DAY 10 EAT MEAT RESPONSIBLY

FOODBABE CALIFORNIA

Day 10 Eat Meat Responsibly

I am following THE FOOD BABE WAY, Break free from the Hidden Toxins in Your Food, by Vani Hari, as an effort to eat healthier and be more informed, and to shop and live sustainably.

This one hits close to home. I have raised a family of carnivores. My husband and kids love steak and burgers, and chicken, and fish. I like them too, in moderation, but I hate the thought of factory-farmed meat. I can’t believe how we as a society treat animals (and one another) and can justify it. I feel for anyone working on a factory farm. I can’t imagine their day, the brutality of it day in and day out.

This is a dilemma for me because I want to feed my children and I know they will eat meat, fish, or poultry but I find it difficult to match my moral standard with my pocketbook. This plays all sorts of tricks with my menu/meal planning and shopping.

I buy grass fed pasture raised burger from wholefoods, and sometimes their steak, or bacon. Wholefoods has a numbering system of 1 – 5 for animal welfare. 5 is animal centered, entire life on the same farm. 4 is pasture centered. 3 is enhanced outdoor access. 2 is enriched environment. 1 is no cages, crates, or crowding.

I don’t remember seeing any 5’s. A lot of WF beef is 4. So I will by burger at $7.99 a pound or steak for more. Originally, my husband had found this difficult but he has acquiesced to my needs here. This is not my dream farm animal of how I feel things could be, or once were, but I can feed my family and live with my purchase. The bacon is generally rated 2 and I don’t feel good about it but I buy it occasionally anyway.

Chicken is another story. I would never buy a Fosters Farms chicken where you know the chickens are cramped in cages one on top of the other, unhealthy, beaks sawed off, all sorts of antibiotics, sick. I don’t even want to eat that or feed it to my kids. Chicken at WF is generally rated 3 and there are some organic chickens on the Foodbabe shopping list. 3 is enhanced outdoor access. We know from Omnivore’s dilemma that those chickens are indoors most of their life, and that they are not necessarily getting quality care, and that life is not really like that of a chicken.

I was out in the country the other day and ended up on a lovely piece of property because my daughter was buying a car. I noticed two silos and asked the gentleman what they were for. He said he rented the space to Rosie organic chickens. I didn’t see or hear one chicken. It was silent. All I saw were two very large buildings with the windows boarded up. It is rather strange and eerie not to see or hear one chicken on a chicken farm, organic or not.

So I don’t buy the chicken. I miss out on a lot of good recipes because I can’t get past my dilemma. What is worse is when I don’t have anything in the fridge or prepared for dinner, I will buy the kids buffalo wings or cook up some frozen Tyson bites for Sophia because I am in a crunch and feeling guilty that I haven’t anything and I am strait back to feeding my kids factory farmed chicken.

Yesterday, I bought two organic chickens from Costco. The chicken is labeled organic, organic feed, no added antibiotics, no added hormones, no animal by-products, fresh and natural. It’s USDA organic, and inspected by the US department of Agriculture. According to the Foodbabe certified organic means the animals must be allowed to roam outdoors; although surgical mutilations without any pain relief are permitted. I actually thought if the label didn’t say pasture raised the chickens would be raised indoors much like what I viewed when I was out in the country. I felt somewhat suspect buying this chicken; yet, it felt really good to have something delicious for dinner that the kids appreciated. I would ultimately like to support our local farm Tara Firma farms where the price is $30.00 a chicken. Ouch! I suppose it’s almost that much for a pizza, but for a family of six on a tight budget $30.00 is a lot. Possibly I will work towards making this happen.

Food Babe California

Day 9 Detox From Added Sugar

Day 9 has Arrived! No more processed Sugar!

I am following THE FOOD BABE WAY, Break free from the Hidden Toxins in Your Food, And Lose Weight, Look Years Younger, and Get Healthy in just 21 Days!, by Vani Hari, as an effort to eat healthier and be more informed, and to shop and live sustainably.

Did you know Powdered Sugar is processed sugar with cornstarch and brown sugar is processed sugar with Molasses? I never knew that. And that sugar is processed with bone char? Usually cattle bones, Sometimes dog bones…I was not aware of that either.

I have been doing pretty well. I now use palm sugar in my coffee and about half as much. At first I didn’t like palm sugar. I have made several attempts and put it back on the shelf over a period of possibly a year or more. Now I am satisfied with it or honey in my coffee. All that I miss is that last sweet sip, but I actually am feeling…

Better. Enough so, that it is worth giving up that yummy sweet sip. By better I mean that I am noticing a shift; especially with the cravings. I have been eating my yogurt without sugar. I prefer lemon water to the really over sweetened lemonade. There are actually quite a few sweets and goodies available that are healthier choices without processed sugar, and I have a lot of new recipes to try.

And bit by bit I am getting more organized making my green juice ahead and it is getting a bit easier to stay on track. Plus I am learning new recipes and finding which ones I like. Starting today through day 21(that could be a year from now at the pace I am going) I am going to avoid all process sugar. That means my options are: Coconut Palm Sugar, Honey, or Maple Syrup.

LIMBO

Ok Day 8 lasted roughly 456 hours and the clock is still ticking…

At this rate I am going to age either really fast or really slow, depending on how you look at it.

Quite frankly I have had a few blocks.

One being writer’s block. It seems really vain to write to the world my eating habits, yet quite ironically nobody is remotely aware or interested in my writings so I am writing to myself. This is both comforting and disturbing.

Another block is I am faced with chapter nine where I need to give up sugar. Most sugar, processed sugar that is. This is daunting for a sugar addict. I have been working at this with some, although not an entirety of success. I believe I am ready to face the music.

Another block for me is budget. We are on a strict budget and I am finding it difficult to balance the needs of my family and myself within our food budget. By week two of our paycheck it’s either them or me regarding our grocery lists. This is always when I feel weak and like giving in to old sub standard choices. I don’t have my cupboards stocked with healthy alternatives and I falter.

The GOOD NEWS is that the FOODBABE is on the Best Sellers list for both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, and Vani Hari has been voted by Time Magazine as the most influential blogger. This means a lot to me because I feel that this movement is a moment of change for the people regarding not only our choices in the food we eat, but that we are being heard and actually having corporations respond to our outcry. For a country whose government is run by big business this a nudge, the very small beginning, of hopefully BIG CHANGE.

This to me is GOOD NEWS!

Anyone interested in knowing more about the food you eat, or looking for good recipes you can Access Vani’s website here: http://foodbabe.com/

Thanks for reading. I wish you a very happy and healthy food day.

Food Babe California

Chapter 9 soon to follow