I pretty much grew up on a diet of frozen chicken chunks and curly-q french fries. Despite my mom’s efforts to get us to eat healthy she was battling 3 picky kids (and a picky husband) while trying to prepare 3 square meals a day for all of us. It was understandably a bit much so she – like all moms I knew – frequently succumbed to the temptation of quick, easy, microwaveable, processed meals. Dinner’s ready in 10 minutes! Woo hoo!
I then went to college and was proud of myself that I learned how to make Hamburger Helper. I thought this was healthy. It certainly tasted good. I also learned how to pour Prego spaghetti sauce out of a jar into a pan and heat it up. I also cooked the pasta. Again, I was proud of this new skill. The fact that I had to use TWO pots made it seem like I was really cooking. Combine these meals with all the beer I was consuming and I was lookin’ good!
THEN I moved to LA. I learned all about organic this and vegetarian that. Agave syrup, what? Carob, huh? It was a whole new world. I knew I wanted to treat my body better but even when I was armed with the information needed to do so it was always a struggle for me. I would be good for a few months then slip back into my old ways and wouldn’t care about it for a few months. Then I would feel gross and go back to caring again.
I am 35 years old and I finally feel like I’ve turned a real corner. I watched the documentary, Food, Inc., and read a book by Michael Pollan called “Omnivore’s Dilemna”. After both reading the book, then watching the documentary I decided enough was enough. Please don’t be scared of the movie. It’s not gory and it’s not about lecturing you and making you feel bad about what happens to animals on the farm before they end up in the grocery store. Meat is great! It’s intent is to educate us all about the state of food in America so that we can make an informed decision about what we want to put into our body.
I’ll stop here for today by recommending that you see the documentary (it’s on most “Video on Demand” cable services right now or you can rent it on iTunes) and/or read Michael Pollan’s book (he has others as well). JUST to educate yourself as a first step. In subsequent Tuesdays, I’ll talk about the changes I’ve made and how you can do the same once you decide you’re ready. The biggest step is saying, “Okay, I’m ready to make a change.”
-Poster from the documentary with a few tidbits of information
The Whole Package 