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Pianissima- I buy water that way too! I bought a 3 gallon leach-proof container and fill it up with reverse osmosis water every week. I buy mine at Earth Fare that sells it 39 cents a gallon too. Great to hear others are doing the same. I think the water taste better than any other water I’ve ever had.
oooh… 3 gallons would be better. i’ll see if i can find one (i have to go for refills A LOT ;))
I almost need a 5 gallon one, but I figured that would be waaayyy too heavy for me to carry. 3 gallons is just perfect!
ha ha. if they sold the stand, i’d consider carrying the 5 gallon… but yeah, 3 seems like a happy medium for sure!
Winona – that’s funny; at my last job, people would question my healthy eating choices BECAUSE I am thin. “Well, YOU don’t need to worry about what you eat – you’re so skinny!”
My cart is always loaded with fruits and veggies and just a few non-raw things. My mother in-law always wonders why I dont put some of the veggies in a plastic bag (at our store you can weigh your stuff yourself and get ticket printed) and put the sticker (price tag) right on it. I said to her i can save bags when i just grab a lot of bananas..lol and theres no need for a bag. Since I am from Germany she could not help but say : But this is how we do it in the States….i just laughed at her, she can be soo cute. Anyway..when i check out and have my kids with me and my cart is full of fruits and veggies i always get asked “what are your kids eating all day?”...mmhh lets see….NOT chicken nuggets and NOT 1 gallon pink lemonade, and no lunchables or processed crab….One Lady even asked me if I dont think i deprive my kids from those things…I said i certainly do deprive them from eating S*. My sons has his Mc Donalds fries once a month when he asks for it or he will drink a small slushee every now and than when my husband thinks he wants to”treat” him with one. But its not on a weekly base. Its soo frustrating when peopel have no clue whats really going on in there shopping carts and the food-world.
Sabrina – That is funny – good response to the questions about depriving your kids :) I agree with it being frustrating when people don’t understand. I have to be careful, though, because a couple of years ago in a town south of us, a lady had child services involved because her son was malnutritioned from the raw diet she had been feeding him – I guess she didn’t get him everything he needed. Anyway, now I am finding people in my neighborhood who are more accepting/understanding than I ever thought they would be, and it is almost weird to have them say that I am feeding my son healthy and they are not freaking out about it. (He is not all raw, but he tells people we eat raw food.)
Boy…glad I got you folks going on this….yes, trying not to feel better than anyone, after all, what do I know? Just trying to see what feels best for me. I am not 100% and not always (but certainly usually) veg. Yes, I crack up with people’s comments some times.
ANGIE _BTW, check out the thread started yesterday in the Health and Beauty section about T1 Diabetes
Hippie Chick – Thanks – that’s funny; I just posted on it! :)
angie – lol, i guess we just can’t win! now we look too healthy and normal, we’re making our coworkers uncomfortable. oops!
angie and sabrina – it’s great ya’ll are raising kids mostly raw! how cool to prevent diseases before they hit. those kids will certainly be grateful.
Here’s a funny site of close up photos of the nasties people get at the grocery store: http://www.naturalnews.com/PhotoTour_Mystery_Me…
Must say, I also find myself being somewhat careful who I tell about my toddler son eating mostly raw food, without dairy and grains. He’s not a vegetarian though, so that alleviates a lot of the concerns folks tend to have.
Additionally, I have a degree in nutritional science, so many people simply assume this makes me an all-knowing expert on nutrition. The irony is that I’ve had to modify about 90% of what I learned way back when (at a highly rated school in the UK no less!) and now eat a diet that looks nothing like the standard dietary guidelines in the US.
As for feeling self righteous about groceries, there are many times when I simply can’t believe what people are feeding themselves and their kids. I let it go however, since I can’t stand being preached to myself and believe that people need to come to awareness on their own. That said, I’m more than happy to share knowledge if someone is expressing genuine interest.
Since I am not 100% raw i think i found a good “middleway” through our eating habits. My son eats tons of fruits and veggies and also has whole wheat flax seeds waffles for breakfast, sometimes cerial from whole foods (he looves to eat them dry though…lol), whole grain rice with veggies, and so on. And i just started this kind of lifestyle but always have been a health person. So now instead of kids crackers and sweets my son eats organic baby carrots, LOVES apples and nectarines and bananas, cant get better than that. ANd my 10 months old only eats Earths best baby food. Even my husband who is a southern boy is very open minded about my new “cooking”....
Yes, you do have to be careful what you tell people when you have kids on a raw diet. I read about two cases in NY where parents had their children taken away from them.
That is what you call ILLINFORMED case workers. I am not going to say anything more, cos’ if I do, it won’t be nice!
Blue – I’m tryin, I’m tryin!
This is one of the best threads I’ve ever read. :) Although, it reminds me of my pre-raw days – it was not uncommon for me to go to the grocery store and not buy ONE fruit or veggie. ((shiver)) Oh, how people can change.
I am not 100% raw (some days I’m lucky to be 50), but I cannot believe how much I’ve changed in the past few weeks. :)
This makes me smile, just the other day, my hubby was talking with his mum about me and how I make most of our meals with fresh fruits, vegetables and grains. She is blown away that we survive without cans, buy so much produce, and that her son likes broccoli. My girls and hubby are not traditionally sad eaters, they definitely eat better than most of their compatriots, my neighbor gives her daughter TOASTER STRUEDDLES for breakfast every morning. FREAKIN toaster strueddles. I pack the girls a lunch daily, and they do get organic dairy, meat and eggs. They refuse to give it up, and I am picking my battles at this stage in my life. We are working on compromise meals, and they have to at least TRY everything once. It’s a work in progress :)
harmonylia—=) yeah, when it comes to the palate, REeducating is more difficult than educating i’m afraid.
that is so sad about social workers and taking raw kids away (i can just image the “wholesome” meals they get in their new homes). on the other hand, a lot of “health-conscious” people can take it to the point of extremism and really are abusive to their kids.
kendra—congrats!
Luna blu~ You are doing better than “trying”, you are being YOU! Congrats on the consciousness. First step to finding the humanity in the other. :) Was there a difference for you?
KENDRA - glad it’s workin’ for ya!
I shouldn’t put my nose up too high because I occasionally give in to my family qualms. But I feel that whatever I can sneak/get in there is an improvement. My NR family ate the amazing Broccoli Salad (look it up if you haven’t already) yesterday with minimal coercion. My favorite thing is when I have teens over and they are happy to come because they say “your mom makes us the fun stuff to eat.” What’s better than that???
Harmonylia, oh my gosh, I can’t even begin to tell you what a trial it is for me to watch what our neighbors feed their kids. I take care of their eleven-year-old daughter after school several days a week and she always brings her own snacks as she’s super picky. We’re talking stuff like “juices” and “fruit strips” laden with corn syrup, boatloads of preservatives and artificial colors. Her parents sadly believe that these are healthy foods filled with beneficial vitamins, because it SAYS SO on the label.
This kid is really bright and does very well at school, but she picks up every passing bug that goes around. In fact, her whole family seems to get sick rather often. It sucks to see them struggle like that when the solution seems so obvious (I’m not even talking raw – just more whole veggies and fruits!). Our families actually get along quite well and our kids absolutely adore each other, but unfortunately these friends are firmly entrenched in their SAD lifestyle and very sceptical of any ideas outside of their comfort zone. Sigh.
man, why who fixed it to MYOB? i liked the idea of bringing your own beer to the grocery store….
that was me…I started the link, and meant MYOB. LOL!!!!
Take a look in Rainbow Green Live Cuisine. There was a study done in Mexico with children of exactly the same age in similar villages, 1 village was not allowed to use insecticides and pesticides because they were too close to the water. The portion of the study reprinted for this book shows the primitive sketches of a person drawn by 5 year-olds. In the village where there was pesticide use (a known neurotoxin), the kids could only make random marks on the paper, compared with age appropriate drawings in the non-pesticide group. Remarkable. We must protect our children’s nervous systems with all we know.
How about the all the over packaging. Last week in the produce section of a local store I saw large dispaly of small cherry tomatoes packaged by 4’s in a cute little bag.
I usually just pick up some produce in whatever item I want whenever I run out with my parents getting the stuff that we tend to buy in bulk (walking and bussing with giant boxes of organic salad greens or grocery store sized crates of oranges and avocados doesn’t work so well!) I don’t often get comments as I am getting smaller amounts, but often I am asked by the cashiers what I use something for or if its any good (Spirulina powder and lychees have gotten this reaction)
I usually shop at an organic grocer with a substantial raw section, so the people around tend to be pretty health conscious, but I am shocked when I go into regular grocers… The only remotely unfit people I have encountered at my usual grocer were two older ladies who complained about why things were so expensive and left most of it deciding organic wasnt worth the extra few dollars. At regular grocers however… People really could use the gym upstairs and a diet makeover… I think the worst is the young girls my age who are loading their carts with chocolate eggos, ice cream, and king sized chip bags. Eating that awful so young is just damaging your body so much for the future! If someone manages to junkfood themselves to obesity in their late teens, the troubles in middle age are unthinkable.
@ LunaBlu: Those two commercials you were talking about bug me so much too! Don’t forget the microwave steamed veggie bags that contain oil for some strange reason. I have also been asked “is that an orange?” on one occasion at the standard grocery store near my home!
Although I do sometimes want to smack products out of peoples hands, for the most part I just ignore it. I have got a few comments like “wow, you really eat healthy”, but nothing much. Thankfully I’ve never been asked what an avocado is. I don’t think I could dignify that with an answer :-S
Izhpt, I was quite shocked reading that study.
For those who haven’t read it: It was also found that but the kids who ate the pesticide containing foods resorted to much more violence and had little imagination to make up their own games. They pretty much just “hung out”. The difference in the coordination and drawing abilities was scary. That’s probably one of the most disturbing and interesting studies I’ve ever read. It should be much more widely known. I’ve spoken to so many people who just don’t think organic is worthwhile. Usually those people are uninformed and basing their opinions off of nothing, but if everyone knew of this then pesticides would probably not be tolerated nearly as much. Sigh.