Convenience

Today I had an opportunity to find and listen to a great podcast. While I am sure I will be discussing many of their topics from time to time, there was one that struck me as particularly poignant today. It was from the most recent podcast (episode #008) from Wellness Break Radio. The podcast itself seems relatively "new" with only 8 episodes so far, so it is not too late to jump on in and listen to them all to catch up while you await the next episode (I am definitely subscribing to this one). Episode #008 was their first to address listener feedback. The first call they had truly struck a nerve with me. It was simple enough, the caller was a fan of the podcast and the message of wellness they share, but he was wondering if there was a way to do it more conveniently.

I was struck by this comment because, at the time I was dragging my brand new old-lady shopping cart jammed full of groceries back home for a 2 mile drag on a warm October afternoon.

My new "old-lady shopping cart"

And I thought to myself, "The other day, when I blogged about 'My Well-Fed Life', I had convenience down as a criteria too." So, what is our obsession with convenience? And when did getting food become something that was supposed to be convenient? I am guilty of this thinking myself from time to time, so I have to stop and reflect when any moments of clarity strike.

Questions That Attacked Me In My Moment of Clarity

• WHY does our food have to be convenient? 
• When we look closely at our lives, at the world we have created for ourselves - with our family, our job, our social life, our extra-curricular activities - why is it that we choose our own nutrition to be the part of our life that is not worth our time and effort? 
• Why can't we (and, guys, when I say "we" I hope you realize most of this is coming from the first person perspective here) recognize that the time and effort that we spend on food and nutrition will enhance our entire livelihood, our health, our joy? 

Realization That Attacked Me In My Moment of Clarity

• Why can't we recognize that if we don't have time for this, than we are truly running out of time... a human life can not sustain itself on all the other "life stuff", but it can flourish with good food.

It was all clear to me as I heard the man request convenience; when I heard my own request outside myself. It was clear because today was not only a day when the words "convenience isn't a solution" sounded right, but the actions felt right, too. I had just spent about an hour in the produce section of my King Kullen (I mistakenly thought it was a shorter walk than the Stop N Shop) scrutinizing the labels of every single fruit or veggie I picked up (this is really quite ridiculous looking with my limited vision - I don't want to know what the other customers were thinking!) searching for where they came from, what was organic and what I needed to make it through until Saturday's Farmer's market. I had also walked to the store, getting in my exercise and spent a gorgeous day outside. I walked my groceries through the park on the way home and enjoyed the ducks and geese swimming in the pond that haven't left us just yet for southern shores.

I spent nearly three hours doing something that normally takes my husband and I a half hour, at most. If I did not, I would have had to order some take-out for my husband so he could eat in the brief 45 minutes he had at home tonight before he had to return to school for Parent Teacher's Night. The entire trip - the walking, the heat, the shopping on my own with my own silly, broken eyes, the cooking and preparation in time for my husband's arrival - looked at, in print, can be seen as really, really inconvenient, but in the end, it was worth every damn second.

...And I am pretty sure I'll be spending more of days on medical leave doing this same exact thing.

My Well-Fed Life

A number of years ago I came across a book that changed the way I looked at and felt about reading forever. It was Steve Leveen's "The Little Guide to Your Well-Read Life." This book instantly caught my eye in my local Barnes and Noble because, as a voracious reader I have always sought after that esteemed title of "well-read." Over the years, however, it seemed that this was becoming more and more an insurmountable task - between the countless classics I had yet to read and the litany of best sellers and new classics being published week after week I felt stymied. Leveen's book, a guide, was exactly what I needed, I thought, to finally win the battle against my "to-read" list. What I found inside was not a step-by-step guide to getting to the end of the "well-read" rainbow, but, instead it was a fabulous book about letting that nightmare go and, instead embracing a well-read life in my own style - deciding for myself what my classics would be, what I thought should be on the best seller's list, reading at my own pace, in my own medium (he agreed that audio books were an acceptable form of "reading") and my relationships with my books should be personal. This may all seem obvious to you, but for me, at the time, it was a lesson I had not yet learned.

As of late I have found myself in nearly the same state of quandary about my eating as I once did about reading. I would like to eat "right" as they say, and I am beginning to finally think that the best way to do that is to live My Well-Fed Life. I have to decide what foods I want to bring to my table, and because this is my well-fed life, I need to think about what things are important to me in that quest. Here are five broad criteria that I have currently been using in building MY well-fed life:

Impact

Over the last couple of years, as reflected in this blog, a major factor in my personal food decisions has been based on their impact on the environment, on animals, on the industry and on the global and local community. This is the most difficult part of my eating since I am learning new things every single day that cause me to have to search for a new product or company to endorse.

Health

Due to my medical conditions, I have to be very careful of the foods that I eat. I know now of two food "groups" to avoid all together (gluten and dairy) that were evidently aggravating my system more than I realized. Knowing about these "illegal" foods has been a great help to my health, but dramatically changed what I thought my well-fed life was. In addition to the subtractions of these two food-types, I also like to pay attention to GMOs, organic foods and buying fresh whenever possible for the sake of my health and my husband's health.

Taste

I am being quite deceitful by putting this criteria third, because in my well-fed life (as I am sure in most everyone's), if a food does not satiate my taste buds it is off my shopping list. Let's be honest, no matter how good it is for me or my planet, if I don't like the way it tastes, I am not going to eat it - EVER.

Convenience

Sad, but true, for the most part I am not one who likes to spend hours upon hours constructing a meal that will take a fraction of that time to consume. I need to be realistic in my searches for foods that fit my life - can I get them with a quick trip here or there? Can I prepare these foods with the tools I have in my kitchen? If not, is it worth the investment to get those tools, or am I, realistically only going to cook this once? Do I have foods planned that are easy enough to cook that I can do so even if I am having a sick day?

Financial

Especially now, while I am on medical leave from my full-time job, I can not afford to overspend on food. However, it should not be overlooked that in my ranking of priority, this criteria squeaked onto the list in last place.


I think it is really important for everyone, especially those who do the food purchasing for the home, to develop their own personal well-fed guidelines. Of course, I believe health should be on everyone's list, and in this climate I think you would be remiss to exclude "impact" (no one will do this one for you!), but in the end, the point of this posting is that this is something you must determine for yourself.

I have only one bit of advice:  

BE WILLING TO TRY NEW THINGS. 

My hand was pretty much forced into this one with my food restrictions and my own conscience about my impact on the planet - I suddenly found myself asking, "What can I eat?" and the list was filled with strange foods I had never eaten or prepared before... I was terrified. My husband was empathetic, but grateful that, if need be he could still sneak back into the world of dairy and gluten. However, we bravely stepped out and starting trying things (we know, for sure, my mother is doing cartwheels in heaven - all she EVER wanted us both to do was TRY NEW THINGS, but we always resisted!), and we found a bunch of new things that we really, really like. Of course, not everything was fantastic, but there were a heck of a lot more wins than losses.

Good luck, good eating and I hope you find as much joy in your well-fed life as we have been finding in ours!