Wednesday, January 11, 2012

A Whole New Grocery Store


Tonight I stopped to pick up groceries. I went to the same Grocery store that I stop in at least a few times a week, but it really felt like a completely different store. Tonight was the first time that I have shopped for food since we started watching documentaries and doing research about our food choices.

The last few days have included more information that I thought possible. At this time there are still many things that I have not quite figured out my position on in regards to food, but some themes definitely came out of the things we were watching:

a) Eating a lot of meat is not healthy and the knowledge of how meat is raised and slaughtered in North America is actually enough to make me second guess eating it even if it was good for me.

b) Dairy and eggs may not be meat, but they come from animals. Again questions are raised about how healthy they are for you as well as concerns about the conditions in which eggs and milk are created.

c) Unprocessed foods are better for you, fruits, vegetables and whole grains are the building blocks of a healthy diet. There is research to show that a diet based on these nutrients may not just be good for you, but can reduce your risk of many diseases some obvious such as diabetes and heart disease and others more removed such as cancer.

d) Buying these products can cost more money, but really how expensive is a cartoon of free run eggs when you compare it to what you pay for a single omlet at a restaurant.

e) Some of the research available today widely questions the nutritional beliefs we were raised to believe, but as a mom I am still weary of throwing away all of what I was taught because this is not just about me, its about my kids.

This was the knowledge that I took with me today when I stepped inside the grocery store. After leaving I realized a few things - I did not go into the meat department at all, I went down very few of the actual aisles and everything that I normally buy I got to buy.

Milk and cream were replaced with non dairy versions. I actually bought coconut, soy and almond versions to find out what our family likes best.

There are still lots of non dairy frozen deserts so my fears of missing out on ice cream were put to rest.

Upon the advise of some friends and family I was steered towards the right brands when looking for Soy products and meat substitutes.

I was talking to someone today who was describing a dinner which heavily included meat. It really did not appeal to me at all.

I started this process with one goal - to lose weight. I want to get healthy too, but weight loss was definitely the priority. I never expected to be in a position where I was questioning the very basic foundation of my eating after 31 years nor did I honnestly ever expect to put vegan margarine my shopping cart.

I still have lots of questions such as how safe is soy to eat/drink in large quantities, particularly when it comes to my kids. Should we actually refrain from eggs and dairy or just reduce our quantities. The good news is that I don't need the answers today and as an added bonus - I've never lost weight faster.

3 comments:

  1. I watched forks over knives on the 31st, switched to a plant based diet and have lost 10 pounds since then, without being hungry. I feel great. --M.

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  2. I recently changed my entire diet too and have been shocked by how different the grocery experience is and by how easy it is to stay on it! It's truly shocking how fast your body stops craving the old stuff!

    I just started a weight loss blog today, actually. So far I haven't even gone into the food portion of things. It's the exercise part I need the most motivation with!

    Check mine out if you get a chance-maybe we could be blog buddies. http://shrinkingintostrength.blogspot.com/

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