I have on my bookshelf a book called The Simple Living Guide, by Janet Luhrs, which my mom gave me many years ago. I haven’t looked at it in quite a while, but recently pulled it from the shelf for some bedtime reading. I think perhaps it’s reading this book that is making me feel, more than ever, that life, in general, is just too complicated.
Offered into evidence: this article, Stop Eating! Everything is bad for you! Doesn’t it seem like every time we turn on the TV news or get on the internet, someone else is telling us there’s some new threat to our health and safety? At the rate we’re going, to be completely healthy and safe, you would never venture outside your own house, and would make soap in your garage. Actually, my grandmother used to make soap in her garage, but not because she was concerned about chemicals. I think she used cooking fat to create soap. It was a creative and frugal use of resources. Of course, in today’s world, the experts would never allow you to eat anything that produced enough fat to fashion into a bar of soap, so I guess that whole idea is out the window.
But who has TIME nowadays to make their own soap, anyway? And I don’t have the luxury (though I sometimes wish I did) of never leaving my house. Maybe it’s a tradeoff of modern life that we get exposed to a few chemicals now and then so that we have enough time to enjoy the years we’re yet going to be allowed to live, even though we are exposing ourselves to the heinous chemicals present in the evil soap we’re buying at the grocery store.
In other words: what good is it to live to be over 100, if you’re spending the bulk of those years constantly concocting your own household soaps and potions, keeping an orchard and a garden in the Spring and Summer, then drying and canning your fruits and vegetables in the Fall to last you through the Winter, cooking and baking every single thing you eat from scratch, and avoiding every possible convenience because it might be bad for you?
I appreciate that there are people who may want to get “back to nature” and are willing to put in the hard labor that entails simply to survive, but that is NOT for me, thank you very much. Personally, I’m willing to make a few trade offs along the way, in the interest of having a little more time for the things I ENJOY.
But getting back to food, I’m looking for that “middle of the road.” If you read the article referenced above, you’ll see that the conclusion of it is something along the lines of “Hey, people, let’s keep everything in perspective.” Eat real food. But not too much of it.
Duh.
The author talks about a time in her life when she had a gazillion rules about food. I kind of relate to that. The more I read, the more I know, and the more complicated it gets. Do all our vegetables need to be organic? If not, which ones must absolutely be organic if we don’t want to keel over from pesticide exposure? If I eat “Paleo,” why can’t I have beans? Am I getting enough beta-carotene? Is my calcium coming from a pure source? Which is better, olive oil or coconut oil? And if olive oil is better, does that mean coconut oil is from the devil? And if coconut oil is from the devil, why are there so many people who insist it’s the healthiest food on earth?
If I combine proteins and carbohydrates in one meal is that good for me…or bad? If I eat fruit with other food groups will any of it be properly digested? If meat is too rare, will it contain bacteria? If it’s too cooked, will it contain carcinogens? Or should I only eat meat from grass-fed animals? Or should I not eat animals at all?
Can you see why I’m confused and irritated?
Does anyone remember Adelle Davis, who wrote a bunch of (ahead of her time) hippie-type “health” books in the 50’s and 60’s? Despite all her strict nutritional advice, she died of cancer at 70. The healthiest woman on the planet…and she gets cancer and dies. What does this tell you? That it doesn’t matter two figs what you eat? Well, I wouldn’t take it that far. But I will say this: you can do everything absolutely right, and still die of cancer.
So what is my response? Throw up my hands in frustration and say “The hell with it!” ? I don’t think so. I think there’s got to be a middle of the road somewhere. Let’s face it, we’re all going to die of something sooner or later. This whole food issue for me is not so much about prolonging life as it is about increasing the quality of my life while I’m yet alive. I want to feel good, I want to feel healthy. Day by day, how healthy do I feel? That’s what it’s all about.
Okay, let me see if I can put something down quickly to get back to basics. Here are my rules:
1. As Mom always used to say, “If God made it, you can eat it.” Any real food in its natural state is just fine to eat. I don’t want anyone telling me I can’t eat carrots or bananas because they’ll make me fat, or whatever. (The author of The Simple Living Guide puts it this way: “Eat only those foods that spoil, rot, or decay, and eat them before they do.”)
2. Of course, I don’t see myself eating ONLY fruits and vegetables. To be realistic, there will always be occasions when you need to eat outside the plant world. I don’t mind a little meat now and then—just not too much of it. I don’t mind a little yogurt now and then—as long as it’s not full of sugar and food starch modifiers. Even our non-plant foods should be as close to their natural state as possible.
3. And, within those boundaries, obviously: All things in moderation.
4. Now, my qualifiers. First: Limit white sugar. I don’t think there’s anybody out there who will argue that processed sugar foods are GOOD for you. They are good (that is: “taste good,” and are fun) now and then for a treat, on those special occasions when a treat is warranted. But on a regular basis, my plan is to pretty much avoid white sugar. (And of course that goes for artificial sweeteners—even moreso! They act the same in your body as real sugar, and have the added whammy of being full of unnecessary and unhealthy chemicals. And besides, they don’t even taste good.)
5. Qualifier #2: No wheat. This may not be for everyone, but it works for me. In the past, whenever I’ve lost weight, it’s happened while I’ve been avoiding wheat. There’s a school of thought out there now that the wheat we eat today is nothing at all like the wheat our ancestors ate, and that it’s this wheat that is aggravating our obesity epidemic. Fat, sure. Sugar, yes. But also WHEAT. Now, I haven’t actually read the book yet, but my personal experience tells me that I do better and feel better when I’m not consuming wheat, so that’s what I’m going to do.
So, to review:
Real food. Mostly.
Not too much of it.
Avoid sugar.
Avoid wheat.
That’s my own personal formula. I’m not saying it would work for everyone, but I’ve got to have some kind of idea about what’s going to work for me, and something that isn’t so complicated it puts my head in a tizzy. I don’t like being in a tizzy. Keep it simple, stupid.
So, today, when I go to MSN.com and read that scientists have discovered that a chemical in Pepsi is a carcinogen, I can say, “Yeah. So? What? Like you all didn’t already know that drinking soda is not good for you?” It doesn’t matter to me, because I don’t drink Pepsi. I don’t have to worry about the bad crap in crap food, because I don’t eat and drink crap. (Now, Russ drinks Pibb and Dr. Pepper, which are probably very similar to Pepsi, and I do worry about that, but that worry is a completely different story. I can’t MAKE him eat or drink anything in particular, these are choices he’ll have to make for himself.)
At McDonald’s, my standing order is a side salad with Ranch dressing (no croutons) and an unsweetened tea. And I don’t want anyone telling me about how much fat is in my Ranch dressing, or how the tea will stain my teeth, or anything else that’s going to make me question my humble McDonald’s meal. I mean, I guess I could go into McDonald’s and order a cup of WATER, and that would be healthier for me. Or maybe not, because who knows what’s really in the water, right? Or, I guess I could not go into McDonald’s at all, but I would still be eating a salad with Ranch dressing and drinking tea at home, so that’s not really the point, is it? PLEASE, leave me SOMETHING I can still eat and drink!!
This whole topic is making me so aggravated, so let me sum up:
We all eat, we all drink. We all have responsibility for our own health. There is a certain amount of basic knowledge we all have about what’s good for us and what’s bad, and there are certain experiences we all have about what works for us and what doesn’t. We make our own choices, and have to live with the consequences of those choices. Sometimes we make certain choices, and don’t get the consequences we were anticipating. Being too much one way or the other is not healthy. Obsessing about our eating habits and our health can be just as unhealthy as totally ignoring what we put in our bodies. There’s a middle of the road that is perfectly acceptable, where real food can be really enjoyed for what it is—a gift from God.
Well, that’s the first part of simplifying my life. Next time, I want to talk about projects. Not about reducing them, but defending them.
