Changing the way we EAT

Well now, I haven't been back in a while. Guess cuz I've been having too much food in my hand lately to type. Which is probably why I'm on a 2-week detox. More about that in another post to immediately follow.

How did all this start you may ask??
My dear Mr.Phi and I have been wanting to change our eating habits. After reading such books as Animal Vegetable Miracle, This Organic Life, and The Omnivore's Dilemma, we've really started changing the way we eat. We joined a CSA and try to buy all our produce strictly at the Farmers Markets now.(We were mostly doing this anyways, cuz seriously its quite a taste difference. ) And since moving up to the Bay area, we have mostly been cooking at home.

Now for the meat arena, we are still investigating into that. I really enjoyed this article which explains what we are after. Well in NoCal, it is very easy to find 100% pasture and ethically raised meats than in other areas of the country but still we are a lil confused starting out. I found a good deal for a lady who sells her chicken eggs on craigslist, but for other meats we still need to do more research. In addition to changing what meats we eat, we want to eat meat less. Which is why we're doing the detox to ween ourselves off meat as often and get used to eating vegetarian/vegan styles. Not only is eating meat less better for you, it is better for the environment and is a lot less expensive. Because if you are buying quality meat, you're going to have to pay a lot more. Which is why some people are forming their own Meat CSAs which is something we may think of doing one day when we have a family and a freezer lol.( So suburban!)

The toughest part of this diet change is eating out. Its not hard to stop eating at chain restaurants since we really don't like the food anyway. Too spoiled from all this wonderful NoCal Food. But we do love our small Mom and Pop Shops so thats has been the hardest part. We feel guilty eating there now, but don't feel we can ask them to change their meats for us. At higher end restaurants, I have no problem asking them what kind of meat they use. But for a small restaurant where the food is $5, I do have a problem asking. Plus I don't speak enough Chinese, Korean, Thai, etc to get the point across.

And finally in addition, we've made a pact to eat whatever we can locally or as nearby CA as possible. To quote "Locally raised and produced food has been called “the new organic" — better tasting, better for the environment, better for local economies, and better for your health." And to keep to it, we try to give ourselves just 10 options for the month of items that are processed/made further away. Of course there are exceptions to the rule like some spices like Vanilla Beans, pineapples and certain grains. But whenever we have the choice, we will buy local. Also it has saved us $$ from buying items we'd usually grab with no afterthought. But I still want my Totopos or other Tortilla Chips!! Why are there no good ones made here in NoCal.

PS
Some of my favorite local items at the moment are Straus Milk, because I love returning their milk & cream bottles to the grocery store! Plus their butter makes the pie crusts dreams are made of.....mmmmmm And SpiceHound who I started getting some of my spices from. I like that they will refill my containers, so I don't just keep buying new containers of spices.