Grocery store angst

Does anyone else get depressed when they go grocery shopping? It seems like the things to avoid versus the things seemingly "safe" to eat are at least ten to one. Yuck. I have to admit, sometimes I actually cry when I go to the store. 

To be honest, I never liked to grocery shop. Then, when I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes, I hated it even more as I passed foods and beverages I used to love and could no longer eat or drink. That was before I was Green Grandma . . . before I learned about the dangers of so many things being marketed to unsuspecting folks who are just trying to keep their families fed, homes clean, and laundry done. 

Now, grocery shopping is a nightmare. Literally. I pass frazzled moms with little ones and carts full of toxins, GMOs, and just plain unhealthy stuff. And I have to keep my mouth shut. It's not an easy task for me.

Tomorrow is my four-year-blogiversary. And let me tell you -- over the past four years, I've made a lot of changes in my personal life. At times, I've taken baby steps. Other times, like when I learned about the horrors of fabric softeners, I've taken all-out leaps. The baby steps are more in the area of food than anything else, I suppose. After the depression I went through over seven years ago with my diabetes diagnosis, it's taken me awhile to embrace other changes in my diet. While I try to avoid GMOs, I realize that it is nearly impossible, so I don't beat myself up too much about that.

Currently, I'm reading labels for food coloring and dyes and trying to avoid them. It's tough! I used to enjoy whipping up a mix of blueberry muffins on an occasional Saturday morning -- mostly for my husband, as I can't eat too much of them because of the sugar content. However, when I read the ingredients last week at the store, I immediately put the packages back on the shelf and sadly rolled my cart away. 

Ingredients:

ENRICHED BLEACHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, IRON, THIAMIN MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID), SUGAR, DEXTROSE, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN AND COTTONSEED OILS, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF: YELLOW CORN FLOUR, PROPYLENE GLYCOL MONOESTERS, BAKING POWDER (BAKING SODA, SODIUM ALUMINUM PHOSPHATE), MODIFIED CORN STARCH, MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES, CALCIUM CARBONATE, SALT, EGGS WITH SODIUM SILICOALUMINATE ADDED AS AN ANTICAKING AGENT, CORN STARCH,  PROPYLENE GLYCOL MONOSTEARATE, CITRIC ACID, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, POLYSORBATE 60, SODIUM STEAROYL LACTYLATE, COLORED WITH BLUE 2 LAKE AND RED 40 LAKE, CALCIUM SULFATE, NIACIN, IRON, TBHQ AND CITRIC ACID(ANTIOXIDANTS), VITAMIN B6 HYDROCHLORIDE, RIBOFLAVIN, THIAMIN MONONITRATE, VITAMIN B12.

On Saturday, I woke to a cool fall-like day and decided to try my hand at real baking (something I rarely do). I searched online for a recipe for sugar-free muffins that didn't require artificial sweeteners (one of the most dangerous products on the market, in my opinion). I ended up making muffins with unsweetened applesauce, flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, oil, egg, baking soda, baking powder, and raisins, and guess what? They were pretty darned good. I must admit, I was a bit proud of myself. 

Since the oven was already hot, I popped in a spaghetti squash and conserved some energy by not having to heat it up later. I love spaghetti squash, but do not like preparing it. I cut it in half lengthwise, scraped out all the seeds, added sliced onion, butter, and paprika and baked it for an hour. The question was what to do with the seeds. I hated the thought of just tossing them into the compost pile like I usually did. After all, they look just like pumpkin seeds, so maybe they'd be good roasted. 

 I Googled it and discovered a few recipes for the seeds, chose one, and fried up the seeds in a bit of butter with salt. They were okay. Not great, but okay. Considering the fact I don't like pumpkin seeds, I guess my reaction to them was to be expected. Maybe my little flying squirrel friends will enjoy them as a late night snack.

You know, we can't do it all, but we all can do something. Something to help the earth. Something to protect our kids and grandkids. Something to ensure we're eating healthy . . . or at least healthier than we were a year ago. It's a goal. It's a process. Sometimes, it's a struggle.

What do you struggle with most?

 

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