Working Wednesday: Catching Up With Work and Life....

[synthcat]

Yikes. This has been a busy week with many last-minute requests, projects, and doodads. I still have not caught up completely with ticket reviews, but I think that I am managing my work load decently. The highlight of the day happened earlier today when, on my way back to my cubicle from the loo, I was accosted and complimented by two managers from

Comments

[solteronita]

I like Michael Pollan's books. I always thought it was funny that his last name sounds like pollen and he wrote The Botany of Desire.

Now that I've taken the vegan plunge, I've been reading a lot more about food, nutrition, environmental aspects, etc., and it's making me kick myself for not going vegan earlier. I really doubt I'll ever turn back to the dark side!

You might enjoy at least skimming through The China Study and Vegan Freak, and if you haven't read Fast Food Nation, it's a good one. There are also some interesting movies out there, like Peaceable Kingdom that really get one thinking differently about where their food comes from!

I expect a full summary of the Superfoods lecture!

[synthcat]

The Superfoods Rx lecture was quite interesting, and definitely got the mental hamsters in my head spinning--mostly about how the information on nutrition-rich food items fit into my overall goals for improving my quality of life. Food choices by itself isn't the only answer, but it is good for me to be armed with that knowledge. Full summary will be coming soon.

I do want to re-score the Fast Food Nation book--I loaned it to a friend several years ago and never saw the book again. Thank you for the other book recommendations--I will add them to the list of books to peruse. :)

[poptopia]

I bought one of Marion Nestle's books for my very health and diet conscious father-in-law. I don't remember if it's the same title as the one you listed, but I remember wanted to read it myself, and he was SO excited to read it. Please let me know what you think of that one after you've had a chance to check it out.

I like your idea of designating certain days for certain diets. I think I do that now sort of unplanned, but I like the idea of being more methodological (?) about it and looking at the bigger picture of my diet, rather than randoming saying, "Hey, I feel like going dairy free today." A long time ago I realized I did not want to completely give up meat or dairy, but I do want to limit it, and make good choices on the whole. So I'm getting some ideas and inspiration from your posts! Now the hard part of me is to stick to a workout routine regulary, especially as I'm in the busiest month of work of my year. Baby steps I keep telling myself...

Good luck with your taxes!

[synthcat]

I agree with you--sticking to a routine is the hardest part. Right now my life is so scattered with many things, that until things settle down a bit, I am hesitant to start designating "vegan days," "no fish days," "local only days," etc. That will come with time.

I look forward to all those book reading excursions. Knowledge is a great thing to be armed with. :)

[femmediva]

I am curious what eating meat vs. not eating meant means to you. :) And I ask this as someone who was pescetarian for a year, vegetarian for three, then vegan as six more years before going back to pescetarian, and, eventually, back to omnivore. All of these choices made for a lot of well-thought out reasons that worked for me... I think I do my meant vs. non meat days in *years* rather than days, probably. I'm just always curious about how others come to their own personal decisions, and do come from a fairly broad pwespective. I'm just curious about what makes other interesting/questing people tick, I think...

[synthcat]

For me, the decision to avoid meat and poultry stems from various angles--the cruelty to the animals involved during the slaughter stage, the potential for contamination associated with mainstream, big-industry meat and poultry, and the ecological impact of eating them. I also have icky imagery of raw, uncooked ground beef in my head from early college days, when I had no idea how to cook meat, and wound up feeling disgusted after eating badly-undercooked meat.

But I'm learning that I have more to think about beyond the meat-vs-non-meat issues. I am slowly learning about fossil fuels consumed in bringing the food from the grower to my table, may it be meat, seafood, vegetables, fruits, grains, etc. I have a new set of challenges to think about. There will always be tradeoffs in my food choices and decisions, but I want to learn more so I can make educated choices....

[misprid]

MO! I miss you, wanna come over for dinner?

[synthcat]

I would love to! Next Wednesday or Friday evenings would work best. I'd love to go over!