You are what you eat...

So I have been living in this here community house for 7 months, and I can not believe how fast time has gone by. I promised I would write about all the things I learned along the way and this is the first community specific thing, so I would say I am doing pretty good.

A little back story to get you all caught up...

Growing up I had a good childhood, plenty of siblings to play/fight with. My own room i could escape to to get away from the noise, and of course my stuffed dog who would listen to all my worries. There is one thing just a little different about my childhood, not so different from many children today. I rarely ate home cooked meals. I can count on one hand the amount of meals my mom would make homemade for us. Its not because she didn't love us or care about our nutrition, but she was tired. She worked all day, then came home to house dirtied by six kids and was instantly bombarded with the daunting question "what's for dinner?". Well it also didn't help that she wasn't the hugest fan of cooking, but lets not tell her I told you that. So needless to say most of my meals were whatever Kraft could put in a box or the little Hamburger helper Glove could creatively create in 5 minutes. I spent many dinners with a pizza man and with a Mr. McDonald. Unlike most families eating out for dinner wasn't a special treat, it was what we did. The nights when we were surprised by a home-cooked meal were wonderful... for a time, then there was a switch, something happened...

I became an addict... I was addicted to eating out. No longer did eating a home-cooked meal sound good, my body longed to eat out, to be filled with starch and fats and oils and salts. (sorry but its the truth) My body wanted the quick fill, the high and then the crash! I lived like this for a while not even seeing the problem. Then it began to sink in, I began to feel it. I was tired and hungry only hours after I had a huge value meal. My body lacked the nutrients it needed to sustain me. My insides were beginning its journey to a slow and painful death. I lived like this for years, unaware that the easy, fast and convenient foods I was eating were nothing more then cheap fillers.

Fast forward to now...

Moving into this community house I wasn't sure what God wanted to teach me, but I was open to anything. I knew there was a lot of change that needed to happen. I was mostly excited to live with a group of people who strived to live a life different from those around them. To be stewards of what God had given them. Right away I was shown so many new things I began to feel overwhelmed. There was a main pattern to the things I was learning. It all seemed to revolve around FOOD. Was God trying to get me to see that I had a problem? Was I so unaware that food had such a hold on me? Did I need to be brought into a place of community to learn that I leaned on food more than others? That I was so disconnected from the foods I ate that I had no clue where or how it got to my plate.

So began the slow process of CHANGE...

Living within this community I was instantly aware of the impact my choices have on this earth. Where did I shop? Do I choose to shop at an ethical company, or give a little on my ethics and get the biggest bang for my buck? Do I support my local businesses or complain that it's to inconvenient? Am i willing to profess that the human life is of upmost importance and then turn around and deny that by being naive about who makes my clothing and food? Is slavery dead?
How can I ever be the same?  The way I ate affected every area of my life. I was conditioned to not care. To not know. To be unaware of those around me. But today I am no longer unaware. I am unconditioned. The social lies that have tied me so tightly are beginning to unravel. I MUST care. I MUST make a change. I can not make anyone else change, so I will work on the one person I know who can make the change. They may go down kicking and screaming, throwing punches, or lets hope they lay down with submission and humbly accept change. I will make MYSELF change. I will be the catalyst in my own life.

I will choose to eat the foods that our bodies were designed to eat. I will care about those who put their time and energy into planting and harvesting those foods. I will stand up for those who deserve a right for humane treatment and fare wages in bringing us those foods. I will care about the health of the animals and the conditions they live in. I will care about the conditions of all...
I will begin to understand how "we are what we eat."


I am what I eat.

A few things that sparked such a huge change in me. I truly believe that God has been working on me, waiting for me to mature and be ready to understand and accept change. Living here and being roommates with such wonderful, human and earth conscience people. Also seeing things visually. Watching Food INC. was something that changed me. It opened my eyes to a world I was blind to before. If you made it to the end of this blog and I could encourage you to do one thing it would be this...

Its not just food, things in life are never black and white. We vote by each item we send down the conveyor belt. When we purchase something we are saying its OK to do the practices the companies do. Research, know your facts. We can no longer be naive.

www.betterworldshopper.com