I'm sampling some hand creams right now and will post once I have some real results, but in the meantime I thought I'd share another area I'm passionate about - FOOD!

I'm certainly not the first person to blog about this subject and I know I won't be the last, but I think that what we eat defines us to a certain extent, so here's what happened...

About six months ago I decided to make an overhaul of our refrigerator and pantry. That meant tossing the pizza rolls (really eating the remainder of the bag) to more healthful, whole grain and recognizable ingredients. With this endeavor came more cooking and more interesting meals. Plus, losing ten pounds in the process was a nice bonus. I got hooked on recipes and our local organic market for new ideas. 

So a few months ago I was at the airport in the bookstore looking for something trashy to read on the plane. Instead of my usual People magazine (airplanes bring out guilty pleasures) I noticed a book I had heard about and never read, "In Defense of Food," by Michael Pollan.

Please don't stop reading because you saw this guy on Oprah and can't bear to listen to another Oprah-made celebrity. His book (he has more than the one) had me laughing out loud and making notes in the margins. It was that good. I realize that once again I am late to the party, but I'm glad I finally arrived.

Pollan's message is "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." Seems simple enough. And so I follow that. 

So while I have been scouring our local markets for items that are grown locally and trying to find recipes for things like swiss chard (new to me, maybe not to you) I found myself increasingly more interested in where our food comes from, so I kept reading.

Enter the book, "Food, Inc.," featuring Michael Pollan (along with many other food industry and agricultural experts) that accompanies the film of the same title. This one sheds a very harsh light on the horrific practices within the food industry. I'll be damned if I ever grab a quick pound of ground beef without checking the label to see how it was made and where. It's harder than I thought to find meat in Grand Rapids, MI, that hasn't been tortured, by the way.

So I want you to know, one of my favorite things to eat has always been a big juicy burger or a pizza with lots of pepperoni, and I can't say I won't want them again, but somehow the light has been turned on and I can't look away anymore. I want to feel good about what I eat instead of saying, "ew!" every time I open a package of chicken. I will say I am proud that at J. Alexander's last weekend I asked where the fish came from and was given a pleasant response about it's origin, so there is hope.

This is not some sort of epiphany. It's just an awareness that has taken me many years to realize might be easier on my mind and body. I'm not against eating animals; I just don't think we need to raise and kill them with cruelty. It's never as real until you share your thoughts with someone, so here I am sharing my thoughts. It might be a little heavy for a Friday night, but I'm facing a freezer full of Otto's Chicken (the only kind I do eat) and wondering what's going to happen once that runs out. But I'm just planting seeds for thought right now.

Could I be headed for the big "V" soon? We'll see.