I had to go to the mall on Thursday. As I walked around I was looking at everyone. Really looked. Yeah, I'm a creeper, what can I say? There are so many people who are unhealthy. I know I'm starting to sound like a nut, but it was sad. About half of them were walking around eating even more junk. Pretzels with "cheese", coffee with all kinds of syrups and who knows what in it, many had cookies since a new cookie place opened up there. You can't make someone change their life, you can't force feed someone health food. Or can you? We've been force fed fast food, convenience foods, junk, sugar through TV ads, magazine ads, etc. There's no point in hoping they would change and start telling the truth now.
I've been watching TV today and once you start paying attention it's amazing how many ads there are saying how "healthy" some things are. They at least imply it. Egg Beaters are "made from eggs only better". Fortified milk. Juice with added vitamins. What the hell is wrong with a real egg, or fresh juice, or plain old milk? The only way to get food in it's natural state any more is to seek out Whole Foods Co-ops or Farmer's Markets. Society makes it difficult to eat right, and fucking expensive.
Now I realize, I could grow my own food and that would be considerably less expensive. Grow veggies in the summer, grow my own herbs and shit. There's one serious problem with this. I can't grow fucking mold! I've tried having plants and even a garden. I simply don't have time for that shit and I suck at it. I'm very good at a lot of things, trust me. Growing things is not one of them. I guess I'm stuck trying to find it where I can. It'll be better in the summer with the Farmer's Market up and running, but up here in the frozen tundra we're sadly limited on our growing season.
So if anyone has any bright ideas, I'm all for hearing them. I really don't mind terribly paying a little more to have good healthy food without all the chemicals and added shit. It's worth it to me. If however there's an alternative, I'm all for hearing it.
We shop simple. We buy mostly produce - very little else. Whole grains can be purchased at bulk food stores - they stay fresher longer because there is higher turnover at a bulk store. Make sure you store your grains (rice, oats, quinoa) in airtight containers and in a dark, cool place - I use the freezer. They stay fresher longer - the oils in some grains can become rancid after 2 months and they taste horrible. When it comes to meat, I don't really eat it. Sometimes I have turkey, and I like fish, but that's it. When Christine wants some red meat, we get it from her parent's farm. Red meat isn't bad, but you really want grass fed beef, not that shit they sell in the supermarket.
ReplyDeleteSince I live in Canada, it's hard to have a year round garden. Last summer we bought into a coop organic vegetable farm. Fresh veggies every week. What we couldn't eat, we washed, trimmed and froze. There are so many things you can do to stretch that money dollar. Hang in there and don't give up - you are doing GREAT!!!!