This Business of Food

I must admit, I usually title my posts once I've finished because I often am not entirely sure what I'll write. This morning, however, I'm listening to one of my all time favorite albums that I haven't listened to in at least a year called "This Business of Art" by Tegan and Sara. I've also been thinking a lot about food activism and the Chickfila story and how food is big business so the title kind of came naturally.

I've mentioned before that a long time ago (5 years??), Carly and I stopped eating at fast food restaurants. This decision was motivated by health and our desire to not give our money to corporations like McDonalds and Chickfila. The Chickfila scandal has been interesting to watch as someone who was already committed to using my money spent on food selectively and who is an out gay woman. I learned about Chickfila's anti-gay donating a few years ago, and I'm surprised that it's become such a big deal out of nowhere. I appreciate the outrage and I'm glad for people who are starting to get a lesson that their dollars have more of an impact than they think. I hope that it makes people consider the other things they spend their money on, and helps them make better spending decisions. I know I could do better, but I don't have the drive to investigate every last product I buy.

I do try to buy local and from small businesses when I can, and if I learn something about a company doing unethical things I stop spending money there. In high school I refused to shop at Walmart because of how they treated female employees, and I still only shop there if it's a last case scenario. I found this awesome website yesterday called Spencer's Market which sells small quantities of gourmet, artisanal and organic foods from small batch producers. I ordered some granola bars, sprouted sunflower seeds, nut cheese, soy curls, and coconut oil yesterday. I love that you can buy small quantities from different vendors and pay shipping for the whole package. It's like a virtual farmer's market!



I'd be remiss if I didn't post the lyrics to a song by one of my favorite performers, and a good friend, Ember Swift. She has a song called "Include My Food" that illustrates my point about food activism better than I'm capable of right now:

""Are you hungry?" he asked "Care to join me in a bite of thought?"
I looked and the table and said, "thank-you for your kindness, but really, I'm not.""C'mon, let's chat, 'chew the fat' with me!Let's debate the ethics on our plate; Let's disagree!Aren't you going to tell me how everything I eatIs derived from misery and cruelty?Aren't you going to tell me about the contents of meat?All the pesticides and the hormones?C'mon Ember, let's disagree. C'mon Ember, let's disagree!"


We pick our politics like we choose the food to fill our stomachsParting with money is just playing with fateI choose to start with the food upon my plateI really sincerely don't mean to be rudeBut my politics INCLUDE MY FOOD.


Seems we all live in a mist of mediocrityNever ever thinking that we can have an impactBut, it's a fact that we as people are the very pulse of the economy.Everything we purchase, invest in or consumeHas the power to demystify and to perpetuate this capitalist gloomBecause everything that we buy is attached to a company with a policyAbout production, employment, government or the environment (to name a few)"

I'm feeling slightly better about the exercise, at least for today. I did Jillian Michaels' week 4 of Ripped in 30 on Wednesday and it's so much better than week 3!! I really like the week 4 workout. I also did my favorite yoga/Pilates workout on Thursday morning. I really look forward to it, and I want to keep doing it on my late working days (unless we get a Y membership, I might swim then!). Today I'm planning to go to the mountain after work if it's not stormy, and I want to take the longer trail to get a better workout. I think we're going to see the Y on Saturday, and I'm going to dress in my workout gear in the hopes I'll get to try it out!

I saw an awesome infographic yesterday on the 10 principles of intuitive eating. You can find the list here. I've mentioned before that being mindful/intuitive is something I strive for, and it's helped me make peace with myself. I don't get so dejected when I indulge, and I don't beat myself up if the meals I planned don't fill me up and I need to eat a little something extra. It's hard to listen to our bodies when they've been trained to enjoy sweet, fatty foods for a majority of their life! On a similar note, I get daily emails from Calorie Count which is the first calorie tracking site I used. They had a good article called "Five 'Get Real' Nutrition Rules" that I think are enormously helpful for anyone trying to be more careful with their food. I especially like the first one, "Avoid foods that don't make sense". I was on a sugar free kick for a long time until I realized that some foods are meant to have sugar, and the fact that they don't is scary!

I'll leave you with a food picture. It seems like at least twice a month we plan on eating tacos, and I end up making a salad. I feel like my tacos get soggy and cold quickly, which means I eat them quickly. I can take my time more with a salad. This one had romaine, satueed zucchini/black beans/peppers/jalapenos, red cabbage kale cilantro slaw, salsa, homemade chips, and pepitas. Delicious!