The Pantry and Freezer · 5 September 2012
Day 9: September 4, 2012
Another part of the counterconspiracy is the food we already have. We have a fair amount of processed food in the pantry and a bit of meat in the freezer. The bad news is that it is there. The good news is that it is there and will last a bit longer since I am not eating as much. Which could be the bad news too if vegan comes quickly.
This pantry and freezer dilemma was brought to my attention when Mom wrote me a couple emails. She said that after watching Forks Over Knives, both she and Dad were convinced. Unfortunately, the second email said that their resolve lasted all of one day. They had looked into the freezer and seen “all that meat.”
That email was actually why I wrote about the counterconspiracy in the first place. Even if we all decided that we wanted to have a whole foods, plant-based diet, there are lots of factors that deter us. Even if pantries were not full of processed foods and freezers were not full of meats, we all need to consider the monetary costs of eating right.
Good food costs more. That is a fact. All the processed foods in the middle aisles of the grocery stores are less expensive than the good whole foods around the edges. A movie called Food, Inc. gave a bunch of reasons why that is true. In one of the scenes, it showed a real family telling why they ate food that is no good for them. It just costs too much to eat right.
But if cost is the main reason people do not eat properly, we really ought to look at the costs involved with having poor health. The money we spend on doctors and prescriptions would be better spent on healthy food. I do not need to quote any statistics on this one. My sister-in-law, Mary Ann, told me that my brother, Scott, has been healthier since he cut dairy out of his diet. She also told me they have done meat fasts, but have not been able to sustain a vegan diet more than about a week. She said that during those meat fasts, they get cravings for steak.
So far, I have not gotten those cravings. And I do not think it is my superior self-discipline or high level of commitment. I believe I have not had those cravings for either more meat or processed foods (there are doughnuts and homemade chocolate chip cookies sitting on our counter right now and I have only had a cookie dough ball and half a cookie) because I am weaning myself from those foods and am losing my desire for them little by little. Also, I am not starving myself. (I even gained back almost a pound yesterday having had no meat at all and feeling quite satisfied.) I think I would have those cravings if I went vegan overnight.
The counterconspiracy of the pantry and freezer will peter out eventually. We will slowly but surely consume all the food that is there and replace them with foods that are more conducive to a whole food, plant-based diet. My wife says that we will not be going vegan any time soon, but will not say never (that word which assures it will happen) and that is fine with me. I am happy to reduce my meat intake and eat more veggies. At least for now. And that reduction negates the freezer shock counterconspiracy.
© 2012 Michael T. Miyoshi
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You are crazy, we are always going to have processed food, unless we just eat stuff raw.
— MMM · Sep 11, 03:32 PM ·