More Food

The more I read, the more I realize how little thought I gave to what I was eating.  Since my last post, I have done a lot of thinking about food, the food supply, the impact on our environment, and the animals themselves.  A couple of statements in Alicia Silverstone's book, The Kind Diet, made me cringe.  Ok, I'll admit, I cried.  It was a tough read but it opened my eyes a bit wider.  I thought about all the resources that go into raising cattle, chickens, etc and thought about the quality of their lives and about the death of these animals.  When you really stop and give it meaningful thought, it affects you.  I don't mean to say that everyone should stop eating meat.  People need to make their own choices, but I do hope more people will pause and think about what they're eating.  Maybe one step is to make a conscious decision to not eat meat or eggs from animals that you know have not been raised in healthy conditions.  I'm pretty sure the chickens used for restaurants such as Boston Market have not been living in good conditions.  The volume is too great.  The conveniences of our lives have an effect on the animals used for that convenient food.  Maybe instead of grabbing an already cooked chicken with those yummy sides, we buy a chicken that has been raised without antibiotics being pumped into it, and cook up some natural potatoes and carrots and a great salad.  I don't want to come off as preaching now that I've decided to change my ways, but all of this has me much more aware of what I'm putting in my mouth and I'm hoping that others will think about that as well and consider different choices.

So picking up where I left off.....I had started eating more healthy and looking for grass fed beef and incorporating more fruits and vegetables into my diet.  The more I read, however, the more I was motivated to stop eating meat all together.  Its not just that an animal died for me to enjoy a steak.  And I do enjoy a nice ribeye.  It was the whole package - their living conditions, their health, how they are treated, how they are killed, how scared they are entering the slaughterhouse, the reasons go on and on.  I also thought a lot about the environmental impact and the statistics I read were shocking.  I was convinced that I wanted to make a change.  Ok. Step one, stop eating meat.  Then my head started spinning as I read more about the environmental impact of my fruits and vegetables.  Have you ever paid much attention to where your produce is coming from?  I definitely had not.  I was reading about going vegan and learning about a macrobiotic diet as well.  While I was not ready to jump completely to the other side, I decided it would be good to research it all and incorporate some of it into my eating.  From that I became aware of how much of our produce was transported in from other countries, and the energy used to bring in mangoes and other produce for me to have my pick of anything I want all year round.  I just never thought of it that way.  So I found myself walking through Whole Foods paying attention to the signs stating where every fruit and vegetable originates from and my eyes opened even wider.  By this time I was dizzy.  I skipped my favorite mango salsa and made every attempt to buy food as local as I could find it, shooting for within New England.  Let me tell you, the tomatoes grown in Maine this time of year are very expensive!!  I also looked for local, free range eggs.  I have learned that the eggs I've been feeling great about buying, the ones that say they are from cage free birds, are not as wonderful as they seem.  While the birds may not be stuffed in cages, which is a good thing, they are not allowed outside to breath fresh air and feel the sun on them.  That's not too much to ask, is it?  I now buy eggs from supposedly happy hens in Maine who do indeed walk around outside, have chats with their friends, enjoy some alone time when needed, and lay a damn tasty egg.  The eggs are prettier on the outside as well as having a bright orange yolk and a delicious flavor.  Ok, done?  Not so fast.  I also bought some tofu and soy based meat alternative and soy based veggie burgers and then in my next round of reading, discovered that isn't such a great choice.  It turns out that it takes a lot of energy to grow soy beans and create these wonderfully packaged foods, and a lot of the soy comes from outside the country.  Back to my research I went.  I learned about different protein sources and how various beans can be my friend.  I bought kidney beans and great northern beans in bulk and will for the first time in my life, soak and cook beans rather than scrape them out of a can.  I'm looking forward to trying interesting dishes with my beans.

So will I never again bite into a ribeye or enjoy an avocado without guilt about how far it travelled to get to my mouth?  I will eat avocados, but I will also buy as much local produce as I can.  I can't say I won't ever eat meat again.  This is something that I want to do now, and it will take effort for me to eat healthy vegetarian food.  I think about how easy it was for me to hit a drive-thru and get a burger and fries.  Cutting that out alone is a great positive change.  I'm experimenting with more food than I ever had before.  My refrigerator is full of fruits and vegetables and my cabinet is full of nuts and beans. I enjoy what I'm eating and I feel better.  It's what works for me and I'll make adjustments as I go.  I believe this is part of the process of me taking my life back, getting control over myself and getting back to that fun person who laughed a lot and did adventurous things.  McDonald's doesn't control me any longer and I am proud to say I am Big Mac free!!!!!  Ok, that was silly.  Good.

Food, Food, Complicated Food

I've had this subject on my mind for about 4 days and have been meaning to write it, but have been very busy grocery shopping, chopping, cooking, eating, and cleaning.  So let me back up a bit.  While awake very early in the morning, my usual routine, I was getting caught up on what my dvr had saved for me.  One was an Oprah episode about food.  She had on Michael Pollan, author of Food 101 and it blew me away.  Now, I've dabbled in healthy eating and have thought about the lives of the animals.  I buy cage free eggs because I can't stand to think about those poor things stuffed into crates, and I need to have the vision of a happy bird laying eggs for my nourishment.  I was a vegetarian for a few years back in the mid 90's but I wasn't a healthy one.  I just didn't eat meat.  It didn't stop me from eating potato chips.  I gave it up on my first Thanksgiving in California, when I just couldn't bear to skip the turkey.  I must say it took a while for my stomach to get used to processing meat again, so that evening wasn't a fun time for me.  Anyway, back to the point of this.  Michael Pollan had a lot of interesting points and I began thinking about the food I eat, how much of it was processed food, how the animals are treated, and it inspired me to make better choices about what I put in my mouth.  Oprah also discussed the documentary Food Inc.  I haven't watched it yet, but she showed a clip and I know I need to prepare myself to watch it, but it won't be easy.  One point that really grabbed me was the comparison of the percent of an American's income spent on food years ago (high), and the percent spent on healthcare (low).  Since that time, the amount of income we now spend on food is greatly reduced, but the amount we spend on healthcare is becoming higher and higher.  We're eating ourselves into diabetes and death.  It was also pointed out that a family of 4 can eat more cheaply at a fast food restaurant than they can if they bought fresh vegetables and meat at a grocery store, so people are incentivized to eat unhealthy food.

As I listened to the show I thought about the dinner I had made the night before; pasta mixed with Velveeta cheese, salsa, and ground turkey.  It was easy and tasty.  Trust me, I don't use Velveeta frequently, but ease of a meal had been winning out for a long time.  I was inspired to make a change and think about the quality of the food and the lives of the animals I was consuming.  Next stop?  Whole Foods.  I bought my favorite fresh mango salsa, kale and apples for my juicer (but I forgot the carrots!!), and I ventured out of my comfort zone and picked up coconut milk.  Not the thick kind in a can, but alongside the milk and soy milk.  Coconut milk!  I'm willing to give it a try.  I also foraged through the nuts and granolas and packed up non-salted and non-sweetened pecans and walnuts.  I also bought grass-fed beef; 2 small steaks and ground beef.  If they had to die, I'm happy knowing they were munching on grass as they should, and not corn or even worse, their own cousins.  To top it all off, I discovered Whole Foods muesli bread.  Now you will rarely find me typing this but.....OMG.  This bread has nuts, seeds, fruits, and probably a few trees in it.  It is absolutely delicious and I wish I could fall asleep with a warm loaf next to me in bed.

Since my shopping trip, I've done a pretty good job of preparing dinner for my Mother and myself.  Last night we had spinach with a little dressing, cut up pears, a handful of nuts, chunks of avocado and some super sharp cheddar because I just love cheddar.  Muesli bread also made an appearance.  Tonight we had basmati rice (yes, brown rice would have been better but I'm not perfect).  I also included sauteed asparagus and sauteed mushrooms, and a mixture of cherry tomatoes, mozzarella hunks and balsamic vinegar and olive oil.  I had already killed off the basil I purchased last week.  For my work lunches and snacks so far this week (two whole days), I've brought nuts for all day nibbling, muesli bread because I don't go anywhere without it now, cheddah (said with a Boston accent), pears, and hummus.

I haven't done the juicing yet.  I need to pick up some carrots as they are the main ingredient for my juice.  I add kale, apples, pears, and anything else in my kitchen that I think will juice well.  I use beets when I have them, but you must use them sparingly as the flavor is quite strong and it will overpower everything else.  It really makes a delicious drink.

I know there will be days when I want a hot bowl of french fries, and I'll have them occasionally.  I'm aiming to make more good choices than bad, and fit a bit of exercise in.  Its a good goal.

Before I go I must update you on the cat's diet.  I believe I mentioned before that I was switching them all to a more healthy food.  I've played around with it a bit and am still serving up the Ziwi Peak and have added in raw food from Especially for Pets, the best pet food store around.  I also use Addiction cat food and have noticed BIG changes in the last 2 weeks.  First of all, we don't all run and hide when they use the litter boxes.  My Mother's in-law apartment is small so when a cat would do his poopadoop, it would stink up the place and my Mother would have to put on the ceiling fan to try to move the gas cloud out.  I realized yesterday that there hasn't been a stinky turd in at least a week.  In addition, my two old boys who live with me have increased energy.  The one who uses stairs to get onto my bed (yes, I bought him pet steps) actually jumped onto my bed last night.  That hasn't happened in years!  I'm feeling good about these changes and feeling good that my cats are no longer eating more healthy than I am.

I'll keep you all posted on our progress, human and feline.  I'll be sure to write and let you know how the coconut milk went down.