Ethics, Dieting and Grocery Shopping
This quarter I am taking Ethics and World Religions for my masters. Two classes I am surprisingly enjoying to the fullest extent. Not only did I go back to class to finish my degree, but I also start a diet program called Medifast. A diet that doesn’t allow eating lots of bread, sugar and other processed food. My personal awakening that these two topics were related hit me the other night at the grocery store while I was trying to buy food, emphasizing again that poverty affects many aspects of society.
Here are a couple thoughts:
1) EVERYTHING in the store I swear has starch. Every frozen meal (even the healthy ones), every breakfast, every meat, EVERYTHING. potatoes, breaded items, you name it. Starchy things clog up your blood lines and everything else and that’s not even including the processed sugar in almost ALL white bread that is horrible for your body. But then I was thinking–if I was poor and starving, would I care about starch? Or how about–if I’m a corporation, how do I make my food sell more? Make it tasty–regardless of considerations for healthy eating or practicing moral business practices and stimulating the economy of America instead of killing it. How I’m dealing with this–well, Medifast is an American company, all in-house if you must say, & the food has nutritional value and doesn’t have extras my body doesn’t need.
2) I noticed the worse the item for you–the more attractive the packaging. Now-I don’t know if you can argue that all marketing is a scam to get us to buy more crap we don’t need that is really just that–crap. Oh, wait, I can 🙂 I know I’ve tried to work around this buy going generic when possible and not looking at the fancy colors or labels but actually reading the ingredients list on the back. You know–the side that faces the shelf? Same is true for things like dog food–if you really read what you’re feeing your best friend, you might not want to feed it anymore. And I buy my supplies from a local, family run feed store. Best place if you have a pet and have a feed store nearby (non-chain.)
3) I have also realized my soapbox is much bigger than a box. That there are some REAL issues in the world and that its not just about standing on my box but as a Christian committing to bringing about justice and love. Yes, sometimes that means getting dirty. Diet wise, I am reminded now after studying the section on poverty home much I value my food and what I eat. And actually this helps in dieting because if you take them time to thank God for your meal and to enjoy the blessings of a simple thing as food, then you are actually eating in a healthy manner. we’re supposed to take 30-45 minutes at least to enjoy a food.
4) Because I have started dieting, my dish consumption has gone down. Keep in mind I have meals I have to prepare. However, I make pancakes several morning. Instead of using 5 skillets with 3 different types of spatulas–I just take 3-5 minutes to wash my pans and let them dry for the next day. So my weeks worth of dishes looks like about 3 days. And I haven’t used my dishwasher, thus wasting more water. And cooking at home–it helps control finances and encouraging spending time with family. All positives for the Christian household. Thank you dieting & ethics 🙂
I’m sure there are more things going on that I am gradually becoming aware of. And I will appreciate every new thing that I learn and hopefully implement into my outlook and living model. In fact, I just learned about some details about housing/land in the Christian model. This might give me a new perspective when we start looking for a new home soon.
Musings of An AfterThought 