In many ways the grocery list is being honed.
The dollars: The push (from my hubby) to buy ONLY organic (though I think there are some items where nitrate free or *no hormones or antibiotics might be acceptable, except then you've got to deal with the food source of the animal) is cutting some items for us, it's keeping us from eating out (other than a snack here and there), it's creating creativity and experimentation, and I believe it's also helping us all to consume a bit less. The cost of buying itmes on this list is sometimes high, we're looking at each meal we make at home and seeing that even buying ALL organic, a meal at home costs less than a meal out that's NOT organic (only benefit. . . someone else does the dishes). And it makes me more aware of the amounts I use. I'm starting to find that dairy causes me some trouble, and I'm suspecting dairy causes my breastfeeding baby some trouble, so I've switched to sheep's and goat's milk cheeses. And I suspect, that in general, a lot of dairy in a diet isn't good for anyone. I've been jokingly saying to Mike "When you pray for patience, you get kids. When you pray for some control over your eating, you get a dairy allergy! (or a baby with a dairy allergy works just as well sometimes too)."
When I bought a 5lb block of tillamook cheese for $10 at costco, hormone free cows make that cheese (and some people too), we used A LOT of cheese, there's no reason to be careful. . . it's a "dime a dozen" mentality. Now that I'm buying 1lb of manchego for $13. . . I'm a little less liberal with the cheese. I actually noticed this when I went back to buying Organic Valley's raw sharp cheddar, 1lb exceeds the cost of that tillamook 5 pounder. . .and I'm a little bit more aware of how many "cheesy" meals I'm making, of portion control for each meal too.
The calories: Mike read "drink this, don't drink that" he LOVES the guy who makes those lists. . . and it pretty much made us want to swear off Starbucks drinks and Coldstone ice cream and all sorts of other little "treats" that aren't so "little" on the butt!!!! We're closing on on healther living every day . . . . one calorie at a time.
The pounds: Mike brought up an interesting concept the other day. I won't tell you the numbers on our weights, but basically if "B" is where he is and "D" is where he wants to be, then he said the other day "I'm not eating like a 'B' pound man." I like that. . . . let's eat like the person we envision ourselves being, or the "goal weight" person. . . not the existing weight person.
The toxicity: One of my new focuses is toxicity in cosmetics. I've been using the cosmetic database, and I'm SURE there are better ways to go about it, but everyone has to start somewhere. And some of the toxicity concerns make no sense to me, in that they're all "greek." Nanoparticles? I read one companies explanation as to why we shouldn't worry about the nanoparticle sizes in their zinc oxide. . . but why should we worry about nanoparticles at all? That's the article I need to read!!! Anyway, I've started by just putting in all the stuff we currently use toothpastes, shampoos, conditioners, soaps, sunscreens. I haven't even moved on to the make-up or face lotions. . .though, truthfully, that will encompass very few products.
So the numbers show that perhaps the sunscreen I put on my children (and myself) to keep us from skin cancer, could be causing a different kind of cancer, or reproductive toxicity or any number of other problems. . . I'm switching some things out. It's a little costly, but I don't know. . . I used pre-sun for years, because it was "mineral" and now I see that it was "criminal" and potentially doing my body more harm than it was doing my skin good, AND it's slightly expensive AND. . . a ton of it was wasted every year because I could never finish a tube. So. . . is it more wasteful to buy a more expensive, low toxicity sunscreen and use it all up or buy a less expensive, more toxic sunscreen and leave most of the bottle unused at the end of each season? I think things are worth the cost if you USE them! Which takes me back to the first set of numbers. . . if we USE up and EAT UP all of the food in our fridge, then it's worth the cost. But if we buy a bunch of expensive, organic stuff to stock our fridge and make us feel better, then eat out, both paying extra to eat out and likely wasting some of the ingredients we have at home because they expire. . . not a worthwhile cost.
I guess my "numbers" are about honing and consuming more of what we purpose to, instead of extra spending on the unecessary. . . let's simplify!
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