Detoxing with Raw Food Journal
Day One: July 1, 2006
Great changes are happening in our little family, that is, my son and I. After 10 years of being away from my vegan roots, I’ve chosen to live healthy again. Completely dissatisfied with my food choices, I’d frequently stand in front of the fridge letting the cool seep out, while trying to pick the least offensive thing in there to eat. When I open the refrigerator now, there are actually attractive, fresh things in there I want to eat.
The reason I kept shopping at the usual, tired old grocery stores that sold only tired, old, boxed, trans-fat and pesticide laden, cancer causing, tasteless substances that pass for food sold by monopolistic, soulless corporations was because it felt like I had no other choices, and I thought it was ridiculous to buy the expensive stuff at health food stores. (I’ve since learned why; while the USDA recommends the healthier foods in the food triangle, it continues to fund unhealthy foods, making them much cheaper.) Living in harmony with my morals and the health of my son and I are WORTH the extra cost, I decided. I will no longer put things in my shopping cart reluctantly, or walk out of the grocery store having bought hardly anything at all because nothing appealed to me!
The path to this decision was convoluted. It all started about a year ago, when my ex-husband insisted on telling me about peak oil – how the end of cheap oil will affect our society. Then I saw “An Inconvenient Truth,” which made global warming – the current and future earth changes brought about by the warming of our planet — tangible and immediate for me. I started reading relevant books from the library.
Learning about such impending critical changes to our globe makes you realize many things. Among them is the understanding that you have to start preparing for a completely different way of living. We’re reliant upon oil for so much more than just getting around town in our cars. Were it not for oil, we’d never have been able to cultivate enough produce and farm animals to feed us. (Conversely, without it, there’s just no way there would be so many humans crowding the planet.)
As I read, I learned that of all the profound changes inherent in the passing of cheap oil, perhaps the most profound is that food delivery will become incredibly expensive, resulting in higher prices in nearly everything — and shortages of some things. Some foods that we’ve take for granted for so long will no longer be available at all, due to skyrocketing transportation costs. I realized I needed to learn about growing my own food. Becoming more independent. I began researching more.
One thing led to another, and I find myself having made some important commitments to myself. Once I make a decision, I make it happen. I’ve decided. I’m now officially organic. I am moving toward becoming vegetarian… okay, vegan. Jesus! I can’t even fool myself anymore – my mind is like the screensaver on that fat guy’s computer in Jurassic Park wagging its finger and saying, “Nuh, uh, uh, Nuh uh, uh!” anytime I try to bypass my morals.
So I am determined. I love it when I know in my heart I’ve made a commitment to do something important like this. It FEELS right. And I am happy. Wow. So much is going to change.
