Archive for Grocery Shopping

Grocery Shopping & New Website Ideas

It’s 8pm and I have yet to make my planned salad. However, I did make it over to Whole Foods today! (I will try to add pictures to this post a bit later tonight). I got some organic veggies as planned:

  • Orange bell pepper
  • Herb baby romaine lettuce (organic girl brand)
  • A head of romaine lettuce
  • English cucumber (non-organic)
  • Assorted heirloom tomatoes
  • celery

I also picked up some organic gala apples. I have been eating more gala apples lately because they are a bit mushier than the other apples I love (pink lady, fuji, granny smith, etc) which means I don’t have to cut them up to eat them. (I have had some expensive cosmetic dental work done on my front teeth and usually just cut up hard fruit and veggies in order not to break or crack anything!)

Today has been a really positive and productive day. I’ve been receiving a lot of new ideas and insight for various websites and blogs. One idea that I’ve been turning over in my mind for quite a few weeks now has to do with creating a positive place for people to gather who suffer from negative body image. One of my other sites, theskinnywebsite.com has obviously attracted a number of people like this over the past 5 years. Unfortunately that site fed (and continues to feed) that kind of thinking and behavior. So I feel it is my duty, in a way, to create a new place for people to go that can actually help people develop a positive body image as well as positive thinking and uplifting lifestyle changes. The details are not quite worked out yet, but today I received some more information and ideas.

Here’s a secret: I’ve been an anonymous (and mostly silent) member of several eating disorder websites over the past couple of years – including pro-ED ones – and can see there is a need for a place that people can go to be uplifted and given hope. A lot of the forums and sites feed the negative thought behavior and beliefs, and not only that, there are groups of ‘mean girls’ on the sites bashing anyone and everyone who they feel is a faker or ‘wannabe’. It’s a really sad state of affairs with all the bashing, name-calling, anger and insults that go on. Not to mention hundreds (if not thousands) of girls – many young – who call themselves fat, repulsive and many other terrible names and go to those sites asking for advice on how to starve themselves. So, on that note, I have some ideas I’m working on for a couple of new websites. More to come on that later.

Well, I’m off to do some homework, then head to my usual nightly 12-step meeting. I hope everyone has enjoyed their Monday! :)

Whole Foods Grocery Run

Today has been a very peaceful and joyful day. I went for a short walk at a nearby park and sat at a picnic bench to practice a still and present mind. While keeping a still mind as possible, I watched the adorable ducks and squirrels run around scrounging for food. At one point, one of the squirrels actually jumped up onto the picnic table I was sitting at and looked at me curiously. I took this to mean that my mind was pretty calm. Animals often reflect the state of our minds. The parent duck and baby duck waddled over within just a few feet of me as well. I love watching animals and birds, they are so peaceful.

When I practice present mindedness in nature, I become aware of everything all at once… birds, insects, grass, trees, wind, sun, people, animals, etc. It’s a true feeling of euphoria, peace and harmony.

Anyway, here is what I grabbed at Whole Foods…

Groceries

  • Arrowhead Mills Sweetened Shredded Wheat Bite Sized Cereal
  • 3 Dr. McDougall Chicken-noodle style soups [vegan]
  • organic rainier cherries
  • organic cut mango
  • organic bananas
  • 4 organic jazz apples
  • 2 organic pears

and…

Groceries

  • Earthbound Farms Organic Carrot Juice
  • Arctic Zero 150-cal cookies and cream ice cream
  • Arctic Zero 150-cal chocolate peanut butter ice cream
  • organic peanut butter
  • So Delicious Coconut Milk French Vanilla Coffee Creamer
  • Unpasteurized fresh-squeezed pineapple juice
  • VitaTops blueberry 100-cal muffins
  • Spice Black Bean veggie burgers
  • Whole Soy Lemon soy yogurt (1 carton)
  • Aura lime cucumber water
  • Tempt vanilla chocolate swirl hemp milk ice cream bars
  • Brown Rice Tamari Seaweed Snaps
  • 2 house plants (not pictured)
  • 2 gallons of reverse osmosis water (not pictured)

Whew! I went a little overboard as usual. I probably won’t need to go grocery shopping again for quite some time.

In adding to my breakfast intake, I’ve had a peanut butter and honey sandwich, organic cottage cheese and organic blueberries and some dark chocolate almond milk. I haven’t yet had dinner.

Whole Foods Grocery Items – July 10, 2011

I’ve seen other food blogs do this so I figured I may as well jump right in! Yesterday (Sunday), I went to my local Whole Foods and picked up a few items. This was a smaller than usual grocery shopping trip since I mainly went to refill my BPA-free gallons of water and pick up some items for the potluck at the school last night.

Groceries:

  • 3 organic white nectarines
  • 4 organic golden peaches
  • 3 organic black plums
  • 2 organic fuji apples
  • Nature’s Path Organic Cinnamon Blueberry Flaxseed oatmeal
  • Amy’s Light & Lean Pasta & Veggies (made with organic pasta)

Non-grocery items:

  • Shika Tea Tree Oil Conditioner

I also picked up items not pictured above, namely 3 things from the Whole Foods deli to bring to the potluck, and 2 gallons of water.

A quick word on my current diet: I am not eating a vegan-based right now and don’t know when I will get there. While away at my spiritual retreat last month, I received guidance from a spiritual teacher about the most beneficial diet for me. Not surprisingly, it was the same info I’ve received time and time again during and after meditations. He suggested that I eat mainly vegetables, fruit, some grains (as lightly processed as possible) and some cold-water fish from time to time. He didn’t say anything about dairy, but I’ve been working to get dairy out of my diet permanently for some time now and haven’t quite managed it except for occasional stretches. Read this post for more information about what I learned at the retreat in regards to diet and my thyroid, and read this for some background on my thoughts towards veganism and spirituality.

So currently, I am incorporating some dairy products into my diet, mostly yogurt and low fat cottage cheese and foods with cheese in them. I am slowly working my way towards the diet outlined by intuition and trying not to feel guilty for consuming dairy in the meantime! I have also been intuitively guided to cut out caffeine, although I mostly only have one cup of coffee each morning.

I have asked my inner intuition & spirit guides the reason that I have to eat mostly vegan and also cut out caffeine, etc. The answer is because of the work that I do and the work I intend to do in the near future, my spiritual ‘vibrations’ must be very high, and animal foods bring them down. Not to mention we absorb the suffering of the animals that we eat. Here is a paragraph from SpiritualGal, my other website:

So after a week or two of liberal cheese-eating, two days ago I received the following message loud and clear: “You should not be eating dairy”. Before I could even ask ‘why?’ (as is common with these dialogues – they seem to anticipate your questions in advance and will start answering questions before you ask them), the reply came immediately: “Dairy is a non-food.” Before I could ask ‘why?’ again, the answer came, “because of the casein protein, hormones, antibiotics and way that the animals are treated.” My mind wandered over towards organic dairy at that point, but I was led to understand that even cows that produce organic dairy are occasionally fed antibiotics (as they get sick too), and that milk is chock full of casein protein, which is also used as glue to hold furniture together, among other things. Milk also has feel-good chemicals like morphine in it (originally intended for baby cows to encourage them to continue drinking their mother’s milk). Also, by the time milk goes through all of the rigorous pasteurization, it is basically devoid of vitamins and minerals. Lastly, it was revealed clearly to me that the over-population of cows in this country that are used for both dairy and meat is completely unethical, unnatural and cruel.

So yes, a couple of months later and I am still eating dairy and occasional meat. On the topic of fish, I notice every time I eat tuna, I’ll gain a little weight and my fat % goes up the next day or two. (I’ve been keeping track of my diet and weight lately because I’m working to reduce). I’ve determined that it comes from the mercury content, even though I eat the WildPlanet version which claims ‘low mercury’.

Anyway, I’ve rambled on long enough… so far today, I’ve eaten one organic black plum and have had a glass of green veggie juice (non-pasteurized) that Whole Foods sells, consisting of romaine, cucumber, broccoli, wheat grass, etc. I also just finished my usual cup of coffee and am preparing myself a Vita-Top veggie-cheese-egg sandwich:

I intend to keep this website updated a lot more in coming days!