Grocery Shopping

Last night I went grocery shopping and as I was walking down one of the aisles I realized how my "grocery shopping habits" have changed over the past few years. A lot of things in my life have changed over the past 4-5 years. I went to college, moved to a new city, moved into an apartment and lived completely on my own and started doing things on my own (like grocery shopping), decided to become a vegetarian, went on awesome spring break trips, was diagnosed with hypothyroidism, started working out regularly, and so much more. When I first began grocery shopping on my own, I bought all the foods I enjoyed eating. The chip and snack aisles were ones I always made a visit to. I never looked at the labels or ingredients. I rarely bought anything from the fresh produce area and I bought a lot of "food" from the frozen section. Frozen pizzas, hot pockets, frozen breakfasts, etc. Grocery shopping was rather simple and thoughtless. As I was swimsuit shopping for our spring break trip to padre in 2007, I noticed I had gained some weight. I realized that it was important for me to begin cooking for myself because I must have been eating too much crap food, so I asked Andrea for some recipes because she is a great cook!! My trips to the grocery store changed a little as I started making my way to the foreign lands of "fresh produce" and "meat". I discovered that cooking was fun!! Then, I made the decision to be a vegetarian. Again, my trips to the grocery story changed as I began reading ingredients and labels and selecting vegetarian foods while still preparing my own meals. I ate as "healthy" as I knew how to, and exercised, but I noticed that I was continuing to gain weight and it seemed abnormal. Andrea suggested I have my thyroid tested. After several doctor visits over a span of many months (I'll tell this story someday)... I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. This explained my continuous weight gain despite my decent eating habits and activity level. Thus, another change to my grocery store trips. I had to make a tough decision... my doctor told me that I need to avoid soy products and most vegetarian foods have soy. Even bread has soy!!! Thus, I slowly began eating meat again and taking thyroid replacement while watching what I ate and exercising. My focus now was to lose the weight that I had gained. Now, my trips to the grocery store changed SIGNIFICANTLY!!! It was no longer quick, simple and thoughtless. I read label after label, ingredient list after ingredient list, checking for soy, amount of fat, amount of sugar, etc. Grocery shopping became something I dreaded and that took a great amount of time. When I first made this change, I was very bitter. Grocery shopping made me feel depressed because I could no longer eat the foods I use to love and enjoy. I was angry and frustrated and really hated grocery shopping. I ate clean foods and lost a good amount of weight from eating well and exercising. Then I went through a phase of finding foods that I COULD have (soy-free, low sugar, low fat) and I found some excitement in grocery shopping. I then tried to find "substitutes" for foods I use to enjoy. I went down the chip aisle and discovered sun chips. I went down the baking aisle and found sugar-free, fat-free jello and pudding. My grocery list changed from 4 years ago, but I was now beginning to be okay with the fact that I couldn't eat frozen pizzas and hot cheetos anymore and realized it was not a bad change, it was actually a very good change. I did more research and learned the importance of eating "clean", non-processed, fresh foods. I then came to realize how bad these "substitutes" really are. They all have artificial sugars and your body is not made to digest that crap. So time for another change........ it was like anything I found that I liked was being taken away from me. No more sun chips, no more sugar-free, fat-free jello and pudding. No more splenda. I was upset for a little bit but then surprisingly, it was easy to stop eating this crap. So last night, as I was grocery shopping, I realized that I don't even go down any of the aisles anymore, I ride around the wall of the store. I now spend most of my time in the fresh produce and meat areas. Quite the 180 from a few years ago. I no longer step foot into the chip and/or snack aisles nor the bread aisle. I cut through aisles if I'm in a hurry and thats when I realized last night how much things have changed for me. As I glanced at the crap-foods I use to buy, I noticed myself feeling soo happy that I no longer buy those crap foods. That was a completely unexpected feeling. After always feeling angry that I couldn't buy snacks and chips and certain foods because of their ingredients and labels, it was surprising to me that I felt proud of myself last night. I was proud that I am now feeding my body the RIGHT foods and GOOD foods. I no longer even WANT the bad foods. weird huh? I feel better now, both physcially and mentally, eating good foods! I use to be angry at my "condition" for taking away the "yummy" bad foods I use to love so much, but now I realize that because of all the changes I had to make, I now have a much better understanding of healthy foods and I know what is good for my body and now I can have "yummy" GOOD foods. Now, my grocery trips have become quick, simple and thoughtless again! It is crazy how things work out! It is very interesting to me how things gradually changed and have played out. It wasn't a sudden huge change, rather it was a slow change that took place due to various unexpected choices and circumstances. I truly do believe that everything happens for a reason, even the things that we see as "not so good things". I now enjoy grocery shopping like I use to and I actually feel better about it now than I did when I bought crap food because I know that I am feeding my body the nutrients it needs!!! Like I said before, eating healthy isn't a bad thing... it's a very very good thing!!! There is absolutely nothing wrong with eating clean, non-processed, fresh foods! There are a LOT of things wrong with eating sugary, high-fat, crap foods. But frankly, the crap foods are tasty and easy to prepare, that's why everyone buys this crap food. Clean foods are yummy too!!! There is nothing better for your mind and body than yummy clean food!!! It's both good for you and tasty!! almond butter and an apple! strawberries, stevia, and some almond slices! sweet potato with cinnamon and chicken breast! a huge spinach salad with nuts, fruits, and seeds! It is all so colorful and delicious!! I now am so thankful for this crazy round-about way that I discovered how clean foods make me feel good and what foods are good for me. I also discovered a new love.... cooking!!! My Uncle and I both share this love for cooking and it's a lot of fun to share our recipes with each other! Everything happens for a reason... =)