Small Changes

Reality: Some people strive on big, drastic changes.  It is exciting and results may be instantaneous.   However, when making health changes, barring surgery, the changes usually are more gradual in nature.  These types of changes also require more discipline over a longer period of time. I wish it were different.

I actually like healthy food.  I don't think there is any vegetable or fruit  I don't like.  I find that a key to choosing them over other snacks is making them convenient.  I find it amazing how quickly the veggies get eaten when I have them all cut up in a container.  I have begun buying organic baby carrots that are already cleaned and washed.  There are no short cuts that I know of for other veggies.

I have been moving steadily toward organics and find that many times the price difference is minimal especially since stores, like Aldi's, are moving in the direction of carrying more organic products.

I have been perusing issues of Vegetarian Times (VT) for recipes.  Note that just because something is vegetarian it does not mean that it is healthy.  I am dismayed at how many recipes try to replicate meat in some way.  I don't want to replicate meat in my diet.  I don't want tvp, seitan, or soy protein.  I just want to eat real healthy food to provide my family's bodies with what they need to perform how God created them to perform.

Served over pasta.  Recipe adapted form a recipe from VT.

Slow Going but Still Moving

Still working on slowly cleaning out the freezers.  I am probably eating meat about three times per week.  Still eating eggs, cheese, and other dairy for cooking.  My son cooked a meal for our family the other evening.  He made vindaloo with the tofu I had in the fridge.  Super spicy but very good.

We had potato burritos today.  Just chopped potatoes with onions, green peppers, and green chilis. Cooked in a couple tablespoons oil until tender and then wrapped. The family used tortillas but I used a low-carb wrap.  Very good, simple, and comfort food to us.

Last weekend I pulled a smoked turkey out of the freezer and baked it.  It was good but I still felt a bit funny about eating it.  It is funny how your perception of things change after you are exposed to new information.  I still think about the chickens who can only take a few steps because they are bred to be heavy to produce more meat even though their legs can't bear the weight.  That information just dulls ones appetite for factory farm poultry.

Since winter is upon us, not much is going on in the greenhouses or gardens.  Next year I would like to grow more storage crops such as sweet potatoes, white potatoes, and turnips.  I know the potatoes I buy are grown in Idaho and I refuse to by the Green Giant brand.  They nearly always have brown centers.  I'm not sure what causes it but I find it consistently in their product.  This year I grew my own sweet potatoes but I do not have nearly enough to last through the winter on a vegetarian diet.

Food storage is definitely a consideration for  those wanting to eat more local, seasonal, and organic.  The selection of items is going to be limited in winter and early spring.  I will have to can and freeze more than I do now.  I usually just do water bath canning but will have to invest in a pressure cooker for low acid foods.  Still in the learning curve of all of this, but progress is the goal.

Know Better, Do Better

Those words are part of something I heard Maya Angelou say years ago.  They are words that some follow automatically without thinking, some follow by making a conscious decision, and some never follow. I think that the quality of our own life and contribution to life as a whole requires that we apply those words.
I mentioned in my previous post that I am in the process of becoming vegetarian, again.  I, and subsequently my family as I was the cook, used to be vegetarians for about 3-4 years when living in the Southwest.  The decision was precipitated by road trips that required that we pass feed lots where many cattle were enclosed on a dry desert lot, fed corn, fattened up, and waited for death.
The smell was horrendous.  The sight was so unnatural.  Not a green plant within reach of any of them.  The space was so limited.  I decided not to support the industry.
I lived in an area where fruits and vegetables were plenty and everything was available year round I didn't think about pesticides or economics.  Almost anything could be wrapped in a tortilla.  I still used dairy and cheese and ate eggs.  We had adjusted and were doing well.
Then I moved to the Mid-west.  The cattle in the fields were so fat  The fields were so green.  The animals had so much space.  They appeared to be 'happy cows'.  Meat made its way back to the table. I made sure it was from the U.S.A. but it came back in all its forms. I had always gardened no matter where I lived but I decided to buy only produce grown in the U.S.A. other than bananas or other fruits that were not grown here. I did this for health and economic reasons.
Then I got Netflix.  Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead by Joe Cross was the first documentary.  I had already read Joel Fuhrman's book, Eat to Live and several others.  It began to look less and less like the need for animal protein was what it had been cracked up to be.  Then came documentaries such as Food Matters, Forks Over Knives, Food, Inc. and Cowspiracy.  These shows made me cry.  I could no longer be a part of the cycle.
I grew up in a rural area, We raised, killed, and I even plucked and cleaned our chickens to eat.  No problem.  Rabbits and pigs were raised and killed to put meat on the table.  No problem. Circle of life.  We were poor and really did need the protein and nutrition those animals added to the homegrown and home canned foods we lived on.  I have no problem with hunters.  If you enjoy deer meat and use the animal for food then I'm glad you can provide for yourselves and your family in this way.  Factory farming is a whole other perverted way of bringing food home.
That is why I am once again starting on this journey.  Guess what I had for dinner?  Fried Catfish!  I know, but remember, I am on a journey.  We had agreed to join another couple for this dinner almost a month ago.  I enjoyed their company and I enjoyed my fish and baked potato.  I wondered if I would get that feeling that I got the other day when I was going to take the last of the ground beef out of the freezer and make chili.  The beef is still there. I did enjoy the fish, for today anyway.