The high cost of food

Since food prices went up this past year, I've paused a few times to wonder if I should cut back on purchasing so much produce. Fruit, especially, seems so much more expensive to buy. I've come to a few conclusions. First, keep shopping the sales. Even though the food market hasn't been hit as hard as the rest, there's still a struggle for businesses to stay in business. There are great sales every week. Watch for them and buy what you can when you can. I'm learning that I don't *always* have to have bananas on hand (as much as I'd love to). I'm also learning that if I wait even just one day longer to go to the store when we're out of something I think we need (or more likely, my kids are telling me we need), I'm saving some money by stretching it out another day or two.



Second of all, I don't need to eat so much all the time. I'm used to eating, eating, eating. On the days that I don't eat as much, I'm just fine too. My body actually feels better. I think it was Bryan Kest (yoga instructor) who talks about this silly notion that we need to feel full and content so often. It's actually good for our bodies to run on less than 1/2 a tank and to even get down to empty here and there before filling up again.

Dr. Fuhrman talks about true hunger in his books and says that most of us have rarely (if ever) experienced it. When we think we're hungry, he says that we are actually just experiencing "a period of withdrawal from excessive eating of unhealthy foods and caffeine." He says that true hunger never is felt in the stomach or through lightheadedness, head aches, or fatigue. Those are withdrawal or detox symptoms. Once your body is digesting only healthy foods and has nothing to detoxify, you can go longer without eating and will only experience true hunger (which is felt in the mouth and throat and isn't nearly as uncomfortable).

Also, Dr. Fuhrman discourages snacking. Not a fun idea for a self-proclaimed grazer like I am. He's not super strict about the timing, but makes some pretty good points against eating around the clock:

"You should not eat because you are tired, you should eat when you are hungry. Most people eat more calories than they need. Eating when you are not hungry makes it more likely you will eat too many calories, not less likely, and when you use hunger to guide you to the amount and frequency of feeding, you will most likely reach the perfect weight for you. Some preconceived notion of 5 or 6 small meals a day or 2 to 3 meals a day is not the issue, the main issue is not to overeat. But eating too frequently keeps the body in a digestive mode all the time and that is not optimal for proper digestion, elimination and longevity."

So back to the money issue, save some money (or at least don't spend so much) by experiencing eating less and experiencing true hunger throughout the day. You'll have more energy and won't be as consumed with what you're going to eat next all the time.

photo courtesy of nbcmeissner