Eyeing It Up

I'm pretty sure everyone I've told about this organic/healthy trend I'm on thinks I'm nuts. And why not? I know I have really bad follow through. I've learned so far, that planning for meals is planning for life. The more I do this, the easier it's going to get.

Probably my favorite organic moment so far was when, driving to Wegman's Saturday night, I tell my boyfriend that we should get organic wine. He has a really hard time controlling his facial expressions and the tone of his voice, especially when it comes to what I think he thinks are whims and he looked disgusted with me. Kind of made me feel terrible for wanting to do this. But, this is what I want to do, and I'm not letting anything deter me. I keep moving forward for me for a better me, because I have to.

Anyway, we did end up getting organic wine, but not without a bit of a mess. I asked the dorky kid at the counter what he knew about organic wines, and ten minutes later after a loud and embarrassing time of being talked at about "pepper nuances" and "sunshine smells" and certified organic French wines, I settled on Nature Perrin from the Cotes Du Rhone of France. It's a 20% Syrah/80% Grenache. The Grenache definitely toned down the Syrah and made for a smooth swallow with a pepper taste in the end as the young sommelier informed us.

As for our shopping trip at Wegman's, here's what I learned:

So far, organic orange juice and milk is the easiest to find. Is it twice as much? Well, the milk seems to be ($3.29 for the milk) but $2.59 for the orange juice seemed reasonable compared to normal orange juice. In fact, what I love so much is how the milk and OJ tastes like it did when I was a kid. I stopped drinking milk because it tasted nasty to me. Now I think I'm going to have to buy a whole gallon starting soon instead of a half gallon per week. And the OJ... it's sooooo good. I'm a big fan regardless, but it's yummy when it's organic. No matter what, I'm staying organic for these two.

Stonyfield Farms Yogurt: So far, it's ok. Stonyfield was featured in Food, Inc. I eat yogurt because I know I have to. Stonyfield is a bit watery, but the maple flavor was good. To be continued...

Kosher. It's great time for it with Seder and all. On my first trip to Wegman's looking for organics, I ended buying more vegetarian (Amy's) and kosher (Macabee's Kosher food). It's an ok first step. And so far, the kosher breaded eggplant is excellent. Amy's frozen everything is great too... even though I love meat generally, once in a while I go for Amy's in the frozen food section anyway, so this isn't a shock to the system. I've had their pesto pizza and their vegetarian garden lasagna so far. I know frozen food is not where I want to be if I'm buying organics and buying healthy, but it's a start. I'm easing in.

I bought Kashi Honey Sunshine cereal. It sounds pleasant but I haven't tried it yet. It looks like Pops on the cover but I know I'm being cleverly deceived. To Be Continued...

Kiss my Face Moisturizer. I was out of moisturizer conveniently when I was going to Wegman's. So I went organic. About $7 for this honey lemon (I think) face moisturizer, but it's thick, needs only small dime-sized little dollops for application, and is a fairly sizable tube. I like it so far.

Best thing ever: Duck Bacon. Especially when it's vegetarian fed and doesn't have any growth hormones. My boyfriend cooked it perfectly. It doesn't dry like normal bacon and crunch like normal bacon. It stays rich and thick and so very yummy. I love meat.
In other news:

No diet coke today. Hard. This is a big deal. I feel like my life is over. But I felt like that when I quite smoking. So... I think I'll be ok.

Meatless Monday. I didn't mean to do this today. Breakfast was leftover blueberry pancakes, lunch was eggplant and greenbeans and grapes, and dinner was yogurt, veggie lasagna, milk and some edamame. I really didn't mind not eating meat on Monday. Might be an idea I can swing.

Hiking. We went to Oregon Ridge in Hunt Valley for a few hours yesterday. It was wonderful. It's so great to get out. I want to hike at least once a weekend. Seeing fresh water streams and hills, green grass and trees... Makes me want to quit work, quite frankly, and go out in the wilderness. As I get older, the city constantly reminds me to leave and get out into nature.

Especially with this week-long headache I've had, most likely caused by my eyes, it's all the more reason to get away from the screens when I can.

Ok, off to an ab workout and some good, honest sleep.

In Alteration

First of all, disdain: I go to start a blog and name it http://annsosnowski.blogspot.com and if you click the link you see what you get. It seems my blog name still belongs to the company I formerly worked for as a financial editor. I'll be getting that taken care of this week.

And now I'm here. This may be my third attempt at blogging, but it will be successful this time. And why now, you ask? Why at the age of 28 in March 2010 have you decided to start a blog, and stick by it?

Thanks for asking! - mild applause- :twiddling my thumbs:

I just watched Food, Inc. As someone who loves food, and I mean LOVES FOOD, it came as no surprise to me the sort of inhumane treatment of animals and humans I'd see in the movie. I've read Fast Food Nation, and I saw the movie, and both times, I stopped eating McDonald's. But that was then, and I'm sure I've eaten McDonald's food at least 10 times since 2010 started. So it didn't last long.

And why should it? We base our lives on fear. Fear of everything! We watch the news at 11 when we should be in bed getting a good night's sleep because during the commercial of our favorite 8 o'clock show on Fox's Republican propaganda channel we were warned by our favorite local newscaster "Is what you're putting in your child's lunch bag going to kill them? Stay tuned on the 11 o'clock news for new information about the food you're putting in your child's sandwich bags!"

So we watch, and hope that they give us some information that will keep us safe. And well, it doesn't.

But this isn't about THEM or US, or EVERYONE or NO ONE. I'm starting this project for one reason: myself. And hopefully you'll enjoy it. I need some consistency, and the only way to that is change.

Let me explain why this is happening. Rewind:

I woke up this morning at 5 a.m. with a booming migraine. Said booming migraine has been booming since I woke up yesterday (Friday morning- and all through work.) On a Friday night, I tucked myself in after a dinner of cereal and milk at 9 p.m. to get rid of said migraine and get up refreshed at 5 a.m. for the Epilepsy walk in D.C. today.

Needless to say, I couldn't join my friends for a good cause because my head still hurt. I finally woke up at 8:30 still feeling crappy, but had another bowl of cereal, a two-pill diet of ibuprofen and popped Food, Inc. into the DVD. (Please watch it if you haven't already. Michael Pollen, who wrote Omnivore's Dilemma and Eric Schlosser from Fast Food Nation fame are in it. Fantastic.)

Short reason for change: I'm tired of feeling like crap.

Food, Inc. put the icing on the top. I quit smoking about a month ago. One night of drinking in the middle made me smoke a handful of cigarettes but I learned my lesson. I knew they were bad for me. It took getting sick to make me quit. And now that I see others smoking and knowing I'm not in it, I can hate it for what it was.

Lesson 1: When you're in it, you don't care. When you're outside of it, it's a cause to fight against.

I'm also slowly getting rid of Diet Coke. High fructose syrup equals bad. Iced tea made of two ingredients: oil of bergamot and black tea = way better!

Now to the reason all these changes are happening. I'm older. I care more about what I'm doing to my body. I'm disgusted by how I haven't taken care of it. Shrinking my brain from alcohol, killing my lungs from cigarettes, working through work sick as a dog and on antibiotics twice as long. Messing up my stomach with nasty foods. It's time for a change.

Other important reasons:

• My mom had breast cancer. I've had one lump checked out already.
• My dad has diabetes and gout.
• I've gained 15 pounds over the winter.
• I was just diagnosed with TBI from an accident in 2000. Current symptoms include headaches, me losing my taste and smell, shaking sometimes, slight short-term memory loss, inability to concentrate like I used to, anxiety, depression, mood changes, and in general just really annoying small things in life I lived with but didn't realize others didn't.
• After a blood test, I find out I have a Vitamin D deficiency, from not eating well. Insert Vitamins in mouth here.

Also, I went to a physical therapist. I have the back and shoulders of a 45-50 year old who sits at a desk all day. I have half of a baseball size lump on my left shoulder from the accident and exacerbated over ten years of inability to stick to a work out regimen and of sitting in cars in traffic and my desk at work and my desk at home ALL THE TIME. (P.S. writing this blog will not make that better, but sacrifices for the good are ok.) I am being forced to get a massage monthly.

I haven't had a true vacation... since I think I went to Switzerland in the early 2000s. Everything else has been weekend trips where you try to fit everything in, or camping trips. I haven't truly relaxed in a long time.

I'm working myself DEAD for a little less than $60,000 a year.

Can someone who lives in the city make little changes every day, to food, to diet, to taking vacations, to resting, to relaxing, to enjoying the outdoors... on that budget?

Vacations, organic food, farmer's markets, vitamins, exercising, massages, neurologists, physical therapy... it all costs money... and time. Is it possible to be healthy in the body and healthy in the wallet... and in the head?!

That's the question I'm working on answering here, starting now. I'm going to chronicle my progress.

Oh, and also, I'm a writer. So they'll be other subjects peppered throughout so your feet don't go to sleep from boredom.

Once in a while, comment. Let me know how I'm doing. Or suggest something to me... anything.

Thanks for reading. Sorry so long!