So, despite this blog, and my love of CFG, I've been resistant to say this, but here goes: this challenge has changed my life. As strange as it is to think, things will never be the same, though the changes aren't necessarily in ways I expected.
Yes, I'll continue to eat mostly paleo (with the addition of dairy), yes, I'm going to keep on Crossfitting (where available), but more importantly than that, I'm going to pay a whole lot of attention to sustainability, food politics, and what we are doing to the environment around us.
The biggest changes in my life? I'm going to limit the amount of packaging and waste I use daily. Other than condiments (and until I find a good butcher, meats and cheese), I'm going to try and buy all my food unpackaged and unaltered by man. It's going to be a rough row to hoe, but from now on, only organic produce and grass-fed/range proteins. If it's not from the source, it's not going into my body. And if it's going to destroy the environment to get it to me, it's not going in either.
I know, crazy right? How does a gal go from a challenge on fitness and diet to a transformation in her environmental and food politics? Try reading the ingredients label on all your food for 30 days, and see where that takes you. Add in some information about crazy stuff in meat, a blog about what we feed our kids, a documentary on our individual impact, and well, you start to see a pattern. It's all connected - what we eat, what we buy, and what we believe. And I believe we need to do something more than just get ourselves in shape. We need to get this planet in shape - physically, politically, and environmentally.
So yeah, there are going to be some big changes coming for me. There are a lot of things I want to start doing now and some not till I move. (Don't worry, I'll be posting about them as I go.) But the fact remains. 7 weeks of eating right and moving right with a community has changed my life. And it sort of makes me want to change yours.
Congrats! I hate to throw a monkey wrench your way, but does "condiments" include mayonnaise?
ReplyDeleteI have yet to find a commercial mayo that is not based on Canola or Soybean Oil. They say they "contain" olive oil, but I think we all know what that means. Canola and soy are both crap oils anyway, but they also come with rather a lot of Omega-6. I've seen safflower and sunflower in health-food-store mayos, but those have even *more* Omega-6.
I have not yet come up with a recipe for a more paleo mayo that I really like, so I have not had mayo for quite a while.
Condiments most definitely does not include mayonnaise. I loved the stuff as a kid, but now can't stand it in any form (manufactured or homemade.) For coleslaw salads and the like, I use vinegar. If I need something creamy as an ingredient, I'll just use coconut milk or just straight up cream.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you use your mayo for?