Strange Eating Habits
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I never thought of myself as having a strange diet. I've always thought of my diet as delicious, healthy, and cost-efficient. But I've recently realized that I'm starting to hear it all the time, "you've got strange eating habits" -- from house-mates, from strangers.
My band recently went on tour. In that three week span I drank a bottle of olive oil, and ate through a number of bags of prunes and peanuts, and a big bag of flax-plus pumpkin seed granola. To me, it made perfect sense. Long hours in a van, time obligations, no kitchen, infrequent/unpredictable access to health-food stores, low budget. It was a relatively cheap way to get calories, anti-oxidants, fiber, some protein. I got a couple comments. But I felt great.
Through the years I've been steadily seceding from the American diet. I started with mammals and birds, completely eliminating them from my diet. Then gradually dairy, then eggs, then sea animals (the last meat over four years ago). The factory farming of animals and animal products, in addition to being horrendous for all the torture and objectification the animals are subjected to, is also devastating to the environment, society, and one's health. I don't want to eat foods that aren't organic, for many of the same reasons. I quickly lost interest in sweets and caffeinated foods, which in the long term don't make a person feel good. I find myself less and less interested in eating processed foods. (Why should anything I eat have been boiled in hydrochloric acid or other chemical solvents?) I never eat MSG, and am trying to cut out foods high in free glutamic acid. I even find myself uninterested in incorporating typical "fillers" like wheat, corn, and rice into my meals. My diet shift was originally inspired in part by reading Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser, and by a few inspiring vegan friends. That was six years ago, and since then it's kind of snowballed.
Heart disease and cancer are the big killers today. There's little doubt in my mind that the American diet--with all its unhealthy fats, chemicals, hormones, synthetics, contamination or sterility, filler, processing, excesses and deficiencies--is largely responsible for that epidemic and so many other health and social issues. Why participate in it? You only live once -- why not spend it eating some good, quality food?
So I'm no expert on health, the physics/science of food, cooking, or anything really. But I do enjoy trying to figure out what's bull-shit and what's not. And I do love good, natural foods.
Some things I plan to write about soon:
My band recently went on tour. In that three week span I drank a bottle of olive oil, and ate through a number of bags of prunes and peanuts, and a big bag of flax-plus pumpkin seed granola. To me, it made perfect sense. Long hours in a van, time obligations, no kitchen, infrequent/unpredictable access to health-food stores, low budget. It was a relatively cheap way to get calories, anti-oxidants, fiber, some protein. I got a couple comments. But I felt great.
Through the years I've been steadily seceding from the American diet. I started with mammals and birds, completely eliminating them from my diet. Then gradually dairy, then eggs, then sea animals (the last meat over four years ago). The factory farming of animals and animal products, in addition to being horrendous for all the torture and objectification the animals are subjected to, is also devastating to the environment, society, and one's health. I don't want to eat foods that aren't organic, for many of the same reasons. I quickly lost interest in sweets and caffeinated foods, which in the long term don't make a person feel good. I find myself less and less interested in eating processed foods. (Why should anything I eat have been boiled in hydrochloric acid or other chemical solvents?) I never eat MSG, and am trying to cut out foods high in free glutamic acid. I even find myself uninterested in incorporating typical "fillers" like wheat, corn, and rice into my meals. My diet shift was originally inspired in part by reading Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser, and by a few inspiring vegan friends. That was six years ago, and since then it's kind of snowballed.
Heart disease and cancer are the big killers today. There's little doubt in my mind that the American diet--with all its unhealthy fats, chemicals, hormones, synthetics, contamination or sterility, filler, processing, excesses and deficiencies--is largely responsible for that epidemic and so many other health and social issues. Why participate in it? You only live once -- why not spend it eating some good, quality food?
So I'm no expert on health, the physics/science of food, cooking, or anything really. But I do enjoy trying to figure out what's bull-shit and what's not. And I do love good, natural foods.
Some things I plan to write about soon:
- free glutamic acid
- coconut oil (yum!)
- my flax-seaweed concoction that's been finding its way into everything I cook
- ingredients labeling bullshit
- How to: Brew Kombucha
- How to: make sauerkraut
- and of course, cooking recipes!
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