Hungry For Change… Ready for change?

Post-movie farmer's market run

A very good friend of mine and fellow blogger, Jason, at Cook Train, Eat, Race is a guy I look to for guidance and advice across the board when it comes to 'cooking, training, eating and racing.' He's passionate about spreading the word on good health and inspiring/motivating others. He's also an Ironman racer and serious athlete. I've learned a lot from him and from being an avid reader of his blog.

So, when Jason posts a review about something, I listen. 

Recently, Jason reviewed and then posted a link to a new documentary called Hungry For Change. The documentary basically reinforces what many of us know. Most of our food (particularly the processed stuff) in this country is shit. It delves even deeper into the shit and demonstrates how most of us are addicted to our crap food including diet soda, aspartame, sugar, etc… It also spoke to the importance of incorporating more fruits and vegetables into our diets, juicing, the importance of organics, getting the toxins out of our bodies, etc…

Even though I knew a lot of it, it was still an eye-opener and the film was well-produced.

And it got to me.

When I was losing weight, I, like most American's didn't worry about whether my low-fat frozen meal was processed or what it contained. I didn't look at the ingredients on my "low-fat" "healthy cereal" and I didn't worry about what it took to make that slice of "light" bread or fat free ice cream. No. I was worried about "how many Weight Watcher points" the item was and called it a day. I used fake spray 0 calorie butter, swigged diet coke, sprinkled on artificial 0 calorie sweetener, and used other "low fat" items with abandon.  I not only freely used them but I was under the impression that I was eating healthy. Doing right by me.

Even up to now, I try to bury my head in the sand when it comes to a lot of processed foods. I wanted to believe that 'organic' was just a marketing tool to get more money from me. Lately I've been starting to think about the chemicals more… just recently I vowed to give up the yellow stuff. (I've been doing so/so with that one)  But I can't hide from it any more.

Hungry for Change actually helped me to be ready for change.

Budget concerns held me back in the past but I made a decision to let go of being so damn cheap when it comes to my food. I used to say, "if I ever win the lottery, I'm buying all organic and shopping for all the produce, 'good foods,' etc… that I could ever want"  

I might not ever win the lottery and you know what?  I am WORTH providing good food to and so is my family. I'm not so sure why I feel like I don't deserve the pricier organic carrots but I'm getting over it. I am worth it. 

I am ready for change. My husband of course, kind of rolled his eyes at me, at first. He's not so ready but since I do the grocery shopping that's too bad. He thinks that I'm extreme. He said, "you watch a documentary and now you're ready to change everything." I said "that we watch things like that to learn and if you learn that you can be doing things better and don't - well, that's silly."

When I got home with all my produce loot, hubby began to come around - he's going to embrace change too. :)

I don't say it's going to be a perfect or easy road. No, for now I will not be jumping into a vegan lifestyle or never having a hot dog at a baseball game again but I will start to crowd more and more good stuff into my diet, hopefully so much of the right stuff will be added that there'll be no more room for anything else eventually. I am going to try to buy more organic things and juice more. I'm taking this seriously and will be making a concerted effort to get away from processed/chemicals/etc.

After raiding the local farmer's market, post film,  I even juiced up a green drink (I loved it by the way.)

My green drink is in my Jets cup - thought it
matched nicely ;)

So I guess I am not just Hungry for Change but READY for change. (Thanks, Jason!)

If you want to check out the film, you can stream it for free by providing your e-mail here, now - March 31.

Have you seen the film yet?

Have you given up processed foods?

Do you buy organic?

XO

Jen