This article came trickling across my wire today and I think it’s absolutely fascinating. It’s a pictorial: one week of groceries in 20 different countries around the globe. Interesting to see how much of that picture is taken up by ingredients, and how much is taken up by processed foods. I’ll say this, I have a hunch as to why Bhutan keeps being named one of the happiest places on earth…
THAT is a whole lot of real food. It’s an interesting experiment really. What would your kitchen look like if you spread a week’s worth of groceries around and took a picture? Check out the other 19 countries in the pictorial and see what food looks like around the world. I’m tempted to include my own picture, but the market trip was a few days ago and the idea of hauling it all out to photo makes me crazy… but chances are good I’ll be going again… Hmmm, I smell a little real food pictorial coming on. What’s in your pantry?
Backyard chicken friends (and friends of chicken friends) pay special attention. Some little buggers are carry salmonella. Details here. Eat well, be well.
More details here. The article identifies the growers so you can check your labels. The map of those affected is not at all regional, so these babies were sold all over the place. While there have been no new illnesses reported for a while, the CDC indicates that may be because they haven’t developed or been reported to the CDC yet. If you have cucumbers, please check the details. Eat well, be well.
I am a member of an online Mom’s group. I don’t necessarily participate all that much, but when the twins were infants and we had just moved here, it was a lifesaver. There was always someone around to “talk” to. I still check in from time to time, to chat with my book club friends, get advice on a restaurant, or help a new Mom know it’s going to be okay. While I was visiting with my online ladies yesterday, an interesting question caught my eye. Continue reading →
If you use ground turkey, you might want to take a little gander (I know I’m mixing my fowl) on this little bit of data from Consumer Reports. There’s all kinds of poo, including poo, in that ground turkey. Blech. Eat well, be well.
It is oh so easy, when talking about how to improve our diets, to get stuck in the language of deprivation. Don’t Eat This, Don’t Eat That, Cut That, Avoid This, This Will Make You Sick, This Will Make You Bloated, Stop Eating What You’re Eating, Don’t Eat What You’re Thinking, You Shouldn’t, You Mustn’t, Don’t, Don’t Don’t EAT!!!! I realize I may be the only one who occasionally still veers adolescent n my behavior and reactions but there’s only so much mustn’t I can take.
It is critically important when attempting to improve your eating habits to put more than a little of that mental energy into thinking about what you SHOULD eat rather than what you SHOULDN’T eat. Focusing on the should and the can and the new and different and the experiments and the flavors is a framework of abundance and permission and excitement. You are not a child; don’t spend all day scolding yourself. Spend some time telling yourself what you can or even should do and then play with that suggestion.
So here we are, we’ve talked a lot about what you probably shouldn’t eat, and we’ve made lots of suggestions about what to eat, but I’m going to get real specific and direct just for a few hundred words here, and I’m going to annoy my father, because I’m going to tell you to eat kale. Why? Continue reading →
I’ve been sick. Very yucky sick. Honestly aside from the occasional cold, I really don’t get sick very often, but this stomach virus has knocked me on my behind, and my appetite and my disposition have both suffered a substantial blow. Suffice it to say I’m not feeling the spirit of the approaching holiday. My children have come home from school with bags of candy for the last couple of days (swell, thanks), and are eagerly anticipating their Easter baskets.
The stores are telling me it’s long past time to buy candy; the magazines are telling me to shape cakes and pies into rabbits and eggs, to dip cookies in icing and draw faces on them, to put candy ON cakes. There are filled chocolate bits everywhere. Now I DO like chocolate, but good grief. I have to continually remind myself that each and every one of these holidays means SOMETHING other than a sugar landslide – that people celebrated these holidays in times when our average sugar intake was much lower. I’m guessing that meant they didn’t quite go about these days in the same way. Continue reading →
The stores are telling me it’s long past time to buy candy; the magazines are telling me to shape cakes and pies into rabbits and eggs, to dip cookies in icing and draw faces on them, to put candy ON cakes. There are filled chocolate bits everywhere. Now I DO like chocolate, but good grief. I have to continually remind myself that each and every one of these holidays means SOMETHING other than a sugar landslide – that people celebrated these holidays in times when our average sugar intake was much lower. I’m guessing that meant they didn’t quite go about these days in the same way. 
