Eating Reasonable Things

The thing that makes me happy today is that I am finally making a move to eat more consciously. I have always been a fan of good nutrition, but often choose what is convenient over what might be likely to promote good health. We do eat a lot of meals as a family, and I know that is good, but we have gone through periods recently where most of that has been at Sonic or restaurants. Since I've been off work, it's been a lot easier to cook at home, but I think I will be able to continue it when work picks up again.

The reason I have been working on eating better is that all the reading I have been doing has finally sunk into my soul, and I can't just do nothing.

Quite a while ago I read The Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollan. It opened my eyes to how food is raised in the US. Then more recently I watched the DVD and read the book of Food, Inc. That made me decide to never eat a LOT of snack foods I once enjoyed again. Gee whiz, corn, soybeans and that corn syrup are in everything!

Now I am reading Food Rules and In Defense of Food, also by Pollan. These books just make a lot of sense. They don't promote one diet or another, just eating reasonable foods in reasonable proportions. Food Rules isn't very long at all and can be boiled down to:

Eat Good. Mostly Plants. Not too much.

That means to eat things you know what they are (like a carrot versus whatever is in a Twinkie), eat more leaves, fruits and vegetables, and don't over-eat. It doesn't say never have cake. Just don't have cake every day.

I had put on a few pounds, so I started eating this way, and walking more, and it's worked fine--lost about 9 pounds in 3 weeks. I know it will slow down, but that's fine. We are trying to eat more organic stuff, and even have ordered our first batch of organic beef from our friends at Wild Type Ranch (if you live around here, check their website for when they deliver near you). That's one thing these books suggest consumers can do to change how the food industry in the US works: buy locally from people you KNOW.

I have watched a number of my friends change their diets in recent years. Some have become vegetarians. A number of people have gone gluten free, so I have seen how that diet can be quite tasty and varied. We also know people who eat an all raw diet. That sounds awful, doesn't it? But no, I can assure you that some of the most delicious things I have ever eaten have been prepared by my friends who eat raw. My friend Karen gave me a slice of pomegranate pie she had made for a birthday gift. It was wonderful. The crusts she makes from nuts and such are absolutely divine. And the agave nectar sweetener is great!

I might not ever got 100% vegetarian, but I already don't eat a lot of meat. I would like to bring a lot more fish into my diet, though I do worry about contaminants with that. And I don't think I'd ever switch to a raw diet, but I'd be tempted to eat a lot more raw foods if I had the time and money to prepare and purchase the beautiful, healthy and delicious ingredients. (The major flaw of the raw diet is the time and expense--you sure have to own a GOOD juicer and blender thingie, plus the nuts and such can get costly.)

I think we are all aware that food-related conditions are rampant in the US. Most can be prevented by changing eating habits. We don't have to go crazy. I am changing one thing at a time, and gradually switching to a healthier diet. For example, I have not had a diet soda (or regular) in weeks. Go me! I've been drinking water, tea, coffee and red wine, because, hooray, red wine is good for you in moderation if you don't tend to abusing it!

I do recommend the In Defense of Food Book to anyone interested in learning the history of the way westerners eat. It's quite eye opening. Even if you do not change how you eat, you will understand why you are finding the things you find in the grocery store, etc.

My precious new pet

It gets sorta lonely at work, where my closest companion is usually my new ergonomic keyboard. Coworkers seem to mostly work from home. But, hey, that's OK! I have a fine new work companion, the precious cricket who surprised me a bit when it walked up the cubicle wall this morning. Since then, it's been hanging around, looking at my Tommy poster (the white thing at bottom left). It's not the same as my bird at home, but at least it's a fellow living being. I wonder how long the little creature will stick around? Should I set out a plate of water. Funny, one cricket is sorta cute. The plague that fell on the yarn shop a few years ago was NOT.

Of course, my office plants are living beings, but they don't have much to say. Everything I have adores low light, so they all look really good, though. I have left my big pothos at home, because it got TOO healthy at The Delicious Company (what do you say when something's delicious?). I've got my waxy leafed thing I got when I was there, plus a dracenia, which are in the photo. And there is a smaller (but rapidly growing) pothos, an arrow leaf plant in a bottle of water that's descended from the one that was a farewell gift from a friend last time I was here at ALE, and a really pretty bumpy-leafed thing called a nephthytis that Lee bought for me a few weeks ago at Home Depot. It needs to be kept moist, so I hope I can handle that. It's label says it loves low light, though. I have them all under the task lights on my desk. Glad I have a normal sized cubicle, so I can have more plants. They really help with the mood thing.

My mood has been OK, though yet another shooting in a liberal place (Arkansas Democratic HQ) has me more than a little spooked. I was thinking about being a campaign volunteer, but now I don't know. Can't live in fear, I know. And I am a bit concerned about my dad, who is going to have to move to some borderline assisted living place/apartment because there is something wrong with my stepmother, which no one will tell me about. She's really pushed him to do it, and it looks like the time will be after his birthday in February. Dad is so healthy and robust and active. He needs real work to do, not "activities" to keep him busy in a "home." I hope he will be able to get out and do his thing for a long time. And at least he will be secure knowing his wife has people nearby to watch over her.

I did order a book called Are You Really Too Sensitive? which is no best seller, but came recommended by a friend, and well, I need to always be working on that issue. I am doing a lot of research on being sensitive these days. It is not a horrible character flaw, really! There is a LOT of good about it. Google the phrase "highly sensitive person" and you can probably find a test that tells you if you are one of us or not.

So, things are motoring along. The kids survived band camp, and Beccano ended up enjoying it. We had my knitting group at the pizza place yesterday, and it was fun, though there was some glare that bugged folks. Austin's Pizza really, really has good pizza. The fresh veggie one I ate yesterday was divine. Other than that, we watch Olympics and pet dogs. Lee is really hoping his job search will end. I know how he feels. It sure would be nice to have two incomes. But, we are muddling through, planning the wedding and getting ready for school to start on the 26th. Sniff. I will be the mother of a senior.

Positive Teens

A coworker brought in a short article from the current Smithsonian magazine. Here's the longer version of it. It is about Richard Lerner, who has written a book called The Good Teen. I think I should get it when it comes out next month.

He makes some very good points, such as that we define a good teen by what they are NOT doing (not doing drugs, having unprotected sex, whatever). But what I really liked were the ingredients he named for what makes a good teen, and his information on how to foster those things. Here's a quote from his interview:

Tell us about the "5 C's."

The 5 C's are competence—not just academic but social, vocational and health competence. Confidence. Then character, that it's fundamentally important to do what's right. Connection, or working collaboratively with parents, peers, siblings, teachers, coaches. Finally, caring, a sense of compassion or social justice.

How do we foster these?

Through programs that embrace three characteristics: sustained relationships between adults and young people, teaching knowledge and skills to navigate the world and—this can be the most difficult—allowing kids to use those skills in valued community and family activities. Let your kids plan family vacations with you. Let them help set the menu for dinner. Or, if the parents give resources to charity, let young people help make that decision. And even though school administrators wince when I say this, let young people be on school boards. Let them sit on the Chamber of Commerce.

I could not agree more with his list of characteristics, and think Lerner's ideas for building them are so important. It's why I make sure to really talk to my children's friends, and let them know I'm a person too, who will listen. And why we do let our children have input in decisions.

Certainly, it makes me very happy to see how these traits show up in my own children. And it's how I know that, even when they are scattered, lack planning ability, and are incredibly focused on their peers to the exclusion of all other things, I live with two very good teens.

Bamboo Socks and Omnivore's Dilemma

I have the luxury of some time to myself this evening, so I could upload photos of these newest socks, and write a bit about the book I just read.

The socks at left (click to see them better) were so much fun to knit. The pattern is rather complex but not too bad. It is from the Knitter's magazine book Socks, Socks, Socks, and I think it was called "Tipsy Knitter" or something like that. I thought that the yarn would not detract too much from the pattern, and that seems to be the case. The yarn is that cool Regia Bamboo yarn I mentioned last week, which supposedly wicks away moisture and works well in the summer. It's true--I wore them all day today and my feet didn't get sweaty when I was outdoors, nor did they get chilly in the frigid yarn store environment. And it is SO soft. If you get a chance to use the bamboo sock yarn, I'd say please do!

These may very well be my favorite socks ever, though those Trekking 100 ones still take my breath away.

OK, now for the book report I referred to some time last week. I recently finished reading Michael Pollan's book, The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. It is the most interesting food industry/big business book I read since Fast Food Nation. What I like most about it is how Pollan intersperses sections with lots of facts and data with sections on personal experiences with people (and farm animals). The facts really hit home when you see how they are connected to real live people, including YOU. I now look at every food label I see and count corn and corn-derived products. We are really The People of Corn now. I don't know what I found more fascinating, the description of how those mega-farms work, the analysis of the organic food movement, or the section where Pollan attempts to "hunt and gather" an entire meal.

One immediate effect of reading this book has been that I have eliminated certain things from my diet, which is a challenge given that Dear Partner is only comfortable eating highly processed food (hmm, no wonder he is a very large person). I have also breathed a sigh of relief to find out that the things I truly like aren't all that bad after all (those packaged spring green salads, for example). I just want to get rid of as much of the corn products as possible and be careful with soy (Pollack doesn't talk about soy in his book, but says that it is just as ubiquitous in processed foods, as it is also highly subsidized. I knew this first hand, having lived in central Illinois where the corn and soybeans start yards away from the last house in any town.

Even if you don't plan to change your eating habits, this book is worth reading, just so you will know where your food comes from. You will be a more informed consumer.

Related anecdote, last night, Dear Partner and I went out to eat at the Texas Roadhouse restaurant, because I had read their food quality is quite good. When we were seated, I looked around us at all the diners and servers. I counted (including small children) TWO people other than myself who were not overweight. Even the little kids were BIG ones. The servers were all 16 or 17 and mostly quite thin. Hmm. I realized why there were so many larger folks there, when I saw the serving sizes. Typical American restaurant over-large servings. But, I did thoroughly enjoy my 6-ounce filet, sweet potato and green beans (except they were full of bacon). It was wonderful. What did my dining companion, the big fan of processed food have? A chopped steak, chili and baked potato. Two of those three items were remnants from lovely meat that others hadn't eaten the previous night. Sigh. He really can't "do" whole food. I am going to start cooking more, however.

In other less exciting news, I am happy to report that my budgie is fine. She exited her cage while I was fetching her a fresh carrot, and I had to track her down and get her back in the cage. I was worried she might have gotten hurt, since she sat in a huddle for quite a while after she was re-caged. But, when I got home from spending some time at Yarn World, I was relieved to see she had mauled her carrots into bits and was flying around a bit. Whew--don't think I could take another injured pet. I think this was only the third time this bird escaped since I got her, and it has been a long time--I got the bird in 1999 or 2000.

Comments

Jennifer said...
Read this and thought of you. ;)Damn fascist Blogger comment script tries to vet my HTML and won't let me use the TARGET attribute in my anchor tags, grouse grouse grumble...
Wednesday, June 28, 2006 8:03:00 PM

Suna said...
Oh, bwa ha ha. I think that's what Jeff is afraid will happen to me. Everyone, click Jennifer's link!Suna, plain text, though Blogger has once again decided to render her blog "funny"
Wednesday, June 28, 2006 8:43:00 PM