2. Food Fight

I recently had my nutritional moment of clarity. The short version is that I realized that in 40 years (God willing), the food I'm eating now will either be the reason I'm well or the it'll be the reason I'm ill. It'll be the reason I have diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, no energy, and $200/month prescription bill, or it'll be the reason I don't. So I've entered a serious transition in my food life.

The way I see it, "eating food" (real good food) is going to require that I make a number of changes. Among them:

1. Giving up fast food, except on the rarest occasions. And never, ever eating anything off of a Dollar Menu. Even before my food epiphany it didn't seem right to me that someone could sell a hamburger for a dollar. Whatever you're doing (or not doing) to cows that you can raise, house, feed, slaughter, butcher, process, ship, cook, and serve them for 99 cents and still make a profit, I want no parts of it.

2. Eating raw vegetables. Right now this one means a salad for dinner every night. I'm trying to vary up what I put on them but at present its baby greens, tomatoes and cucumbers. I foresee green and red peppers, broccoli, red onions, sliced carrots, maybe some corn (maybe not), and assorted fruits. Sometimes I cook up some fish to go with it.

The crazy thing is I could feel a difference in my body almost immediately. Waking up with a system full of raw vegetables feels totally different than waking up with a gut full of 99 cent burger meat. Try it.

3. Upping the food budget. Originally I was shooting for a $200/month grocery bill. I think $250 may prove to be more realistic. Though in fairness, a huge tub of baby greens is like 7 bucks, so if I really wanted to be healthy I could probably eat for almost nothing. I do enjoy that fish though.

4. Cooking. I do not like it (except for vanilla cupcakes). But it's something I've always known I should do. Still, I would murder Jerry Seinfeld in a cereal eating contest.

5. Giving up (most) sugar. I read somewhere that a healthy sugar intake is no more than 40 grams (of added sugar) per day. That's the amount in one regular Pepsi. Half that is in most bowls of cereal. Add a granola bar and you're done for the day. Eating fruit has been key with this one. I've gotten to know bananas very well.

6. Eating organic (and maybe local). This is a big one for me. I did it years ago when I was on food stamps and not paying for my own food (... an inevitable post for another time). I'm doing it again now. It's crazy how different a tomato tastes when it hasn't been gassed and shipped across the country.

That's about it for now. If you're interested, The Future of Food is available free on hulu and Food, Inc. is up on LetMeWatchThis.com. I won't link to it because I'd hate to encourage anyone to infringe on their copyright. I'm just saying, if you were to go there, they'd have it.