a fork in the road

:) :) get it?

so after last year's "fork in the road"--from velveeta to organic whole milk, from "i can't believe it's not butter" to red butter lettuce, from typical american southern girl to weird, organic, health nut...yours truly is still surviving!

i wish i could say that we have completely changed our eating habits and will never go back. that i feel as young as the day i was born. that we never get sick anymore and that our eyes are brighter. that E.G. no longer spits up or throws tantrums. but i would be lying.

but here is what has changed about our lives.

1) we quit couponing.

wow. i never thought i would. this from the girl who competitively couponed. who prided herself in a 90% savings rate. who shopped the inner aisles of publix with an eagle's eye and the stealth of a mongoose. a girl who really knew how to pick an indiscriminating cashier, knew the policies of nearly every grocery store, and whose tiny, vulnerable, newborn daughter visited walgreens, cvs, and publix (several times) within her first few weeks of life.

granted, i still clip the occassional diaper coupon. i still spring for free shampoo deals and watch the publix ad for BOGO's on glad bags. but, for the most part, i avoid the inner aisles of mainstream supermarkets. most of the food within these aisles is processed and contains either ingredients i can't pronounce or is high in processed grains and sugars. so for us, for now, in general, those foods didn't make the cut.

2) we read labels.

i'm not talking about the nutrition facts section, the part that lists the calories and fat. now i look at the list of ingredients and am still shocked by what i see. can you believe i never did this before? until i was forced to eliminate dairy and soy from my diet, i had scarcely ever taken a glance at the ingredients list on a box of crackers. but when i found myself forced to check, i was shocked at what i saw. probably most of you already knew that publix donuts have thirty ingredients. what?! and they are from the bakery! why not flour, yeast, sugar, milk, cream, and eggs??? WHY? i've been programmed to ignore the ingredients section on labels. but now, for the first time, i'm starting to understand that a major part of my diet is...chemicals. not even food. it's disturbing enough to even make this ruffles potato chip and ranch dip loving cowgirl shake in her boots. and it's enough to make me move on to making more stuff at home from more whole ingredients.

3) we buy local and organic.

and to think that i always rolled my eyes others who did.

now we frequent local farmers-market-type places. we are mapping out plans for our soon-to-come backyard veggie garden. and, best of all, we participate in a local, organic crop share where we rake in 15-20 varieties of fruits and veggies each week that we sign up. it's like christmas morning in a brown, paper box. i still feel giddy on wednesday mornings when i hear the garage door open, announcing Kyle coming home from the chiropractor with the parcel of treasures.

and they are treasures. fresh, local fruits and vegetables taste ENTIRELY different than most of their supermarket counterparts. i'm obsessed.

4) we are focusing more on changing what we DO rather than changing what we DON'T.

for example, although it's true that it take 32 GLASSES of water to eliminate the toxins in a single can of coke (and diet coke is even worse), when i start to focus on avoiding coke, guess what happens? all i want is coke. and it's so discouraging.

so, instead, we put tasty mint leaves from last week's CSA share in our water. we keep a cup of ice-cold water within arm's reach when we are around the house and carry water bottles when we are out. we milk our ice and water dispenser on our fridge for all it's worth.

i find that when i meal plan around our CSA, i end up often serving two or three veggies for dinner every night. combine this with a meat next to a whole grain or root vegetable, and we're really full enough to not feel so deprived of our enriched, processed dinner roll smeared with congealed margarine.

5) we are still spending the same amount on groceries as we were before.

and i can't believe it. we found that when i stopped "stockpiling" scary canned goods and processed foods, we had the budget to afford that $10 glass bottle of coconut oil for cooking and the container of stevia. buying whole ingredients is just more simple. i don't need 500 varieties of crackers in my cabinet when i have 20 varieties of produce in the fridge.

so, for now, this is where we are at. i'm not as emotional now when i think about the absence of breyer's icecream in our freezer. if anything, i'm excited about the changes and feel hopeful.

as a disclaimer, i know this style of eating isn't for everyone. it's exactly that--a style issue. not a character one or a superior choice. most of the people i respect most aren't boarding the organic train with us. and i'm okay with that. for us, some major turns of events brought us to a fork in the road, and we were forced to choose...

...so with a clear conscience, and based on the information we've been given--let's hear it for a new path, and a plate full of bok choy and rainbow chard for dinner!