Clean Food, Messy Life:

A FOOD LOVER’S CONSCIOUS JOURNEY BACK TO SELF

Words by Kate Hull Recipes by Jamie Truppi

The idea of our food values can be weighty, and the topic serves up a rich discussion of themes and intersections whirling around the idea of what we put into our bodies: How does the food we eat interconnect within our personal lives, our world, our communities and the like?

Hailey resident Jamie Truppi takes this topic on and more (plus amazing recipes!) in her new book, “Clean Food, Messy Life: A Food Lover’s Conscious Journey Back to Self,” that’s equal parts memoir, self-help book and cookbook rolled into a beautiful, page by page deep dive into the interconnections with food, nutrition and ourselves.

Her words read like a love letter to the inner journey of growing into one’s self, finding grace while learning, and treating food as an act of self-love. “This is what food is about,” she says. “How does it make us feel on the inside, and how do our choices make us feel? How do we find harmony between our inner needs, desires, wishes and wants and harmonize that with the outer life circumstances we have found ourselves in.”

A fifth-generation Idahoan, Jamie grew up part-time on a dude ranch in the Frank Church Wilderness, where her family roots grounded her understanding of connectedness to the land. She lived in Seattle and traveled throughout Italy and France, experiencing and exploring all that the vast cultures had to offer. In her younger years, that meant eating and drinking up the cultural wonders through amazing cocktails, rich cheeses and all the delicious food along the way.

Then, in her early twenties, she landed back in Idaho, this time in Ketchum. Fast forward a few years, her understanding and fascination with food and nutrition intensified when she attended a Medical Intuitive session by happenstance as part of the Sun Valley Wellness Festival. A psychotherapist told her she was lactose intolerant. Jamie was confused and curious. So, she decided to test this theory out. Turns out, the lack of dairy was healing. She noticed her inflammation lesson, her energy increased and her body felt better overall.

“Until that no-dairy experiment, it never occurred to me how food mattered viscerally or energetically,” Jamie says in the prologue of her book. “I’d survived adolescence, my undergrad years, and a couple of stints in Europe thinking I’d had a grasp on healthy eating. I began to consider food as something more complex than just fuel. It was the essence of life.”

When the pandemic hit, Jamie found herself with a little more time at her disposal and leaned into this lesson she had learned about herself. “I was really grounded in myself and decided to start writing this book,” she says. “All things come with the right timing and the right intention. I realized I would never impact my children, family or clients if they didn’t know my story. I wanted to normalize that I am not a crazy cooky health foodie, and this is a journey.”

“Clean Food, Messy Life” takes this initial lesson Jamie uncovered and explores it tenfold. Chapter by chapter, Jamie travels through her personal journey of growth and learning while juxtaposed with her sprouting understanding of food and nourishment. Readers will be engulfed by her relatable experiences and feel pulled to devour each and every recipe, like easy peasy pesto or saucy tofu with veggies, all eloquently paired with her stories. She describes the lessons in the book as twofold.

“It is lessons about how our food values or the way we eat or how we choose to eat affects our relationship,” she says. “How can we soften the edges around our choices and still maintain our relationships with other people?” Getting people to rethink how their choices affect the outer world.”

Then, she says, there is the inner story.

“The desire for people to be inspired and rethink how they are doing things for themselves,” she says. “It is not just