2010 Letterpress Calendar by Sarah Parrott, on Flickr

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle; See You in 100 Years; Not Buying It; No-Impact Man…I love reading about people who take big leaps. I’m an extremist at heart, I suppose, and extreme visions like these make entertaining reading.

Of course, from my overstuffed loveseat nestled in the cushy heart of suburbia, I can be entertained and challenged without being particularly inconvenienced. Sitting back and saying “Wow, I wouldn’t have done it that way!” is just so much armchair quarterbacking. And, as I’ve mentioned, big steps are easy to fall back from.

I’ve just spent a year of my life pursuing what many of my family members consider an “extreme leap.” I was reminded just how extreme during this most recent holiday visit to my Mom’s. It started out slowly enough: read a book, change one thing. But the more I learned, the more things got changed. And the more things I changed, the more this new knowledge changed me.

My diet, of course, has changed. My shopping habits, my menu, my recipe sources, my circle of friends to some degree, my reading list, blogging habits and schedule have all changed. I’ve changed physically as well. One change I experienced took me by complete surprise: my politics have changed! I won’t go into details here…

What does next year hold? Much will depend on my reading list for 2010, I imagine. I want to continue becoming less recipe-dependent. I want to become more active in the local food economy, but I’m not sure the form that will take. Near the top of my to-do list is brewing my own honey wine and perhaps small beer. I’d really like to expand my small garden now that I’m more physically capable. But I don’t want to plan too far ahead because the story is in the journey, not in the destination.

December 2008
10% of diet from conventionally grown fresh fruits and vegetables
“Seasonal foods” means whatever is in the grocery store is in season for me
All meat from industrial CAFOs, purchased at lowest possible price from megastore
Personal soda consumption in excess of 2L a day
6-12 meals eaten out per week
70% of groceries purchased highly processed*
Canola, corn oil and hydrogenated vegetable oil for cooking
Totally unaware of what a GMO was
8-10 prescription pain pills per week
Able to walk less than 1/4 mile before pain became unbearable
Walked slowly with a cane (on good days), considering a walker
The grocery store clerk was the face of my food
Could not imagine taking cod liver oil
Restricted dairy, took enzymes to help digest it when I couldn’t avoid it
Frequently took antacids for heartburn
Spent 12% of total income on food and 30% on medical costs

December 2009
30% of diet locally grown organic fresh fruit and vegetables
Seasonal foods almost exclusively
All meats local and grassfed, bought from farmer I know personally
Personal soda consumption less than six ounces a week
1 meal eaten out per week
80% of groceries unprocessed*
Coconut and olive oil for cooking
On my way to becoming an anti-GMO crusader
0 pain pills (that’s zero, folks) in seven months
Able to walk more than a mile with no pain
No cane, no walker, no nothin’
I know my farmers and their methods
Wouldn’t give up my CLO if you paid me
Drink raw dairy freely and without stomach problems
Frequently eat and drink fermented foods, no heartburn
Spend 33% of income on food and 0% on medical costs

*My definitions of “highly processed” vs “unprocessed” groceries: Unprocessed foods are foods to which 2 steps of processing or fewer has occurred. So, cutting and threshing wheat is two steps. Milling the wheat, separating it from its bran and germ, bleaching it, adding it to other ingredients, boxing it and calling it Bisquick are all additional processing steps. The further down the line, the more “highly processed.” I suppose the ultimate “unprocessed” food is a cow: for raw milk, for meat on the hoof, etc. But there are limits to what my longsuffering husband will permit, and for that, this extremist is very, very grateful.

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