StayingHealthyOnABudget

 WhenFoodIsSoExpensive

   By Vonia Martin

Since I can remember food has been an issue. When I was a kid my momster sometimes forgot to feed us or just didn’t have any money for food so I have been hungry before. The hunger was tolerable because we had each other, my momster, my brother, and I not realizing that was going to change, eventually. Food from my childhood was not very comforting. Eating spam straight from the can sitting at a picnic table in the middle of the night does not bring back fond childhood memories. With that in mind, how in the world did I decide to seek out food with better or some nutrition? All I can say is that a part of me, the smart part, really wants to and knows how to live healthily.

While being raised in the foster care system in Arizona nutrition was not a priority nor was school or anything related to me. I was not there for them to care for me, I was there to supplement their income so they can care for themselves. My foster families did not teach me how to eat right or even how to brush my teeth. Most things I have had to figure out for myself because even when someone does give me advice I do not dare listen for fear they are lying. So many people think it is funny how gullible foster kids are when so many of us do not have the nerve to question those trying to mislead us. We are not told that we do not have to believe everyone or what they are trying to sell us. There are no agencies or person you can go to for the correct answers in the moment so we have no choice but to believe the lies and hope they do not get us hurt or killed. Some people want to see you dead because when you are a foster kid you are an easy target for those that want to do someone harm just not their own kids. Like I have always said it is amazing what people will do when they have no one to answer to.

The first and most important thing you can do to stay healthy is drink ROh2o water. That is reverse osmosis it is the best water filtration system on the planet but if nothing else filter your water when you can before drinking it. Second is eat clean healthy food whole is best when ever possible. Third stay away from fake food that includes fake sugar. Stick with pure cane sugar or honey if you need sweets but very little if at all. Fruits, veggies, nuts, and oats are all really good for you especially if you eat them raw. Do not worry about fat, fat is where the flavors at!!!! I do not know about you but I can put down a lot of salad greens with a little blue cheese dressing. I can eat whole oats with a little real butter and pure cane brown sugar and raisins. Whatever you gotta do to make that bland shit taste good because lets face it healthy does not always have flavor. That is where the French come in but is the food as healthy? No, unless you will not eat other wise, then it is perfectly nutritious. All I am saying is that if you really hate something really healthy learn to love it or make it taste better with condiments. The only reason you should eat anything unhealthy is to get down something really good for you never just to eat the bad thing. The bad thing only passes your lips when the really good thing is under it and sneaking passed because of the delicious bad thing. 

We forget that we are what we eat so only the best should be consumed. Of course this is not always possible with the lives we lead these days but when ever we can food should be grown in vertical gardens where everything is controlled. No need for pesticides or weed killers so good for the environment. We should consume as little red meat as possible is any at all. I like to eat through out the day, never really stopping to eat a whole meal but nibbling all day on stuff I have prepared in the frig. I rarely sit down to eat a meal because it is then that I tend to over eat so instead I keep moving and eating when I feel I need energy. I love to cook or I use to now I try to only cook once a week and eat on that all week long. The less we heat up our environment the better. That reminds me that we keep our furnace at 62-63 degrees all winter and we live in Colorado, my boyfriend has to wear his jacket in the house but I could stand a few degrees less before I would. As people we want, no we demand instant gratification when in fact if we took a few minutes to adjust to our environment we would not have to adjust our environment to us. Being a little uncomfortable is not the worst thing ever and is a small price to pay for Mother Earth. 

Try to stay away from bleached and over processed food. I know it is almost impossible to stay away from GMO food but try. We really fucked up genetically modifying our food to resist what other creatures depended on for their food disrupting if not breaking the chain of life. In case you did not get that here is a quick recap: In order to feed the hungry people in the world we genetically modified corn to resist a curtain bug that eats the corn ruining it for human and/or animal consumption. What they did is messed with the bugs reproductive capabilities giving the males mixed messages so they no longer procreate driving their numbers plummeting to almost extinction. Not just that bug but all the creatures that ate that bug was effected by this scientific disaster. So in order to feed the masses we are now all going to die, possibly from starvation. Ironic. 

As the dominate force on this planet we have not done it any favors. We do not decide to assist Mother Nature, we decide that we know better, not her. Our science will be a better mother to this planet and the creatures on it so there. Look how that has panned out for us but let’s keep doing it. What has to happen before we decide to make some changes? How many of us has to die before we admit we are wrong and start correcting those wrongs? Who are we willing to kill before we realize what we are doing is killing?

What deseases have to be invented before we decide that not doing anything is better then what we are doing? Who’s kid has to go on TV, crying her heart out because the planet is dying and the adults do nothing to stop it? It will take all of the children to get through this bunch of earth hating people if any. 

I mean whose idea was it to rape and pillage the earth in the first place? Why did our forefathers start this stupid country in the first place? Just so the same people can stay rich? Obviously. Well, that isn’t working any more because money only has value when we give it value and personally I hate money. Or I should say I hate what money does to people. It is evil when we prize it above all else. If I hear one more person say that our number one natural resource is our people, I will lose it! Yes we are natural but a resource? We see what we have done with our natural resources and only the people are left and now the only resource left. Our children do not need to hear themselves referred to as a resource, natural or not. We should only be a resource to the planet, doing whatever it takes to erase the horrible things we have done to it. If we do not find away out of this we are all going to die and I’m not ready to die yet and mostly not ready to let our mother die. I mean I could die knowing that Mother Nature will be here for everyone I leave behind but knowing she will be joining me soon pisses me off. The fact that I spent my whole life taking her for granted, even aiding in her end at times, gives me something to live for. Trying to correct all the wrong I have done is all I have to live for at this point. With any luck others will do the same.