figure out how I want to eat

I’ve been making real oatmeal for breakfast. I make a batch once a week with raisins, agave, etc. and put it in three little containers to eat at work.

I’ve also decided to stop using flavored creamer. I like it, but I feel like plain milk is better packaging and ingredient wise.

It’s just not worth eat apples that are not from MN. MN apples are so good, everything the rest of the year they pale in comparison. There is a local apple seller at the farmer’s market, and I’ve been happily giving him my $5 every week for Paula Red and State Fair apples. I’m trying to buy them every week and will just give up eating apples the rest of the year (they aren’t very good, so I don’t buy them typically anyway). I am hoping to find a few good canning recipes for apple sauce…

We have also found a local egg guy….looking around for sources to get local eggs through the winter.

May attempt to freeze corn also. The corn we’ve gotten these past few weeks has been amazing. My grandmother had a great freezer recipe…I still remember how good her corn always was.

Went to an amazing lecture about the food crisis at the library last night. Was again reminded how of the importance of local and sustainable eating. Inspired me to make some rice and beans (some people literally eat this every single day of their life). Well, I made lentils and beans instead. Today at work, someone told me it smelled good (they were taco lentils) and said, “I didn’t know you were a vegetarian” (and I’m not entirely, but I try to replace meat with beans or lentils when I can). Lentils apparently scream vegetarian, but I’m fine with that.

I’m still full from such a filling lunch and plan to have a smoothie tonight for dinner (fruit only, don’t worry, no ice cream). I have had junk food a few times in the past few weeks and been acutely aware in the moments after of how unsatisfied/guilty/unwell they made me feel. A good start.

I want to eat less meat. I want to eat purposefully (rather than just eating a brownie when it’s set in front of me for no good reason).

I want to think ahead so I have good options every day. I want to balance fruits with vegetables. I want to support local growers without only eating lettuce in May (which is the only thing I can guy locally in May).

I’m a big fan of Michael Pollan. The Omnivore’s Dilemma was the best non-fiction book I’ve ever read, and I never really thought about food before that. I struggle with how I want to eat now. I want to eat well, but I also want to eat when I’m hungry. I struggle with this from a weight/caloric perspective, more on a overall healthful, ethical perspective.

It’s frustrating because it never goes away. There is always thinking to be done about food, because it needs to be a part of your life about three times a day.

So before I can figure out if I’m eating how I want to eat, I first need to figure out how I want to eat.