I think the melancholy stems from a true desire to eat healthier always, but knowing that without the challenge we will likely revert back to some of our old ways.  I’m sure we will make more food from scratch more often.  Homemade tortillas and granola bars are definitely the way to go.  We will, unfortunately, be eating McCain Smiles with our gourmet burgers and will, likely, indulge in a little Tim Horton’s along the way.

I haven’t written about it in any previous post, but we both came to terms with some issues we have with bread.  We found ourselves, at the beginning of the challenge, wanting to eliminate it from the diet, but realizing it wasn’t as evil as we were making it out to be.  Why eliminate a nutritious, delicious food without cause?  It turns out we both LOVE bread.  I mean LOOOOVE bread.  We knew this deep down and wanted to break our dependence on it.  The challenge would simply have been too strict.  I guess you may need to stay tuned for Dave and Shawna in bread rehab…it could get messy.

“Always remember to forget

The troubles that passed away.

But never forget to remember

The blessings that come each day.”

Cheers!

Just to give you an example of a meal that we would plan on any given day and the difference in the time and preparation required to make it I’ll tell you about last night’s meal.  We made moose burgers.  We had been given some moose meat a while ago and hadn’t used it yet.  It fits into the menu this week perfectly.  

Normally we would pull some pre-made patties from the freezer along with some white (maybe 60% whole wheat buns).  The meal could be done in 15 minutes once the meat was thawed.  We would throw the patties on the BBQ and heat up the buns in the microwave.  Pull together some condiments and voila!  

Yesterday, we baked the hamburger buns and put the patties together ourselves.  Making bread with just whole wheat flour appears to be tricky.  There is all kinds of advice online about how to get it to come out fluffier.  It takes between one to two hours to make the buns as there is a lot of waiting, then kneading, then waiting and kneading involved.  Then you have to wait for them to bake.  The ground moose could be assembled during one of the “waiting” periods.  Not to mention, the time it can take to gather these ingredients.  Wild meat is not readily available in stores.  We were lucky to have it already.  You would have to seek out someone who could provide you with a wild or nice, grass-fed, organic meat and arrange to pick it up from them.  I guess you could kill it yourself, but that would have taken WAY too much time.  

Back to the difficulty with homemade whole wheat bread…it’s hard.  Really, it’s hard, dense, not fluffy.  Dave has enthusiastically taken on the task of baking bread this week.  I was watching the baby when he shouts from the kitchen, “I hope you don’t mind burger pucks for dinner.”  The buns looked like a bunch of hockey pucks sitting on the pan.  We feared another meal of dense bread.  

It turns out the buns were definitely different than what we are used to, but delicious.  The moose was delicious as well and we felt like we were eating some kind of gourmet creation.  Burgers on whole wheat biscuits, anyone?  We added a side of steamed carrots and broccoli, all organic, of course.  We passed on the McCain Smiles that we would normally eat with hamburgers.  The ingredients in the Smiles are not organic, but the list is impressively short and simple.  I think we’ll keep the Smiles for another time, they really do make us very happy. 

Basically, for the last two weeks we feel like we’ve been eating gourmet meals, made from scratch with fresh, organic ingredients every single day.  We’re not complaining…it’s a nice change.

1.  ”Organic” can be a misleading label

2.  Rules are made for breaking (Rule #1 Organic whenever possible)

3.  Sulfites are everywhere (including the organic red wine we’re drinking right now)

4.  Making food from scratch is way more satisfying than buying pre-made stuff

5.  Additives make food taste better…a lot of the time

6.  Eating well feels better

7.  Breaking old habits is very difficult

8.  Food is a huge part of our social life

9.  Access to healthier food is limited in smaller, rural towns

10.  Blogging is harder than we thought it would be

We just ate the pizza we had left over from last night’s fare.  We made a 100% whole wheat crust and our own pizza sauce and loaded a bunch of organic veggies and cheese on top.  It tasted…well, um…healthy.  Yep, healthy.  Not good, not bad, but healthy.  Dave asked, “What do you think was missing from the pizza?”  My response was salt and sugar.  It’s that simple.

I just came out of the bedroom with a face drawn on my belly.  The belly button was the mouth.  I told Dave that I knew someone who had something to tell him.  I pulled up my shirt and used my hand to make it look like my belly was talking…it said, “I want potato chips…feed me!”  It was a desperate attempt to get him to run to the store and get some chips.  I knew that if he went he would indulge too, but if I went to get them there would be a higher likelihood of him refusing to participate in the diet sabotage.  I didn’t want to be the loser, but I would have gladly taken him down with me.  In any case, it didn’t work.  He’s having a “500 push-ups day” and refused to get involved with my unhealthy desires.  He got down and did 20 more push-ups.  Booooo!

I heard a piece on CBC radio today about organic foodie culture.  I’m feeling more like a junk foodie.  Really just wishing I could have a little additive binge today and get back on the straight and narrow tomorrow.  Must stay focussed.

Having trusted that I received a quality education I have used these arguments in many conversations over the years.  I have received many blank stares and have heard this over and over again,”…but they aren’t allowed to use pesticides in organic products!”  It is possible that I’m not explaining myself correctly or clearly…is organic really better for us?  Do we really understand what “organic” means?

The other thing that is bugging me is that I thought that eating organic and trying to remove additives from my life would be complimentary actions.  Not necessarily.  I’m lactose intolerant and choose soy products over dairy most of the time.  I went shopping for organic soy milk last night and was disappointed in what I discovered.  The ingredients lists were long and confusing.  I don’t see any deal breakers, most look like added vitamins and minerals, but I still don’t like what I’m looking at.  So much so that I decided to leave the store without soy milk and drink smaller amounts of the organic cow’s milk that we already have in the fridge.  

New research raises more questions about the benefits of eating organic.  And recent research reported by the CBC supports what I was taught about organic pesticides several years ago in university.

Would I benefit more from an additive-free lifestyle or an organic one?  How could you sustain both?

We have reached the half way point and look forward to the days ahead. This week I’m on a mission to find some delicious organic wine. Tomorrow we’re baking our own pizza dough and making our own pizza sauce…it’s really the only way to know what’s really in there.

I’ll leave you with this adorable picture of our daughter while at the park today. Who needs more motivation than this to start living well?

We did a little shopping and then decided to visit a health food store to see if maybe we could find a special treat.  We both went immediately to the junk food aisle.  This probably says a lot about how we’re handling the challenge so far.  We picked up a dozen different bars and put them back down again as we read through the crap in their ingredients.  The labels all said “natural” and/or  ”organic,” but I wasn’t sure the words sulphate, proprionate and phosphate belonged on a “natural” or  ”organic” product.  Our mouths were watering with the prospect of “natural” junkfood.  It turns out that junk food is junk food, whether it’s organic, natural or just plain old junk food.  We squeezed a couple of chocolate-flavored bars into our rules, picked up some organic lemons and a bottle of agave nectar and hit the road for some more shopping.  The bars were hardly worth the cost or the trouble.  Odd textures and even odder flavors made them unpalatable…unless you like eating chalk, which some people with a condition called pica do.  Maybe they would like these treats.  We were sad.  

We had been snacking on our own stash of food all day, but it certainly wasn’t filling the void like Tim Horton’s or The Keg or that fancy restaurant on the corner would.  We started to talk about the restaurants and how we could eat in one of them and still follow the rules.  We were close to convincing ourselves that it would be ok, just this one day, to eat out.  Dave, that’s right, Mr. Makin’-Up-My-Own-Rules (see previous post) stopped us.  He injected an enthusiastic pep talk and pulled our wilted organic spinach salads from the cooler.  Arrrgh…I hate wilted, organic spinach.  

We’re home now.  Safe from the temptation of the outside world with our smugness from earlier today intact.  We’re watching the Star Trek movie and munching on some delicious organic dark chocolate (junk food?).  So we’re not trying to master time travel or fight beings from another galaxy, but we are fighting the nasties in our food and it’s a lot harder than we thought it would be.  

modified milk ingredients, sugar, cream, glucose, stabilizers (mono and diglycerides, guar gum, cellulose gum, polysorbate 80, locust bean gum, carrageenan, calcium sulphate), artificial vanilla flavour (contains sulfites), colour (contains tartrazine)

There’s some non-food for thought.

Dave has been out of the house all week.  I hadn’t even really considered how difficult it must be for him to resist.  So, we discussed it last night.  Apparently, it hasn’t been difficult for him to resist at all.  He’s been following a secret set of rules.  Coffee is ok if it’s black.  Juice from concentrate is better than coffee!?  And apparently rule #1 “Organic as often as possible” could possibly mean “Organic if it is convenient for Dave”…hmmm.  He had also been indulging in his old balsamic vinegar (the one with sulfites…eeeeek) even though I did manage to find a yummy, if not too expensive, organic brand for him at the beginning if the week.  

He was called in very early today and on his way out of bed asked what would be the best choice at the restaurant that he was going to for breakfast.  There are, almost certainly, no organic choices at the restaurants where we live.  When I got out of bed there was an opened package of organic oatmeal left on the countertop.  Go Dave!

Living in a small northern-ish town has presented some challenges.  Eating out is not possible and choice of organic products is limited.  The Farmer’s Market is tomorrow and we are looking forward to exploring our local options for produce and meat (which we seem to have accidentally deleted from our diet).  Llama burgers anyone?

Acne.  My chin looks a bit like the Rocky Mountain range.  Not a particularly desirable effect.  There are considerably more pimples in my life right now than before starting this challenge.  Maybe the sodium nitrate was keeping the bacteria in my skin at bay.  I’m hoping it’s just my skin’s way of saying “Hallelujah!  Let’s get rid of this crap!”  

Bowel stuff.  Mine feel great!  They are definitely giving a shout out to “Subtracting the Additives.” Dave is having trouble and I’m only guessing that his are less happy based on the statement, “I think I was getting fibre from a lot of crappy sources.”

Weight.  We considered taking our weights and measurements before starting this challenge as a way of monitoring its effect, but decided that we didn’t want to make it about weight and calories (which is how we normally eat).  I check my weight about once a week just to stop me from using “baby weight” as an excuse to become complacent about fitness.  I’ve checked it a couple of times so far and I’ve loss a pound.  My hands feel puffy, though.  Not going to check it.  Just going to enjoy the pound that was missing from my body yesterday.  

Irritability.  Dave and I get along wonderfully.  We rarely fight, to the point that it actually gets boring around here sometimes.  Neither one of us is walking out yet, but it’s not quite as boring as usual.  I really can’t say for sure if one of us is grumpier than the other.  I can tell you that Dave’s mood improves considerably when I make something to eat.  I’m hoping the yummy food will keep us happy enough to get through this.  Where there is food there is love?

Exhaustion.   The baby has slept without waking for a feeding for the last two nights.  Which means we’ve gotten eight full hours of sleep for two nights in a row for the first time in over five months.  I’m still dragging my bum out of bed and grumpily asking Dave if the coffee is on yet?  I may have to address caffeine addiction in a future food challenge, but not today.

On a more upbeat note, my attempt at healthy-er Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins was a success and I think I’ll be making them this way from now on.  Here’s the new recipe!

Healthy-er Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

4 organic bananas, mashed 

1/2 cup organic sugar 

1 slightly beaten “free range” egg

1/3 cup melted organic butter

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups organic whole wheat flour

I added some organic ground flax without measuring it, about 4 table spoons?

I always add the chocolate chips last, about 1/2 cup?

Sorry about these last two measurements…this may explain the many failed attempts at baking.  :) 

Mix the banana, sugar, egg and margarine together. Separately, mix together baking soda, baking powder, salt and flour.  Mix it all together.  Pour into muffin tins (I use paper muffin cups, but greasing the pan would work too).  Bake at 350 degrees F for approximately 20 minutes (these needed to be left for a little longer, I just kept checking the middle and took them out when they felt spongy, but not too soft).  

They are so much better the next day.  We’ve actually now made a rule that we are not allowed to taste them until the next morning. It’s worth the wait!