it's a matter of choice (on eating; and on the environment)

[bantha_fodder]

I was astounded, a few months ago, to be cruising the food communities on lj and come across the following post:

Well one of the things I used to do was fall back to 7-eleven hot dogs when I would forget my lunch, or didn’t have anything to bring in. Hard to pass up two hot dogs for 2 bucks or whatever it is. They’re small and can’t be that bad for ya. So 2 dogs with ketchup, maybe some chili, and maybe some cheese, grab a bag of chips or pork rinds and some water.

This was, and still is, beyond all comprehension to me.

Ingrid blogged here about the unhappy meal concept (and links to an article which is fascinating reading), and how she has been trying to change her own diet (and the ways in which she has already succeeded).

A lot of the changes she talks (in the comments) about are weird for me, not because they're weird but because I don't understand how people aren't already doing these things. I understand that advertising plays a huge role in what foods people think they can and should eat, but I guess I've been lucky in that my mum has always kept us (for the most part) on a fairly rigorous Chinese diet, and we lived in an area where fresh vegetables and fruit was always just as easy to purchase as any of the processed kinds (and there's a certain emphasis, in Chinese cooking, on the fresh produce anyway). And so when I moved out of home, those habits were already there.

If you're looking for low-fat, healthy and delicious recipes, I have a two links for you. I will admit to you right now that these links both go to vegan blogs, because I'm a lactose-intolerant vegetarian so it's just easier for me, but please don't let that put you off.

I love to cook, and vegetarianism has just become another creative challenge to me in the kitchen, and I love hosting dinner parties, and nothing is more frustrating than the handful of friends I refuse to invite to dinner because they believe a meal can't be filling if it doesn't contain meat. It's an insult to my abilities as a cook, and it's an insult to their own intelligence, and they should just shut the hell up and eat my delicious food.

Fat-Free Vegan
Vegan Lunch Box (highly recommended for parents)

Whilst I'm speaking of cooking, though, this is the cooking blog that I share with Claira.

**

Relatedly, but sort of not, I guess now is as good a time as any to mention that I'm actually pretty much a hippy. And a very good friend of mine just posted here in her journal about how people may be becoming concerned about global warming, but people need to do more than just watch Al Gore's movie. At least speak out, she says.

This has got me thinking. I never want to say anything about this in my journal because I don't want to come off preachy, or holier than, or gross, but Nace is right, I should at least say these things once, even though a lot of these things I feel are ridiculously obvious. So these are the things I do every day of my life, and I think that you should consider doing them too (in no particular order):

1. Walk.
   
2. Wash all of my clothes in a full load, using cold water.
   
3. Dry clothes on the line outside (don't use a dryer).
   
4. Recycle. Does your local council offer recycling bins? Kerbside collection? I understand it might be different outside of Australia, but here the council provides us with normal bins and recycling bins and collects our greenwaste four times a year.
   
5. Use power-saving lights.
   
6. I don't own an air-conditioner, though I live in a Mediterranean clime (it's Autumn, and today is 39C/102F), and I rarely use my tiny heater (it's so small it fits under my desk). I own two fans, which get the air circulating when I open the windows, and I use blankets in winter. And if you have air-conditioning, please don't leave it on all day.
   
7. Our hot water is gas, and so is the stove.
   
8. Reuse plastic sandwich bags (wash and dry them and they're ready to go).
   
9. Shop with canvas bags. I have an awesome collection of canvas shopping bags, and I always have one in my handbag and a handful in the car. And if I'm just doing a small grocery shop, I won't put big things like oranges or potatoes in plastic bags, I'll just let them roll around in the bottom of the basket.
   
10. Reuse plastic bags that I do get from the shops as bin liners for the little bins (like in the bathroom).
    
11. Turn off lights when you're not in a room.
    
12. It's a hot day, the car has been in the sun. Wind down your windows and start driving, then turn on the aircon after a couple of minutes. Don't turn on your aircon and leave it running for five whilst you stand outside your car and wait for it to cool down.
    
13. There's this saying, you might be familiar with it if you've ever lived in the country on a continent starved for water: if it's yellow, let it mellow. if it's brown, flush it down (ie, if two of you both need to pee at the same time, don't flush).
    
14. When you're done with your clothes, when you've outgrown them or you don't like them, put them in the donation bin. And consider purchasing from an op shop/thrift store - second-hand purchasing is cheaper, and it helps reduce your consumption.
    
15. Don't buy things that come in little individual packages. If you need to take a little pack of chips (to school, or to work or wherever), buy a big pack of chips and put a handful or two in a plastic sandwich bag (which you can reuse) or a tiny tupperware container.
    
16. Keep your curtains closed on the side of the house with the sun (it helps keep the house cooler).
    
17. Wash your car on the grass, and use a bucket, not a hose.
    
18. Don't buy more than what you need, and always use up your left-overs.
    
    
    CARE MORE, GUYS. <33

Comments

[taeli.livejournal.com]

These are great ideas, some of which I do and some of which I really should be doing.

Another idea for old clothes, especially ones that are not quite fit to be passed on to the donation bins - reuse them to make new clothes or other things, if you're crafty. Or pass them on to crafty types for same.

[bantha-fodder.livejournal.com]

One thing that can be done with them that's pretty easy is to turn them into pillows or bags to bring your shopping home in. I have a friend who, after she gave birth, turned all of her giant jumpers into giant pillows and put them on the stairs (her stairs had corners), and after her daughter learnt to crawl/work they were fantastic at slowing her down.

Or even just use them as rags, and then you don't need to buy sponges.

[angualupin.livejournal.com]

The thing about diet is that so much of what your body does with nutrients is genetic, or influenced by things like the microfauna of your gut that you have no control over. So that what is "healthy" for one person is not at all healthy for another.

For example, my twin brother and I have abnormally low cholesterol and very fast metabolisms. It's genetic. Our mother is exactly the same way, we have genetic tests to prove it, etc. We're on a high-calorie, high-fat diet with, quite literally, alarm bells every two hours to remind us to eat, because if we don't, we drop weight and bam, it's a hospital visit.

But if my husband and sister-in-law were to eat what we do, they'd gain weight like balloons and bam, hospital visit. So the entire concept of "THIS IS HEALTHIER FOR YOU" is bullshit, because there is no you to speak of. Adda and I are dramatic examples -- most people don't lose five pounds if they eat "low-fat" for a week. (Most people probably wish they did. Trust me. You don't.) But people's metabolisms are different, and you can't just go by what people are telling you works for some people. It might not work for you.

What is going to work for you is eating real food, like the article said. In my house, we don't eat anything that we haven't cooked for ourselves, and if we didn't see what shape it was before we cooked it, it doesn't go in the pot. I can't be a vegetarian -- I'm intolerant of legumes (soy, peanuts, beans, lentils, etc.) and allergic to tree nuts, and that's almost all the protein you can get out of plants right there. And I admit, I think whole grain is nasty and use white (albeit unbleached) flour in the bread I bake. But I can damn well ensure I don't eat any high-fructose corn syrup. And there is always salad on the dinner table. (And none of that nasty, completely nutritionless iceberg lettuce, either.) I may have the world's screwiest metabolism, but I'm not going to die from diabetes.

[bantha-fodder.livejournal.com]

I guess I should have made it more clear that that was what I meant - for me, healthy = real food. I don't consider anything over-processed to be "healthy" food. The concept of eating something in your house that you haven't cooked is also pretty foreign to me - by which I mean, frozen meals and MREs freak me out. Two of my friends independently discovered these MREs that our local supermarket is selling, and now they're both eating them several times a week and that really weirds me out. I actually keep inviting them over to dinner specifically to cut down the number of times they eat the MREs.

Also, I thought MY metabolism was crazy. Yours totally takes the cake.

[kirbyfest.livejournal.com]

I love Vegan Lunch Box, but at the same time it makes me feel woefully inadequate. Not because anything the author does, mind you; I think she writes in a very open and inclusive fashion.

I eat very little meat, and try to buy locally-grown produce, and try very hard to buy less processed/prepared food. But I don't go read VLB on the days when I just throw a frozen dinner in the microwave. :)

[bantha-fodder.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I sometimes feel inadequate when I visit VLB, but I never eat frozen dinners so at least I don't feel guilty for that. :o)

Can I recommend you just try not buying frozen dinners for a while, and seeing what happens? I'm telling the truth when I say I've never eaten a frozen dinner in my life, and the thought of eating one turns my stomach.

[kirbyfest.livejournal.com]

I buy far fewer than I used to, but with my lifestyle they're inevitable at least once in a while. ::shrug:: They remain cheaper and are less calories than eating out, and when I get home very late they're the best option when there's nothing else around. But this week, for instance, I had time yesterday to do food prep; I won't need frozen this week even if I come home at 10 p.m.. But I don't always have that time.

I feel far worse about other things in my diet than the frozen dinners, frankly. :) Cutting out most of the meat and getting back to non-meat protein sources has been huge. I'm back to playing around with TVP, which I haven't done in years. It's fun-- such a challenge to make it interesting!!

[carmarthen.livejournal.com]

Hrm, I kind of do require some small amount of meat for a meal to be filling since (a) I'm lactose-intolerant and (b) I'm really not suppose to eat large amounts of soy (e.g. more than a few pieces of tofu). So that pretty much means meat or beans, and beans aren't something I want to have all the time. Hypoglycemia means I'm supposed to be getting a reasonable amount of protein. Any meal that is primarily carbs, with no fat and little protein, will leave me hungry, no matter how complex the carbs are. But I recognize that I have weird dietary needs.

Also, 7-11 hot dogs? Man, I love my stomach too much. Ew.

I think a lot of people just build cooking--which you pretty much have to do to have a healthy diet--up to be something really time-consuming, which it doesn't have to be.

Conservation tips = excellent, although not all are achievable for apartment dwellers (we have electric heat and water, and no control over that; I wish we had a gas stove).

[bantha-fodder.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm lactose-tolerant too, and I really don't like tofu, so I don't tend to eat it very much. I get most of my protein from beans, leafy greens and grains. Do you not want to eat beans a lot because you don't eat different sorts? Or because you eat all the different varieties, just you want to eat other things? I just say this because I have some recipes that might help with it if it's the former.

And yeah, so long as you're eating rice and leafy greens, then you're fine. RDI of protein is only about 50 grams anyway, I think, dependingn on your body, which isn't a lot.

And I wouldn't suggest a meal that was primarily carbs - but some carbs and a whole lot of fresh vegetables, that I would recommend as both good for you and DELICIOUS.

I can't even imagine what 7-11 hotdogs would be like. Just a whole lot of processed meat smooshed together, yeah?

I live in an apartment, too, but I'm lucky in that this apartment (in fact, the whole building) has gas. Some friends of mine just moved into an apartment with gas, and for the girl (who does all of the cooking) this is the first time she has ever had gas in her kitchen, her parents always had electric and apparently it's such an experience for her.

[carmarthen.livejournal.com]

I don't want to eat beans all the time because they tend to react unpleasantly with my digestive system. :( I love beans, though. My doctor recommended a rather higher amount of protein for me. Like I said, I don't think my dietary needs are typical, but even aside from that, I like meat, and I believe in supporting sustainable agriculture, which means small-farm agriculture incorporating livestock whenever possible. I just wish we had a year-round farmer's market. I have pretty much made peace with my choices at this point. And no, I don't eat meat with every meal.

7-11 hot dogs are probably a combination of processed meat products, tofu, and "flavorings." Beyond that, I don't want to speculate much, but I've heard rumors that they don't mold.

Apartments with gas stoves are pretty rare in the U.S. I'm guessing it's because they figure most people are too dumb to use them without blowing up the place (we have a freaking paragraph in our lease about how to correctly use the garbage disposal in the sink), and they may be right. A lot of Americans have a strange fear of gas stoves. They are so much better for cooking, though!

*whistles*

[gobsmackit.livejournal.com]

Don't turn on your aircon and leave it running for five whilst you stand outside your car and wait for it to cool down.
Do people really do that?! Ha.


...Don't worry, I did take more away from your entry than that, but that image popped out at me.

Re: *whistles*

[bantha-fodder.livejournal.com]

HA.

That happened to me, once. The people in front of me walked to their car (coincidentally, next to mine), started it, shut the doors and smoked a cigarette whilst waiting for the car to cool down.

[ingridmatthews.livejournal.com]

but I guess I've been lucky in that my mum has always kept us (for the most part) on a fairly rigorous Chinese diet, and we lived in an area where fresh vegetables and fruit was always just as easy to purchase as any of the processed kinds (and there's a certain emphasis, in Chinese cooking, on the fresh produce anyway).

Pollan talks about the positive influence of following a traditional ethnic diet, plus the positives of having access to open air markets, so this isn't just luck, these are two HUGE factors in your successful dietary behavior, which most Americans in the Land of The Melting Pot and Pizza Hut Is Kinda Italian food don't have -- except in the more insular communities, I've noticed ... Asian, Greek, Orthodox Jewish, certain Spanish-speaking communities. (I've also noticed that a family who maintains their country of origin's language are also more likely to retain their traditional diet, so this is probably not a coincidence).

There's also a stigma attached to "vegan" that, of course, it doesn't deserve, but it sounds like a harsh commitment, sort of like a nunnery for the palette - *grin* -- and it's been found that strictly limiting (or appearing to limit) dietary choices almost always leads to failure, if a long-term change is what you seek. ;)

I think Pollen's "eat more leaves" and "don't eat food GreatGranny would run from" is sound advice -- it implies a general change in how we view what food is and why we might want to expand our diet to include more whole foods, which is difficult enough for people brought up on Fruit Loops "as a part of a nutritious breakfast" (nutrition for WHO, I ask, even that dumb bird would drop dead from a bowl of that crap) and told that buckets of orange juice and full-fat cow's milk in every form is practically as good as medicine, forget about the "low-fat, heart healthy" craze.

The depth of the psychological deception practiced on the American public in regard to their most basic need -- eating -- in the name of profit for grain companies, is as disgraceful and X-File'ish as anything Fox Mulder ever railed against. Combine that with a general lack of time (most people make those frozen meals simply are too harried and exhausted to shop, clean, chop, cook and eat anything that takes longer than 5 minutes) and skewed scientific knowledge, disaster was almost inevitable.

America has lost its dietary way and we need to start *somewhere* and just gaining the knowledge that the five middle aisles of the supermarket are a death trap and anything containing high fructose corn syrup is going to eventually kill you would be a change of tremendous proportions.

[bantha-fodder.livejournal.com]

I assume that was you, posting twice here?

I always hesitate to use the word "vegan." There is definitely a stigma attached, even though the thing about the vegan lifestyle is that there are often so few options, you HAVE to cook your own, and that naturally leads to experimenting. Being vegetarian but lactose-intolerant means almost everything I cook is vegan any way, and rather than limiting me I feel like I'm experimenting so much more. Even in restaurants, where what I can eat is definitely much more limited than it ever used to be, I'm discovering things I never realised I liked - pumpkin on pizza, for example.

I had never heard of 'high fructose corn syrup' until you linked to that article and everyone started linking to it. But that and the fruit loops comment reminds me: I go to a con where, every year, there is a panel called "breakfast of champions," where someone will bring in a whole lot of cereals that they brought from the US, and everyone will proceed to eat some and be totally grossed out. Of course we have sugary cereals here, but for some reason they're just never as sweet as the ones we get that are from the US.

And finally, if you're interested (I don't know your own dietary requirements), and because we're talking about food, I cooked a spinach and pesto lasagna tonight and my partner said, "I don't want to be melodramatic, but this might be the best thing you've ever cooked," and then freaked out when I told him I hadn't blogged about it. "Write it down!" he said. "If you forgot how you made this, I may never forgive you!" So I offer you that recipe, if you're interested.

And thank you again for making the original post! It has provoked much thought all around.

[ingridmatthews.livejournal.com]

WTF, I deleted a comment I wanted to keep and DIDN'T delete the browser burp.

GAH!!! Anyway, I'm gluten and sugar-intolerant *and* soy-allergic (people with thyroid disease can't eat soy or a lot of other "healthy" foods) so, no pasta for me, alas, along with most fruit, vinegars and a whole bunch of other stuff.

I fear I'm stuck with a plain piece of meat and undressed veggies. Which, oddly enough is stricter, probably than anything you'll ever eat. LOL.

[bantha-fodder.livejournal.com]

I baked using enchilladas wrapper thingies, not lasagna sheets, which are theoretically made of corn...? SO HA.

[ingridmatthews.livejournal.com]

*grin* Can't have corn, peas, carrots, potatoes, rice, (full of sugar) any kind of bread, pasta or grain products, nor anything fermented (beer, vinegars, etc.), along with a whole list of things I'm forgetting -- seriously, I'm hopeless, so don't base anything on me.

Now that I'm thinking about it, most Americans would probably become vegans BEFORE trying my diet. *lol*

(PS: Feel free to delete that accidental anon. I think the Sproglet did it. Yeah, that's it!)

[bantha-fodder.livejournal.com]

A very good friend of mine cannot eat wheat products, oranges, tomatoes, mangoes, mushrooms, capsicums, refined sugars, and dairy products. Amongst other things - those are the ones that I remember, because those things will kill him, and as he is also an ex-housemate we had to remember those ones in particular. When I would peel an orange, he would have to leave the house because the orange spray in the air would be enough to make him come up in a rash.

He eats a lot of roasts, and fortunately can eat rice.

[(Anonymous)]

but I guess I've been lucky in that my mum has always kept us (for the most part) on a fairly rigorous Chinese diet, and we lived in an area where fresh vegetables and fruit was always just as easy to purchase as any of the processed kinds (and there's a certain emphasis, in Chinese cooking, on the fresh produce anyway).

Pollan talks about the positive influence of following a traditional ethnic diet, plus the positives of having access to open air markets, so this isn't just luck, these are two HUGE factors in your successful dietary behavior, which most Americans in the Land of The Melting Pot and Pizza Hut Is Kinda Italian food don't have -- except in the more insular communities, I've noticed ... Asian, Greek, Orthodox Jewish, certain Spanish-speaking communities. (I've also noticed that a family who maintains their country of origin's language are also more likely to retain their traditional diet, so this is probably not a coincidence).

There's also a stigma attached to "vegan" that, of course, it doesn't deserve, but it sounds like a harsh commitment, sort of like a nunnery for the palette - *grin* -- and it's been found that strictly limiting (or appearing to limit) dietary choices almost always leads to failure, if a long-term change is what you seek. ;)

I think Pollen's "eat more leaves" and "don't eat food GreatGranny would run from" is sound advice -- it implies a general change in how we view what food is and why we might want to expand our diet to include more whole foods, which is difficult enough for people brought up on Fruit Loops "as a part of a nutritious breakfast" (nutrition for WHO, I ask, even that dumb bird would drop dead from a bowl of that crap) and told that buckets of orange juice and full-fat cow's milk in every form is practically as good as medicine, forget about the "low-fat, heart healthy" craze.

The depth of the psychological deception practiced on the American public in regard to their most basic need -- eating -- in the name of profit for grain companies, is as disgraceful and X-File'ish as anything Fox Mulder ever railed against. Combine that with a general lack of time (most people make those frozen meals simply are too harried and exhausted to shop, clean, chop, cook and eat anything that takes longer than 5 minutes) and skewed scientific knowledge, disaster was almost inevitable.

America has lost its dietary way and we need to start *somewhere* and just gaining the knowledge that the five middle aisles of the supermarket are a death trap and anything containing high fructose corn syrup is going to eventually kill you would be a change of tremendous proportions.

[bantha-fodder.livejournal.com]

I CAN HELP YOU WITH THAT PROBLEM.

I don't like tofu, so I purposely avoid and/or modify anything with tofu in it, and I hate seitan/fake meat and make almost all of my own sauces, so the only wheat/gluten in my recipes is if I use wheat flour, and ditto to the sugar except if I add it in baking.

ANYWAY, I can still totally help you. Have you seen GFG?

[skywardprodigal.livejournal.com]

Good list.

Ever think of reposting it to 'poor skills'?

[bantha-fodder.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

I had never heard of that community! I am looking at it now.

[gobsmackit.livejournal.com]

SO, PEN. Tell me if I'm being wicked dumb, but I figured you might be able to help:

I hate nuts and beans, and only like certain types of seafood (tuna and clams) that I can't really eat anyway if I'm trying to eat healthily (tuna salad and clam chowder). ARE THERE OTHER WAYS TO GET PROTEIN? ...I mean, I only ever eat red meat once in a blue moon, but I'm a huge poultry fan, and really, the only way I can get normal protein is chicken and turkey. That I can think of.

Like, I really, really hate nuts, and am not at all into beans. And I'm already not eating anything I actually like all that much, and forcing myself to eat those would just make everything even suckier.

[bantha-fodder.livejournal.com]

Nah, protein's non obvious, because people always talk about it in meat and beans, and never talk about the other pretty excellent sources of it. There are HEAPS of other sources of protein.

I know you said no beans, but does that extend to split peas and soybean products? I love beans, but I really dislike split peas and things like tofu and stuff, which rules me out but they're excellent sources. Soymilk, too, which you can use just like regular milk, so it's no hassle to incorporate.

Some of the less processed (whole) grains are good, like oatmeal and brown rice.

My favourite sources, though, are raw fruits and vegetables. I love them so much, and they're easy to prepare (you wash them!) and crisp and delicious and raw is so good for you. Broccoli, spinach (all of your leafy greens, actually), cauliflower, mushrooms, banana, melons (not watermelon, but honeydew and rockmelon), pears, peaches.

Do any of those appeal to you?

[gobsmackit.livejournal.com]

*tacklehugs* Thank you!

I'm not currently eating tofu, but I have plans to phase it in, whether I like it or not. :P I actually am a dedicated drinker of soymilk because I'm kind of lactose intolerant, so that's good to know! And I've actually grown to like peas and brown rice, but I never eat either, so that's a very handy bit of information which I shall incorporate immediately!

I eat oatmeal and bananas regularly, but I'll try to work on leafy greens that aren't overpowered with iceberg lettuce. I'm weird about fruit - I love bananas, grapes, apples and clementines, and that's about it. (I'm not a fan of seedy things, when it comes right down to it, and for some reason melons squick me out, but I am really trying to expand my horizons, so I won't sound like such a kindergartner.)

I appreciate your help very, very much!