random thoughts on a fast week

First, I cannot believe it is Saturday night already. I can't remember the last time I sat down to do a little bloggin'. Time has been simply put, flying. My brother just asked me on Friday if I live for the weekend. I laughed. Not because it was a silly question but because "weekends" are a thing of the past now that I am a mom. My responsibilities are the same, regardless of the day of the week. My routine is pretty much the same Sunday through Saturday. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but consistency can get a bit boring.

Good thing for New Food Friday then, right?! At least I can count on Friday night dinner prep for a little, much needed excitement. New Food Friday this week was Sweet and Sour Tempeh. It was delish. Not a kid food, but a great and filling dish for parents to enjoy with chop sticks and brown basmati rice. Yum. There were leftovers in the fridge this morning, but I opted to take Thursday's' Spring Veggie Pasta to school for lunch so that I would have the Sweet and Sour dish to look forward to for dinner. Turned out to be a great plan because I was excited about my dinner all day. For the record, the leftovers lived up to all my expectations. Why is it that food always tastes better the next day?

Speaking of school... today I had supervision. It is when all of us doing internship get together and talk about what we are learning. It is actually a really great way to spend a Saturday. I will be sad when that part of my schooling is over. Anyhow, during lunch my most beautiful friend Ericka was telling me excitedly about her most recent obsession... checking the ingredients of her fave beauty products. Turns out she stumbled upon 'cosmeticsdatabase.com' and is learning all about some of the harmful crap we slather onto our bodies every day, sometimes several times a day.

Well, of course I get all excited because I love to see other people jazzed about getting all healthy and crap and I love learning about new things. Needless to say we ended up having a big ol' conversation about the crap we put in and on our bodies.

At some point in the conversation the great question came up, "Don't you think it is possible to get a little too obsessed with that stuff? There will always be something to worry about." I responded that of course there is a learning curve as you adjust to new ways of doing things, but it gets easier over time. Changing diet, changing beauty products, changing thinking patterns, changing anything takes motivation, time and patience.
Right?

At the time I thought it was an adequate response, but if I had a pause button for life I would have used it right then and spent some time thinking the question through a bit. Since there is no pause button for life, I spent the afternoon thinking about it and have concocted a different response. My blog is now the forum for my newly formulated response.

Here is what I wish I would have said:
"It is all about supply and demand baby. As long as we as consumers continue to buy products that poison our bodies, bellies, skin and spirits, those products will continue to dominate our marketplace. I don't want my children to have to read through every label, checking for high-fructose corn syrup in their ketchup or looking for cell mutating ingredients in their face lotion. I want to send a message NOW that we don't want that crap in our food, on our bodies or in our stores. If this means being a little obsessed now, then so be it. As the saying goes, Rome wasn't built in a day. At the risk of sounding cliche, change has to start somewhere. If you settle for status quo, all you will get is status quo. And status quo just doesn't work for me, and it REALLY is not good enough for my children. Is changing hard work? Yep, most of the time. But it is the consequences of NOT changing that frighten me far more than hard work."

Yes sir, I would have said, "supply and demand baby".

I tell my clients that all our choices go into the imaginary backpack we wear. Some choices weigh more than others, depending upon the consequences of the choices we make. Some choices weigh so much you can barely walk. Some choices have no weight at all. Some choices even have the power to cancel out some of the weight of past "heavy" choices. This theory applies to food. The food you put into your body and the products you use in your daily life have the power to lighten your load or to weigh you down (quite literally). And only you get to choose what it is you put into your backpack. Ericka challenged me to examine the products in my bathroom cabinet and makeup bag. (I will let you know how it goes)

I challenge you to challenge yourself. Are you demanding the best for your body? If not, how come? It's not because you are scared of a little hard work, right?