Can You Really Go Unprocessed

You’re all for farmers’ markets on a Sunday – but could you go the whole hog and make all your food from scratch? WH investigates what it would take.

- Michelle October

ELANA KRONEBERG, A 26-YEAR-OLD STUDENT, HAS LARGE JARS LINING HER KITCHEN CUPBOARDS FILLED WITH WATER SHE’S COLLECTED FROM A FRESH SPRING. WITH IT SHE MAKES A TURMERIC AND GINGER TEA USING THE WHOLE ROOTS – ZERO TEA BAGS IN SIGHT (THEY’VE REPORTEDLY GOT CHEMICALS IN THEM). SHE BAKES HER OWN BREAD FROM STONEGROUND FLOUR (THE STONE MILL GRINDS THE WHEAT BERRIES WITHOUT KILLING THE NUTRIENTS, SHE EXPLAINS) AND LIVES ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY ON FRESH VEGETABLES. “YOU DON’T REALISE THAT HEALTHY FOOD HAS SUCH A NATURAL, SUBTLE FLAVOUR AND ALL THESE OTHER PROCESSED FOODS HAVE THIS INSTANT FLAVOUR,” SAYS ELANA. “THERE’S AN INSTANT PLEASURE, BUT AFTERWARDS IT JUST LEAVES YOU FEELING YUCKY. THAT’S WHERE IT STARTED FOR ME.”

The Natural Choice

Elana’s return to nature began in 2012, when she went on a trip to Tanzania and the family she stayed with fed her a carb-heavy diet. “We ate white bread with peanut butter and tea, pasta and beans,” she says. “I started having these fantasies about good food. I said, ‘Oh my god, what I wouldn’t do for something with a husk on it!’”

By the time she returned home, Elana had gained around 15kg. She’d also become obsessed with incorporating whole foods into her diet. But, because she was a student, she didn’t have much of a food budget. “My diet became simple, but effective and healthy, with lots of lentils and curries,” she says. A year later, she’d slimmed down and was living solely off vegetarian, unrefined food.