My New Obsession...

Obsession= An idea or thought that continually preoccupies or intrudes on a person's mind.

I have a serious obsession with food.  Not like I'm eating all the time obsession but I just can't stop thinking about new foods and recipes to try.  I look forward to going grocery shopping like never before...even when I went with loads of coupons and knew I'd get stuff for free.

I have been on a "journey" to this point for a few years now.  I've flirted with the idea of veganism and real food for a while but the interest never turned to a commitment.  During winter break, I read a few books (namely The Kind Life, The China Study, Clean Food) and watched the documentary Forks Over Knives (based on The China Study-- highly recommended, it's not gross like other documentaries, it's just two doctors talking about the findings from their 30 year research on food...truly eye opening. if you have cancer histories in your family, WATCH it!) and so many things have clicked in my head.

I have to mention the one moment that turned the switch in my head and it may be TMI for some but here we go:  I watched Forks over Knives in 15 minute periods via Netflix while I pumped milk for Liam in the morning and at night.  One morning as I'm hooked up to my pump and watching, the doctors (one of which grew up on a dairy farm) explained that once cows are impregnated, they are taken away from the field and kept continuously pregnant.  Why?  Because cows, just like humans, only produce milk for their young and so if a cow is not pregnant, we can't get milk.  COMMON SENSE...yet I had never REALLY thought about that.  It just shows the disconnect we have with the source of our food.  Then he went on to explain that the cows are hooked up to the milking machines, which are not gentle farmer's hands, and kept in their cages and milked continuously.  Something about me watching and listening to this as I, myself, was hooked up to a "milking machine" was so very sad and disturbing to me.  I just thought about how awful it would feel to have no life other than to satisfy some other species' want (milk is not a "need" for adult humans).  Then something else just clicked....why do we drink cow's milk in the first place?  Here I am providing milk for my baby and then suddenly at the age of 1 we are told the baby doesn't need his mom's milk but instead switch him to a different species' milk and give him cow's milk!?!?!  It doesn't make sense and it's kind of gross when you really think about it.  We're the only species that drinks another's milk.
Anyhow...long story but that moment made me analyze food and what we eat in a completely different way.  It is about common sense and not the "knowledge" that we are fed by giant corporations (like the National Dairy Council who spends millions of dollars to tell us "Milk is good").  

So, basically for my sociologists friends...I've taken a conflict's perspective on the food industry (is there any other way to look at it when you see their profits?).  I am now obsessed with finding REAL food, in its most natural state and providing that for my family.  It takes a bit of time and energy to research and find real food.  For the past two weeks that's all I've done.

I should mention that I had previously watched the documentary, Food, Inc.  I also thought that was a great documentary.  I know some people don't want to watch it because they're afraid of what they might learn about their food...which baffles me in a way.  Even if it doesn't move you to make drastic changes, it's good to be informed about your food and where it comes from so you can make informed decisions.
Anyhow, I think I blogged about it at some point and how after Nick and I watched it, we thought we would not eat anymore meat. And we didn't.  For a few months.  Then we did.  Sometimes for the convenience.  Other times to be polite.  That documentary made me think mainly of how animals are treated.  How we breed animals just to be killed.  That's not what the whole documentary is about but that was our main take away.  I could not get the little chicks breaking out of their shells, and then put in a conveyor belt at Tyson out of my mind- they were property from day 1.  The difference with Forks over Knives is that the main takeaway here is human health.  Food is a drug.  It can heal us, or it can poison us.  I cared about animals but of course, I care more about humans.  Now that I think of food as nourishment and its healing qualities it's easy to make the change.  The data presented in the documentary is pretty extraordinary.  

Also reading Clean Food taught me the importance of eating what's in season for the region.  Nature is pretty extraordinary and it's all synced.  There's a reason why the vegetables in season during winter are warm and hearty and why summer veggies and fruits refresh us and cool us.  But with how we produce food, how we now ship food across the world- from tropical climates to cold winters- and have gotten used to the convenience of finding anything and everything we could want at any time of year, we've lost touch with the natural cycle.  I found this so interesting and again it makes total sense.

I'm in transition at the moment.  I still have things in the pantry that do not meet our new "standard" but I will not be bringing in anything else that is highly processed into the house.  I am also shocked at how many things are in my pantry that I thought were ok or even "healthy" but are not as much.  For example, I was tricked by the packaging on pasta.  It said "whole grain pasta" and I automatically thought that was the good pasta but when I read the ingredients I realized that it's not 100% whole grain and it still contains refined white flour and other not so great ingredients.  See this link for the difference in the whole grain labels and what you should be looking for in grains.  That blog (www.100daysofrealfood.com) has been my inspiration.  The family cut out all processed foods...would not eat anything that came from a box/can that had more than 5 ingredients total or anything that you couldn't pronounce.  What's great is that they are from the Charlotte area so I can access the same stores/resources she did.  

At the moment, our family is a bit split on our "diet".  I will follow a plant-based diet (i.e. vegan- no milk, eggs, cheese or animal products of any kind).  I think I am finally ready for the commitment.  I understand now that to eat truly healthy I can't be a vegetarian trying to recreate traditional meat dishes (like when we use tofu crumbles instead of ground beef) because you end up using a lot of processed foods which are not that great for us anyway (better than non-organic beef but not the best).  So, I'm making the change.  Nick is not quite ready and he is following a vegetarian diet but still includes cheese.  We have all cut out cow's milk and are now loving almond milk and coconut milk instead.
At home this is quite easy to do.  It's a bit of a challenge to eat out with these new restrictions.  As a result of this change, we won't be eating out as much, if any. To be honest, neither of us enjoy eating out anymore.  It is a lot of work to go to a restaurant with two kids.  Liam is never happy just sitting in his car seat which means I'm eating with my left hand most of the time, as I hold him with my right.  It's getting harder to do now since he wants to reach for everything!  Gavin usually starts loosing it a bit by the time we get the food.  It's stressful for me to think about eating at a restaurant.  Not to mention the fact that I ALWAYS find something in my food.  It never fails...I have a hair in my food, a piece of plastic from the bag where the food was kept, another type of food in my food, or my fork/knive or plate are not clean and I have to ask for replacements.  It just never fails.  The "piece of plastic" in my food is actually funny if you think about it....we paid 4 times the cost for something that came ready made in a bag and heated in a microwave probably?!?!?
So, I'm more than happy to cook at home and have full control of the food we eat.

Gavin will eat anything I put in front of him so he's pretty easy that way...at home!  I suspect this will be a challenge once he starts school and is surrounded by others who are not on the same path.  We'll see how I handle that.  :)