On eating better, or trying not to become a fatty

I have nothing to report on the house. We've basically stopped with the renovations for the time being while we figure out how to pay for the next phase - that being redoing the second full bath and finishing the second bedroom and hallway all on the middle floor. We are doing little things here and there, like replacing all of the switch/face plates a few at a time. Those things are pretty expensive when you buy a whole bunch at once, which, like everything else related to this house, we learned the hard way. We bought all of the kitchen ones at the same time and dropped $100 on them. Although, I should disclose one thing: we actually had switch/face plates everywhere, but somebody (hint: not me) didn't like them and insisted on upgrading. Which is how we ended up spending $100 in just one room.

I don't think I've mentioned The Curtains yet. Michael hung up curtains by the stairs on the first floor to keep the warm air from going upstairs and keep the cold air from going downstairs, since we don't have HVAC for the second and third floors yet. He also hung curtains up outside of our bedroom and bathroom, where we have space heaters to keep us warm, to keep the warm air from escaping. They're not the most attractive things, but they do seem to help.

One of the benefits of the curtains, at least for the time being, is they hide the treadmill, which Michael brought in from the shed and put next to the stairs. We will start using it one of these days. Michael and I both have got to be the two laziest people when comes to exercise. I. Hate. Exercising. I've been blessed with a seemingly high metabolism my whole life, plus good genes (thanks, Mother) but my pant size is telling me that my metabolism is probably starting to slow down a bit. I've also been on a healthier eating kick, and exercising more seems to go in hand with that.

I'm trying to cut out as much processed food as possible, and while I've made some significant changes in my diet, it's going to be a long process, no pun intended. And it's not just cutting out processed foods; it's also being more aware of where our food comes from. I'd read some articles about industrial farming when Jonathan Safran Foer's new book, Eating Animals, was released. He wrote the book after questioning the food he ate as fatherhood approached and how he would have to make food choices for his child. Reading all of this got me thinking about the food I eat, so I finally started reading The Omnivore's Dilemma, which had been on my list for a while anyway.

So in addition to actually reading food labels and cutting out foods with high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, and various other corn-derived fillers and preservatives, I've cut out a lot of meat and certain dairy products. I think I'm on my way to becoming a vegetarian, which saddens me because I can't imagine never eating NC barbecue or a Bojangle's chicken filet biscuit again. I might make exceptions for those things. I have no qualms about eating animals; I just have a problem eating the meat from ones that might have been injected with ammonia, hormones, or antibiotics or might contain traces of feces, not to mention the cruelty and awful living conditions of factory farms.

So my rule for meat now is that I have to know where it comes from before I'll eat it. I'm more lenient when it comes to seafood, though I'm trying to be more environmentally friendly and eat fish that's low on the food chain.

I only buy organic milk and eggs now (which is totally worth the exorbitant costs), and I would like to include butter and cheese on that list, but...baby steps - this is a very expensive lifestyle change. I eat a lot of cheese and I hate to think of the amount of money I would spend if I just ate organic cheese. But it seems to me that the costs, and benefits, in the long run are worth it. I also want to get in the habit of shopping for this kind of food before we have kids so that when we do start a family, our kids won't grow up eating the same crap we've been eating our whole lives. We're really lucky to have Ellwood Thompson's and the Belmont Butchery in Richmond, as well as several CSAs to choose from; otherwise, making these changes would be much more difficult. I don't think I could drive out to the Whole Foods in effing Short Pump every single week.