a new passion emerges

In the last 3 days, I’ve developed a passion for something I never thought would happen.

Food.

For those who know me well, they know I’ve always had some issues with food. Ever since I was little, I have had a frustrating habit that I couldn’t break.

I never finish my food. Seriously. There’s always one bite or one bit of juice left when I’m done. It’s probably psychological but I could never bring myself to finish my food. Usually my friends and family have benefited from this habit because they get to finish my food. But usually I feel awful because I’m wasting food while others are starving.

Last fall I tackled some of my food issues and worked through them. I now clean my plate most of the time. It’s a spiritual discipline. I want to honor God and the resources I’ve been blessed with. I don’t want to waste things.

For several reasons recently, I’ve started researching what it means to transition from a diet of mostly processed food to natural food.

Oh. my. goodness.

I cannot unlearn all the things I’ve learned in the past 3 days.

I can’t even begin to explain it all here. But my eyes have been opened to a whole new world of food, preservatives, additives, high fructose corn syrup, food prices, labels, ingredients, organic food, sodium nitrate and more.

I’ve spent hours reading articles and blogs online, exploring grocery store aisles and trying new things in the kitchen (homemade bread!). I’m fascinated with the notion that I could prepare food straight from the earth and it has so many benefits. I’ll feel better, it’ll take more time to prepare (I want to make the time for this), it’s cheaper in the end and it just feels good to eat real food.

I know some of you are laughing right now at how silly this all sounds. And that’s great if you already eat like this. But for me and many in my generation, we’re pretty used to packaged, processed, microwaveable, convenient food. We love it. It tastes great. So this is a big change to make. And I couldn’t be more excited.