I read some reviews once on a book called The Omnivore’s Dilemma. Sound intriguing? Perhaps only if you are a self-proclaimed health nut. Well I suppose others proclaim me that too so I must really be one.
Anyhow I never did buy the book. I have to draw the line somewhere. Sometimes my passion for health and nutrition drives me a little crazy. I have to balance it with reality. That is where my dh comes in handy! While I do eschew white flour like the plague (or at least the flu), I do not grind my own wheat, make my own bread etc. Maybe I will start that some day. It seems to be almost expected of homeschoolers. Can I call that Home Ec and have my kids take on that responsibility?:) We used to make our bread for a while, tried recipe after recipe and wasted tons of ingredients on many heavy bricks of bread that I thought were pretty tasty, but not the fam. For now we are on Nature’s own and I buy Ezekiel bread. It is painfully expensive but as I’m the only one wacky enough to eat it, it lasts a while. And I try to avoid High Fructose Corn Syrup. Do you really believe those commericals that say it is the same as sugar? While I’m not a big sugar proponent, I will take it any day over HFCS. If you want proof, message me, I’ll spare the rest of you my dogma.
But if I may plagiarize the title of said book, my dilemma as an omnivore, (and I certainly think I could be a vegetarian sometimes despite the fact that I live in West Texas) has more to do with how I balance spending the money God has given me. Where do I draw the line? Organic produce? Organic Dairy? Organic Cotton? Seriously, organic toilet paper?? There has to be a line. I love my family and I want the best for them and I’m annoyed that we have to pay so much to get things that Little House On the Prairie people got for no extra cost, because it wasn’t all about the dollar back then. Maybe I’m romanticizing it, but the pioneers don’t strike me as people who were out to make a fast dollar. At least it wasn’t as prevalent as today. And yes, even though I am a history buff, this is just pure speculation so if you want to research it and let me know your findings I would be more than happy to gleen from your project.
But seriously, as much as I would love for EVERYTHING my family came in contact with to be pesticide, hormone free, I have a decision to make. Am I going to ignore the millions, perhaps billions that are starving in this world? Is that what Christ calls me to as a good steward of all that is His, including my life? We really have to be careful that in taking good care of ourselves, we don’t neglect the poor. The fact is, we can do everything organic and still get cancer. Or die in a car accident or some other such tragedy. But to neglect those who don’t have enough to eat and who dig through dumpsters just to survive–how can I look at myself in the mirror as I put on my organic make-up and brush with my organic toothpaste and feel good about what I see if I don’t keep them in mind?
Now please don’t misunderstand me, I am not against buying organic things. You can ask my husband if you doubt me on this. But I think that I have to be very thrifty when it comes to being organic. I buy free-range organic eggs from my neighbor’s mom for 2.00 a dozen. That is what I would spend at the store for non free-range, non organic eggs. Good deal. I recently found on one of a myriad of websites dedicated to healthy living a link for some nice personal hygiene products–for a crazy amount of money. Think $5.00 for one bar of soap. YIKES. I can’t afford that. Am going to have to learn to make my own or perhaps soon trek to San Antonio for a stock-up on Trader Joe’s shampoo at a very reasonable $3.00 a bottle. If it’s good enough for my hair, I daresay I can wash my body with it. And I am trusting Gandy’s with their Farmer’s pledge even though I would rather buy almond milk for more than twice the price. I’m practicing restraint.
Besides the always present cost-factor, I have to think sanity. I can not avoid MSG entirely. It truly is in everything. I can even make my own soups and unless i purchase organic chicken (organic meat is ridiculously expensive) and make my own broth, I cannot avoid MSG in the broth I buy at the store–even if it says MSG-free because sneakily even organic food companies are adding this to their products under another name. Another web site informed me that breakfast cereal is toxic. All of it. And organic is the worst. And there is no such thing as good granola. I love granola! What’s a girl to do? It is quite overwhelming if you spend too much time thinking about it. But to be honest, I will buy a box of cheerios for dh (at his request) and make breakfast the old fashioned way. Eggs, oatmeal, french toast. We’ll see how long I can keep that up:) Balance. Balance. Balance.
In reality, there are compromises that have to be made. We live in a fallen world. Nothing is perfect. Not our health, not our bodies and certainly not our minds and hearts. Lord teach me to think they way you think. Break my heart for the things that break yours.Help me prioritize as you would. And teach me to trust you to bless my food. All of it. When you told Peter not to call unclean would you have called clean, let that apply to more than people. Let it apply literally to the food you provide for us. Give us this day our daily bread. And as my grandfather use to pray, let us be truly grateful for that which we are about to receive and bless it to our bodies and our bodies to your service. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Decidedly Different 