Well, I had decided that for Lent (yes, I know, still not Catholic) I was going to give up processed foods. With the overall goal being to eliminate as much crapola as possible in my diet. I rely a lot on breakfast bars, peanut butter crackers, frozen meals, boxed cookies and store bought bread. As a result, I can’t even begin to think about how much salt, sugar, corn syrup, trans fats and preservatives I take in during the day. A lot.
Of course, I don’t think I can go cold turkey. I live in America. I have a job. I have a black thumb. I don’t like to cook. But I can make an effort. Move more fresh fruits and veggies (ick, ick, ick, I can’t believe I’m saying it) into the diet. Learn to cook beans, breads and, maybe, meat. I hate cooking meat. I’d much rather leave that to experts. Avoid fast food. I’m not going to suddenly be Lola Granola. But I can take baby steps.
And part of the process is going to be making deals with myself. What counts as processed foods? If it comes in a box, does that mean it’s off limits? What about what goes into making what’s in the box? What about apple sauce cups? I LOVE apple sauce cups. White rice has only one ingredient, but it’s been screwed with so much that it has no nutrients or fiber. Baby carrots in the bag are just whittled down regular carrots. Does the fact that they’ve been cut down mean that they’re “processed”? I could actually get a real carrot and cut it up. The fresh bread at the Tom Thumb is made by hand, but has tons of fillers and short-cut ingredients. If I’m in a restaurant, do I have to grill the waitress on exactly what goes into the salad dressing?
It’s complicated. I’m going to have to spend a lot of time thinking about food. Eating food, I love. Thinking about food, not so much. This is going to be a journey. I’m hoping by Easter, I’ll have a good idea of what I can and can’t do. And have some idea about what the healthier diet is going to look like.
And last night, as I was researching ways to keep myself from starving, because one simple way to not eat processed foods is to just not eat much, and I’m not okay with that, I decided that if this is the right thing to do, and I’m going to do it anyway, I might as well start now. Slowly! Slowly. I’m going to start not replacing my convenience foods as I run out. And I’m going to start wedging in healthier foods, and hoping that they’ll start to push the convenience foods out. So, by the “official” start, I should be well on my way.
Not to say that I won’t go whackadoodle and eat Twinkies and tequila (oh, poop. I hadn’t even thought about booze yet) until I pass out on Mardi Gras. But isn’t that really what Mardi Gras is for?
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5 comments:
I think you shouldstart slowly - say by just switching breakfasts for one month. Then try adding nonprocessed snacks the next month. etc. Good luck to ya - they'll have to pry my Jraft Mac & Cheese boxes from my cold, dead hands!
that's KRAFT not Jraft - frozen fingers don't type well
Jraft Mac & Cheese is the one they sell at Big Lots, right? Along with Kippy peanut butter and Snucker's jelly.
Right now I'm concentrating most on cooking more and subsituting more fruit for cookies or gummies. Breakfast is actually going to be harder. I'm such a zombie in the mornings that making anything is more than I can bear.
This one will be tough and I don't envy you.
You could always make a big batch of oatmeal on the weekend (not instant) and freeze a serving size in a container and nuke it before work. I have done this (esp w/steel cut oats) and it works very well.
The oatmeal I could do for dinner. Easily. But it takes about an hour for my stomach to wake up enough that it wants something real to eat. And by them, I'm well into my day. Granola bars really fit that need. Right now I'm eating a handful of almonds then having a hard boiled egg an hour later. Not perfect. But I love breakfast for dinner, so the oatmeal could work in rotation in the freezer, in addition to the beans and rice I've started backstocking. Good idea!
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