I've grown increasingly grossed out by the stuff we put in our bodies and our homes in western society. The chemicals in our foods. The sprays and powders that we clean our kitchens with. The food that comes ready-made in a can. It's just gross. Now, I am not saying that it's all bad. The "wonders" of the modern age have done a lot of good things, especially in the advancement of medicine. But, I never really questioned it all, until recently. And I think that's the part that bothers me the most, the fact that the vast majority of people never think about what they're eating or breathing in.
I'm auditing a course this semester called "Consumer Culture and Voluntary Simplicity". It's made me think a lot about how capitalistic industry creates a product to meet a need that we never knew existed. Wrinkly elbows? There's a cream for that. Taps not shiny enough? Just rub this on. Nobody really needs those things, but when the option is available, I start to think, "Hey...I have wrinkly elbows! Oh no!" ...Ridiculous.
Further still, I've been reading a book called "In Defense of Food", by Michael Pollan. I'm only half-way through, but I can tell this book is really going to impact my lifestyle. He talks about the bizarre relationship that North Americans have to their diets. He argues that a large portion of what we eat is not real food. The bread we pick up at the supermarket would be unrecognizable to our great-grandmothers. We've stripped flour of it's nutritional value. We eat more dairy and meat products than any other period in history. As a result, our food is making us sick, or at the very least not doing much for our well-being. To make a long story short, he advocates for the eating of whole foods that are free of chemicals. Carrots. Potatoes. Organic, grain fed meat. Bread that is made of flour, yeast and water. Basically, if you don't know what's in the food or it has any ingredients you can't pronounce: don't eat it.
I realize that such a radical change of diet is nearly impossible. Especially since I live in climate that is bitterly cold and kills of all plant life for about six months. However, I am trying to make some small changes to my lifestyle and diet. Today I cleaned our bathroom with vinegar spray; a safe, natural disinfectant. We going to start baking our own whole wheat bread. I pureed a pumpkin to bake with instead of buying canned. We're trying to eat less processed food. They're small things, I know, and they probably won't change the world.
But it does make me feel just a little bit better.
Oh, Emily, I love you so much. If I were to write a blog today, it would have said basically the same things you just said. I cleaned my fridge this morning with vinegar spray before stocking it with organic produce and yogurt. Amen to living simply. It's by far the better way to live. Encore, Emily. I miss you so much. You're totally going to cloth diaper your babies when you have them, I just know it.
ReplyDeleteOh, Lauren Elizabeth, I love you too.
ReplyDeleteAnd my babies will have clothes diapers. And maybe clothes made of leafs. Haha
i know this is a late, late, late comment... but i'm really excited about your granola kick/lifestyle change. a couple years ago i started the annoying habit of looking at the ingredients of EVERYTHING i eat/buy, and i admit it made me a bit snobby for a while. but i've had to let go of a few of my standards while visiting asia... because it would either be rude or too expensive. sometimes you just aren't in complete control of what goes into your body.
ReplyDeletea good rule i think to live by is to do the best you can about eating healthy, real foods, but sometimes you can't do anything and you have to eat what's given you or adapt to your environment. i had a great thought in december when i was talking to my sister about eating healthy: "you can try to eat as healthy as you can, but when it gets so that you are stressing so much about eating healthy, the stress is more likely to kill you than eating processed food is." i think we often forget (i definitely often forget) that a healthy lifestyle isn't just eating well. it is physical (eating well + being active) as well as mental (not letting life stress you out and make you anxious) and spiritual.
did you enjoy 'in defense of food'? i did. but like with most ideas or books i read, i got really excited about it at first, and then i slowly forgot about it and it faded from my memory. have you seen the documentary 'food, inc'? i haven't, but i'd like to.