Stomach Schitsophrenia

Food, food, food. I spend so much time talking about, writing about, making lists of, planning around, paying for, and shopping for food. I have been researching food for work a lot and my recent project has been to research organic sourcing options for restaurants in DC. So, my goals in picking which farms we want to support are that they be local, organic, and sustainable. I like to think that these are the categories I look at when I make my daily food choices.

Local keeps the money in town, at least for another cycle. I buy local as part of my effort to support small businesses, especially small restaurant owners and local farm owners. I think that having people who thoughtfully prepare and grow food in and around town are key components to having a healthy community. So, I choose to support local restaurants, especially if they source from local markets. Also, I purchase the bulk of my meat and produce from farmers markets. I am lucky enough to be right near a farmers market where the farmers are the ones selling the food! Local is not always the most environmentally kind choice, as it does not mandate organic. So, if a local farm is not organic then they are polluting near me. This is a tough call because many local farmers cannot spend the many or take the time to become certified organic, so I rely a lot on trusting their word about how they say they grow their food.

Organic is my second consideration when it comes to eating. Buying organic food not only supports farmers who go organic, but it is a health consideration. Eating organic food means I worry less about pesticides and other inputs. I know I am eating produce, not wax and dyes. However, I will admit that organic produce is not always local depending on the season and not always affordable. When my lovely local, organic farmers expend their late fall squash and roots I am left with the choice between Whole Foods or Yes! Organic or Giant. Also, when I buy canned goods, spices, sauces, dairy, beverages, bread, and even some meat I have to decide between these three all year. I often buy organic products sold at Giant and use Whole Foods and Yes! for specialty goods that I need. I am lucky in that my Giant has lots of organics and even some grass fed meat!

Finally, my diet as being sustainable is the biggest issue I come to terms with. For me, sustainability means how sustainable my diet is in terms of environmental impact, but also if is is a sustainable pattern for my health and wellness. I am what many people call a 'recovering vegetarian', so I eat meat rarely and with lots of hang-ups. I eat grass fed beef, lamb, and bison as well as fish. I have tried to cut out poultry items as well as a lot of my fish intake by substituting soy products. However, over the last week I am noticing more and more that soy makes me feel really bad physically. Also, only a portion of soy products are organic and soy production uses a lot of fertilizers, so how is this really a big win? So, back I am to the drawing board. My overall standpoint on this is to eat less meat, higher quality (grass-fed organic and preferably local) with LOTS of fresh organic produce. But, being on the run between work school, the gym, friends, and life in general makes cooking and packing food all the time very hard. Still, I think about the environment when I eat and sometimes this is an unfortunte plague and gives me eating schitsophrenia between what my body is telling me to eat, healthy considerations tell me to eat, and environment tells me to eat. too many voices sometimes.

The worst this I've had this week...... I ate all vegan on Tuesday, but as I said the soy made me kinda sick. So this was the best eco food day (despite some no organic soy), but it was the worst day I felt all week! I ate salmon on Monday with farmers market veggies. We grilled the salmon on Sunday night and ate it for dinner Sunday and lunch Monday. It was 'wild caught' which Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood watch suggests as the Best Option, but I am betting ours filets were from Washington so they are the Good Second choice. This 'wild-caught' still worries me because of the potential destruction to fragile river and ocean eco systems. However, all I've read says that salmon is VERY closely monitered. Alas, it was delicious. Also, I am a little concerned about my decision to try organic turkey over soy for enviro reasons, although health and mind are telling me that turkey makes me feel way less gross than soy. hmm....