Changes

This commitment to an entire year of challenges is inspiring some pretty major changes in our lifestyle. It's all been really positive thus far, and is definitely helping us define and work towards the live we've always envisioned as ideal for us, but that's not to say it's been easy. Anytime someone endeavors to change things that have been a comfortable way of life for years, they will inevitably come up against challenges.

Last night we watched Food, Inc. It's a film that I strongly believe that anyone who eats any food (or edible foodlike substance) needs to watch. For me, the film evoked so many emotions: anger that this has been allowed to go on for so long, incredulousness at what people in power can get away with, fear that what we're eating and feeding our children is literally making us sick, sadness that the government, who I strongly believe *should* be acting primarily in the interests of individual citizens rather than big business, is moving even farther away from that.

The entire food production system is so incredibly screwed up. It's hurting almost everyone. The farmers who are going into debt to keep up with the newest innovations in technology so that they can sell their goods below the cost of production, the farm workers who are being injured through unsafe practices, or who are recruited as immigrants only to be deported when the companies they work for call Immigration, the animals who live in horrible, unsanitary and unsafe conditions only to be carelessly slaughtered, the environment, whose resources are being squandered at an alarming rate, and the consumers who are paying for the costs of "cheap" food with ever increasing medical bills.

The government has a vested interest in protecting individuals from the dangerous, unsafe, and unhealthy practices of factory farming, and yet they're choosing to subsidize the least healthy foods. The courts routinely rule in favour of the giant multinational corporations. And we're all worse off for that.

We can't have an honest debate about the future of healthcare in this country if we're not willing to address one of the biggest contributors to the exponential increase in health problems: the Westernized Diet. Prevention of disease must be given a larger priority, and big changes need to happen on a policy level.

Despite my anger, I came away from watching Food, Inc. feeling empowered. I also realize that my empowerment stems, in large part, from my privilege. I have the time to devote to doing the necessary research to determine what foods are healthy for my family to eat. I have the money to purchase fresh, whole foods, and the time to prepare them. I realize that these privileges I have make it much, much easier to actually do something about how I feed my family.

We're still working out exactly how this challenge will change our relationship with food in the future. I'm not sure that I'm willing (ready) to completely give up things like sugar. I can commit to only buying foods with ingredients that I can pronounce and understand. I can commit to buying locally whenever possible, and trying as hard as I can to stay within season. I can commit to patronizing restaurants that have a commitment to using local, organic products. I can put a whole lot more effort into tending to our own vegetable garden.

The first thing we purchased when our 30 Days of Nothing was officially over was a CSA share. From June through October, we will be receiving fresh, organic, locally grown fruits and vegetables, free range eggs, cheeses, and a "surprise" bunch of items such as locally milled flours, cornmeal, jams, salsas, pickles, popcorn, etc. I can't wait to see what membership in a CSA is all about!

As for our ongoing commitment to buy nothing unnecessary, we've done pretty well. Aside from the CSA membership (which I technically count as groceries), I bought my plane ticket to San Francisco, a new bottle of shampoo, some lightbulbs to replace the ones that had burned out in January, batteries, a few more seeds and a seed starting "greenhouse" for our garden (also considered "groceries"), and some industrial strength glue to fix a minor catastrophe in our bathroom. We have still not eaten at a restaurant. I've bought nothing unplanned or unnecessary, and still don't really feel much temptation to do so. My thinking around spending has been truly transformed.