Want to write about something-a subject matter, an issue-only you can’t find the right words? Nothing looks right to you?
I’ve got some family illness going on-an aunt of mine has been diagnosed with breast cancer-but no matter what I write, it all looks wrong. I think about her a lot, I worry about her and my uncle, and their children. I think about the fact that my mom is around the same age and doesn’t keep up with her regular checkups. I think about the fact that my aunt went in complaining of stomach pains of all things, and because of her age they decided to do a mammogram. I have my own ultrasound to check out possible ovarian cysts this week, I know it will go well, but every once in a while I wonder ‘What if?’
I’ve been thinking a lot about food lately-and not just because I’m dieting again!-I’ve been reading books and watching documentaries about food production and costs and the industrialization of food processing. Michael Pollan ( in the book In Defense of Food) has a good idea about getting back to the roots of your food. When you pick up a carton of milk, think about where that milk came from-think about the farmer that owns the cows, think about how far that milk traveled to get to the grocery store-this is not a new idea at all, I see the theme recurring in documentaries and other writings about the topic. I think that my hubby is getting worried that I will totally hippie-out on him, but I really feel passionately about this. I tell him my plans for when we move to NS and buy our own place. I want an acerage outside of the city so that I have lots of room to garden, I want a root cellar, and I want to spend weekends in the summer freezing and canning my yield. I want to buy local the items that we don’t raise ourselves, and that includes meat products. I want to stray away from processed food that doesn’t resemble the original product at all. First step, we’ve gotten rid of margarine! Yay!
Hubby was raised on margarine, I was raised on it too, but my grandparent’s used butter, and it was a treat and something I often over-indulged on. I have managed to cut back on the amounts I use, and I have convinced hubby that margarine is a totally manufactured, horribly processed product that doesn’t resemble it’s original state, or even food. Small steps, small steps.
I really hope that when I get my degree in Human Nutrition I can use my passion and my education on this topic.
