Crying Over Spilled Milk

I'm off dairy for 3 weeks for a food sensitivity test. I went to a naturopath who has recommended this because of some of my typical ailments, or symptoms that I just basically live with. Always feeling slightly congested - in particular this past winter, which I felt like I got through in a fog, sluggish muscles during aerobic activity, and general sluggishness.

Now, I'm not much of a milk drinker anyway, so you'd think it wouldn't be that much of an issue....but I'm amazed at how many things milk, in some form, is in.

I have to read labels and watch for words like whey, caseinate, lactalbumin, casein hydrolysate. I was eating this stuff? I can't even pronounce most of it. Its lurking in cereals, crackers, breads, crusts & pastries. Well there is a whole segment of processed foods off my 'OK to eat' list. I'm thinking thats a good thing anyway.

Then there is the obvious stuff. Cheese. Ice Cream. Cream sauces. Cheese. Butter. Cheese.

I'm on day 3 of this. Gosh I miss cheese. But otherwise, its forced me to be very aware of what I'm eating. Its forced me back to food in its natural, real form, which is very cool. I always felt that I ate relatively healthy, but going to organic and this test have made me realize just how much junk I was really eating! I made an absolutely superb quinoa pilaf yesterday with roasted sweet potatoes, chick peas, broccoli, peas, and raw sunflower seeds - all organic, of course. It will definitely become part of our regular menu.

Today I am making a slow cooker creamy kale soup, with the creaminess provided by pureed potatoes. It sounds yummy too. And snacks have been cut up veggies with hummus, or a beautiful sweet organic apple. I can still eat my homemade samosas - I checked the recipe and there is nothing off limits there. And I've started incorporating navy or kidney beans, homemade sprouts, nuts and homemade croutons into my salads - topped off of course with my super yummy homemade vinagrette which is dairy free as well. I even ate out yesterday morning at the market (not the one I'd previously written about. This is one in a neighboring city, which does have a couple of organic vendors) from an organic food vendor who made a killer organic dairy free breakfast bagel.

So, so far so good. I haven't noticed much of a change yet in how I feel. On a very subtle level, my head feels clearer, but that might just be my imagination. It'll be interesting to see how I feel after a couple of weeks of this. If it turns out that I am in fact sensitive to dairy, I think I could manage to eat this way without too much trouble.

But I'll still miss cheese. :(

~SS

Dumbfounded & Horrified!

I just went to that beautiful local farmers market I wrote earlier about. I found organic mushrooms. That is it. That is all. Mushrooms.

I asked every vendor. They all said they did not think any of the vendors at the market were organic. They were all right.

There are several vendors who sell only local produce ( I was surprised at the number who sell produce from the US and all around the world - in a small town farming community?! Astonishing!), but not a single one was organic.

I then went to a local health food store and bought some extremely expensive organic items for dinner.

I am currently making homemade bread (made up of partly organic spelt flour, and partly regular flour I had on hand - I do have to use these things up) because I cannot afford to pay $6 to $8 a loaf for fresh organic bread off the shelf.

This is going to be harder than I thought. Still, we will make it work. Somehow.

~SS

Establishing the Starting Line

I guess the best way to ensure my journey is documented thoroughly is to capture where I am today.

Diet - Mostly vegetarian, as my husband is a vegetarian. He does eat fish, so we eat a lot of fish. Salmon in particular is his favorite. Just because I don't eat a lot of animal flesh, however, does not mean I have a particularly healthy diet. I try, but I'm easily tempted because I love food. I love to cook and try new recipes and I tend to eat restaurant sized portions - so basically way too much. I do find food very comforting & soothing.

I try to incorporate lots of "healthy" food into our diets. I eat a lot of salads, fresh fruit & vegetables, lots of legumes, whole grains. There is still lots of stuff that I'm learning needs to be eliminated from the cupboards in the way of processed foods. Also soy - we eat a lot of soy and I'm finding out more and more that there are as many reasons to cut out the soy as there are to cut out meat altogether!

We are not vegan - we do eat dairy, eggs, honey.

I'm understanding more and more that what we believe, or are led to believe are healthy foods are in fact nothing of the sort. Its not just what we eat, but where it comes from and how its produced that matters. I might think that I'm eating a bowl of nutritious cereal, but the milk is full of hormones from mistreated and malnourished cows, and the grains are genetically modified and nutritionally deficient.

Anyway - back to the task at hand, my current diet. In the summertime, I have a vegetable garden and I grow much of what we eat. Tomatoes, beans, peas, beets, lettuce, radishes, kale, cabbage. I preserve what we can't eat fresh. I live in an agriculturally rich area in South Western Ontario. We have a thriving farming community and a famous farmers market, so access to fresh, wholesome food is good most of the year. We do lots of 'pick your own' at local farms & preserve it.

Nevertheless, my cupboards still have crackers, chips, cheezies (my downfall - and what are they but chemicals and corn! I'm learning...), ice cream, chocolate, wine, rum, etc. I don't generally buy organic because we don't have a lot of money and its expensive. I am addicted to MacDonald's breakfast and eat that more often than I care to mention. We eat out a lot because we are musicians and are often on the road and meals are often a part of our 'deal' with the venues. Its hard to know where the food comes from in a bar. Generally I think - not a good place.

We've both successfully eliminated smoking (my husband 5 years, me 3.5 years) and coffee (2+years).

We both have a leaning towards nutritional, ethical eating, but never really did much research & are not well educated on it. We are becoming more so (which is what has spawned this blog in the first place).

I drink a lot of green tea (again, not organic, and as I write & think about what I put in my body I'm realizing all the things that need to change!), make my own sprouts (lentil, chick pea, mung bean, radish, sunflower, etc etc...), choose whole grain where I have control over it (ie: I can't control it in a frozen pizza, and yes, we eat them. I know.), I take a multivitamin, drink a smoothie with green powder and hemp seeds for breakfast.

So basically I'm thinking the diet is about 80% bad, but the intention behind it is about 50% good if we would just eat organic produce alone.

So that's move #1 on the diet front. Nothing more comes into this house that is not organic and/or that is genetically modified. I have to learn more about the gmo thing because I'm not sure about labelling in Canada & how that works. I think making the organic/non gmo change alone will be a significant step.

On the front of exercise, currently I give myself about a 6 out of 10. I am somewhat moderately active. I actually exercise, with the point of it being formally for exercise, about once per week. I do yoga, I'm starting to run a bit (though I'm not very good at it), and I like to ride my bike - trail riding mostly. I stay pretty active with yard work and house work otherwise. My husband and I walk a lot, particularly from about May through October before winter sets in. We still walk in the winter, just less. Our shows for music can be considered physical activity too. I would like to increase my physical activity for endurance, strength & flexibility. I'd also like to fit back into my size 6 clothes that have been packed away for 4 years.

That brings me to the measurement side of things. As much as I hate it, numbers are indicators of health. I'm not going to share the numbers - lets just say they are not where I want them to be. I will say that I want to lose 35 lbs and 3 to 4 dress sizes.

I am not looking at this as a weight loss program, though. This is a complete change in my lifestyle. This is digging out all the crap and becoming who I truly am. I am an ethical person. I don't want to support massive 'food' growing operations (animal or vegetable) that deplete the planet, mistreat and underpay workers, provide nutritionally deficient and even detrimental so-called food. I've just had blinders on - not wanted to admit what I kind of already knew, if only I'd do the work to learn more. I want to live a long, vital life, sharing my gifts and loving my friends and family. The weight loss is not what I am focusing on, though I believe wholeheartedly that it will be a side effect of the changes.

So that's the 'where I'm at' summary. This week's step is going to be to change the way I shop. Any food that is purchased and brought into this house will be organic. We can't afford to clean out the cupboards completely and restock them from scratch....we have to transition. I wonder how long before the turnover is complete?

Bye for now.
~SS

The Journey of a Thousand Miles...

...begins with me standing frozen, staring slackjawed at the sheer scope of the territory in front of me.

I am about to make a commitment (gasp!) to begin to formally acknowledge the process of attempting to become more diligently focussed on discovering the pathway that may lead to the adoption of habitual activities that contribute to engaging myself in an endeavor to become more physically, emotionally and spritually vital.

Does that sound committed enough? I mean it, though. I'm committed to meaning at least that.

I want to get healthy. Really healthy. Healthy like the way we as human beings were meant to be healthy. But man, I'm a sucker for a hot caramel sundae with roasted, salted pecans.

I want better concentration, more energy, softer skin, deeper breathing, sharper memory, higher productivity, more creative creativity.... I want to drop the extra 30 lbs I feel weighing me down. I want to be better, faster, stronger and yeah, hotter.

I'm trying to set myself up to have to face it as a commitment, so I'm going public. Thats what this blog is about. I'm also an artist, so this is a way for me to write consistently and frequently, thereby stimulating my creativity. I'm also efficient, so this is a way for me to kill those 2 birds with one stone (so to speak. This health journey may be pointing me towards vegetarianism - even veganism [is that an ism?], so I might have to re-think my fallback cliches). See how it all ties so nicely together? Sweet.

So, for right now, I'll write about it - my desire to do this. Writing about it is a good place to start. I don't want to dive in too quickly - after all, the journey of a thousand miles does begin with just a single step.

~SS