Lately I have been reading a lot about food. Frankly I am obsessed by food. I love it and I hate it. Food makes me happy, makes me sad, fills me up, causes bloat, and makes me feel guilty.
I think I should be a vegetarian because it's good for you. Well an ovo-lacto vegetarian but then I remember I love meat. Really, I love it and I don't believe that as a vegetarian you should be eating "fake" meat. Soy hamburger or hot dogs or variations thereof. Besides I can't do a lot of soy. It's a "let's not get cancer again" thing. Which is why there was also a hysterectomy thing, but I digress.
Food is what makes the world go 'round. It is in every culture, in every form possible. From trotters to head cheese, from mesclun to giant pumpkins. We grow it, we eat it and sometimes we play with it.
When I was a young thing and I mean way back when before computers, when phones were big, heavy and usual black and when TV's got 3 channels on a good day. My pediatrician told my mother that I should drink "lowfat milk". I don't know the what-fors of this decision cause I also know that he thought I should stay away from potatoes and bread, like that was ever going to happen.I do know I have always had "gut" issues, tummy troubles, constipation to the trots and back again, I think you got it. I was a pudgy little kid. I wouldn't say fat as I always had height to even out things. Anyway, way back when, there weren't exactly big grocery stores around. So there weren't big dairy aisles offering everything from yogurt to almond milk. You went shopping at local stores, funny how life is trying to reverse itself now with the whole 'shop local' thing. There was no such thing as skim milk to be found bottled in a dairy case. There were 2 types of "dry" skim milk, both equally as horrid tasting. So basically I gave up on milk, but not on dairy. Full fat ice cream or cheese never caused issues, so they continued to grace my life.
A few weeks ago in my reading of all things food, I read about raw milk, you know, the kind people use to drink before pasteurization and homogenization came into the game. Raw milk. It's really not raw, it's just milk in it's natural form. When you get a bottle of "raw" milk, the cream has separated and floats on the top. I love to dip my finger into this. It's good and it's where butter comes from. Anyway I decided to try "raw" milk in my diet. I have taken probiotics for years and frankly they didn't seem to be doing much good.
I just want to be able to go to the bathroom (bowel movements) without constipation, diarrhea or searing pain in my gut, also know as IBS, irritable bowel syndrome, of which I was diagnosed with many years ago.
We have a local farm, about 15 minutes away from our house that sells "raw" milk. So I became a regular. At first it was a little weird. It's a unmanned farm stand, still run on the honor system although I understand not all people are honorable. On one side is the family home and on the other the barns where the cows live. I am not saying it is organic, GMO free, or anything else, I don't know and I don't care at the moment, cause I am there for the milk.
I love their milk. If I drink one glass a day (about 12 ozs) my gut is happy. No, all the problems don't go away but the difference is significant. If I miss a couple of days, the misery returns. No worse than before, but it's there.
I am not saying this is for everyone. You have to make your own decisions on food and it ain't easy. Organic is great but it is more expensive. You may argue that the benefits are long term, but for some it is what is in your wallet now. You can't always afford to feed a family of four on an organic chicken that costs $24 for something that weighs 2 lbs. So you have to do a balancing act.
The latest book I read made me understand that the big food companies treat us consumers as lab rats. They make food easier to chew, flavor is done with chemicals so we will come back for more and they add sugar, fat and salt to just about everything and trust me, this is why since the 1980's we have been getting fatter and I am one of the crowd. Just as guilty as everyone with mac and cheese in a box, cookies, chips, and all that stuff we just love to eat.
Unless we want to be buying into the big pharmas to keep us alive through modern medicine i.e. popping pills for everything, changing our diets is the only way we can control our lives and live better ones. I don't want to line up pill containers and try to remember when to take what. I have to live with my thyroid medicine, I have no choice. But if I can get off of the other 2 I take, or even 1 I will feel I have succeeded in taking back control of how I chose to live.
Oh and if you think dieting is the magic pill, nope it ain't. There is a certain amount of getting off the couch and moving. Doesn't mean you have to join a gym or take up running. It just means that at least 3 x's a week for at least 30 minutes each time, you need to get your heart rate up, sweat a little, take a walk, do what ever floats your boat, but enjoy it.
I'm trying. I don't succeed every day, but there are more good days than bad and that makes me feel happy.
I think I should be a vegetarian because it's good for you. Well an ovo-lacto vegetarian but then I remember I love meat. Really, I love it and I don't believe that as a vegetarian you should be eating "fake" meat. Soy hamburger or hot dogs or variations thereof. Besides I can't do a lot of soy. It's a "let's not get cancer again" thing. Which is why there was also a hysterectomy thing, but I digress.
Food is what makes the world go 'round. It is in every culture, in every form possible. From trotters to head cheese, from mesclun to giant pumpkins. We grow it, we eat it and sometimes we play with it.
When I was a young thing and I mean way back when before computers, when phones were big, heavy and usual black and when TV's got 3 channels on a good day. My pediatrician told my mother that I should drink "lowfat milk". I don't know the what-fors of this decision cause I also know that he thought I should stay away from potatoes and bread, like that was ever going to happen.I do know I have always had "gut" issues, tummy troubles, constipation to the trots and back again, I think you got it. I was a pudgy little kid. I wouldn't say fat as I always had height to even out things. Anyway, way back when, there weren't exactly big grocery stores around. So there weren't big dairy aisles offering everything from yogurt to almond milk. You went shopping at local stores, funny how life is trying to reverse itself now with the whole 'shop local' thing. There was no such thing as skim milk to be found bottled in a dairy case. There were 2 types of "dry" skim milk, both equally as horrid tasting. So basically I gave up on milk, but not on dairy. Full fat ice cream or cheese never caused issues, so they continued to grace my life.
A few weeks ago in my reading of all things food, I read about raw milk, you know, the kind people use to drink before pasteurization and homogenization came into the game. Raw milk. It's really not raw, it's just milk in it's natural form. When you get a bottle of "raw" milk, the cream has separated and floats on the top. I love to dip my finger into this. It's good and it's where butter comes from. Anyway I decided to try "raw" milk in my diet. I have taken probiotics for years and frankly they didn't seem to be doing much good.
I just want to be able to go to the bathroom (bowel movements) without constipation, diarrhea or searing pain in my gut, also know as IBS, irritable bowel syndrome, of which I was diagnosed with many years ago.
We have a local farm, about 15 minutes away from our house that sells "raw" milk. So I became a regular. At first it was a little weird. It's a unmanned farm stand, still run on the honor system although I understand not all people are honorable. On one side is the family home and on the other the barns where the cows live. I am not saying it is organic, GMO free, or anything else, I don't know and I don't care at the moment, cause I am there for the milk.
I love their milk. If I drink one glass a day (about 12 ozs) my gut is happy. No, all the problems don't go away but the difference is significant. If I miss a couple of days, the misery returns. No worse than before, but it's there.
I am not saying this is for everyone. You have to make your own decisions on food and it ain't easy. Organic is great but it is more expensive. You may argue that the benefits are long term, but for some it is what is in your wallet now. You can't always afford to feed a family of four on an organic chicken that costs $24 for something that weighs 2 lbs. So you have to do a balancing act.
The latest book I read made me understand that the big food companies treat us consumers as lab rats. They make food easier to chew, flavor is done with chemicals so we will come back for more and they add sugar, fat and salt to just about everything and trust me, this is why since the 1980's we have been getting fatter and I am one of the crowd. Just as guilty as everyone with mac and cheese in a box, cookies, chips, and all that stuff we just love to eat.
Unless we want to be buying into the big pharmas to keep us alive through modern medicine i.e. popping pills for everything, changing our diets is the only way we can control our lives and live better ones. I don't want to line up pill containers and try to remember when to take what. I have to live with my thyroid medicine, I have no choice. But if I can get off of the other 2 I take, or even 1 I will feel I have succeeded in taking back control of how I chose to live.
Oh and if you think dieting is the magic pill, nope it ain't. There is a certain amount of getting off the couch and moving. Doesn't mean you have to join a gym or take up running. It just means that at least 3 x's a week for at least 30 minutes each time, you need to get your heart rate up, sweat a little, take a walk, do what ever floats your boat, but enjoy it.
I'm trying. I don't succeed every day, but there are more good days than bad and that makes me feel happy.
