Finally a real change?

I'm becoming a little obsessed with something.

My food.

It started several years ago when I started having issues with my weight. Then that turned into concern about sugar in my food. I even wrote about how evil I thought sugar was when I did the 60 mile walk a few years back - all they had for snacks was sugar stuff! That turned into worrying about where the heck my food came from. That turned into many more steps that eventually led me to watch a movie called "Food, Inc."

I spent part of my childhood in soybean country in the deep south, on my parent's dairy. Watching a documentary about the control and takeover of that type of farming by huge corporations who ran small farmers out of business simply made me open my eyes.

Have you ever gone to the grocery store and just looked at where all of the food you're buying comes from? It's pretty much from a handful of companies. All of it. And, try to find something that does not have added sugar in it.

It's nearly impossible.

That bothered me. That was a few months ago.

So then I decided to make some dietary changes - no more fast food, no more cokes. It was a start. My reasoning behind that was simple: I love fast food. I love McDonald's double cheeseburgers and cokes. I love french fries. But it was getting to where I wanted to eat that stuff every day. You can't tell me it's not poison for our bodies and that it's not addictive because it IS.

Besides weight gain, I started noticing how tired I was all of the time, how grumpy I was, how difficult it was becoming to maintain my concentration at work much less maintain a positive attitude, which has always been important to me.

Soooo.... this morphed into some drastic changes about 4 weeks ago: I changed what we eat. (because where I go, Steve goes :) ) We stopped eating out. We started cooking nearly every meal with fresh meats and produce. We cut out all of the "white death" (white rice, potatoes, bread). We essentially started the Atkins Diet - which I've always thought highly of. In fact, lately my answer for people who say, "isn't that an unhealthy diet?" is: yeah, until you become diabetic eating the shit you eat.... then you'll be forced into the low carb lifestyle.

Now THIS part led me to another path as well. I joined a local organic food co-op. We get to buy local produce from organic farmers as well as fresh farmed meats from organic farms in CA. Occasionally someone local provides us with something yummy like freshly slaughtered lamb. There is a leg, some steaks and some stew meat in the freezer that I cannot wait to cook!

Another part I'm excited about is our ability to obtain raw dairy products. Raw. Not pasteurized. And, it's from an organic farm right here in CA. I'm waiting for my first shipment of raw milk, raw cream, raw butter - not sure how I'll like it, although as a kid I loved it - and I have to watch how much I eat because of the diet changes (milk has a fair amount of carbs in it) but I'll keep it in moderation and enjoy it.

Being a non-fruit eater overall, I've made some changes there, too. I've started slow, with adding berries to my diet. Amazingly, once I cut out the sugar and fast food, I started craving strawberries! Yes, me, the person who hates fruit, started eating berries every night. I've expanded that to include blueberries, raspberries - you name it. Things taste different when you cut out the crap in your food.

No more sugary peanut butter - just plain ol' ground up peanuts. I add some flaxseeds to a spoon of it and it's like nature's perfect food for me. :)

What all of this means is that I'm making some huge changes to the way I eat. We will still go out to nice restaurants, etc. but not as much as we used to and we are totally avoiding fast food.

The bottom line is that I think there are major problems with the food we buy at the grocery store. I think there are major problems with corporate farming. I think there are major problems with food contamination. I think that unhealthy eating is shoved down our throats daily and it's damned hard to fight that.

End of the day - weight is falling off of me. I'm eating well, not starving like I did on weight watchers and having things I love. It's working for me. Sure, I'll indulge on occasion, but honestly... this is about soooo much more than weight loss for me, that I'm not sure I want to ever let myself go back. I'm also walking a lot - did 13 miles last Sunday - which is also extremely important to my well-being. I'll be up this Sat. at 5 am. making the pavement miles on my feet.

What is boils down to? The Farmers of America deserve my attention. Not corporate America, but Country America. Where the heart is. Where the health is. Where MY health is.