food consciousness

I am having a really fun time snapping pictures in the garden once in a while when I go out to gather. . .our garden is very photogenic :)

Thinking about food. We do that. I have been talking for a few months about starting a spreadsheet so that we can be more aware of where we are purchasing our food and what our intake is. Last month we spent a ridiculous amount of money on food. This happens easily when you try to buy organic/free range/antibiotic-free/grass fed/local/fresh/hormone-free/cruelty-free/gluten-free . . .umm, when you try to eat consciously. The real problem is if you continue eating the usual way. That is, meat at least once a day, buying processed grains (cereals, crackers, breads), and unlimited dairy.

We usually cut the price down by limiting meat.

Meat is considered a luxury

in the summer (or special occasion, or if we have physically worked extra hard and need a boost). If we are traveling and come across a natural co-op that has special local meats we will splurge . . .or for cute little girls who are picky eaters :) . . .

we splurge on meat while Ivy and Zoe are here. Ivy is a meat girl.

With non-local, non-happy

(not grass fed, pumped full of antibiotics and hormones etc.) meat it may seem cheaper, but someone somewhere is truly paying the price. It is also not that great for your body. I could go into this much deeper, but I will stop here and say, watch the movie Food Inc. Personally, most

non-happy meat makes me sick to my stomach because I am not used to it. I have realized recently that a lot of people think that bloated-after-you-eat feeling is part of being "full", normal. It is hard to change your lifestyle. It is really hard to change a family's lifestyle.

Add more beans.

Beans are so good for you! They get things moving, but if you eat them regularly your amount toxic smells from inside will decrease as your colon becomes cleaner and healthier and your enzymes level out. Hey, there's always Beano--just remember you are supposed to take it before the meal.

Dried beans are cheap. The big thing is, remember to soak them the night before. Most beans are not a complete protein, though, so remember to add a grain like rice when eating them at a meal. Make them yummy

with spices like bay, basil, thyme, hot sauce, salt (of course),Braggs amino acids can be used as a salt substitute (tastes like soy sauce). I often add onions, garlic, and tomatoes from the garden and toss them in the slow cooker on low in the morning.

Processed grains.

Boxes of cereal at o

ur house are usually a treat. Phoenix loves Envirokids Gorilla Crunch. We try to cook up rice instead or an alternate grain. We are pretty rice-happy here though. Rice is an alkaline food that helps balance the commonly over-acidic diet of Americans (acidic pH causes a lot of health problems). I do need to look into rice a little closer though, and figure out the ecological impact of getting it here. The most local I have found so far is California. Though we tend to pay a little more for organic, rice is still cheap.

We splurge on gluten-free bread. It is very expensive. I am very allergic to gluten, not fun. It is easy to get into the habit of having bread all the time though. In fall and winter we will bake more, but right now bread is also a luxury/special treat. We like to buy Just Bee Gluten Free, a local woman just started this company and has yummy bread products.

Fruits and Veggies.

Start a garden! Organic fruits and veggies are expensive. They also go bad fast if you buy them from the store because they have traveled and have no preservatives. We also joined a CSA because we got our garden in late. Cindy at Hawkeye Farms has great food and I have really enjoyed talking with her.

Dairy.

My weakness is ice-cream (or gelatto!). Jerome's weakness is ice-cream. Phoenix' weakness is ice-cream. That

puts us almost eating ice-cream almost all the time . . . in hot weather we lose willpower. Obviously, though, ice-cream is a luxury, a treat.

We have found a local farm that we can bring our own container to and get milk. We go about once a week a

nd Phoenix gets to run around with the farmers' daughter to watch ponies, cows, and chickens. We limit our milk intake to this and supplement with homemade soymilk. I use organic dried soy beans, soak them overnight, and then put them in the soymilk maker that I ordered off of ebay a few years ago when Phoenix was lactose intolerant.

Probiotics are important too. I need to get back into the habit of making my own yogurt. I got a really great culture from my Touch For Health, Applied Kinesiology, instructor.

Ok, this is getting long. I'm going to stop here for now. We are uber-focusing on food this month so I'm sure there will be more posts on this subject as I get a chance to do more research, fill in our spreadsheet (we started it this month! --nerds), and make some fun graphs.