My Ranking Of Edible Animals In Terms Of Sympathy.

For me, animal rights are not the primary or secondary reason I am a vegetarian.  I mean, I still care about animals and don’t want them to suffer – but some more than others.  Last night, as I was falling asleep, I started to think about the hierarchy of animals, in terms of how much I care about them.  Here is what I came up with:
Lambs
Deer
Cows
Swine
Fish
Chickens
Shrimp/Lobster/Crabs
Bees*
Scallops/Oysters/Mussels
Clams

(*- I mean, bees themselves aren’t edible, as far as I know, but we eat their honey.  Maybe bees are kind of crunchy and tasty.  I won’t be the guy to find out.)

Lambs and deer are at the top because they are so damn cute.  Sorry.  Lambs are higher than deer because I’ve never heard about lamb overpopulation in the northeast.  Cows are higher than swine because I once read an article (I would cite it here if I was more professional) about how cows can take pleasure in solving problems.  Damn!  That is high-level shit.  I mean, I know people that haven’t quite developed that skill yet.

I suppose maybe my oddest choice was ranking fish above chickens.   But really, chickens are kind of assholes.  No one keeps them as a pet for the hell of it; they only have them around for the free eggs.  I doubt a doctor has ever told one of their patients, “You should get some pet chickens; they’re very relaxing.”  And fish shit doesn’t really stink.

Shrimp, lobster, and crabs I group together because they all seem like different variants on the same general theme.  Shrimp kinda got the shit end of the stick, though, what with the lack of claws.

Bees – I put bees on this list because I think honey will probably be the one thing that ever keeps me from becoming completely vegan.  The stuff is pretty damn good for you, and I mean, I had a friend who kept bees, and they don’t really look like they’re suffering.  It’s kind of like, “Hey bees, do your thing, fly around, but then come back to this box.”   I think if they wanted to, the bees could leave?  I mean, maybe for mass-produced honey there are factory bee farms where bees get mistreated, but honey is the one food that I always buy exclusively local, so that probably isn’t happening with it.

Scallops, Mussels, Oysters, and Clams are at the bottom of the list, because they seem the least evolved of the animals that people eat on a regular basis.  I placed clams at the absolute bottom because they’re the only shellfish that have a song about how they have no central nervous system (“Clams Have Feelings Too (Actually They Don’t), by NOFX, whose frontman, Fat Mike, very well might be a vegan, I forget, but he’s at least a vegetarian, I think.  I will fact check this later).

Woo!  So that is the Why and How of me caring about some animals more than others.  Feel free to share your own hierarchy in the comments, if you would like.

Why It Pisses Me Off When People Say Whole Foods Is Expensive.

It doesn’t piss me off because it’s not true.  It pisses me off because it misses the point.

Imagine two car dealerships across the street from each other.  One car dealership is Jim’s BMW; the other car dealership is Steve’s Kia.  Imagine someone saying to you, “Damn!  That Jim guy sure is charging a lot more for cars than Steve is.”  It’s probably not Jim vs. Steve, so much as it is BMW vs. Kia.  (And to be fair, while I’m trying to draw a comparison here, I’ve never driven a Kia, so maybe they’re actually nice and a really good value.  So let’s change it to “Steve’s Chevrolet.”)

Whole Foods Market is in the business of selling foods that are all natural.  That is the one qualification a product must meet to get in there.  It strikes me as kind of sad that “natural” has come to be affiliated with “high-end,” but there are a lot of people out there content to shovel shit into their bodies.

If this site is about one thing, it’s that the food you eat is directly going to effect your health, your energy levels, your mood, your cognitive abilities – pretty much every aspect of your physical and mental self will have a quality relative to the quality of food you’re putting into your body.  Do I have research to back this up?  Nope.  I have results.  Try it – eat raw fruits and vegetables, and nuts and beans and whole grains, for a week.  See if you feel better than you do after a week of eating Hot Pockets and Pop Tarts and ramen noodles.

So when people bitch about how Whole Foods is expensive, it pisses me off because it is in a way attempting to put all food on the same level, that it doesn’t really matter what it is that you eat, that if you’re paying more than a dollar a pound at Walmart, you’re spending too much money on food.

And you know what?  It’s not a class thing.  Sorry.  A lot of enemies of the natural, organic, local food movements like to paint the people who advocate these foods as rich white people who are out of touch with the rest of the world.  Well shit.  Take as an example, I don’t know, let’s say me.  In the year 2008, I made between 15 and 16k.  That’s not a whole lot of money, but it’s enough for one person to live a modest lifestyle.  Recently, I have been attempting to purchase exclusively organic foods, both for my own health, and to support organic farming.  Guess what?  It’s not a class thing.  Poor people who don’t buy high-quality food are not buying it for the same reason that middle-class and rich people who don’t buy high quality food don’t buy it – they don’t give a shit about their bodies.

I mean, sorry to put it so bluntly.  But to not notice a link between diet and health is to ignore the messages your body sends you when you eat an apple, or some carrots, as opposed to Pizza Rolls and Thickburgers.

Ah!  This post has become a tangent.  I am sorry.  To summarize – it is not so much that Whole Foods Market is expensive, but rather that they sell things that are expensive (as opposed to the low quality bargain foods you can find at your local anywhere).  But the things they sell are usually worth it.  Oh, and they offer their employees a living wage, and a benefits package from what I understand, so when you buy stuff there you’re helping support that too, which you wouldn’t be doing when buying at some discount food retailers.

Amazing Chili Recipe

So about a week or so ago I discovered this fabulous blog, Zen Habits, that for the most part is about simplifying your life and therefore giving you more time to work on the things that truly matter to you.  And not only that, but the writer, Leo Babauta, occasionally shares some pretty damn good vegetarian/vegan recipes, including this three bean chili (recipe about halfway down the page, after some information about why vegetarianism is good fer ya).  I just prepared it tonight, pretty much exactly as it is written, let it simmer for like an hour, and holy shit it was amazing.  The one caveat – the recipe is huge.  It could probably feed like six people – or, as will probably end up being the case for us, it will make three meals for two people.

It is a great sort of recipe to cook to introduce people to vegetarian entrees who usually don’t eat them, and while they are eating the delicious chili, you can tell them about the health benefits of eating less meat, and they are more likely to listen than when you feed them trail mix and carrot sticks.  Enjoy!!!

Hydroxycut Recalled, Pt. 2

So I just had to run out to grab a couple ingredients for dinner, and I stopped by my local Walmart, a store with which I have a ridiculous love-hate relationship.  If you are so sad about the recall of Hydroxycut, because you’re in love with the stuff for forever reason, and are unperturbed by the information about it causing liver damage, head over to Walmart.  Apparently they haven’t heard about the recall yet.  Just for kicks, I stopped at Publix on the way home, and decided to check there – they had already taken it off the shelves.  Someone who works there must keep up on the news.

Time to make dinner!  It is going to be tofu and chickpeas sauteed in an olive oil and tomato sauce, served over whole wheat couscous.  This stuff will also help you lose weight, and there’s no liver damage involved.  Imagine that!  Weight loss through healthy eating.  Someone call the New York Times; we’ve got their cover story for tomorrow.

Hydroxycut Recalled

At the Huffington Post, some information about the very recent recall of Hydroxycut, a wonder supplement that makes you lose weight and apparently destroys your liver as well.

Yet another piece of evidence that weight loss and healthy living are not always synonymous – and if you live healthy, you will lose weight, probably slowly, but once it is gone it will stay gone.  But there are people out there who want to lose weight quickly, without changing their diets, and so companies make pills for these people.  And every few years there’s a new uproar about how the pills that make you lose weight without having to diet are actually bad for you!!! And every time, there are still some people surprised by this.  Sigh.

A Chance Encounter With RawFu’s Bunny Berry

It’s the sort of coincidence that, if depicted by a writer of fiction, would be called unrealistic.

This is the sixth day that I’ve been purchasing nothing but organic foods, and eating mostly (soon to be entirely) organic as well.  I’ve been blogging about it, and it’s nice to have something interesting to blog about so that people will read this.

Today, I’m working at my day job, which is a member of the management team of the local Moe’s Southwest Grill restaurant, and I strike up a conversation with a customer.  Turns out, she is a raw food enthusiast, and runs an online community of nearly two thousand raw food enthusiasts, and just started publishing a magazine on the subject to boot.

Her name is Bunny Berry, and her website and magazine are called RawFu, and they are located here.  I have not had a chance to peruse them completely yet, but I am quite happy (if slightly surprised) that such cool stuff is coming out of Anderson.

I have never really been into the raw foods “movement,” as I understand it, but about half my diet is made up of raw fruits and vegetables, mainly because they taste a hell of a lot better than cooked fruits and vegetables.  And there are more nutrients in them.  So maybe that makes me a raw food enthusiast?  I don’t know.

Ms. Berry and her husband come to Moe’s fairly often, because their young son is a pretty big fan of the place.  I do not envy health-conscious parents these days – trying to keep their kids healthy, and at the same time not wanting to feel like they’re depriving their kid.  In this way, I think Moe’s is a good compromise.  In terms of healthiness, it’s like Subway – you can make almost any item on the menu either very healthy or quite unhealthy, depending on what you put on it.

Ms. Berry was also kind enough to give me some info on where the best places to get organic produce locally were, and the next time she comes in she will be sharing some information with me about a sort of co-op thing available with local farmers where you “subscribe” to a box of produce every week for the whole growing season.  Woohoo!!!

Like I said, with the timing of starting this experiment, I could not have planned this encounter better.  Maybe it is the work of a higher being!  I have my money on the Flying Spaghetti Monster.  Tomorrow, I will share with you a few tips on weight loss that are different from the weight loss tips you will read elsewhere!!! Oh the suspense.  I don’t know how I sleep at night, keeping you in such suspense.

Day 5: Organic Snacks Found At Target

So anyway, yesterday I mentioned that I am quitting smoking.  It’s a damn tough business, in terms of both the physical addiction and getting over the learned behaviors of smoking.  I’ve attempted to quit before, and I can get through the withdrawl, but I hit a wall at like day 4 or 5 where I just start up again because there are so many actions that I associate with smoking.
Just finished a meal?  Time for a cigarette.
Going outside after having been inside for a while?  Time for a cigarette.
Thankfully, I no longer have a number of the behaviors I associated with smoking – nights out at the bar are probably the biggie here.  Also, I rarely sit at coffeeshops for extended periods of time, which used to be a great time to smoke.

It’s helpful, I find, to reward yourself with little things for little accomplishments, and in terms of cigarettes, snack foods are a traditional favorite, which probably contributes to the idea (that doesn’t have to be true) that you gain weight when you quit smoking.  On Day 3 of my experiment with buying nothing but organic foods, I wrote about the offerings at my local Walmart, and they had a decent selection in terms of staple foods and fresh fruits and veggies – but not a hell of a lot in terms of snack foods.

I decided to stop at Target yesterday, and was pleasantly surprised by how many organic snack offerings their Archer Farms house brand offers.

Now, of course, I will offer the caveat that eating actual meal-type foods, and snacking on fresh fruits and vegetables, is healthier than eating junk food, regardless of whether or not it’s organic.  That’s why about fifty percent of my diet is made up of raw fruits and vegetables.  But, every now and then, and slightly more often during the process of nicotine withdrawl, you will get cravings for snack foods, and if you’re going to satisfy these cravings, it’s probably better to do so with something organic.

Offerings probably vary from store to store, but the Target in Anderson has an amazing variety of Archer Farms Organics.  You have to be careful when you shop, as not all of the Archer Farms products are organic, but the packaging is reasonably-well differentiated.  There were six different kinds of organic cookies, two of which were packaged in 100-calorie packs; 6 varietes of organic crackers; four kinds of organic tortilla chips (sadly, no potato chips; as I mentioned a couple days ago, I am looking for an organic kettle-cooked chip to eat whenever I get a craving for Cape Cod); two kinds of popcorn; and 6 varieties of “fruit strips,” which I assume fall somewhere on the nutrional spectrum somewhere between actual pieces of fruit and Fruit Roll-Ups (do they still make Fruit Roll-Ups?  Do people still feed these things to their kids?  I hope the answer to these questions is no, but I fear otherwise).

Archer Farms also offers organic breakfast cereals, coffee, and tea – and by the way, it is nice to find a mainsteam store that offers organic tea other than Tazo Chai.  Nothing against Tazo Chai, of course, the stuff is delicious, but I like a little variety from time to time.

I didn’t pick up any of these things yet, so I can’t let you know about their quality, but I can let you know that they are there, and they are reasonably priced, and they are organic.  Again, these things should probably not be eaten in abundance, as is the case with all snack foods, but they can serve as a not-too-unhealthy addition to an otherwise very healthy diet.

As a little food for you mind, here is an article from Time magazine (not incredibly recent, but still interesting) about the struggle between choosing to buy conventionally grown local produce and organic produce from hundreds or thousands of miles away.  This is a very imporant issue, and one that I’ll be discussing at greater length in the future; for now, though, read what Mr. John Cloud has to say on the matter.

Day 4: Quitting Smoking!!!

Ahh!!! So I am currently twenty-four hours into quitting smoking.  If you’ve never spent a lot of time with someone who is twenty-four hours into quitting smoking… count yourself among the lucky.

I decided that it’s kind of hypocritical of me to care so much about the food I’m putting into my body while still smoking.  I mean, eating nothing but all organic food is a fairly restrictive thing… why bother if I’m still going to be fucking myself up with cigarettes?

I’ve tried to quit before, but I feel more confident in myself this time.  Of course, I’ve said that before too.  We will see.

I was going to write a really cool post today about Target’s Archer Farms line of organic snack foods, but I am wigging the hell out, so I will probably do that tomorrow.  I just wanted to post something today keep myself in the routine of blogging daily.

Hope everything is going well for anyone, and I hope you all are non-smokers so that you won’t have to go through with this!!!

Day 3: A Trip To Wal-Mart In Search Of Organics

Wal-Mart gets a lot of shit from a lot of people.  I think they deserve some of it, but I think to an extent they are an easy scapegoat because they are the largest retailer in America.  They’re big, and big targets are easier to hit than small ones.  And you can do a hell of a lot worse than Wal-Mart if you’d like to (have you been into a K-Mart lately?  Holy Fuck!!! I walked into my local one last week just to see what it looks like, and it’s like they’re just waiting to die.  The aesthetic difference between K-Mart and Wal-Mart is the same as the aesthetic difference between Wal-Mart and Whole Foods).

For better or worse, millions of people (I’m guessing, maybe it’s hundreds of thousands, but anyway it’s a lot) buy their groceries at Wal-Mart.  I decided to try my hand there, to see how I would succeed with my new plan of buying exclusively organic foods.

I didn’t need any fresh fruits or vegetables, but I thought I would check to see what the options were anyway.  The only organic fresh fruits were oranges, lemons, and a couple kinds of apples.  The vegetable selection was a little better – baby carrots, russett potatoes, onions, grape tomatoes, and a mixed-greens bagged salad.  Not amazing, I mean it would have been nice if there was at least one sort of berry, but so far, alright.

I checked pretty closely, and near as I could tell there was nothing at all organic in the frozen section – none of the veggie patties were organic, no frozen dinners.  Oh well.  I try not to eat frozen stuff anyway, because fresh is usually better, but every now and then it’s nice to say fuck it and throw dinner in the microwave and have it ready in three minutes.

The next stop for me was the pasta aisle.  The only organic tomato sauce they had was Ragu, and I did not know that Ragu made organic stuff, and their regular sauce isn’t really anything to write home about, but I always find it interesting which brands choose to take a shot at the organic market, and I picked up a bottle of the stuff to try it out.  I’ll let you know how it goes.  At 2.47, it’s not going to have to be too amazing to be worth it.  Sadly, there was no pasta that was both organic and whole wheat.  I picked up a 12 oz. box of Heartland organic rotini for 1.36, a white pasta that advertises “Traditional Pasta Taste” on the front next to its “USDA ORGANIC” logo.  While it isn’t my first choice, I guess there are people out there who don’t like the taste of whole wheat pasta, so it’s good that they offer it.

There was no organic rice or dried beans, which made me a little sad, but!  There were four kinds of organic canned beans, from a company named Westbrae Natural.  Pinto, black, kidney, or garbanzo – organic and only a dollar a can?  Yes.  Sold.  I picked up two of the garbanzo beans (or chick peas, if you don’t feel like being silly) and will be back for more.  On the bakc of each of the cans there is a graphic of “The Traditional Healthy Vegetarian Diet Pyramid,” which is interesting.  You can view the pyramid, as well as some other information about a vegetarian lifestyle, on their website.

The only organic tea that was available was Tazo chai or Oregon Chai chai.  I picked up some black tea yesterday, so I was all set, and I won’t need to buy any coffee for another few weeks, but there was some “Sam’s Choice” organic coffee available.

The Amy’s line of natural and sometimes organic vegetarian prepared foods will probably be familiar to most people who shop in the healthy/hippie sections of their local grocery stores, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that the local Wal-Mart carries four types of Amy’s soups.  They were priced at 1.98 each, which is cheaper than they usually are; I picked up a can of the vegan “No Chicken Noodle.”

In the baking aisle, next to the flour, placed unceremoniously on a shelf and practically hidden from view, were a few products from Bob’s Red Mill, a company that makes all manner of natural, whole-grain, sometimes organic and sometimes gluten-free products, mainly stuff like flours and oats and what have you.  I picked up a bag of organic whole-grain quinoa, and there were no prices displayed, so I hoped that it wouldn’t end up being too much when I got to the register.

Incredibly few organic choices in the cookie/cracker aisle – there were “made with organic ingredients” Fig Newmans and Cheddar Bunnies, but I didn’t want to settle.  The only thing I found was a stoneground wheat & flaxseed cracker from a company called Back To Nature; I have never heard of them but they have apparently been doing their thing since 1960 and that is pretty cool.

Walking down the chip aisle, I saw the Cape Cod potato chips and felt the first twinge of regret since embarking on the all-organic experiment.  If this is successful, and I decide to stick with it, that means never having Cape Cod potato chips again!!! Ever!!! I will have to try to find a suitable replacement organic kettle-cooked chip.

I don’t really eat prepared breakfast cereals because I prefer hot oatmeal, but, there did seem to be a good selection – organic offerings from Cascadia Farms, Kashi, and Nature’s Path.  There were also some that were marketed towards kids, and while I don’t have kids, or particularly like them, I suppose it’s good to try and keep them healthy.  I saw Children of Men.

I only gave a cursory glance to the dairy and the meat sections, because I trying to become a vegan and am currently vegetarian, but there didn’t seem to be any organic meats or cheeses.  There was organic milk (Horizon) and yogurt (Stonyfield Farms), so if those are your things, hey, go to town.

When I checked out, it turned out that the 26 oz. bag of quinoa cost 9.64.  Holy fuck!!! I guess it’s worth it, but I will definitely not be eating it every day.

Unlike a lot of grocery store chains (Stop & Shop in the northeast, Bi-Lo and Publix in the southeast are the first that come to mind for me) Wal-Mart does not have a special little section that they keep their organic stuff in – it is throughout the store, on the shelves next to its conventional counterparts.  I think this is a good thing, because average shoppers are more likely to see the stuff, and possibly more likely to buy it.

It’s no Whole Foods, of course, but Whole Foods isn’t trying to be for everybody, and Wal-Mart is.  There are wide segments of the population that can’t afford to shop at natural food stores, but damn near everybody can afford to shop at Wal-Mart, and it is nice to know that they are giving their customers at least a modest amount of organic choices.

—–

In the name of research, and wanting to eat healthy, I have spent 51.47 on organic foods in the last three days.  This shit adds up quick! I am going to cool it on the purchasing for the next few days, and the blog will concentrate on giving you further information about the benefits of eating fresh, natural foods.

All-Organic Experiment, Day 2

So today I went back to Publix and picked up a few more things in my new, all-organic experiment.

Let me explain something that might be odd – I probably go to the grocery store about five times a week, in part because I like to buy food fresh and I don’t always know what I’m going to want to eat over the coming days, but also in part because I really enjoy spending time in grocery stores.

Is this odd?

I mean, food is a necessary part of our daily lives in the way that few other things are, and you can tell a lot about a people by the places where they shop for food.

Today I bought a couple pounds of organic bananas – only ninety-nine cents a pound, versus sity-nine for conventionally grown, so not too bad there.  Got some organic oatmeal, another one of Publix’s Greenwise products.  I also picked up a box of Celestial Seasonings organic black tea, which was the only kind of black tea (with the exception of Tazo chai) that Publix carries.  I have actually never had any of Celestial Seasonings’s regular teas, only their herbal teas, but they tend to do pretty well.  I will keep you posted on all these products as I consume them.

I am also dwindling my supply of conventionally-grown foods purchased before I began the experiment, so pretty soon my diet will be all-organic (excepting the once-a-week restaurant visit I mentioned yesterday).

Another note, with regards to whether or not this experiment of eating only organics on a budget can be successfully replicated by others – I am currently in the process of restricting the amount of food I eat because I am attempting to lose weight.  From what I hear about Americans and obesity, I am not alone in this goal, but I will try and bear in mind that many people reading this are probably happy with their current weight, and might want to engage in an all-organic experience for its numerous other benefits.

What benefits, you ask?  I will discuss those in further detail in the days to come – and tomorrow, I will report on attempting to purchase exclusively organic foods at Wal-Mart, the country’s largest retailer.