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.