Advise

Real Food: What We Eat & Where We Find It

If you can milk it, fish it, hunt it, grow it, pick it, or gather it — that’s real food.

Everything I suggest here is naturally gluten-free, and I try to make sure it also comes from the purest source possible. Real health starts at the source: the soil a food grew in, the pasture an animal grazed on, the waters a fish was raised in. So you’ll see me lean toward words like pasture-raised, free-range, and wild-caught again and again.

And please, support your local farmers and ranchers. I could write ten pages on why this matters, but here’s the short version: buy from people in your own community whenever you can, and grow or raise as much of your own food as you’re able. Every dollar you spend is a little vote for the kind of food — and the kind of world — you want. What goes around comes around.

Start Here: Find Real Food Near You

This is the part I’m most excited to add, because brands and stores come and go, but these directories stay current and will help you find good food almost anywhere. Bookmark them:

USDA Local Food Directories — the official, always-updated finder for farmers markets, CSAs (farm subscription boxes), on-farm markets, and food hubs near you.

Eat Wild — a state-by-state clearinghouse for pasture-raised and grass-fed meat, eggs, and dairy. This is my go-to for finding a good local rancher.

A Campaign for Real Milk (realmilk.com) — the raw-dairy finder, listing farms by state. Their whole motto is “know your farmer,” which is exactly right.

Weston A. Price Foundation — local chapter leaders (often a goldmine of local sourcing know-how), their annual Shopping Guide, and even a restaurant-rating tool for finding real-food-friendly places to eat out.

LocalHarvest — another well-loved directory for CSAs, farmers markets, and family farms.

We’re lucky to live near a store whose owners scrutinize everything on their shelves, so we can shop with confidence. If you have a Real Foods Market or a Good Earth near you, treasure it. If you don’t, the directories above and the resources below will help you build your own trusted sources. (And one day, I hope Celiac Shack will have its own online store, with the research already done for you.)

Dairy

When we choose dairy, we choose raw, organic dairy. Unless a label says raw, the milk has almost certainly been pasteurized and homogenized; the only way to truly get raw milk is to know its source — through a local farm or realmilk.com. If fully raw isn’t available to you, non-homogenized-but-pasteurized milk is a good next step. Whatever you choose, look for milk free of added hormones and antibiotics, from cows fed organic feed — and the same goes for any animal protein you bring home.

A caring note: raw (unpasteurized) milk can carry bacteria that cause serious illness, and the risk is highest for young children, pregnant women, infants, and anyone with a weakened immune system — and raw milk should never be used to make homemade infant formula. Health authorities advise against raw milk, and the laws vary by state. 

Please get to know your source well and make the choice that’s right for your family.

A personal note: as much as I love raw milk, I can’t tolerate dairy myself right now for health reasons, so I stay dairy-free while my kids and husband enjoy all the cultured dairy. I’m hopeful that changes one day.

Fruits & Vegetables

Buy organic when you can. When I was recovering from a frightening stretch of MS-like symptoms, I ate only organic produce and slowly felt like myself again. Later I tried conventional and honestly didn’t feel as well, so I come down firmly on the side of organic — especially when your body feels sensitive.

Eggs

Eggs are one of nature’s most perfect foods — but only as good as the hen. Look for pasture-raised eggs from hens allowed to roam and forage (the yolks are a deep, beautiful orange). “Cage-free” and “free-range” are steps up from conventional, but true pastured is the gold standard. Your best source is a neighbor or a farm from the Eat Wild directory — farm-fresh eggs are a revelation.

Meats

We seek out meat from local people and companies we trust. In a perfect world it would all come from our own little ranch someday — that’s the goal — but for now we choose pasture-raised, free-range, and grass-finished, and we pray the folks we buy from raise their animals honestly. Use Eat Wild or your local farmers market to find a rancher, and don’t be shy about asking how the animals are raised and fed. A good farmer is proud to tell you.

Seafood

Choose wild-caught over farmed whenever you can — I wrote a whole post on why. For sustainability and lower contaminants, the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch guide is fantastic for knowing which fish to choose, and the FDA/EPA “Best Choices” list points you to lower-mercury options (wild salmon, sardines, and anchovies are favorites in our house). For shipped wild seafood, I’ve used and trust Vital Choice.

Nuts & Nut Butters

For nut butters we like small, honest brands, or we make our own. If you’re buying, look for the shortest possible ingredient list — a good almond butter should read simply raw organic almonds. Buying raw nuts in bulk and grinding your own is cheaper and fresher, too.

Oils & Fats

Coconut oil: raw, virgin, certified organic and non-GMO, and cold-pressed (no heat used in extraction).

Butter: raw, organic, grass-fed is ideal; if you can’t find raw, organic grass-fed butter is the next best, and plain organic butter works in a pinch.

Ghee: a wonderful fat for higher-heat cooking, and naturally free of the milk solids some people react to.

Olive oil: we love a genuinely fresh, extra-virgin oil — freshness matters far more than most people realize, so buy from a source that harvests and presses recently.

Also lovely: avocado oil for higher heat, and cold-pressed flax oil (kept in the fridge) for drizzling, never frying.

Omega-3

My thinking on omega-3s has evolved over the years. For a season we leaned away from fish oil and got our omega-3s from a few trusted supplements instead. These days I’d rather test and balance mine than guess — I write all about that on my Favorites page. Whole-food omega-3s from wild fish, pastured eggs, walnuts, chia, and flax are a beautiful foundation, too.

Salt

Choose pure, unrefined sea salt with no additives — Celtic sea salt is my favorite, and Himalayan and Redmond Real Salt are lovely unrefined options too. Look for the word unrefined; otherwise the salt has likely been stripped through harsh processing and may carry additives. Steer clear of any salt with added sugar (used to stabilize iodine) or aluminum-based anti-caking agents.

One nutrition note worth knowing: unrefined salts contain little to no iodine, unlike iodized table salt — and iodine is an essential nutrient, especially important during pregnancy. If you use unrefined salt (as we do), just be sure you’re getting iodine elsewhere: seaweed and kelp, seafood, eggs, and dairy are all good natural sources.

Sweeteners

Raw honey from a local beekeeper who doesn’t feed the bees sugar is our first choice. Pure maple syrup and raw molasses from the health food store round it out. We skip agave — it just isn’t part of how we eat — and stick with honey and maple, used sparingly. Local raw honey is another wonderful reason to get to know a beekeeper at your farmers market.

Fermented Foods

This is one I’ve grown to love, because traditional cultures leaned on fermented foods for a reason — they’re rich in the natural enzymes and beneficial bacteria that support digestion and a healthy gut. Think real sauerkraut and other cultured vegetables (look for them in the refrigerated section, unpasteurized, or make your own — it’s simple and nearly free), kombucha, water kefir, and, for those who tolerate dairy, cultured yogurt and kefir. A little with meals goes a long way.

Herbs & Teas

As a nutritional herbalist, this corner is close to my heart. I don’t drink coffee or black tea — herbal teas are my daily comfort. For dried herbs, loose teas, and quality botanicals, well-regarded sources like Mountain Rose Herbs and Frontier Co-op are lovely, and a local herb shop or your own garden is even better. Start simple: peppermint, chamomile, ginger, and nettle are gentle, everyday favorites.

Superfoods & Smoothies

We keep a few whole-food superfood blends on hand for smoothies. Our go-to: 1 egg yolk, the juice and pulp of 1 young coconut, 1–2 tbsp virgin coconut oil, 1 tsp flax oil, and 2 tbsp of a chocolate or vanilla whole-food superfood blend. Absolutely delicious for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. (If raw egg yolk isn’t for you, a scoop of a clean protein works too.)

Water

Over the years I’ve tried many systems. We use a reverse-osmosis system at home, and a company delivers distilled and spring water to us regularly — I use the distilled (re-mineralized with a few drops of trace minerals), and my kids and husband prefer the spring. Whatever you choose, filtering out chlorine and contaminants is a simple, worthwhile step.

No Local Store? Pantry, Bulk & Online

If you don’t have a good real-food market nearby, you have more options today than ever. Buying clubs and bulk co-ops (like Azure Standard) deliver organic staples by the case at a discount; online real-food marketplaces (like Thrive Market) carry certified and organic pantry goods; and many local farms now ship. Buying whole and in bulk — grains, beans, nuts, spices — is almost always cheaper and fresher than pre-packaged.

Grow Your Own

Nothing is more local than your own backyard — or windowsill. I still remember my mom’s garden, the ash and compost she worked into the soil, the way she rotated her plantings and cared for the ground year after year. Even a few pots of herbs, a tomato plant, or a small raised bed will teach your family more about real food than any book. Heirloom seed companies make it easy and joyful to begin, and there’s no gluten, no additives, and no mystery in something you grew yourself.

I hope all of this helps! Remember the heart of it: real food, from the purest source you can find, bought as close to home as possible. Every trip to the farmers market, every jar of local honey, every backyard tomato is a small, joyful vote for a healthier world — for your family and for the farmers who feed us.

Lots of love,

Steffanie

Resources and links were current as of 2026; brands and sources change, so the finder directories above are the most reliable way to locate good food over time. This page shares my personal experience and preferences and is for educational purposes only — it is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any condition. Raw dairy and certain raw foods carry real safety considerations, especially for children, pregnant women, and those with weakened immune systems; please make informed choices and consult a qualified healthcare provider about what’s right for you and your family.