It begins

Let me start off by saying, I’m sorry, but I am terrified of this project. That’s probably the only excuse I can think of—besides not being chosen for a service learning project—for starting Food Rules so late, but at least I’m being honest. Food is not what I do best. I hate grocery shopping—everything I buy either gathers frost in my freezer or rots on a forgotten shelf in my refrigerator. Or it enters a place that even I’m too scared to enter after dark—the pantry, where I suspect colonies of bugs migrate over my food while I’m sleeping, infecting everything and then vanishing in the morning.

Until this class, I’ve really almost beat food. I’ve never learned to cook and I tend to eat out a lot. Or on days when my wallet can’t afford that, my diet usually consists of unbuttered toast and protein shakes, or free food from work (it’s a Chinese restaurant). I should also note that I have a mild genetic digestive disease that inhibits my diet from things that would be great for this project, like rice and raw vegetables. To put it simply—they make my tummy hurt. In fact, most food does. On top of this, I’m just finicky with food. It’s not pickiness per se; I’m pretty decent when it comes to trying new foods. But my appetite tends to border being non-existent. I won’t be hungry for days at a time because of my stomach, or I’ll binge eat. I know, I know, I know. Not healthy at all. I’m working on it.

So to start this project, it took hours of fear. It took trepidation and actual terror and driving to Winn-Dixie with a sense of dread so encompassing, words fail. It took a full hour in the grocery store, bracketed by bored employees wondering why I kept writing ingredients down in a tiny notebook. And it took the courage to come home and stock my mostly empty refrigerator with my purchases. Before I did, I took a picture of what I bought. I placed the groceries next to a creepy doll just to express to you my horror:





Yeah.

I chose Winn-Dixie as my first grocery store to stock up on Food Rules supplies. It’s cheap to begin with and I can always use my grandmother’s phone number for a membership discount. The absolute terror for the assignment at hand turned into absolute confusion—I had no idea where to start. So I consulted the text—What should I eat, Michael Pollan?

Food. I began with things I thought might be mundane enough to pass the rules. PB&J seemed like a good place to start, but of course there was no worse of a first choice. Peanut butter has a surprisingly short list of ingredients, but sugar happens to usually be listed as good old number three. The list of ingredients on the jar of grape jelly is the food equivalent to that doll in the pictures: concord grape juice, high fructose corn syrup, fruit pectin, citric acid and sodium citrate. Even picking out a decent bread was a fiasco of ingredients. My question is why there is sunflower and/or soybean oil in just about everything I found in that store. How can an ingredient be and/or? I thought manufacturers would have a better grasp on their products.

The food items I did manage to get:

-white mountain bread
-tomatoes
-mozzarella cheese—one of the few cheeses I could find without coloring dye
-Vlasic Kosher Dill Baby Wholes—pickles, which have a stunning ingredient list of cucumbers, water, salt, and vinegar, although I expect some foul play with preservatives.
-Ronzoni Pasta—wheats, iron, and sadly it contains some folic acid, but I tried.
-Tony Chachere’s Original Creole Seasoning—salt, red pepper and other spices, garlic, silicon dioxide (to prevent caking).
-Winn-Dixie bowl-o’-fruit
-Iams Kitten Chow—not for me, but It hought it was crazy how much animal fat and by-product chicken meal was in this. The ingredients list was torturous to read through.
-My personal favorite: Honey. Ingredients: Honey. Do not feed to infants one year and younger.

So now that I’ve taken the first step towards food enlightenment, I’m staring at the items unsure of how I should feel. Each item—minus the tomatoes—is packaged so nicely, I feel embarrassed opening them, as if that’s violating them somehow. I would rather just look at them. I really don’t know where to begin, so for now I’m singling out each item and sending it a telepathic message “I am going to consume you. Even if it kills me.”

Local Foods

I've bought grapes and cantaloupe from Mr. Okra, fish at an open market on the Westbank, and peanut butter from Whole Foods. Combining Food Rules with another eating philosophy I heard recently, I'm trying to avoid food altered from its natural state. This idea limits my intake of pasta, bread, butter, granola, anything processed. I don't remember the name of the advocate for the lifestyle, but he prescribed living on nuts and leaves with as little meat as possible and restricting how changed food is from its original form. His logic was that animals in captivity are healthiest when fed foods native to their environment, and that humans are no different.

With these changes, I expect my mood, weight, or energy to change soon, especially with people damning the effects of "ultra-processed" foods. Honestly, I'm anxious to feel the clarity, attitude, vitality-- whatever it is I'm supposed to be feeling.

The cost of our groceries has risen so our refrigerator is kind of empty, but I'm getting satisfaction from my sense of superiority when I eat an apple and my roommate a s'more (his favorite). Even so, I've tried to "treat treats as treats," "break the rules once in a while," and eat junk food as I prepare it. We made cookies without a pre-made dough.

Food Rules: The Edible Experiment, Week Four

Journal Entry
Week Four
September 24, 2010

Rule 3 “Avoid food products containing ingredients that no ordinary human would keep in the pantry”

So last visit to the grocery store I took some extra time to peruse the “organic section” that is laid out in a somewhat separate section of our local supermarket. I started seeing all sorts of things that I had always heard about, but had never actually looked for in a store. “Agave Nectar,” “Turbinado Sugar,” “Gluten-Free this-and-that,” etc. Yet then I came to a product line that advertised each of its products, yes, each, as “No Calorie, Carb Free, Sugar Free, Gluten Free” items, mostly fruit spreads and condiments. ?!?! YUCK?! Ok, so please tell me: How do you make a barbecue sauce that has no calories, no sugar, no carbohydrates, no gluten, and is good for diabetics and people on gluten-free diets? I guess it would have NO TASTE EITHER, RIGHT?! I admit I did wonder how that company stays in business.

I also noticed that all of the packaging for these “organic” and “natural” foods was much more attractive than your typical packaging! I guess they have to make you feel like you are spending those few extra dollars on something worthwhile and good for you.

Although I am not entirely convinced that “organic” is necessarily “better,” I did enjoy visiting that section and am willing to try some of those products in the future, as budget permits! I definitely am more aware now than I was before to be on the lookout for unfamiliar ingredients lurking in my day-to-day foods; however, I will say that some of the ingredients listed on the foods in the so-called “organic” section were unpronounceable too… yet more familiar for sure and more likely to be something that I could in fact “pull from my pantry shelf and cook with.” :)

Eat Your Colors.

This week, I plan on eating my fair share of colors for every meal. In other words, each plate of food shall be multi-colored--not every meal a different color. Pollan discourages meals of the same color. However, I am reminded of a time a few years back when my eccentric family decided to cook dinners of the same color for 4 days. Here is the menu (I cannot encourage it):

Green Meal

Green Noodle Casserole

Broccoli

Salad

Lime Sherbet

Orange Meal

Cream of Carrot Soup

Shrimp

Sweet potato fries

Peaches

Yellow Meal

Lemon Chicken

Summer Squash

Stuffing

Lemon Pie

Flambe Meal

Steak with Bourbon Sauce

Carrots glazed with Brandy

Salad with Warmed Brandy Dressing

Bananas Foster with Rum

You can pour brandy over anything and light it.

Is "Fire" a color in Crayola's box of 64?

Preparation Is Key To Success

So far I am finding the Challenge to be a very rewarding experience, as it has taught me alot about my own limits in terms of willpower or self-control. Lately, I find that when presented with the right food choices, I am quick to stick with the diet plan as I feel a sense of accomplishment after having successfully made it through another meal without deviating off course. But often times I find the hardest thing for me to conquer is preparing those healthy choices ahead of schedule so I do not stray too far from my goal. Like many others with busy lives and crammed schedules, I too lead a life of on the "go". So many times I will opt to grab things when I am out, and it's last minute quick fixes like drive- thru items that always seem to draw me in. I find myself dealing, trading in the fries for just the sandwich, and I might hold off on the additional condiments, or skip a meal to balance the bad food choices. I also attempt to rationalize that the behavior was necessary in making that last minute selection so I don't feel too horrible about myself.

To avoid making these critical mistakes, I have started writing out a grocery list in advance, so that I am not tempted to impulse shop when out. I try to arm myself with protein filled snacks like almonds to stave off hunger pangs between meals, and find filling up on the greens, soups, and other healthier alternatives at the chains is best; a simple philosophy of more of the good, is less of the bad. For me, it is the delicate balancing act between choosing the right "grab and go"selections that I struggle with most on this journey to better health. But with a little more effort in the preparation department, it allows me to remain true to my diet plan, keeping me on course, and following through on my goals that are aligned with Pollan's suggestions.

Food Regime

So on Wednesday I had to go shopping again. This time, I needed veggies because I realized there was a lack of them in my diet. So here was my receipt.

Natural Oates and Cranberry Cookies (could have done without this)
Pomegranate/Blueberry Juice (could have done without this)
9 kiwis
16 roma tomatoes
a bag of carrots
a bag of spinach
a package of Provolone Cheese
3 packages of strawberries
3 cucumbers
2 bunches of bananas
2 bags of croutons (could have done without this)

I really have gone a bit crazy with my new food regiment. Also, during this process of changing my food habits, I want to see the changes that my body, health, skin, weight, and everything else in between are going through. Last Sunday, i weighed 175, and now almost 2 weeks later I'm down to 170. I'm really curious to see how this affects me in every aspect of my body and health. I have even given up rice on some accounts, but I think that might change when I start eating meat again. It's quite strange to be eating so many natural things all the time and not eat processed foods. I feel GREAT though! I have a lot of energy and my body is responding really well. I'm just trying to make sure I eat enough because sometimes I notice that I get lazy nowadays to eat and am careful not to binge eat because that can happen. I have done that with croutons which are my guilty pleasure! Overall, these changes are really good and I have never felt better. But I do think along with changing food habits for a healthier and better life, we have to include exercise. I for one hate exercising and never do it, but now it is something I'm trying to incorporate more into my life.

Feeling Like A New Man

When I first learned of the Food Rules Challenge, I must say I was a bit apprehensive in terms of my level of commitment and skeptical of the benefit that the assignment would provide. As an avid runner and general fitness enthusiast, I understand the importance that diet and nutrition has on the overall quality of health. I also have a medical history with a predisposition to high cholesterol, and desperately needed to make some personal life changes. Being the competitive person that I am, I decided to arm myself with the new text, and forego the challenge; I had nothing to lose. Mr. Pollan's simplistic writing style made navigating through the material an effortless task and I quickly read through all the book in one sitting. Although the content seemed a bit elementary in the science, I had realized that solid nutrition wasn't such a complicated process when stripped down to its most essential components. It reminded me of those days when parents and teachers would tell you to eat fruits, vegetables, and the daily three squares a day. I began to get excited about the assignment, and began to modify my eating habits by first incorporating more carbohydrates, particularly more vegetables or plant based foods at each meal. I avoided the products labeled with high-fructose corn syrup and high levels of sodium. Within days, I have noticed a tremendous difference in the way I feel physically, as I am not as sluggish and dragging through the work day. I am getting better quality sleep, and it has enhanced my running performance. I am taking the modification approach to dieting, limiting my intake to the forbidden foods to a few times a week and I try and treat myself to a cup of coffee and an occasional cookie in the early hours. I anticipate that in the latter part of this experiment I will be able to eventually wean myself of the evil, overly processed and heavily market foods. But for now, I am happy with my progression and I am interested to see how this diet may alter the course for the rest of my life in terms of the way I feel and deal with food.