Detesting food

So let's talk about food today.

First things first, to lose weight I had to stop eating bad food, which was just about everything I was eating.  So it's been rough, but I'm over the cravings and good on portion control.  Honestly I'm barely ever hungry anymore, so I have a hard time eating 6 times a day, mostly because I forget to eat.  Forget to eat!?  I know it's weird, but I can go all day and then realize oh crud I didn't eat anything today, and wow am I hungry!

I think robert is worried I'm becoming anorexic or something, because I don't want to eat.  I do like to eat, I just have lost the desire to eat nowadays.  Maybe it's my metabolism trying to even out or somehting.  I remember once, and people would and still laugh anytime I mention this, that I tried to be anorexic once, but I couldn't do it, because I would get too hungry.  Yes, ha ha, but I think it's seriously messed up that I used to wish I had the willpower to be anorexic so I could lose weight.

I had an eating disorder of types, overeating.  And it is an eating disorder not just a "i love food" issue.  I used to eat because I was hungry, bored, tired, happy, depressed, whatever, I was an overeater.  Not anymore, but this was a serious problem.  I was one of those people that you put a chip bag or cookie container in front of me, and it would be gone.  I would eat so much I'd get sick.  Just because I didn't pay attention while I ate.  I would be this mindless food eating zombie, and just eat cookie after cookie, until the entire bag of oreos was gone!  And due to that, I can't eat oreos anymore >.<  They taste gross to me now anyways.  And I used to hate when I'd go somewhere where there was food and people say "help yourself!"  and I'd think well crud, because well I couldn't help myself, so I'd be one of those people that would just hover around the food table the entire time and eat, and eat, and eat. 

 This part of me is gone now.  I don't know how I did it, maybe it was facing my own mortality or something, that finally caused me to suck it up and stop eating like a fat zombie.  Whatever happened it worked.  I stopped eating all crap, no processed foods, no fatty foods, no soda pop, no juice, nothing like that at all for the first two weeks!  This is the hardest time, and it's torture, but it worked.  It gave my body time to detox perse and get rid of all the unrefined sugars and additives that are so addicting and bad for you.  Food must be eaten in its original form.  Seems like a pain, but it's easier as you get used to it.  Homecooking becauses your best friend.  I am learning to cook, and I love it.  I eat everything in its most basic form.  What does this mean?  That means if I want meat, I eat it cooked from a cut from a butcher, not from a carboard box from the freezer.  If I want veggies or rice, I make it plain. 

Personally I prefer to eat organic when I can.  Just because it's better for you.  I also try to get local foods and meat from our organic stores here like Sunflower Market or Whole Foods.  I hate Walmart so I try to avoid them when we can.  Sometimes we're too "poor" to not shop at walmart, but we try when we can.  We actually got this awesome membership to Costco from robert's very generous boss and we use that a lot.  They have an amazing organic and fresh selection of foods.  For me, I want to know where my food came from, what it was in contact with, and I like to know this because it's going into my body. 

I'm also a huge advocate of animal rights, and although I'm no vegan I do try to respect the animals that give their lives for our sustinence and so we try to buy meat and eggs from free range animals.  I see no reason why animals can't be loved and treated with respect up until the day the make their debut on our plates.  Think about it people.  I'm no crazy peta supporter or tree hugger, but I do respect life, no matter how small or insignifigant it may seem.

Whoa, I kind of went off on the soapbox there for a second.  Enough of that.

Eating organic and free range is the best, but it can be pricey, so do the best you can. 

Veggies and fruit for the most part are not always sprayed with pesticides, especially if you're at the farmers market, you can bet they are all naturally grown, so just buy the "normal" ones to save money.  At that point, if you're buying "organic" at a farmers market, well...shame on them..they're ripping u off.

Meat though, well that's another story.  You don't know where it comes from, unless you are the one culling your own meat.  One day we hope to do this on our own and raise our own meat, but until then....  Look for "Grass Fed" animals, and then "no antibiotics", etc..  Also I learned the other day that "Free Range" is a very broad and misleading tag on food.  Chickens crammed into a egg making facotry are considered "free range" if there is a door cracked open for some fresh air, so they're not really free range.  But thanks to whatever idiot made up these "definitions" you may be buying "free range" eggs from chickens that aren't really free range.

I would also recommend growing your own food, even your own meat if you have the space and the emotional ability to do so.  Even in our small apartment we will be growing our own veggies and herbs.  Every little bit helps ya know.  You guys should see my folks garden!  It's amazing.  Plus they grow enough to last all year for them.  As soon as we are able, we're going to have our own chickens.  Depending on the breed, they don't make noise, and you can make a very simple and effective chicken coop.  Even in the city you can do this.  (Legalities!  Check with your zoning laws to make sure.  "Well Erin told me too"  doesn't count as legal, lol)

I guess all in all my suggestions for the ultimate health nirvana (in my own humble opinion) are:

-Eat food in its most basic form
-Eat Organic when possible
-Respect your food and its former life, go free range and grass fed when possible
-Grow and raise your own food when you can.

Till next time my friends :)