Being a Libra in the Real Food World

Since I started this journey into real food, my attitude towards it has swung from one extreme to the other and back again. I love eating healthy, don't get me wrong, but for me I think there has come a time where it actually became a chore, a burden, and a source of negative energy.

I do alot of reading on the internet in regards to real food and the politics behind it. I'm not a political person, but I do think that trying to get people to eat healthier is a good thing. Unfortunately, I've seen alot of attitudes that seem counter-productive...and engaged in some of these myself.

Being an agnostic, it annoys me to have religious folk (mainly evangelical Christians) and tell me that I'm a wretched sinner, I worship the devil, and I'm going to Hell if I don't convert. Ironically enough, I've been guilty of getting this attitude towards healthy eating. Yes, I grind my teeth when I see people, companies, and even the government passing off chemical-laced products as healthy. I hate it....I want to speak out against it..and I have. But I've found out that doing so usually turns more people against the real food concept than it converts. People don't like being told they're wrong, especially if what they're doing/eating makes them feel good. Saying "This is bad for you...you're eating chemicals" a thousand times isn't going to make someone stop using Splenda or drinking soda or eating processed dinners unless they really want to stop doing it. Add to that the attitude I've seen in some blogs that eating anything less that 100% pure, clean, unprocessed food is tantamount to suicide and/or child abuse...and I can see why people can be seriously put off. Fundie foodies can be just as annoying as fundy religious people...or political extremists.

And I honestly see the appeal of modern convenience foods...believe me, being a currently single mom with a full time job, I am constantly tempted to just grab some frozen dinners-in-a-bag instead of trying to gather ingredients and make something when I've just come home from working for 8 hours every day. It's not always easy and, unfortunately, in today's society, most people want easy and convenient, myself included. I see both sides of the equation and that's what makes it so hard. I can't unlearn everything I've learned in the past few months about what goes into our food. So, sticking my head in the sand and going for the easy option...well, it's not an option.

But as a Libra, I'm also prone to take the middle road between the two. Am I going to cook with only 100% clean unprocessed foods? No. But I'm also not going to run out and buy a case of Diet Cokes, some Oreos, and frozen dinners. I think that in the long run, the middle moderate ground is the best...for me anyway. My attitude will return to posting what I've discovered, then letting folks do with it what they will. Anything more is pointless.