I embarked on the Localvore Challenge. My goal, for the next year, is to eat the majority of the food I consume from sources 180 miles from my home. Over the past few months, there have been a few things that have happened to me that made me come to this decision:
- I have a desire to eat healthier foods. For a while, I was doing really well eating a healthy diet, but I slipped and I miss it. My energy used to be much higher, and my clothes fit much better.
- Cooking started to bore me. And I love to cook. So much of what I have been cooking feels like it’s the same thing over and over again. If I have to live fresher foods, I have to cook with what’s in season and it will hopefully stretch my culinary creativity to new levels.
- One of my friends started a business where she does live blood cell analysis and she has been doing readings of my blood for me. I started out feeling embarrassed by what she could tell. Now I am just mad. It’s like a game: I have this junk in my blood and I want it gone, and the best way to clean it up is through nutrition.
- This same friend said that for my blood type, I should be a vegetarian. That scares the crap out of me because there is nothing I dislike eating more than vegetables. Going localvore means learning to love and embrace them.
- Chef Monica Pope did a cooking demonstration at the Fourth of July party here in Houston, and let me tell you, she is inspiring. Check out her website; she offers free classes on Saturdays and I will go soon.
- I will do my best to buy locally grown or raised foods, and to avoid at all costs anything processed.
- Foods that are already in my house that are not local are ok, but I cannot add to them, and I must make every effort to use them up as soon as possible. That means committing to eating at least one thing a day from stuff I have until it’s gone.
- For business I have to eat out with other people from time to time, when this happens I will try to order local foods when possible, and then switch to foods with the fewest amounts of non-natural ingredients.
- Drinks will be a problem for me. Wine and tea will have to stay in my diet and I think that’s ok…both have proven to be good for your health. I am also horribly addicted to caffeine, so sodas and coffee I am going to slowly back off of. And yes, I know you can buy local Texas coffees, but I really like the creamer more than the coffee. So yeah, there’s that.
Passing up the free food and drinks at work will be touch until I can get more local stuff introduced, which I hope I can do. And the drinks will be tough. And the not eating out so much, cause I do love to be social. And I just thought about popcorn at the movies while writing this…that is going to be Hell. Hopefully after a year, it will pay off.
I started the day off at the Urban Harvest farmer’s market on Richmond, then headed to the Houston Dairy Maids shop for cheese and butter, then finished off the morning at Revival Market in the Heights. More on those experiences later, but let me just say I can’t wait to go again next week.
This may be a tough journey for me; I’m still concerned about the cost (I love me some protein, and fresh meats looked to be a lot more expensive where I looked today) and I hope I can withstand the peer pressure of not doing the right thing, but like I said, the benefits sure look good.
