Day 29

Made some very good salsa that got great reviews at the cookout I went to last night. It was very pretty and colorful, would have loved to have taken a photo, but it got devoured before I could. So, here's a picture of something similar to give you an idea:

Very easy to make:

One can of organic corn
One can of organic black beans
One can of organic diced tomatoes
One diced red onion
Two diced jalapenos (Two jalapenos gave it a pretty good kick - if you want less spice, probably would only want to use one).
One diced organic avocado
Some lime juice (about 1/2 a cup)

The real trick is trying to find an avocado that isn't hard as a rock but also isn't brown. Other recipes I found for this also added cilantro, which would probably be pretty good, but I though it might overpower some of the other flavors. You could also add some bell peppers. I would also like to try adding some fruit - maybe pineapple? FYI, this recipe makes a lot of salsa.

Day 18

Finally have internet set up in my place again, hooray!

I have had to find new things to eat for breakfast, since I haven't been eating cereal anymore. Usually, I have low-fat or fat-free organic vanilla yogurt with berries added, usually blueberries or raspberries.

Also found this really delicious organic instant oatmeal, it has several different types of grain - oats, barley, quinoa, rye, and wheat, and it has flax. The brand is Better Oats and it's called Raw, check it out. I usually add a little honey and some berries to add some flavor. The oatmeal is very rib sticking, I usually don't feel hungry again until later in the afternoon. Been eating a lot of blueberries lately, good antioxidants. I bought organic ones, they were very good, but this week I bought conventional ones as I got twice as many blueberries for the same price. But I think the organic ones tasted better - which I admit, could completely be in my head - but they seemed to have more of a blueberry flavor. But this week I couldn't justify spending the extra money.

Also have been eating organic eggs on weekend mornings, with lots of fresh veggies added. I have switched to natural peanut butter again for toast and sandwiches, no sugar in that. I used to eat it all the time while I was in college, I'm not sure why I stopped. Usually I will add just a tiny bit of honey to the toast or sandwich I make it with it to sweeten it a little, delicious.

Continuing to have positive results from making these changes. I'm not as hungry all the time, I don't crave sweets or junk, I swear my sense of taste has improved (maybe because I've eating less salt?), and I've lost another pound this week.

Day 13

So, I moved this week, and don't have internet set up at the new place yet, so haven't had a chance to blog (or do much else for that matter) yet.

So, I watched the documentary Food Inc. around the time I started this challenge. It was really...disturbing? Is that the right word? All I can really say is that is really changed the way I think about my food. It covers a lot of issues related to the way food is produced today, including food-borne illness, genetic engineering, factory farming, diabetes/obesity, etc. It was interesting to learn that the way food is grown and produced right now, so much of that food is going to the fast food industry, so they tend to really drive how things are done - mass production, fast, and cheap. I found little things in this movie to really blow me away - such as how chickens have been engineered now to grow much faster and have much larger breasts - since people like the breast meat - and they are so top-heavy because of it, they can barely stand up. Or how cattle are grain fed, but their guts don't digest the grain as well, and this may be responsible for some of the issues with food-borne illness, among other things. I found the issues with the genetically-modified seed to be extremely interesting, particularly from a legal stand-point: since the companies that own that make this seed own the patent on it, the farmers are not allowed to collect seed from the field to plant the next year. This not only affects the farmers who plant this seed, but also their neighbors, as the wind often carries it.

The big take-away from this movie is that if you don't like it, do something about it. And most of the changes are things you can do on an individual level, as a consumer. Many of the recommendations they make in this film are many of the things I have been doing lately: buying organic, buying local/from farmers markets, not drinking pop, eating at home. I've really enjoyed buying from the farmers market, I love the produce. The tomatoes actually taste like a tomato, not like some red goo resembling a tomato. It will be a bummer in a couple months when winter hits and there's no more local, fresh produce, but until then I'm going to really enjoy it.

The other big change I've been making is reading labels, not just for the nutritional content (i.e. fat, protein, etc.), but to really look at the ingredients. I'm continuously blown away by how many things have added sweetener (usually corn syrup) in them - and products you would think shouldn't really need that much sweetener, things you might think of as "healthy", non-junk foods, like fruit juice, spaghetti sauce, deli meat, yogurt, and hummus. It's been a real eye-opener.

Day 8

I roasted the organic chicken I bought earlier this week. Very easy:Squeeze the juice from a couple lemons over the outside of the chicken
Put lots of salt and pepper on it
Poke some holes in a couple lemons and put them inside the chicken.
Roast it for about an hour, hour and a half at 350 degress. Turns out beautiful!

Yesterday, I also got a good hall from the farmers market, got some locally grown produce, tomatoes and green pepper were organic, and it was all pretty cheap. Got three cucumbers for a dollar, and I know they were fresh because they still had some soil on them! Was able to make a great salad to go with the chicken dinner while my mom was in town. Also got some homemade strawberry-rhubarb preserves, had them on a slice of wheat toast for breakfast.

Day 6

So, I don't know if I'll have time to blog every day. But I'll try to do almost each day, and at least two to three times a week. That being said, next week I'm moving into a new place and might be taking a little vacation, so posts will be sporadic.

So, my new breakfast has been organic low-fat or fat-free vanilla yogurt with fruit. Blackberries have been my favorite so far. I also really like adding blueberries, which seem to be a little more economical as they are cheaper, more plentiful in the container, and seem to keep a really long time. This has been a good breakfast for me, it has been keeping me full, and I get a serving of dairy and fruit first thing in the morning, plus a little bit of protein. Been a lot better than the huge bowl of cereal I used to eat.

Treated myself to some whole-grain toast this morning with natural peanut butter. I don't know why I stopped eating natural peanut butter, I practically lived off it my senior year of college, I guess I switched back to the regular because I missed all that sugar? But this really does taste better, and I've been adding just a tiny squirt of honey, which seems to do the trick in terms of adding a little sweetness.

I've been watching a lot of documentaries on food, the food industry, nutrition, and so forth on Netflix lately. Some of them have been really good, some have made some questionable claims, so I may review of them on some of my future postings.

P.S. Flaming Lips concert last night was FANTASTIC.

Day 5

So, going to a concert tonight (Flaming Lips, YEA!). Going to be a two 1/2 hour drive to the concert (probably 3 with detours due to flooding). So, no time to eat dinner at home. I had to figure out what I could make to eat on the road for dinner, instead of stopping for something. Solution: Hummus wraps! And I'm able to use up a lot of the vegetables I bought earlier this week.

Hummus wraps:

Low-fat spinach wrap made with wheat organic flour 
Organic pro-biotic red pepper hummus
Organic tomato
Organic cucumber
Organic mixed greens
Red onion
Carrots
Bell pepper
Sprouts
Just a bit of olive oil and vinegar dressing - want to add a little flavor, but don't make it soggy!

I was going to add some feta too, but I forgot the feta...

Having organic blackberries with some strawberries for dessert. YUM! Strawberry season must be winding down, they have been looking a little sad lately in the store, and I haven't been able to find organic ones as often.

Day 4

So, I've been easing into this diet over the last week and a half. This weekend is when I really committed to it. Good news is that I've already started to see results, I lost 4 lbs. since last Wednesday. Just have to hope I keep this up, been gaining and losing the same 5 lbs. for the last three months.

So, I've been watching a lot documentaries about food on Netflix - part of what started this diet. The very  first thing I had watched was an episode of 30 Days, one in which a guy who loved BBQ and guns lived with a family of vegan animal rights activists in California for a month. So, obviously very entertaining, but it really had an impact on me when some the activists took him to an industrial cattle farm, and they later ended up rescuing a veal calf that was sick and had been abandoned by the side of the road. The man really took to it, he began to nurse it back to health, and he named it "Sugar." Best part is that this calf was a male, and when one of the other guys there reminded him of that when he suggested the name Sugar, he got real defensive and said, "SO?" It was amusing, particularly when contrasted with his attitude towards animals even a few days before.

Now, I do not have any big issues with eating meat, I think it is tasty, but I think it is important that animals be treated in a humane fashion before we eat them. I also have health concerns about eating meat from animals that have been raised in poor conditions (more on that later). So, initially I was thinking of going vegetarian, but now I'm finding I can get access to organic, grass-fed meat and free-range chicken fairly easily. So, one thing I'm learning is that this type of lifestyle is something just about anyone can do, despite finances or geography. I think it seems like it might be more expensive, especially for some items, but when I compare how much I might spend on a fast food value meal or take-out, versus what I can cook it home, even if it's organic, it's almost always more affordable. And when you consider that the average American eats out 4-5 times per week! I also notice that I have to be a little more prudent about what I buy, so I'm buying less food, with the goal of actually using it all, rather than throwing a good portion of what I buy away because it spoiled before I used it all and being so wasteful.

Day 3

Dinner tonight - I made (almost) completely organic black bean nachos:

2 oz of organic blue corn chips
1/2 of an organic tomato
some red onion
1 oz of organic white cheddar
1/2 cup of organic black beans
and some locally made all natural black bean and corn salsa

Tomato was $1, onion was left over from salad I made earlier this week, bag of chips was $2.66, can of black beans was $1.58, cheese was a little pricey - $4, and the salsa was also kind of a treat ($6) which I bought at the local organic store in town.
Total cost is around $15 for all of this, got two meals out of it for my boyfriend and I, and I still have a bunch of cheese, chips, and salsa left, so I can probably get a couple more meals/snacks out of it.

Was tasty, will definitely make it again!

Day 2

Went to the little downtown of the town I live in to check out the organic/local foods market. It is extremely small, but one plus is that they have a great selection of organic, grass-fed meats, just about anything you might want. This is a big relief, I was afraid I was going to be making regular trips to the closest natural food store in the closest city, which is about a 45 minute to one hour drive. I bought more buffalo, it was just under $8 a pound this time, I will be keeping it the freezer to use another day.

Best part is that I also got a whole organic chicken, was a little less than $3 a pound. It was frozen, so once it defrosts, I'm really looking forward to cooking it in the small counter-top rotisserie oven my boyfriend just received for his birthday. I have an excellent recipe for baking a whole chicken: rub the outside with salt, pepper, and lemon juice, and then bake the chicken with lemons stuffed on the inside. That's it and it's fantastic!

And I'm also really looking forward to making a big ol' salad with the local produce I bought today - some tomatoes and the most gorgeous looking cucumber I have ever seen, it is the most beautiful shade of light green. Okay, so it's not a shamrock or kelly green - but it's darn close - and if tastes anything like the cucumbers we grew in our (sort of) failed attempt at a vegetable garden last summer, it's gonna be amazing!

So here's the finished product, salad with the veggies I bought today, plus the buffalo meat sauce and penne I made last night.