Sunday, March 10, 2013

Episode 70: Whole

Wow.. new blog window.  Kind of looks like Google Docs! Cool!

I went to the grocery store today to pick up some stuff that we needed around the house.  Some of those essential things that seem to be on everybody's weekly shopping list.  Today I bought: a half gallon of milk, a dozen eggs and a loaf of bread.

A couple of years ago, that would have been just those things. The half gallon of milk would have probably been 2%, the bread would have been cheap white bread and the eggs would be the store brand.  Today, those purchases were very different.  I bought whole milk, cage free eggs and multigrain whole wheat bread. Not to presume what you are thinking, dear reader, but I know that many people would say "Wait a minute! That milk is bad for you!  It's got all sorts of fat in it and you should drink something with less fat.  It's better for you!"  This may be true, but.. let me justify myself a bit.

I believe in whole foods. If I could find and drink raw milk and cream, I would, but pasteurized is good enough, since it is just a process that heats and cools the milk, killing bacteria, so it doesn't kill you. Other than process, and skimming off the milk fats to make butter (which I also buy in whole fat variety), that's about all the processing I would really like to see my foods go through. If I could live on a farm where I could make sure that my chickens are well treated and well fed and their eggs are healthy, I would, but the eggs I buy are certified by the American Humane society, which is good enough for me.  When I have time and the inclination, I make my own breads, so that I know that it is whole wheat flour that goes into it, and I know I'm not using artificial chemicals to make that bread last longer in my bread box.  Sure, it's not sliced to perfect uniformity, but I feel better knowing what goes into my bread won't kill me or make me even sicker.

We live in an age where everything is highly processed.  We drink and eat things with high fructose corn syrup, where the sugars have been pulled out of corn, melted down, made into syrup and added back into things that have sugar in them.  Much of our food has chemicals that are nearly impossible to pronounce added to them.  Much of our food comes from a plant where workers and machines process whole foods into something that doesn't even look like food anymore and then add dyes and chemicals so that it looks like food again and is something that we will bring to our table and share with our family.

If I have children, I want to be able to raise them to make healthy choices and eat real food, food like it used to taste in the time of my grandmother and my great grandmother.  I want them to choose foods that are good for them.  I buy whole milk.  I buy fresh, cage free eggs. These are the choices that I make for myself and my family.

I've been making these choices for myself for over a year now.  Though I haven't lost a lot of weight (mostly because of my sloth-like lifestyle and lack of willpower, which I will get to in a future post), there have been a lot of changes because of these choices.  My skin is healthier and clear where I used to get tons of acne.  My perpetual battle with cold sores has become nearly non-existent.  My cheeks are rosier and I recently went into my hairdresser, who I visited a year ago, and she was amazed at how fast my hair grows and how much healthier, thicker and fuller it was.  My energy levels are increasing, I can do a lot more for myself.  I am empowered... I am healthier, I am happier and I feel like I am becoming whole again.

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