Wednesday's "What We Ate April 1-7, 2013"

A couple of weeks ago, I shared a bit of information about GMO's on my post about wheat crackers. It got me really motivated. Sometimes when you read or hear things like that, they can be really overwhelming & like you have to scale a mountainside before you can make any change in your lives, but that was definitely not my intention of the post.

Sure, it's intense, but when we look at our diets, we just try to remember that moderation is key. We try to eat really healthy, nutritous, good-for-you whole foods 80% of the time & relax about the 20%. Sure, I still get a little squeamish when I see my kid wolfing down bowls of mac 'n' cheese at a restaurant, but the reality is that unless we live in a bubble (which I'm not ok with), & unless I make all of our food from scratch (which I'm also not ok with), we're going to eat some pretty crappy food sometimes. And that's ok. Sometimes.

I might be a little obsessive over food sometimes, but it's one of my favorite things to read about. I'm talking about food non-fiction here, people. Some of my favorite books have been ones that tell the tale of the American food industry & how it has evolved into what it is today. One of my all-time favorite books is "Eating Animals" by Jonathan Safran Foer. The book walks you through what one guy went through as he crossed the line from being just a guy to being someone's dad. Like many parents, he struggled with what & how he was going to feed his son. Although he & his family are vegetarians, we took a lot from his book (we are not vegetarians). This was one book (among countless other resources) that really made us push to buy as much organic & local meat as possible.

Another book that I've just started reading is called "Pandora's Lunchbox" by Melanie Warner & so far, it's very catching. I don't give books much time... if they don't grab me within the first 10 pages, they're history. I don't have the time or energy to commit to reading a "meh" book, but this one has already caught my attention (heck, I was up late last night reading it). The author was recently on WPR (click here to listen), talking about how processed foods have taken over the American diet (processed foods account fot 70% of our nations' food!)

Something that that really stood out to me was the fact that food prices have been declining since processed foods were introduced. Sure, it seems like food is expensive & everyone (in the U.S.) complains about it all the time, but "the amount we pay for our food has declined dramatically over the last six decades, from 20.6 percent of disposable income in 1950 to now 9.8 percent. This is lower than at any other time in our history & less than any other country" (Warner, p.6-7). Isn't that incredible?

Although I'm not yet finished with the book, it's already a gem to me. Some of my other favorite food resources (besides "Eating Animals" & "Pandora's Lunchbox") are:

• Fast Food Nation (book)
• The Omnivore's Dilemma (book)
• Food, Inc. (documentary)
• The Weight of The Nation (documentary)
• King Corn (documentary)
• The Future of Food (documentary)
• Supersize Me (documentary)
• 100 Days of Real Food (blog)
• Mama Natural (blog)

If you've decided to eat more healthy, what led you to that decision? Do you have any resources you would like to share?

Thursday's dinner: Olive Garden's copy-cat Zuppa Toscana soup with sourdough bread

What We Ate April 1-7, 2013
Monday: Easy egg, rice, spinach, & cheese with whole wheat toast, cuties, & apples
Tuesday: Falafel salads with whole wheat pita bread
Wednesday: Black bean, corn, & spinach enchiladas (post to come soon!) with tortilla chips & salsa
Thursday: Olive Garden's copy-cat Zuppa Toscana soup with sourdough bread & apples
Friday: Homemade 4 cheese & prosciutto pizza with raw carrots, celery, & broccoli
Saturday: We ate at our beloved Burritos House
Sunday: We ate over at our neighbor's house for dinner & had homemade roasted garlic alfredo pasta & a tossed green salad (Romaine, carrots, red pepper, broccoli, avocado, soy nuts, & balsamic vinaigrette)

I made a big batch of crockpot yogurt this week & I also baked zucchini & sweet potato muffins & dark chocolate Guinness brownies this week, both of which are post-worthy, so I'll share soon!