i'm having one of those days where i'm just in awe of people who think cheaper food is better value. i realize most people don't want to think of where their food came from or how it was made but i'm continually amazed that people can think cheap food that you have to eat way more of and feel sick after, is the better deal. granted, i do tend to eat more food than i need, but i am working on that. when i don't focus on my enjoyment of eating and let my stomach tell me when to eat, i really don't need much. which is kind of annoying sometimes! but that's how you make a real food, organic lifestyle affordable. and make nutrition actually possible for your body!
so what has inspired this ramble? well, next week i'm planning to go down to seattle with a friend and i was just looking for some new places to go and have been focussed more on the gluten-free vegan choices. i have been to
flying apron bakery so i was excited to see a place i hadn't been to before:
jodee's desserts. jodee used to make all the raw desserts at
thrive and last year opened her own place in greenlake. in effort to see if i could find out if she relies on cashews for her desserts (still don't know), i looked up her place on
yelp.
i'm dumbfounded by some of the reactions. it reminds me of when i was demoing raw organic products like coconut water and people generally take things without inquiring what they are. or they see a name they recognize like "macaroon" and don't ask any questions. i suppose that having the same names as the indigestible stuff they are used to could be misleading. i have to remind myself that there are still people out there that don't know what gluten is or dairy (??? i know!) or sugar. reading "
compared to something with actual butter, sugar, and all the "standard" ingredients you will find in baked goods, this isnt even close." kind of frustrates me as that isn't the point. it's like how i have felt being on this elimination diet for 2 months. though i can't eat some things, it's really not a big deal. i eat other things. and i enjoy other things. as a long-time vegetarian, i'm not looking for something that is going to taste exactly like meat. why? i'm over it. i don't want it! and though sometimes i have enjoyed "novelty" food, it isn't food i typically search out.
i was also taken aback by the
but the flavor was a pungent artificial lime comment. um, this would definitely be the one place where they wouldn't be using artificial flavours!!! people are so detached from what food is and what it should taste like, they don't even know the flavours of real foods anymore? imagine kids growing up on watermelon gum, banana candy, apple lollipops and
"pink" flavour finally trying some real fruits. what are they going to think?
i was trying to find prices for
jugo juice and
booster juice and all those places to compare as people also like to complain about paying $7 for a smoothie. i have always been amazed at being able to get a raw, organic, superfood smoothie at
organic lives for
just $7. i'm not sure what people expect food to cost. i feel so guilty when i think of how far some of my food choices have travelled to get to me! nevermind the packaging and shipping costs, what about the labour and production costs to the farmer? and maybe the smoothies at the chain places are $6, but what are you paying for? how much sugar is in one of those drinks? or dairy? i'm always amazed at the people who insist that a fruit smoothie needs a sweetener added to it. yuck! and that ice needs sugar to be able to blend. headache, anyone? why ruin a good (for you) thing? and wouldn't you rather pay a bit more for something that is going to sustain you in a good way rather than pollute your body?
i felt like an alien at work the day a lady was lamenting over her $6 jar of 'natural' peanut butter that was taken by airport security. i recall the times i have spent 3 times as much to get a jar of organic, raw almond butter! i appreciate the work involved to make such a thing and the cost to acquire raw and organic almonds! yes, it's exciting that the natural peanut butter is just made of
peanuts (i remember when i first discovered
whole foods and would make the trip out to west van so i could grind some peanuts for my own butter to take home!) but when i think of moldy legumes with pesticides, toasted to not taste the toxicity - yikes. i don't know how people are so hung up on it. especially when there are so many other options out there (like
jungle peanuts! support heirloom crops! save plant variety!). and especially when so many people are deathly allergic. why would i want to ingest something that could put someone else at risk? i have thought about it many times on the bus... if i happened to have peanut breath or had touched peanuts and then someone with the allergy was nearby, could i risk harming them?
i recall
sherry strong comparing fuel for your body to fuel for your car. you wouldn't put crap fuel in your precious car - why do you think it's okay for you? you can replace cars but your body is really the only one you're going to get! the most nutritionally-dense, organic foods you can eat will sustain you the best, heal you and keep you the most healthy! why eat something you're not so sure about?
i'm super excited for summer when i can be buying even more produce directly from local farmers. that's how you get cheap organic food! how else? well, i always suggest to people to even start with one organic thing. (perhaps one or all of the
dirty dozen!) i really believe that if more people bought just even one thing that was organic, even
more of a demand for organic will surface and the price will continue to go down! i'm so happy when i see organic produce for sale cheaper than conventional! that's how it should be! it sucks that the cost to certify as organic is so expensive. because really, to produce organic food, you don't need anything but knowledge! no pesticides or seeds to buy every year.
okay, i really need to cut myself off here and get into today's smoothie. ha. i'm still on a high from my liver/gallbladder cleanse! i feel so much more energetic and productive and content! and this all from giving my liver a bit more space to do its thing? oh yeah! i'm already super excited to do my next one! monday morning i wasn't so sure i could do it again but now... oh yeah! definitely!!!
so! today's green smoothie!
it was a blend of red leaf lettuce with some collard greens, mint and pear and one
sambazon unsweetened organic acai berry smoothie pack and i ended up adding 2 frozen bananas. it was a weird taste. maybe too minty? but no reaction from paul so maybe it wasn't anything unusual.
on tuesday night, we made ani phyo's raw chili to top a collard green leaf and some beet greens with ground walnut taco "meat" and avocado on top of that. awesome! i love that my parents have been enjoying the food that i enjoy. i must be doing something right! it's also been super nice that my mom is paying close attention to what she buys as she has a gluten allergy and dairy sensitivity. so she looks out for a lot of the same things i look out for!
i made smoothies every morning this past week for me and my parents which was fun. my first one was a chocolate banana one for my dad (frozen banana, cacao powder, mesquite, maca, coconut milk and a bit of ginger). this one was frozen mango and banana, apricots, lemon juice, a bit of camu camu, mesquite, ginger and goji powder with water.
tonight we roasted marshmallows in the backyard with my friend since grade 2 (!!!) and her 4 (!!!) kids. it was so much fun! and it was awesome that it wasn't even noticeable that i had vegan/gluten-free graham crackers, chocolate and marshmallows (though the dandies were noticeably smaller than the kids' marshmallows!
