CoffeeQueen wrote:

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I love this line

These are un-American answers. Advertising trains us to shop in the center aisles of supermarkets. We've been brainwashed to believe that fast food is food. Because we're so busy, we're encouraged not to cook for ourselves. And that way of living works for us --- right up to the moment we're overweight and diabetic.

But if we break the cycle?

"People who get off the western diet," says Pollan, "see dramatic improvements in their health."

What does Pollan tell you in these pages? Here's a sample:

--- "Don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food."
--- "Don't eat anything with more than five ingredients, or ingredients you can't pronounce."
---- "Don't eat anything that won't eventually rot...There are exceptions --- honey --- but as a rule, things like Twinkies that never go bad aren't food."
--- "Always leave the table a little hungry.'"
--- "Eat meals together, at regular meal times."
--- "Don't buy food where you buy your gasoline. In the U.S., 20% of food is eaten in the car."
--- "Don't eat breakfast cereals that change the color of the milk."

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love it. i havent read his stuff. i should (though i'm already converted -lol).
my friend and i had brunch yesterday - she's a preschool mom that i've become very close with (our daughters are best friends). she's portugese, and very healthy - into this whole organic thing, and her dad was on a macrobiotic diet post-cancer which kept him alive for years. we were discussing how we really dont have any reason to not be baking our own snackfood, since we're both generally home (she works more than me, but she only has one child who's VERY manageable, so our free time pretty much evens out) - we were saying if we doubled recipes and shared foods (she lives a mile away and conveniently right across from my babysitter, plus we see each other every day at school) we wouldnt have much baking to do between the two of us.

it really is a cool idea.  i trust her choices and she trusts mine, plus we talk everyday...i think it might be really fun. even if we dont do it formally, i plan to double my next applesauce muffin recipe for her, and i'm sure she'll reciprocate.
(and it's cool if she doesnt - lol).

we were both saying that we'd love to be to the point where we were making the bulk of our foods from scratch instead of just googling every single ingredient every single night and ending up in a tailspin.

 

daisy wrote:

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CoffeeQueen wrote:

---

I love this line

These are un-American answers. Advertising trains us to shop in the center aisles of supermarkets. We've been brainwashed to believe that fast food is food. Because we're so busy, we're encouraged not to cook for ourselves. And that way of living works for us --- right up to the moment we're overweight and diabetic.

But if we break the cycle?

"People who get off the western diet," says Pollan, "see dramatic improvements in their health."

What does Pollan tell you in these pages? Here's a sample:

--- "Don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food."
--- "Don't eat anything with more than five ingredients, or ingredients you can't pronounce."
---- "Don't eat anything that won't eventually rot...There are exceptions --- honey --- but as a rule, things like Twinkies that never go bad aren't food."
--- "Always leave the table a little hungry.'"
--- "Eat meals together, at regular meal times."
--- "Don't buy food where you buy your gasoline. In the U.S., 20% of food is eaten in the car."
--- "Don't eat breakfast cereals that change the color of the milk."

---

love it. i havent read his stuff. i should (though i'm already converted -lol).
my friend and i had brunch yesterday - she's a preschool mom that i've become very close with (our daughters are best friends). she's portugese, and very healthy - into this whole organic thing, and her dad was on a macrobiotic diet post-cancer which kept him alive for years. we were discussing how we really dont have any reason to not be baking our own snackfood, since we're both generally home (she works more than me, but she only has one child who's VERY manageable, so our free time pretty much evens out) - we were saying if we doubled recipes and shared foods (she lives a mile away and conveniently right across from my babysitter, plus we see each other every day at school) we wouldnt have much baking to do between the two of us.

it really is a cool idea.  i trust her choices and she trusts mine, plus we talk everyday...i think it might be really fun. even if we dont do it formally, i plan to double my next applesauce muffin recipe for her, and i'm sure she'll reciprocate.
(and it's cool if she doesnt - lol).

we were both saying that we'd love to be to the point where we were making the bulk of our foods from scratch instead of just googling every single ingredient every single night and ending up in a tailspin.

 

 

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I'm waiting for my download of Omnivore's Dilemma to go to my Ipod. I'm all about this latest MS thread of threads because it's something I definately need to get in on. I remember seeing Mindy's post on fb about it, and so I'm glad to see it being brought up again.

(on a side note, share that recipe, would ya?)

 

Sonya wrote:

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I've been lurking and you guys have really inspired me to rethink our food.

we don't do much processed, really and we do cook every night.

we were so good with organic when charlie was born but it got more complicated and we really need to go back to it in a bigger way.

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itu, it's so easy with one kid isnt it??
then they stop eating, and you end up throwing everything out, and being upset about wasting the money -- i always did organic chicken and milk and yogurt but for a while there i was less conscientious about snacks (nothing terrible, but i wasnt on this HFCS campaign i'm on now).

Sonya wrote:

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how do you interpret this line:
"Don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food."


Mike thinks it means eat local but I think things like mangos still fall into that. they are real food that a greatgrandmother would know.

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i guess like a dinosaur nugget? not sure really.  maybe stuff like michelle mentioned - "food type substances" --

We went (mostly) Vegan in October hoping to be more healthy and drop some weight.

I have not lost much (4 lbs grrr) but Sam is off his BP meds and I am sleeping better.  Our farmers market is not the best (prolly has to do with living in the mojave desert).  We do have a farm that has free range turkeys and chickens locally that I have visited when we have guests over (Christmas/Thanksgiving).

I must say that I do love agave syrup much more than I thought I would.  Once I got past the sticker shock- I realized that  we are not spending "that" much more on groceries.  I think startup is the most expensive part.

I also have an Aero Garden so we have been growing our on lettuce and herbs.  I am waiting for my tomatoes and green beans to mature (yummy). I am looking forward to getting my "real" garden started in April.

I confess- we buy too much prepackaged crap for in the girls lunches at school.  Anyone have any suggestions for portable lunches?  We use reusable containers and silverware mostly but the contents are still an issue.