Field Trip to the Hippie Store :)

So this morning we got up a little earlier and headed out to the Native Sun for a homeschool fieldtrip/tour.  We met the owner, Aaron, who is a super nice guy and very friendly, outgoing, and very, VERY informative.  


Anyone who knows me, knows that I've had my 'weird' little health/veg 'tendencies' for lo these many moons.  Okay, years.  But eating the garbage out there, blinding listening to the governments oh-so-humble opinions on what 'they' 'think' is 'best'.. and reading and talking to knowledeged folks..  okay I admit I am a slow learner.  I make mistakes... big ones sometimes.  But we all have to keep learning and try and keep moving forward as we learn more all the time what is better, healthier, more effective, yadda yadda.  


I have quite the stack of healthy-type books.  Prescription for Nutritional Healing, and a few others I can't think of.  I have vegetarian books and macrobiotic books.  I love them... they are interesting and oddly comforting.. it's nice to know that simple foods, Gods own bounty from the earth... then lovingly and simply prepared, are the best way to heal our bodies without some funky 'cooked up in some lab' pills/shakes/whatever.  Yes, I DO find that very, very comforting.  God knows better than we do, and He gave us everything we needed..  Leave it to us dorky humans to find ways to louse it up and make it very unhealthy.  Prime example.  God gave us potatoes.. and we turned it into mass produced, genetically modified french fries.  Gag!!


Even a salad... we dump meat, cheese, and dressing all over it to eat it.   I want to break this habit.  But this habit is the 'norm', and is what 'I' am used to and what my family is used to.. and lets face it... change is not easy.  Even today after we got home, I headed for ramen noodles.  *sighs*  I am such a hypocrite. :(

I have noticed a few of my healthier friends are big smoothie drinkers.. using spinach and frozen organic fruits... so... I've been thinking of getting a Jack Lalaine juicer for a long time now.  But.. my fear is this... most of my weight issues is because I have a nasty habit of 'drinking' my calories.  If I would switch to water and non-sweetened herbal teas, I would lose a ton of weight, and I know it.  I am not proud of that.  It's an addiction, truly.   As much as I would love a juicer, I don't want another reason/excuse to drink more calories.  And I'm not going to cough up $100 on a juicer to help me gain more weight.  Ha, NO.  You can forget that silliness. :)  Unless it's actually going to HELP, then I am not saving a single dime for it.  But, the jury is still out on that one.  I've already wasted (Lord I do NOT want to know HOW MUCH) I've wasted on gadgets over the years... and I don't want to add another to the list.  Especially an expensive one.

In the past month (or two) my family has had to get used to getting a bag of organic produce every week which has on occasion given us a 'strange' food we've never had before, (example: kale.  Mmm.  A new favorite of mine now! )  ...and I've been incorporating more veg into our meals.  I cooked the last box of hamburger helper, (without meat) to get rid of it since we don't buy that junk anymore.  It tasted REALLY gross. (we've almost finished weeding out all the box meals now, thank goodness)  We have already gotten the taste for the fresher, more wholesome foods but unfortunately not lost the taste for the junk and not to mention the ease and convenience and even the comfort of what we grew up eating.  I have no choice but to go slowly.... mostly because of hubby.  He is such a meat and potatoes guy.  And we are dyed in the wool Southerners... and in the South, food=love.  How sad is that?!?!

Well, Rome wasn't built in a day.  I know we will 'get' there. :)