Revival

I am back on my out-of-the-industrial-food-chain kick. I was never that far off my kick really, but especially with two weekends of travel, I got lazy and let us eat some yucky, processed evil. I've decided that being a healthy eater in this age is a lot like being a Christian as a kid. I think I rededicated my life to Christ every summer at camp and sometimes at winter retreat too. Just to be sure. Just to be safe. It's easy to backslide between experiences that remind you of all that is evil. So it goes with the industrial food chain and stearing clear of it. It's so easy to forget that non-organic chicken is pumped full of hormones and anti-biotics and that "regular" ground beef is stuffed with the fat of unhealthy animals and that most things on the cereal aisle are merely corn by-products in lots of different shapes, sizes and colors.

Well, this weekend, Nick and I were surfing the channels in our Boise hotel room and being the huge nerd that I am, I begged Nick to stop on Book TV because Michael Pollan (author of The Omnivore's Dilemma) was talking about his new book. I'd already backslidden since finishing TOD and fed Sydney a granola bar with mostly high fructose corn syrup as its main ingredient a few days ago. Well, no more! Michael Pollan pointed out, among many other fun facts, that although he's not sure which traditional diet is the best one to eat, he is sure that the modern western diet is the only diet that we know for sure will make you sick. For some reason I found this funny and have chuckled over it several times. We are the leaders of the free world, on top of the technology heap and just so cool in every way, yet Americans eat the one diet that will for sure kill you. And we don't have a decent health care situation when we do get sick, so it's best to opt out.

So, out goes Nick's morning cereal (okay, I'm going to let him finish the box) and his lunch chips. Out goes Sydney's granola bars and whole wheat crackers that have a hint of butane sprayed on them for freshness. As I peer into our cupboard, I think that's where I'm stopping for now. I may later try to get us onto brown rice and whole wheat pasta full time, but Nick nearly cried the last time I tried. I'll have to sneak it into a casserole or something. Sydney already drinks organic soy milk and Nick at least puts organic milk on his processed cereal, which he can now pour over his fresh-made oatmeal with dried cranberries. As for me, my love of sweets is my downfall. I love fruit snacks, but since we don't have any right now, I don't have to toss them. I just have to ignore them as they sing to me as I walk into Winco. I will just make sure we are well-stocked on good dark chocolate.

I think I'm going go make some zuccini bread this afternoon to replace Sydney's crackers and granola bars and I saw a recipe somewhere in the past few weeks for oatmeal bars with apricots and pistacios that seems like a good fill-in snack for Nick's lunch. I cannot think of a healty alternative to his chips. Pretzels are just white flour encased in sodium. I tried to talk him into carrots, but he didn't believe me that they're a lot like cheetos, just without the dirty fingers afterward.

Anyway, I'll be searching for healthy snacks that Sydney can eat in the car or if we are somewhere at exactly 5:00 when she starts signing "please" because she is hungry and that Nick can grab in the morning to stuff into his lunch box (it's the size of a small fridge).

But, we're back on it!

For dinner? Home made chicken noodle soup with organic broth, and locally grown free range chicken. For dessert? The rest of our cake from a boxed mix. We can't just toss it! :)