It occurred to me today that with my new effort to eat healthier, I've inadvertently started eating less processed foods. Today I had in my shopping cart:
1 loaf 12-grain bread--no corn syrup or preservatives
1 box Breton whole-grain crackers (palm and canola oil as shortening, sugar, hydrolyzed soy protein)
1 jar Skippy Chunky Honey-Nut Peanut Butter - okay, this has hydrogenated vegetable oils and added sweeteners. I could have gotten all-natural peanut butter, but I *like* Skippy!
1 pkg Mottes unsweetened applesauce cups (apples, ascorbic acid)
1 pkg Delmonte diced peaches fruit cups (peaches, water, ascorbic acid, sucralose)
1 pkg Chile's salsa cups (salsa stuff, no extra sweeteners or preservatives)
6-box snack-pack raisins (raisins)
1 4-pack single-serving solid-white tuna (tuna, water)
1 bag frozen skinless boneless chicken breasts
1 bag frozen skinless boneless tilapia fillets
1 slightly green banana
1 bag green grapes
1 bag red grapes
2 bosc pears
1 nectarine
1/2 canteloupe
1 carton low-fat cottage cheese (milk, cheese cultures, salt, enzymes, stuff like guar gum)
1 bag low-fat cheese sticks (milk, cheese cultures, salt, vinegar, enzymes)
1 carton plain fat-free yoghurt (okay, that's for the dogs--I'd have gotten full-fat if they'd had it) (skim milk, pectin)
1 Green Giants broccoli and cheese sauce ("cheese-flavored" sauce--I don't want to know...)
1 Green Giants broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots in cheese sauce (ditto)
1 bag frozen asparagus stir-fry veggies
1 bag frozen Mexican veggies
1 bag frozen stir-fry veggies
1 bag frozen "Italian" veggies
I've gotta say, standing there with all that stuff spread out on the roller, I was pretty impressed with myself. You should have seen my groceries in the past! Hotdogs, donuts, cookies, boxed dinners, chips, cans of biscuits, cinnamon rolls, you-bake bread--if it wasn't good for me, it was in my cart. And lord knows I'm not saying I'll never eat like that again--I'm already worrying about this winter, when I get major carb cravings. But for once, I thought I did good. :) And I wonder if eating pretty well for the past few months has contributed to my fairly even mood.
It's really helpful having things in individual servings. When you live alone, it can be really hard to eat well without having things go bad. It was hard to get through a jar of salsa or applesauce, or a can of peaches, for instance, without having things start to grow in them. A microwave helps, too--4 minutes for a thawed chicken breast, 4 or 5 minutes for veggies (usually). Much faster than an oven or pot. I can cook my dinner while I'm fixing dinner for Taenzer and Timber. And when I think of how long I resisted getting one!
3 comments:
That's pretty good, what you have in your shopping cart. Except for Skippy, but you know that. I liked Skippy too, but I don't eat anything with arteficial sweetener or hydrogenated oil/fat any more.
You should try cottage cheese made in Austria or Germany, it's so very differnt, and there's no guar gum or anything in it, which isn't natural. It looks better and tastes way better. I don't get cottage cheese here worth buying, it's aweful stuff.
By the way, I bought two jackets for me today, and I could buy them 2 sizes smaller. I'm happy, but still have ways to go. :o)
I'd love to try some Austrian or German cottage cheese. I've seen recipes for making your own, but have never been that ambitious.
CONGRATULATIONS and GOOD FOR YOU on the new smaller jackets!!!! You go, girl!! :-D
Your shopping list made me think of the book Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. It's a wonderful read about the food industry in America. Pollan visits Big Industrial Farms (in Iowa !) and then a small sustainable farm in Virginia. Then he goes hunting and gathering in California. He's funny and a wonderful writer and I bet you'd enjoy the book. I taught in in a class on The Essay and my students loved it, despite it being a Very Fat Book.
Post a Comment