Archive for Body Wisdom
One of the loudest arguments against buying organic foods is the cost! Organic is so expensive compared to…what? Ordinary food? And what are we getting with ordinary, cheap food? And why is organic food so much more expensive?
First, a tiny bit of history. Back in the 40’s and early 50’s your budget was very simple: 25% for housing, 25% for food, and 50% for everything else. Today we are complaining that food costs too much, and yet it is only 7.5% of the household budget. Hum-m-m-m-m…
The big food producers, the agribusinesses, have almost taken over. They have access to the government subsidies and use all that our technology can provide. In the mean time, the very chemicals designed to “improve” the soil and increase production have, instead, diminished the health of the soil to the point where it is almost dead. Production is down, nutrients in our food is down (it now takes 30 bowls of spinach to add up to the vitamins and minerals found in one bowl of spinach in the 50’s), and we are basically ingesting a huge load of chemicals, pesticides, herbicides, and ‘manufactured’ nutrition.
Cheap food is almost completely without nutritional value, and we go away from the table hungry. Our bodies are not satisfied, and we want more food. The more of the manufactured food we eat, the more weight we are carrying and the more we want because we are still hungry!!
You remember the old saying: “You get what you pay for”? Organic food costs more because ounce for ounce it has more in it. [There are other reasons, of course, but I’m just pointing out one piece to this enormous puzzle.] So ask yourself: do you go out and buy the cheapest clothes, the cheapest car, the cheapest tools? Why not? Because they are really not as good? Because they won’t last and aren’t really a savings in the long run?
Since food, good healthy food, means the difference between being healthy and being sick, maybe it’s time to rethink where you really want to spend your money. You need and eat much less food if you have local whole foods. You feel better and have a better attitude with really good, nourishing foods. I have read that up to 80% of the people who are depressed in today’s society simply need to take all the trace minerals that are missing from factory foods to feel better again.
Give it a try, a two week try. Right now is the season of bounty. Farmers markets are bountiful with wonderful fresh foods. Put the money you would spend on factory foods into what is on sale and organic. Experience the marvelous feeling of being full and well nourished! Fill up your mouth with things your taste buds will notice and enjoy!
Bonne Appetite!
I love having good food for myself and my family! You might say it’s one of my passions! In fact we are a family of ‘foodies’ and have been long before the word was coined. You can hear us having conversations about heirloom tomatoes from my daughters abundant garden, and summer salads of balsamic vinegar, new greens and watermelon. Yum, yum!
Of course, having an urban life, I also go to the grocery store. I love the selections and variety as much as anyone, and sometimes just browse the aisles looking for new food and sales on old favorites. Much to my dismay, this is no longer fun! There are fewer and fewer foods I can feel good about buying now.
In the late 70’s while I had young kids, I read the labels for sugar. I’d read John Lennon’s favorite book “Sugar Blues” and took the hint! With a hyperactive child I cut out red dyes and overly processed foods. Later on I watched the fats and washed the pesticides off the veggies and fruits. Preservatives came under scrutiny next, so these were eliminated from our diet.
I took a hiatus from food label scrutiny after all my kids were out on their own. I felt safe in doing so, sure I now knew what was what in the packaged goods I bought. After all, I had peered at every label more than a dozen times, pretty much memorized the contents. I cooked from raw ingredients most of the time because I like to cook!
Then, in the first decade of this millennium, I noticed I was slowly but surely gaining weight. How could that be? I ate very well and hadn’t put on a pound in years (well maybe a pound or two). So I started looking at labels again and noticed an ingredient I was not that familiar with: high fructose corn sweetener (HFCS). Looking it up, I discovered it was a substance the body can’t use so it immediately converts it to fat. It also had the alarming property of ‘fooling’ the body into thinking it hadn’t eaten, so you wanted more since you were still hungry!
After cutting out all HFCS from my diet, I lost 10 lbs in two weeks. Hummmm….
Today my shopping is more vigilant than ever. I’ve conquered the HFCS problem, however I am now faced with the hidden toxins of GMO’s glaring at me from the shelves. This is now in 80% of all our prepacked foods and can be found in old stand-bys like Boca Burgers (bought by Kraft) and most items that have any corn, soy, canola, or beet sugar in them. The only foods you can be sure do not have GMO’s are organic or say no GMO’s on the label.
What’s the big fuss? It just so happens the genetically modified seeds are specifically designed to be untouched by pesticides and herbicides. Some of them even manufacture their own poisons. This means they can be sprayed with Roundup throughout the growing cycle, right up to harvest. This poison is then taken into their system and is found in the harvested plant. Genetic modification has altered soy beans so much that there are many times more powerful allergens in them than they had before.
So now a peaceful stroll down the aisles of the grocery store is gone. Four GMO’s in this, three GMO’s in that, what’s a woman to do? Well, as has been said before, buy local, seasonal, organic, sustainable, fair-trade foods! You think it costs too much? In the 1940’s food was 25% of your income. Now it’s 7.5%. You get what you pay for! Would you buy the cheapest car on the market just because it was cheap?
And what if you saved $1000.00 in doctor bills and prescriptions just by buying good, clean food? Is that worth it?
I am one of those fortunate people that never lost touch with being able to find out what foods my body wants. I feel part of this is great genetics; part of this was being raised by a Mom who used portion size and dish size to indicate what a normal amount of something was; and part of this was having a Dad who changed what he ate and the amount he ate when the activity changed. The last part was trusting my inner knowing to decide on foods and amounts that suited me in the moment.
This is evident in some patterns and habits I have that seem to be quite different from most of my friends and acquaintances. If I am hungry and can’t find anything in the refrigerator or cupboards that interests me, I drink a glass of water or have a cup of herb tea. I take this as a sign to fast for the moment. When all I want is one item for a meal, I go with that, even if it seems a bit odd – like a whole bunch of kale or a grapefruit or two. Since I sometimes only want a bite or two of something and at other times I want a lot, I figure it all balances out.
Seasons also bring changes in what foods I want and how much! In fact I will gain roughly 10 pounds by January. In cold climates in winter, I want root crops, stews, meat, and hearty soups. I love the tougher greens (collards, kale, and turnip greens) as well, fermented foods (sour kraut), and have more good fats as the weather gets colder and the ground freezes. My warmer clothes reflect these body changes and also allow for an extra layer under them when needed.
Ah, spring! As the weather warms, I start craving fresh greens, lighter fare, and also start shedding the winter weight. Summer brings mostly raw veggies and fruits, salads, more salt and much less fat. Off comes the weight, and my summer clothes are a size smaller than the winter ones. This has been my pattern for as long as I can remember – except when I lived in Tucson, AZ. There is no deep chill building to a freezing winter in Tucson, and lo and behold, no weight gain either! After realizing that, I haven’t worried about ‘winter weight’ again.
Another trigger for changes in diet for me is the amount of physical activity I am doing that day. When I am getting up early to work as a landscaper/garden maintenance laborer for 8 hours outside, I have 2 eggs, 2 pieces of sausage or bacon, fruit, yogurt, coffee and even a piece of toast. Without the protein I am starving by 10am! Lunch is big as well however supper is quite small. When I am not doing hard physical labor, my breakfast is yogurt and fruit, and I usually only have two meals a day.
I believe we were all born knowing what we need, how much, and when; I also believe that many of us can re-invigorate this inner sense by being very conscious of what we put in our mouths and what our unique physique requires. We may have gotten the idea that we had to learn what was good for us, and why, so that we would eat the right things at the right time. I believe instead this ‘education’ has confused a normal, organic knowing each of us is born with. Inner dialogue with your body is a helpful tool to cultivate and it will give you a better personal idea of your own requirements for food, rest, and relaxation.
