof the nutrients out of this
original whole food, and we putsynthetic versions of those
(11:42):
nutrients back in in order tomake it look better.
And then they'll have a list ofthose synthetic versions that
they put back in, such asniacin, reduced iron, thiamine,
mononitrate, riboflavin, andfolic acid.
Katie (11:58):
like, I think it sounds like a good idea.
Like, oh, they fortified It Itwith these vitamins and things
like that.
But from what I've learned isthat these like synthetic
vitamins and minerals orwhatever, are not as
bioavailable for us to actuallyabsorb into our systems.
And so it's like, cool, youmight be getting them, but
(12:20):
you're not benefiting from themin general because we need the
actual vitamins and minerals andnutrients from.
Actual whole Foods becausethey're more bioavailable for
our bodies to absorb and benefitfrom.
So it's like anyone's like, why?
Why is that not good if it'sfortified with these synthetic
(12:41):
vitamins?
Well, your body can't actuallyuse them as easily as they can
use the true source of thesevitamins and minerals and
nutrients
Chrissy (12:53):
Yeah.
So that's very true and I am awalking testament to the fact
that the natural sources ofthese vitamins and minerals are
definitely, the way to go.
And so I'm one of the onlypeople that you'll hear saying
that bread healed my gut.
Katie (13:10):
Because you wonder okay, I'm eating all this fortified
foods.
Like if you see something like,Cheerios is a great example.
Our foster daughter, whoactually just moved from our
home.
I don't know if you knew thatChrissy,
Chrissy (13:23):
Oh no, I didn't.
Katie (13:24):
she moved this past weekend, which a very ugh,
crazy, sad thing.
But also, know, the you of herjourney, we're because we could
talk about that later.
She eats a lot of Cheerios, likethat is her primary food source
because she has autism and.
(13:47):
It has food aversions like noother.
And so Cheerios is the primarything She eats and they're
fortified with tons of, youknow, quote unquote vitamins and
things like that, which it mightsound like a good thing.
But then when, when they do labsfor her, they find that she's
super deficient in like all ofthese vitamins.
(14:08):
And you're like, well if she'seating Cheerios and it's
fortified with these specificvitamins and stuff and
nutrients, like why is she sodeficient in it is'cause her
body is not actively absorbingit.
There's also tons of otherreasons because she also is not
getting a lot of other things inher diet that she should be, and
so there's a lot of problemsgoing on, but it's like, okay,
(14:30):
her body doesn't have thecapability to absorb these
because it's not the whole foodsource that she really needs in
order to get these.
Chrissy (14:38):
Right.
Katie (14:38):
It's kind of a bummer.
Chrissy (14:39):
Yeah.
So Katie, what do you think isone of the biggest reasons
people decide to go gluten free?
You know, everyone says gogluten free it'll help your gut
it'll save your gut.
Katie (14:52):
That's a really good question..
Chrissy (14:54):
Um, what do you think is one of the reasons for that?
Katie (14:57):
So actually I think a lot of people think that it's just
the healthy thing to do.
They're like, oh, everybody'sdoing gluten-free, so I'm gonna
do gluten-free because it's sohealthy and I wanna be healthy.
So think a lot of people chooseit for that reason, and it's not
necessarily completelyinaccurate.
There are a lot of people whohave intolerances, like, celiac
(15:19):
disease, where it's like theyactually have reactions to
gluten.
And so they choose to begluten-free because of that.
However, it's quite interestingwhat I've learned is that a lot
of us do actually have somelevel of intolerance to things
like gluten and dairyespecially.
(15:40):
And so if you have poor guthealth and all this stuff, I
have found that if you eliminatethings and focus on other foods,
that it does help people.
I literally just listen topodcasts and that's what
everybody's saying.
And by everyone I'm talkingabout health professionals that
are like, yeah, if you haveproblems with acne or even just
(16:05):
sleeping or indigestion orconstipation.
A lot of times, many of theseholistic health professionals
recommend eliminating thesethings and then potentially
adding them back or just notadding them to your diet.
I have found that if, you reallydo focus on making your own
bread, and or if you choose tobuy pre-made bread, making sure
(16:30):
that it is really good organicbread, then it really can be
okay.
I really love bread, so there'sno way that I could ever
eliminate it from my diet..
I've never had an issue with itmyself.
And so, for me, I've never evenpaused to consider eliminating
(16:51):
it because I haven't had anyproblems in the past, but I do
know a lot of people choose totry to eliminate it because,
they think it's healthy, butthey don't really know why and
they think like, oh, beinggluten-free is just like the
thing to do, and it's like a fadkind of a thing.
What do you think
Chrissy (17:05):
I am.
I'm actually convinced that oneof the reasons so many people
have gluten intolerances.
This is not talking aboutceliac, celiac is an allergy.
We are talking about glutenintolerances.
I genuinely believe that hasmore to do with the enrichment
(17:26):
process that we do to our flour,and the synthetic vitamins and
minerals that are added to itand the natural vitamins and
minerals that are taken out ofit.
You know, it's the body kind ofthrowing a fit against the
synthetic versions of things.
And so that is my personalopinion when it comes to, when
(17:48):
people say, oh, you know, breadhurts my stomach, I am gonna go
gluten-free.
And then they say they feel somuch better after going
gluten-free.
I am, I'm convinced it's more sothe processing of the bread and
the preservatives that are putinto our bread than it is.
Katie (18:05):
And glyphosate!
Chrissy (18:07):
Yes,
Katie (18:08):
always glyphosate's in everything
Chrissy (18:10):
I know.
Oh my gosh.
It is.
But the preservatives andpesticides that are in the
bread, that is what actuallycauses them to have issues.
Which actually leads me toanother thing, you know, wheat
is a plant and it is grown likeany other plant, and so
therefore it does have thepotential to be exposed to
(18:32):
glyphosate and other pesticideand really unfortunate things.
Also another thing that I thinkhas contributed to our
likelihood of developing agluten intolerance is that wheat
has been genetically modifiedmany times in the past 50 years
(18:53):
or so.
Katie (18:55):
I think wheat and corn are two of the largest crops in
America that are geneticallymodified
Chrissy (19:02):
Yes,
Katie (19:03):
yeah.
Chrissy (19:04):
But wheat thankfully has a lot of different forms.
I honestly couldn't even nameoff all the different kinds of
wheat that there are out there,but I do know that einkorn wheat
is the form of wheat that is theleast genetically modified of
all of the forms of wheatbecause it has a very robust
(19:26):
flavor, like a very earthyflavor.
And when pastry companies andbread companies are trying to
make their breads, you know,they're looking for more of that
like wonder bread kind offlavor.
You know, the light airy,
Katie (19:40):
fluffy very sweet tasting.
Chrissy (19:42):
Yes! That flavor.
They're not looking for thatearthy, robust tones in their
breads.
And so that has saved Einkornwheat from being genetically
modified as much as other formsof wheat like soft white wheat
and hard white wheat.
Those ones have more of thatgentle, typical bakery flavor
(20:06):
that you would think of whenyou're eating bread.
So those ones have beengenetically modified a little
bit more, but you can also lookat making sure that wheat
berries are organic and makingsure, they come from a family
farm.
You know it's kind of nice thatthere's not a huge demand for
(20:27):
wheat berries at this point.
And so the supply of wheatberries is not super broad.
And oftentimes if you're evengoing on Amazon to buy wheat,
you are able to then go to thefamily farm website to see the
family that raises this wheatand get to know them, get to
(20:50):
know their kids, like throughthis website, which is really
cool.
Most of the wheats that I'velooked at that are.
Organic and non GMO And, thingslike that, uh, are raised by
small family farms.
And, that is one way you canactually know that your wheat is
coming from a good source, thatyou are able to actually meet
(21:10):
the people who are farming yourwheat for you.
Katie (21:16):
I've considered after our conversation and then after
talking to some friends who havealso done their own wheat
grinding, I've considered doingit myself.
The grinders, like you said, areexpensive, they can be.
I actually have been looking onFacebook Marketplace to see if I
can find one that's more costeffective.
(21:37):
But interestingly enough, not alot of people are selling them.
Probably because not a lot ofpeople have them in general
'cause it's such, a niche thing.
But occasionally I see some comeup and I've been looking.
To see if I wanna get one.
Now I'm at the weird crossroadsof like, okay, we're getting
ready to move and do I wanna getmore things that I need to pack
(21:58):
and no, probably not.
So I'm also kind of waiting onthat.
And the real, the reality isthat I probably won't get into
it before we move anyway,because we only have like two
more months here.
And I'm like, seems like a hobbyI don't necessarily need to pick
up yet, though.
Also, speaking of making thingsfrom scratch, ice ream is
(22:21):
another one of those ones thatwe would love to make on our
own.
I actually, controversial topic,not really, but, on a podcast I
listened to recently, thisperson was talking about how
their favorite super food is icecream.
And that ice cream can be asuper food if you make it
(22:42):
yourself and make it with likereally good organic grass fed
ingredients and things.
So anyway, I'm like, we're gonnamake our own superfood ice
cream.
And so ice cream makers aresomething I've also been on the
hunt for on Facebook Marketplaceand those, there are tons of
them galore.
So I'm kind of waiting for aspecific one and for a specific
(23:06):
price.
But anyway that's one of thosehobbies that both Wes and I are
like on board with where we'relike, we are to be our own ice
cream makers.
Yes.
Chrissy (23:16):
Max, actually, he made his own high protein ice cream a
couple months ago and it wasdelicious.
He put, organic protein powder,raw cocoa and A little bit of
maple syrup, I think, and likevanilla extract and mixed it all
(23:36):
up.
It, it was delicious.
Oh, and milk and cream,obviously.
He he mixed it up, put it in thefreezer and unfortunately
utilized one of my mixing bowlsfor a week until we ate all the
ice cream.
But, You know, after workingout, he always wants to have a
chocolate milkshake and it was agood, replacement of that
(23:59):
chocolate milkshake that heusually wants.
Katie (24:04):
I made a coffee shake the other day too with just my own
ingredients and I found an icecream that I don't know the
brand off the top of my headthat is actually pretty clean
for ice cream.
As it goes.
I've been on the hunt right nowjust for better ice cream in
general and our grocery storesdon't have a lot of options
unfortunately, but I found onethat was organic and didn't have
(24:28):
boat loads of sugar.
Their vanilla flavor is thecleanest.
But then their chocolate hadlike some seed oils in it, which
was unfortunate, but I still gotit because I was like, okay, it
doesn't have a lot of the otherpreservatives and nasty stuff.
This is probably as good as it'sgonna get right now.
So anyway, I made my own coffeemilkshake with some of that
(24:49):
because I love that kind ofstuff.
Chrissy (24:51):
That sounds delicious
Katie (24:52):
I love making things from scratch'cause it really is like
such a great way to save moneyon this healthy, crunchy journey
that we're on
Chrissy (25:03):
Oh, for sure.
Katie (25:04):
Because I find that that is one of the biggest problems
that I run into when I tellpeople like, yeah, we've been
switching to organic and we'rereally trying to be mindful of
the food that we're putting inour bodies because we really
believe that it can heal us andthat it can help prevent all
these chronic illnesses buteverybody's like, well, how are
you doing that because it's soexpensive.
(25:25):
And I'm like, well, we're, we'remaking a lot of things either
from scratch just like yes,we're buying the organic
produce, but we're not buyingthe organic, like pre-made stuff
that just tends to cost more.
So it's like we're buying a lotof produce, but then we're
making tons of stuff from that.
And I'm just like really excitedactually for our move this
(25:47):
summer.
And by the time that thispodcast comes out, we're
actually, we will be planted inour new place, at least our
temporary place, which is crazyto think about already.
But I'm excited for thepossibility of like, I really
want a big pantry that we'regonna do like all this stuff.
And I'm like, we're gonna makeour own bread.
We're gonna make our own icecream, and we're gonna make our
(26:08):
own like pasta sauces and we'regonna make our own pizza.
Chrissy (26:11):
Have all the all the different kinds of wheat berries
along the wall so that wheneveryou're making, say, like
pancakes, you get the kind ofwheat specifically for the
pancakes.
Or if you're making bread, youget the wheat specifically for
the bread.
Katie (26:24):
I can't wait to share with with everybody all the
pictures.
So make sure you're in ourFacebook group so you can see.
Cause I'll post my picturesthere of all the stuff once we
move.
But that's like, I keep tellingWes as we like look online for
houses, I'm like, I just want areally good kitchen with lots of
counter space and I want a bigpantry that I can just keep all
of our food storage in because Ireally want to stock well, so
(26:48):
that way we can save moneyultimately and still feed our
family really well.
And it's really all about likeintentionality and figuring out
what your priorities are.
Because if your priority is tofeed your family organic foods,
figure out the most costeffective way of doing that, and
go for it.
Right?
(27:08):
So it's like you gotta figure itout so that way you can balance
it.
And, we've seen maybe a slightincrease in our grocery budget
recently, but it hasn't beenoutrageous and it hasn't been
dramatic where it's like, oh mygosh, I really can't afford
this.
It's been more of like, okay,well this means that we can't go
and eat out maybe one extra timethis month, maybe we can't buy
(27:31):
certain things as often, butit's not things that we're like
really upset about.
It's just like again,reprioritizing.
Chrissy (27:39):
Right.
And if you think about it, youknow, now going out for dinner
or going to fast food just makesyou feel so much more, ugh,
Katie (27:46):
exactly
Chrissy (27:47):
and it's so part of me, I, I've even found myself
evaluating of if I stay home andmake this meal, I'm gonna feel
so much better.
Whereas if I go and I lean intomy laziness and get fast food or
something like that I'll feelokay.
Katie (28:05):
Yeah.
Chrissy (28:07):
But that's it.
I'll just feel okay
Katie (28:09):
It'll be so temporary right?
because you're like, just thinkof all of the benefits from
making it at home versus goingout because okay, you saved
yourself money.
Your food was probably.
Better for you at home becauseit's like maybe organic or at
least have a lot of the otherjunk in it.
Because oftentimes when you goto any restaurant, they cook
(28:31):
everything with seed oils andyou just never really know like
what's going on in that kitchen.
And I find it so hard to findthe full ingredient list of
anything, online.
I literally, the other day wealmost decided to go to
McDonald's to get an ice creamcone.
'cause that's one of thosethings that like night we're
(28:51):
driving home from somewhere andwe're like, let's go to
McDonald's and just get a littlemc flurry or something like
that.
And we, we were almost about todo that and I was like, I'm just
so curious.
Like, I'm not even trying tolike talk ourselves out of this,
but I just want to know.
What actually is in their icecream?
And I went, it took me foreverfirst off, to find their
ingredient list.
(29:12):
I had to click through so manydifferent links.
They do not make this easy.
And I finally stumbled upon itand there were, I kid you not
like 50 ingredients or somethingWes finally was just like, I'm
not going to any of these placesbecause you're making me feel so
bad about eating any of it.
And I'm like, it, that wasn'teven the purpose of me trying to
pull it up.
I was just purely curious toknow what are we putting in our
(29:35):
bodies?
Like what choice are we makingright now?
And in so doing, we were bothlike, this is just really sad.
Like, Let's maybe just not, andjust go.
Chrissy (29:44):
You know, actually what's interesting, I recently
watched a movie on thefoundation of McDonald's early
on in their restaurant process.
When they started expanding,they actually used powdered
milkshakes
Katie (30:01):
That's kind of interesting.
Chrissy (30:03):
In order to reduce the cost of refrigeration for all of
the ice cream, of just pour thepowder into cold water and boom
milkshake.
Katie (30:12):
Interesting, I don't know how I feel about that
Chrissy (30:14):
That made me so sad.
Apparently At the end of thismovie, they did come in and say.
Since that point, McDonald'sthen transferred back to using
real ice cream in theirmilkshakes, but, um, I don't
know the percentage of real icecream that's actually used
Katie (30:33):
it was like one of those things where I think one of the
first.
Ingredients on it was somethinglike corn syrup.
And, and I, I literally was likereading off some of these
ingredients to Wes in the carand I was like, there's not
really cream in this.
It was like something crazy.
And I was like, oh my gosh, thisis not actually really ice
cream.
And the same could be said forbread.
(30:54):
When you start reading some ofthese ingredients to make up
bread, you're like, I'm notactually eating bread.
This is not truly bread
Chrissy (31:02):
It is like if you look at the ingredients of Wonder
Bread, like there's literally 30ingredients on there, and the
vast majority of them is allpreservatives.
Katie (31:13):
Last night I made biscuits.
Biscuits are literally myfavorite thing to make because I
make them in less than 30minutes.
Typically, I just like scoop itall into the bowl, mix it up and
pop it in the oven.
And I think I pulled out fivethings from my pantry.
Like it's just.
And like, like the honey, Ididn't even necessarily need in
my biscuits, I've made biscuitswithout honey.
(31:34):
So I'm like, I could'veeliminated that and it would've
been like four ingredients.
And so anyway, it's just soinsane to me.
Sometimes like when you seesomething that really, like
bread is a really good example.
Ice cream is another good one.
You know that these food items,when they're made really should
only have a few basicingredients.
(31:56):
If they're flavored somethinglike ice cream, then yeah,
you're gonna have a few more.
But if you go to the grocerystore and you see like over 10
ingredients for something likethose.
You know, that is probably notgood for you because why do they
need to add all these otherthings?
It's probably oils that theydon't need, or preservatives
that you don't need, and it'sall so bad for you.
And it's, really sad that that'show, that's what we think is
(32:19):
food, but it's really just abunch of chemicals
Chrissy (32:20):
It has made it very difficult to go grocery
shopping.
I have found myself goingthrough the grocery store and
being like, man, I really justwant some chocolate ice cream
right now and you know thatdesire of chocolate ice cream.
I go down the ice cream aisleand I start looking at all of
them, and as soon as I look atthe ingredients list, I put it
down and walk away.
(32:41):
It, it has become yep.
Enough to kind of quench thatdesire, that my desire to feel
good and love the way I look andlove the way I feel.
It is so much greater than mydesire to have some ice cream.
(33:02):
I, I would much rather just eata piece of dark chocolate and
call it a day.
Katie (33:07):
And it ends up saving you money when you do that.
I mean, you don't even actuallyneed to know what the
ingredients are when you look atit, but if you just see that
there are just so many, it'slike okay, I just know that one
of these out of the 50 listedhere is probably not good for
me.
And so you just you just put itback on the shelf and you walk
away why don't we give ourlisteners maybe a few takeaways
(33:32):
of something that they can do asa result of this conversation.
Chrissy (33:37):
Let's see, I think for me, my biggest takeaway is
challenge yourself to make aloaf of bread.
Just try it.
we will put the link to mypersonal bread recipe that I
use, in making whole wheat breadand the link to the, recipe book
(33:57):
that I have for whole wheatrecipes because it does have a
little bit of a.
Different moisture ratio thanregular flour.
so we'll put that in the linkand I will also post on our
Facebook group.
Our Facebook group is, CrunchyChristian Mamas on a Budget, I
will also post in there links tothe wheat grinder and the wheat
(34:21):
that my husband and I use sothat you can have an easy in to
just get started.
And honestly, the initial costis not that much.
The wheat grinder itself that weuse is only about$40
Katie (34:34):
not bad.
Chrissy (34:34):
The wheat in and of itself is about$55 for a 25
pound bag that lasts threemonths.
so if you think about, if youbuy one loaf of bread for$4 and
you buy a loaf of bread a weekfor three months, you're gonna
be about at that$55 rangeanyways.
So, yeah, that's my firstchallenge is to try to make your
(34:55):
first loaf of bread, whether itbe with flour or fresh ground
wheat.
Um, yeah, that's mine.
What about you, Katie?
Katie (35:01):
Yeah.
Bread making really isn't thatscary?
I, I got into bread makingseveral years ago and I really
do enjoy it.
It's so fun.
And it doesn't have to be, Ithink a lot of people hear about
sourdough and sourdough can bemore of a challenge, and
Chrissy (35:14):
No, sourdough is horrible.
I woke up at three o'clock inthe morning to stretch and fold.
I said, we're not doing this.
Katie (35:20):
I know, like I've gone through phases of really
enjoying it, but I'm just not atthat phase right now of my life
that it is something I enjoy.
I like making things as quicklyas possible and enjoying them
right when I want them.
Bread making doesn't have to bescary.
Learn about it.
Like Chrissy said, I think mytip would be figure out what
that thing is in your life, andit doesn't even have to be
(35:43):
bread, but figure out the thingin your life that you're like, I
really love this food and findout how you could make it from
scratch.
I know pizza for a lot of peopleis a great example.
I've made pizza dough fromscratch myself and made the
sauce and everything.
It tends to be more challenging,but maybe even like, don't even
think about every little part,but like instead of going and
(36:04):
buying like a Domino's pizza,get the pre-made ingredients for
it.
So you can buy pizza dough, youcan buy pizza sauce, and then,
you know, even you could getsliced up veggies or whatever
you wanna put on your pizza andthen make it, and that's like
your first step.
But then challenge yourself eachtime and be like, okay, maybe I
could make the pizza sauce ormaybe I could chop my own
(36:26):
veggies and, and get them freshand things like that.
So would just figure out what isthat thing that you love and
make it a little bit yourselfand then keep making it till
you're like doing it fromscratch and you're a genius at
it, right?
Chrissy (36:40):
And then everyone looks at you and they say, how'd you
become such a great cook?
Katie (36:44):
How did you do this?
People are shocked that we makeour own hummus.
We make hummus like all thetime, and that is, it's one of
the easiest things.
We literally, you just put it ina blender, you blend it, and you
put it in a bowl
Chrissy (36:56):
Wow.
Katie (36:56):
We've been doing that for years.
This is before our like crunchyjourney really started.
Chrissy (37:01):
Hummus is one of those items that I have such a hard
time buying because they allhave soybean oil in them.
Katie (37:06):
is so easy.
Chrissy (37:08):
my goodness.
Katie (37:09):
whatever, chickpeas, whatever you wanna call'em.
we keep them in our pantry justall the time.
So It's so easy.
So yeah.
Anyway, figure out, what is thatfood that love and can't live
without and see if you can makeit from scratch.
And if you try that, tell us inthe Facebook group.
We'd love to know, um, and don'tforget to subscribe to our
(37:30):
podcast.
That way you don't miss out whenwe put out new episodes.
And be sure to share thisepisode with a friend who needs
some encouragement on their ownholistic, healthy, non-toxic
journey.
We want to get the word outabout this podcast and sharing
it around helps others find itas well.
Chrissy (37:52):
We pray over each and every one of you guys, and we
just hope that these episodescan be helpful in your journey
to being a better steward ofyour body your mind, your soul,
your spirit, your finances, andyour families.
We are praying that this episodewas helpful for you and we will
see you next time.
Katie (38:11):
Bye-bye.
Hey, and welcome to Crunchy Stewardship.
My name is Katie Fiola Jones.
Chrissy (00:05):
And my name is Chrissy Rombach.
We are two cousins who arepassionate about learning and
and sharing knowledge to equipothers to steward their
spiritual, mental, physical, andfinancial health In order to
honor God In every aspect oftheir lives.
Katie (00:21):
our podcast, we are taking a deep dive into what it
means to steward our lives asGod originally intended for us
with the resources that God hasgiven us.
We will look at topics likefood, medicine, finances, mental
health, and lots more through anatural lens with a biblical
(00:42):
foundation.
So in today's episode, we aregoing to be talking about bread.
And it's funny when we werecoming up with a topic today to
talk about.
Both Chrissy and I really lovemaking bread.
I think maybe Chrissy more sobut I think this episode is
actually a very natural one forus to have because when Chrissy
(01:07):
and I were first, Kind oftalking about what we wanted to
do with our podcast, or evenjust before we were talking
about having a podcast ingeneral.
One of the conversations you andI had was all about bread, and I
very vividly remember sitting onyour parents' back patio about
bread, and you were explainingto me how you now grind your own
(01:32):
wheat berries and make bread
Chrissy (01:35):
I do.
Katie (01:35):
walk with our whole family, and you and I talked
about bread for so long, and howgrinding your own berries now
has been like this wonderfultreasure for you and your gut
health even.
Chrissy (01:50):
It is, I, I'm very much in the camp that bread has
healed my gut you will not hearanybody else make that claim.
Katie (01:59):
I feel talks about how
Chrissy (02:00):
how
Katie (02:01):
bread is ruining their gut and, and everybody like some
sort of gluten intolerance yeah.
chrissy, why don't you justshare with everybody about your
bread making and wheat berriesand all the funness.
Chrissy (02:16):
Absolutely.
So the process started rightaround the time my husband and I
got married in 2022.
we were trying our best,honestly, it was a one of our
first steps in saving money.
So I eat bread very regularly.
I've always loved bread.
you know, my breakfast usuallywould consist of eggs and toast
(02:40):
and my lunch would generallyconsist of a sandwich, and that
has kind of always been how Imade my breakfast and lunch and
my husband and I were looking atways to cut down our spending
and.
I thought of the idea of makingbread instead of buying bread.
Now buying bread, it cost usabout$4 a loaf.
(03:02):
Um, with the brands that webought, I thought I was buying a
little bit of a healthier brand.
then I looked at the ingredientsand realized that I was wrong.
It was not actually all thathealthier, nonetheless, we
looked at the price of makingbread by just buying the raw
ingredients and with regularflour from the grocery store.
(03:22):
This was before our wheatgrinding even started, with
buying the raw ingredients tomake bread instead of purchasing
bread from the grocery store, itsaved us.
A dollar and a half per loaf.
And so we decided, you knowwhat?
Let's just go ahead and buy it.
Make start making our own breadbecause.
(03:43):
Just to save money.
You know, my husband wasworking, uh, kind of a hybrid
job at the time, and so he couldmake bread easily at home.
I was still a student and so Iwas in and outta the house
frequently, Um, so we startedthat.
It was working great.
My gut originally loved it.
It was doing fantastic.
(04:04):
I felt better.
I had more energy.
I was less bloated.
It was overall really good.
And then about a year later wehad moved to North Carolina and
I was having a conversation withone of my patient's family
members, and he was telling methat him and his wife have been
(04:30):
milling their own wheat to maketheir bread at home with fresh
ground wheat for 30 years.
And I looked at this woman'smedical history and she had
nothing like hypertension.
Katie (04:44):
actually find this really fascinating'cause you and I have
had a lot of conversations aboutthe that you see at the
hospital.
And how so many of them comeinto the hospital and all they
want is to be slapped with somekind of medication because
that's what they thinkhealthcare is.
So it's actually very intriguingto me that your kind of crunchy
(05:09):
journey also was propelled bysomebody that you encountered in
the hospital as a patient, thisseems so counter to all of the
other patients that you havedealt with.
So, that's really kind offascinating
Chrissy (05:25):
Now, mind you, she was not in the hospital because she
was actually sick, she had a hipreplacement.
So, my patient's husband, hewent home that night and he
actually, copied a paper intheir like recipe book and gave
me a copy of their bread recipethat they use for their whole
(05:46):
wheat bread, and then gave me alink on Amazon to buy this wheat
mill.
It's a countertop sized wheatgrinder that they've been using
for 30 years.
And I went home, I told Max allabout it.
and he thought it was a greatidea.
(06:07):
So we did the math again with.
Buying the wheat berries insteadof flour.
It came back to about the sameprice as buying that loaf of
bread from the grocery store,you know,$3.50,$4.00 a loaf.
and we buy the wheat berries,actually funny enough off of
(06:27):
Amazon in 25 pound bags.
And so they're very large.
They last a long time.
we only have to buy them likeevery three months or so.
So the initial upfront cost wasa little bit higher since we had
to buy the wheat grinder also.
But once we started milling ourown wheat and then using that
flour to make the bread, my guthealth improved tremendously
(06:51):
again.
Now mind you, at this point inmy health journey, I was still
eating Chick-fil-A probablythree times a month.
That obviously was not helpingwith my gut health, but I was
suddenly able to tolerate goingto Chick-fil-A
Katie (07:12):
more
Chrissy (07:13):
so than I was before.
Before, changing the wheat inour bread, I would go to
Chick-fil-A for dinner andreally not have energy to do
anything else for the rest ofthe night.
And I'd be hungry again beforebed.
And then after changing thewheat in our bread, then I was
able to go to Chick-fil-A andafterwards, didn't feel nearly
(07:35):
as bloated and, didn't feel likethe sluggish effects that I
usually felt from going toChick-fil-A.
Now, is it still good for me?
No.
Does it still give metachycardia?
Yes.
But, I was convinced that thewheats that we had been using in
(07:56):
our bread had fortified my gutso that I was more able to
tolerate the crap food when Iate the crap food.
And so I was really curious asto why exactly that is.
And I did a little bit ofresearch into why when I take
(08:17):
the whole wheat berry and grindit up, why do I feel so much
better?
You know, I've always heard likewhole wheat bread is so much
better for, you always want toeat wheat, but it doesn't taste
that good.
So I never wanted to eat it, youknow?
So looking at it, I think wementioned this in a previous
episode, but we'll talk throughit again.
(08:39):
When wheat is harvested, it istaken off the stem, so to say,
and the part of the wheat thatwe actually eat is called the
berry.
So in a wheat berry, wheatberries have anatomy just as
every other plant, animal, thinghas anatomy.
(09:01):
So there's three main pieces tothe anatomy of a wheat berry.
There is the germ, which is likeif you're thinking of an egg,
it's kind of like the yolk, theendosperm, which is kind of like
the white of an egg.
And the bran, which is kind ofthe shell of the egg if you are
(09:22):
thinking of it in an egg idea.
So what happens is when thewheat berry is ground, it
exposes that germ.
The yolk part of the eggs, so tosay, to oxygen, and when that is
exposed to oxygen, itimmediately starts to oxidize
(09:44):
and starts to lose itsnutritional value.
So once a wheat berry is groundup, that germ that holds all of
the nutrients in this wheatberry starts to go bad.
And it only has a shelf life ofjust a couple days unless it's
frozen.
So, big food companies knewabout this, and so in order to
(10:09):
create flour and to create breadthat was going to be able to
stay on the shelves in a grocerystore for longer than three
days, they had to figure out away to improve shelf life.
So they took out the germ fromthe wheat that they ground and
then bleached the rest of it.
(10:30):
So when you buy flour from thegrocery store, you are getting
merely just the endosperm of thewheat berry, which is pretty
much kind of just filler.
There's no nutritional contentto it, and they realized that,
you know it, it's crazy they dosomething and then they realize
(10:51):
the effects of that thing and sothey, they do something else.
It's a cascade of interventionsand so there next intervention
to fix this problem that theyhad created by taking out the
germ was not to put the germback into.
The wheat because then they'd bestuck with the original problem
of not having a shelf life.
So they decided to fortify theflour with synthetic vitamins
(11:18):
and minerals.
So when you are reading aningredients list and you see
fortified, enriched white nonbleached flour or whatever, you
know.
That is them saying, we took allof the nutrients out of this
original whole food, and we putsynthetic versions of those
(11:42):
nutrients back in in order tomake it look better.
And then they'll have a list ofthose synthetic versions that
they put back in, such asniacin, reduced iron, thiamine,
mononitrate, riboflavin, andfolic acid.
Katie (11:58):
like, I think it sounds like a good idea.
Like, oh, they fortified It Itwith these vitamins and things
like that.
But from what I've learned isthat these like synthetic
vitamins and minerals orwhatever, are not as
bioavailable for us to actuallyabsorb into our systems.
And so it's like, cool, youmight be getting them, but
(12:20):
you're not benefiting from themin general because we need the
actual vitamins and minerals andnutrients from.
Actual whole Foods becausethey're more bioavailable for
our bodies to absorb and benefitfrom.
So it's like anyone's like, why?
Why is that not good if it'sfortified with these synthetic
(12:41):
vitamins?
Well, your body can't actuallyuse them as easily as they can
use the true source of thesevitamins and minerals and
nutrients
Chrissy (12:53):
Yeah.
So that's very true and I am awalking testament to the fact
that the natural sources ofthese vitamins and minerals are
definitely, the way to go.
And so I'm one of the onlypeople that you'll hear saying
that bread healed my gut.
Katie (13:10):
Because you wonder okay, I'm eating all this fortified
foods.
Like if you see something like,Cheerios is a great example.
Our foster daughter, whoactually just moved from our
home.
I don't know if you knew thatChrissy,
Chrissy (13:23):
Oh no, I didn't.
Katie (13:24):
she moved this past weekend, which a very ugh,
crazy, sad thing.
But also, know, the you of herjourney, we're because we could
talk about that later.
She eats a lot of Cheerios, likethat is her primary food source
because she has autism and.
(13:47):
It has food aversions like noother.
And so Cheerios is the primarything She eats and they're
fortified with tons of, youknow, quote unquote vitamins and
things like that, which it mightsound like a good thing.
But then when, when they do labsfor her, they find that she's
super deficient in like all ofthese vitamins.
(14:08):
And you're like, well if she'seating Cheerios and it's
fortified with these specificvitamins and stuff and
nutrients, like why is she sodeficient in it is'cause her
body is not actively absorbingit.
There's also tons of otherreasons because she also is not
getting a lot of other things inher diet that she should be, and
so there's a lot of problemsgoing on, but it's like, okay,
(14:30):
her body doesn't have thecapability to absorb these
because it's not the whole foodsource that she really needs in
order to get these.
Chrissy (14:38):
Right.
Katie (14:38):
It's kind of a bummer.
Chrissy (14:39):
Yeah.
So Katie, what do you think isone of the biggest reasons
people decide to go gluten free?
You know, everyone says gogluten free it'll help your gut
it'll save your gut.
Katie (14:52):
That's a really good question..
Chrissy (14:54):
Um, what do you think is one of the reasons for that?
Katie (14:57):
So actually I think a lot of people think that it's just
the healthy thing to do.
They're like, oh, everybody'sdoing gluten-free, so I'm gonna
do gluten-free because it's sohealthy and I wanna be healthy.
So think a lot of people chooseit for that reason, and it's not
necessarily completelyinaccurate.
There are a lot of people whohave intolerances, like, celiac
(15:19):
disease, where it's like theyactually have reactions to
gluten.
And so they choose to begluten-free because of that.
However, it's quite interestingwhat I've learned is that a lot
of us do actually have somelevel of intolerance to things
like gluten and dairyespecially.
(15:40):
And so if you have poor guthealth and all this stuff, I
have found that if you eliminatethings and focus on other foods,
that it does help people.
I literally just listen topodcasts and that's what
everybody's saying.
And by everyone I'm talkingabout health professionals that
are like, yeah, if you haveproblems with acne or even just
(16:05):
sleeping or indigestion orconstipation.
A lot of times, many of theseholistic health professionals
recommend eliminating thesethings and then potentially
adding them back or just notadding them to your diet.
I have found that if, you reallydo focus on making your own
bread, and or if you choose tobuy pre-made bread, making sure
(16:30):
that it is really good organicbread, then it really can be
okay.
I really love bread, so there'sno way that I could ever
eliminate it from my diet..
I've never had an issue with itmyself.
And so, for me, I've never evenpaused to consider eliminating
(16:51):
it because I haven't had anyproblems in the past, but I do
know a lot of people choose totry to eliminate it because,
they think it's healthy, butthey don't really know why and
they think like, oh, beinggluten-free is just like the
thing to do, and it's like a fadkind of a thing.
What do you think
Chrissy (17:05):
I am.
I'm actually convinced that oneof the reasons so many people
have gluten intolerances.
This is not talking aboutceliac, celiac is an allergy.
We are talking about glutenintolerances.
I genuinely believe that hasmore to do with the enrichment
(17:26):
process that we do to our flour,and the synthetic vitamins and
minerals that are added to itand the natural vitamins and
minerals that are taken out ofit.
You know, it's the body kind ofthrowing a fit against the
synthetic versions of things.
And so that is my personalopinion when it comes to, when
(17:48):
people say, oh, you know, breadhurts my stomach, I am gonna go
gluten-free.
And then they say they feel somuch better after going
gluten-free.
I am, I'm convinced it's more sothe processing of the bread and
the preservatives that are putinto our bread than it is.
Katie (18:05):
And glyphosate!
Chrissy (18:07):
Yes,
Katie (18:08):
always glyphosate's in everything
Chrissy (18:10):
I know.
Oh my gosh.
It is.
But the preservatives andpesticides that are in the
bread, that is what actuallycauses them to have issues.
Which actually leads me toanother thing, you know, wheat
is a plant and it is grown likeany other plant, and so
therefore it does have thepotential to be exposed to
(18:32):
glyphosate and other pesticideand really unfortunate things.
Also another thing that I thinkhas contributed to our
likelihood of developing agluten intolerance is that wheat
has been genetically modifiedmany times in the past 50 years
(18:53):
or so.
Katie (18:55):
I think wheat and corn are two of the largest crops in
America that are geneticallymodified
Chrissy (19:02):
Yes,
Katie (19:03):
yeah.
Chrissy (19:04):
But wheat thankfully has a lot of different forms.
I honestly couldn't even nameoff all the different kinds of
wheat that there are out there,but I do know that einkorn wheat
is the form of wheat that is theleast genetically modified of
all of the forms of wheatbecause it has a very robust
(19:26):
flavor, like a very earthyflavor.
And when pastry companies andbread companies are trying to
make their breads, you know,they're looking for more of that
like wonder bread kind offlavor.
You know, the light airy,
Katie (19:40):
fluffy very sweet tasting.
Chrissy (19:42):
Yes! That flavor.
They're not looking for thatearthy, robust tones in their
breads.
And so that has saved Einkornwheat from being genetically
modified as much as other formsof wheat like soft white wheat
and hard white wheat.
Those ones have more of thatgentle, typical bakery flavor
(20:06):
that you would think of whenyou're eating bread.
So those ones have beengenetically modified a little
bit more, but you can also lookat making sure that wheat
berries are organic and makingsure, they come from a family
farm.
You know it's kind of nice thatthere's not a huge demand for
(20:27):
wheat berries at this point.
And so the supply of wheatberries is not super broad.
And oftentimes if you're evengoing on Amazon to buy wheat,
you are able to then go to thefamily farm website to see the
family that raises this wheatand get to know them, get to
(20:50):
know their kids, like throughthis website, which is really
cool.
Most of the wheats that I'velooked at that are.
Organic and non GMO And, thingslike that, uh, are raised by
small family farms.
And, that is one way you canactually know that your wheat is
coming from a good source, thatyou are able to actually meet
(21:10):
the people who are farming yourwheat for you.
Katie (21:16):
I've considered after our conversation and then after
talking to some friends who havealso done their own wheat
grinding, I've considered doingit myself.
The grinders, like you said, areexpensive, they can be.
I actually have been looking onFacebook Marketplace to see if I
can find one that's more costeffective.
(21:37):
But interestingly enough, not alot of people are selling them.
Probably because not a lot ofpeople have them in general
'cause it's such, a niche thing.
But occasionally I see some comeup and I've been looking.
To see if I wanna get one.
Now I'm at the weird crossroadsof like, okay, we're getting
ready to move and do I wanna getmore things that I need to pack
(21:58):
and no, probably not.
So I'm also kind of waiting onthat.
And the real, the reality isthat I probably won't get into
it before we move anyway,because we only have like two
more months here.
And I'm like, seems like a hobbyI don't necessarily need to pick
up yet, though.
Also, speaking of making thingsfrom scratch, ice ream is
(22:21):
another one of those ones thatwe would love to make on our
own.
I actually, controversial topic,not really, but, on a podcast I
listened to recently, thisperson was talking about how
their favorite super food is icecream.
And that ice cream can be asuper food if you make it
(22:42):
yourself and make it with likereally good organic grass fed
ingredients and things.
So anyway, I'm like, we're gonnamake our own superfood ice
cream.
And so ice cream makers aresomething I've also been on the
hunt for on Facebook Marketplaceand those, there are tons of
them galore.
So I'm kind of waiting for aspecific one and for a specific
(23:06):
price.
But anyway that's one of thosehobbies that both Wes and I are
like on board with where we'relike, we are to be our own ice
cream makers.
Yes.
Chrissy (23:16):
Max, actually, he made his own high protein ice cream a
couple months ago and it wasdelicious.
He put, organic protein powder,raw cocoa and A little bit of
maple syrup, I think, and likevanilla extract and mixed it all
(23:36):
up.
It, it was delicious.
Oh, and milk and cream,obviously.
He he mixed it up, put it in thefreezer and unfortunately
utilized one of my mixing bowlsfor a week until we ate all the
ice cream.
But, You know, after workingout, he always wants to have a
chocolate milkshake and it was agood, replacement of that
(23:59):
chocolate milkshake that heusually wants.
Katie (24:04):
I made a coffee shake the other day too with just my own
ingredients and I found an icecream that I don't know the
brand off the top of my headthat is actually pretty clean
for ice cream.
As it goes.
I've been on the hunt right nowjust for better ice cream in
general and our grocery storesdon't have a lot of options
unfortunately, but I found onethat was organic and didn't have
(24:28):
boat loads of sugar.
Their vanilla flavor is thecleanest.
But then their chocolate hadlike some seed oils in it, which
was unfortunate, but I still gotit because I was like, okay, it
doesn't have a lot of the otherpreservatives and nasty stuff.
This is probably as good as it'sgonna get right now.
So anyway, I made my own coffeemilkshake with some of that
(24:49):
because I love that kind ofstuff.
Chrissy (24:51):
That sounds delicious
Katie (24:52):
I love making things from scratch'cause it really is like
such a great way to save moneyon this healthy, crunchy journey
that we're on
Chrissy (25:03):
Oh, for sure.
Katie (25:04):
Because I find that that is one of the biggest problems
that I run into when I tellpeople like, yeah, we've been
switching to organic and we'rereally trying to be mindful of
the food that we're putting inour bodies because we really
believe that it can heal us andthat it can help prevent all
these chronic illnesses buteverybody's like, well, how are
you doing that because it's soexpensive.
(25:25):
And I'm like, well, we're, we'remaking a lot of things either
from scratch just like yes,we're buying the organic
produce, but we're not buyingthe organic, like pre-made stuff
that just tends to cost more.
So it's like we're buying a lotof produce, but then we're
making tons of stuff from that.
And I'm just like really excitedactually for our move this
(25:47):
summer.
And by the time that thispodcast comes out, we're
actually, we will be planted inour new place, at least our
temporary place, which is crazyto think about already.
But I'm excited for thepossibility of like, I really
want a big pantry that we'regonna do like all this stuff.
And I'm like, we're gonna makeour own bread.
We're gonna make our own icecream, and we're gonna make our
(26:08):
own like pasta sauces and we'regonna make our own pizza.
Chrissy (26:11):
Have all the all the different kinds of wheat berries
along the wall so that wheneveryou're making, say, like
pancakes, you get the kind ofwheat specifically for the
pancakes.
Or if you're making bread, youget the wheat specifically for
the bread.
Katie (26:24):
I can't wait to share with with everybody all the
pictures.
So make sure you're in ourFacebook group so you can see.
Cause I'll post my picturesthere of all the stuff once we
move.
But that's like, I keep tellingWes as we like look online for
houses, I'm like, I just want areally good kitchen with lots of
counter space and I want a bigpantry that I can just keep all
of our food storage in because Ireally want to stock well, so
(26:48):
that way we can save moneyultimately and still feed our
family really well.
And it's really all about likeintentionality and figuring out
what your priorities are.
Because if your priority is tofeed your family organic foods,
figure out the most costeffective way of doing that, and
go for it.
Right?
(27:08):
So it's like you gotta figure itout so that way you can balance
it.
And, we've seen maybe a slightincrease in our grocery budget
recently, but it hasn't beenoutrageous and it hasn't been
dramatic where it's like, oh mygosh, I really can't afford
this.
It's been more of like, okay,well this means that we can't go
and eat out maybe one extra timethis month, maybe we can't buy
(27:31):
certain things as often, butit's not things that we're like
really upset about.
It's just like again,reprioritizing.
Chrissy (27:39):
Right.
And if you think about it, youknow, now going out for dinner
or going to fast food just makesyou feel so much more, ugh,
Katie (27:46):
exactly
Chrissy (27:47):
and it's so part of me, I, I've even found myself
evaluating of if I stay home andmake this meal, I'm gonna feel
so much better.
Whereas if I go and I lean intomy laziness and get fast food or
something like that I'll feelokay.
Katie (28:05):
Yeah.
Chrissy (28:07):
But that's it.
I'll just feel okay
Katie (28:09):
It'll be so temporary right?
because you're like, just thinkof all of the benefits from
making it at home versus goingout because okay, you saved
yourself money.
Your food was probably.
Better for you at home becauseit's like maybe organic or at
least have a lot of the otherjunk in it.
Because oftentimes when you goto any restaurant, they cook
(28:31):
everything with seed oils andyou just never really know like
what's going on in that kitchen.
And I find it so hard to findthe full ingredient list of
anything, online.
I literally, the other day wealmost decided to go to
McDonald's to get an ice creamcone.
'cause that's one of thosethings that like night we're
(28:51):
driving home from somewhere andwe're like, let's go to
McDonald's and just get a littlemc flurry or something like
that.
And we, we were almost about todo that and I was like, I'm just
so curious.
Like, I'm not even trying tolike talk ourselves out of this,
but I just want to know.
What actually is in their icecream?
And I went, it took me foreverfirst off, to find their
ingredient list.
(29:12):
I had to click through so manydifferent links.
They do not make this easy.
And I finally stumbled upon itand there were, I kid you not
like 50 ingredients or somethingWes finally was just like, I'm
not going to any of these placesbecause you're making me feel so
bad about eating any of it.
And I'm like, it, that wasn'teven the purpose of me trying to
pull it up.
I was just purely curious toknow what are we putting in our
(29:35):
bodies?
Like what choice are we makingright now?
And in so doing, we were bothlike, this is just really sad.
Like, Let's maybe just not, andjust go.
Chrissy (29:44):
You know, actually what's interesting, I recently
watched a movie on thefoundation of McDonald's early
on in their restaurant process.
When they started expanding,they actually used powdered
milkshakes
Katie (30:01):
That's kind of interesting.
Chrissy (30:03):
In order to reduce the cost of refrigeration for all of
the ice cream, of just pour thepowder into cold water and boom
milkshake.
Katie (30:12):
Interesting, I don't know how I feel about that
Chrissy (30:14):
That made me so sad.
Apparently At the end of thismovie, they did come in and say.
Since that point, McDonald'sthen transferred back to using
real ice cream in theirmilkshakes, but, um, I don't
know the percentage of real icecream that's actually used
Katie (30:33):
it was like one of those things where I think one of the
first.
Ingredients on it was somethinglike corn syrup.
And, and I, I literally was likereading off some of these
ingredients to Wes in the carand I was like, there's not
really cream in this.
It was like something crazy.
And I was like, oh my gosh, thisis not actually really ice
cream.
And the same could be said forbread.
(30:54):
When you start reading some ofthese ingredients to make up
bread, you're like, I'm notactually eating bread.
This is not truly bread
Chrissy (31:02):
It is like if you look at the ingredients of Wonder
Bread, like there's literally 30ingredients on there, and the
vast majority of them is allpreservatives.
Katie (31:13):
Last night I made biscuits.
Biscuits are literally myfavorite thing to make because I
make them in less than 30minutes.
Typically, I just like scoop itall into the bowl, mix it up and
pop it in the oven.
And I think I pulled out fivethings from my pantry.
Like it's just.
And like, like the honey, Ididn't even necessarily need in
my biscuits, I've made biscuitswithout honey.
(31:34):
So I'm like, I could'veeliminated that and it would've
been like four ingredients.
And so anyway, it's just soinsane to me.
Sometimes like when you seesomething that really, like
bread is a really good example.
Ice cream is another good one.
You know that these food items,when they're made really should
only have a few basicingredients.
(31:56):
If they're flavored somethinglike ice cream, then yeah,
you're gonna have a few more.
But if you go to the grocerystore and you see like over 10
ingredients for something likethose.
You know, that is probably notgood for you because why do they
need to add all these otherthings?
It's probably oils that theydon't need, or preservatives
that you don't need, and it'sall so bad for you.
And it's, really sad that that'show, that's what we think is
(32:19):
food, but it's really just abunch of chemicals
Chrissy (32:20):
It has made it very difficult to go grocery
shopping.
I have found myself goingthrough the grocery store and
being like, man, I really justwant some chocolate ice cream
right now and you know thatdesire of chocolate ice cream.
I go down the ice cream aisleand I start looking at all of
them, and as soon as I look atthe ingredients list, I put it
down and walk away.
(32:41):
It, it has become yep.
Enough to kind of quench thatdesire, that my desire to feel
good and love the way I look andlove the way I feel.
It is so much greater than mydesire to have some ice cream.
(33:02):
I, I would much rather just eata piece of dark chocolate and
call it a day.
Katie (33:07):
And it ends up saving you money when you do that.
I mean, you don't even actuallyneed to know what the
ingredients are when you look atit, but if you just see that
there are just so many, it'slike okay, I just know that one
of these out of the 50 listedhere is probably not good for
me.
And so you just you just put itback on the shelf and you walk
away why don't we give ourlisteners maybe a few takeaways
(33:32):
of something that they can do asa result of this conversation.
Chrissy (33:37):
Let's see, I think for me, my biggest takeaway is
challenge yourself to make aloaf of bread.
Just try it.
we will put the link to mypersonal bread recipe that I
use, in making whole wheat breadand the link to the, recipe book
(33:57):
that I have for whole wheatrecipes because it does have a
little bit of a.
Different moisture ratio thanregular flour.
so we'll put that in the linkand I will also post on our
Facebook group.
Our Facebook group is, CrunchyChristian Mamas on a Budget, I
will also post in there links tothe wheat grinder and the wheat
(34:21):
that my husband and I use sothat you can have an easy in to
just get started.
And honestly, the initial costis not that much.
The wheat grinder itself that weuse is only about$40
Katie (34:34):
not bad.
Chrissy (34:34):
The wheat in and of itself is about$55 for a 25
pound bag that lasts threemonths.
so if you think about, if youbuy one loaf of bread for$4 and
you buy a loaf of bread a weekfor three months, you're gonna
be about at that$55 rangeanyways.
So, yeah, that's my firstchallenge is to try to make your
(34:55):
first loaf of bread, whether itbe with flour or fresh ground
wheat.
Um, yeah, that's mine.
What about you, Katie?
Katie (35:01):
Yeah.
Bread making really isn't thatscary?
I, I got into bread makingseveral years ago and I really
do enjoy it.
It's so fun.
And it doesn't have to be, Ithink a lot of people hear about
sourdough and sourdough can bemore of a challenge, and
Chrissy (35:14):
No, sourdough is horrible.
I woke up at three o'clock inthe morning to stretch and fold.
I said, we're not doing this.
Katie (35:20):
I know, like I've gone through phases of really
enjoying it, but I'm just not atthat phase right now of my life
that it is something I enjoy.
I like making things as quicklyas possible and enjoying them
right when I want them.
Bread making doesn't have to bescary.
Learn about it.
Like Chrissy said, I think mytip would be figure out what
that thing is in your life, andit doesn't even have to be
(35:43):
bread, but figure out the thingin your life that you're like, I
really love this food and findout how you could make it from
scratch.
I know pizza for a lot of peopleis a great example.
I've made pizza dough fromscratch myself and made the
sauce and everything.
It tends to be more challenging,but maybe even like, don't even
think about every little part,but like instead of going and
(36:04):
buying like a Domino's pizza,get the pre-made ingredients for
it.
So you can buy pizza dough, youcan buy pizza sauce, and then,
you know, even you could getsliced up veggies or whatever
you wanna put on your pizza andthen make it, and that's like
your first step.
But then challenge yourself eachtime and be like, okay, maybe I
could make the pizza sauce ormaybe I could chop my own
(36:26):
veggies and, and get them freshand things like that.
So would just figure out what isthat thing that you love and
make it a little bit yourselfand then keep making it till
you're like doing it fromscratch and you're a genius at
it, right?
Chrissy (36:40):
And then everyone looks at you and they say, how'd you
become such a great cook?
Katie (36:44):
How did you do this?
People are shocked that we makeour own hummus.
We make hummus like all thetime, and that is, it's one of
the easiest things.
We literally, you just put it ina blender, you blend it, and you
put it in a bowl
Chrissy (36:56):
Wow.
Katie (36:56):
We've been doing that for years.
This is before our like crunchyjourney really started.
Chrissy (37:01):
Hummus is one of those items that I have such a hard
time buying because they allhave soybean oil in them.
Katie (37:06):
is so easy.
Chrissy (37:08):
my goodness.
Katie (37:09):
whatever, chickpeas, whatever you wanna call'em.
we keep them in our pantry justall the time.
So It's so easy.
So yeah.
Anyway, figure out, what is thatfood that love and can't live
without and see if you can makeit from scratch.
And if you try that, tell us inthe Facebook group.
We'd love to know, um, and don'tforget to subscribe to our
(37:30):
podcast.
That way you don't miss out whenwe put out new episodes.
And be sure to share thisepisode with a friend who needs
some encouragement on their ownholistic, healthy, non-toxic
journey.
We want to get the word outabout this podcast and sharing
it around helps others find itas well.
Chrissy (37:52):
We pray over each and every one of you guys, and we
just hope that these episodescan be helpful in your journey
to being a better steward ofyour body your mind, your soul,
your spirit, your finances, andyour families.
We are praying that this episodewas helpful for you and we will
see you next time.
Katie (38:11):
Bye-bye.
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