April 26, 2009

musings on health & eating

You know those days where you feel so philosophic because suddenly things start making sense? Connections form in your mind, you feel worldly, and all of sudden you get "it?" I'm having one of those days.

I've mentioned the "allowance system" I'm on (by choice) that gives me $50 per week to put into my little section of our bank account. I can use it for whatever I want, but I can't borrow from it (so if the money's not there, it's not there). Hubbs has let me overspend only twice since being on it, but both times it was his idea (and who am I to argue when a handsome man wants to buy me nice things?). Today I came to start fully appreciating this little arrangement we have.

I'm a big fan of little purchases. The right little thing can make your whole day worth while (and let's face it, when you're a stay at home wife, nothing is better than getting the mail everyday). I purchased some cocoa butter body creme last night (thank you drugstore.com, only $6 for a 15 ounce tub) in hopes of salvaging this horrible lizard type thing I'm calling my skin. The desert climate is just killing me. Then this morning, after reading Donna's blog, My 50's Year (link on left hand side), I purchased a 1955 copy of Better Homes & Gardens Diet Book from Amazon for a whopping $3.



I'm really excited to get both, but the diet book is what I'm anxious to have in my hot little hands. I love learning about natural ways to lose weight--and I don't mean "all natural" acai berry pills. I admit I was a pill popper until recently when I started thinking what all those artificial metabolizers might be doing to my system. When Hubbs and I became vegetarians two years ago, I tried to really be aware of what into my body. Some days I'm better at in than others, but usually a skim through Skinny Bitch's chapter on sugar and junk food is enough to set me straight again (this also happens to be the book that changed me to a veggie, and for what it's worth I cannot wait to get pregnant and buy the next instalment "Skinny Bitch: Bun in the Oven." I own the first two already).



I have a feeling the BH&G book will be similar to Skinny Bitch, as Better Homes & gardens has a line in the book that reads: "You're fat because you eat too much. There isn't any other reason!" Testify!

So today I'm thinking about dusting off the vegetarian cookbooks we've be given for the past two Christmases and taking a long hard look at some of those recipes. We have all the substitutions from Morning Star Farms and Boca Burger (all of which are very scrumptious and have half the fat and calories of their meat counterparts), but I'd really like to try home cooking some vegetarian meals. It means a foray into the world of refined coconut oil (which they happily sell at the commissary, yay) but some of those recipes look and sound delicious. Peanut butter potato chip cookies? That's PMS food if I ever heard of it (and wouldn't that be the perfect combo when you're craving salty and sweet?)!

Wondering why we became vegetarians? Truthfully, it wasn't because of the whole cruelty to animals thing, although yes now that's a part of it. It's because I don't trust the farmers, the FDA, and the USDA. We no longer live in a world where small farmers take care and pride in their animals and product. Now it's who can make the most the fastest. While there are still some small farmers out there who still subscribe to this line of thinking, they are few and far between. Nowadays animals are pumped full of artificial hormones to make them produce more. ... I'm getting pretty heated up and I'm about go on a tirade of my beliefs that these hormones and such have a contributing factor in birth defects and auto immune diseases, so I'm going to step off my soap box and thank you kindly for reading today! My blog is a conflict-free area. :0)

♥ ♥ Thank you for letting me vent! ♥ ♥

5 comments:

  1. Anonymous4/27/2009

    This is kamikat from the Fedora Lounge. Skinny Bitch is what made me go vegetarian, then the Vegetarian Food For Thought podcast pushed me from vegetarian to vegan. I'm the same way, I didn't start with the animal cruelty either. For me, it was the change of view from a plate of food to seeing it as a heart attack on a plate. I'm a stay-at-home mom of two and cook homemade meals every day. I have a ton a great cookbooks. Let me know if you want recommendations or recipes.

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  2. Thanks Kamikat! I can remeber when we were still eating meat, we went to taco bell and I think I bought a burrito supreme. When I took a bite I bit into something white and hard and my only thought was it was a bone that had been ground up in the meat! Totally put me off eating there ever again!

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  3. I am not vegetarian or vegan, but if I were, I'd happily spend the rest of my life eating Indian food. Check out some cookbooks from the library; the variety is amazing.

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  4. Good for you and I am glad you bought that book. It really is very good and helpful and I think the recipes, though they are not vegetarian, are realistic. I don't want to be 'on a diet' but I want to eat what is good and wholesome in moderation depending on my weight, you know? I see you have the book that jitterbug uses as well, I was excited to get that one. Aren't books wonderful?! Pregnant? Hmmm, so are you trying or you just going to see 'what happens'?

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  5. Donna: No not pregnant and not trying--yet. A lot of things are up in the air right now with Hubby's job and where we will be getting stationed later this year. We want to hold off until we know what's going on. Plus, we absolutely want to use that free trip we won before any baby action happens!

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