Worldwide issues.... and what to do.

We have a worldwide issue.  Hunger.  And obesity.  And malnutrition.    From the USA, where kids have shown up to closed schools because it is the only place they get fed...to Egypt, where the government subsidizes bread, white rice, sugar, and oil.   Mothers are overweight, children are stunted, all are vitamin deficient.

The US is having issues with the Farm Bill.

http://grist.org/food/undead-farm-bill-everyones-favorite-legislative-zombie-shuffles-on/

I wish, wish, wish, there could be cuts to Big Ag benefits, rather than cutting food stamps.  People who did not need food stamps before, do now.   Not everyone has a farmer's market to go to.   Not everyone can afford a CSA.   Some people don't even have a place to shop for groceries...

Even people who can afford a CSA may not be able to in future.  The cost is going up.  Gas prices are rising..

I wish we had something that would cut members of Congress off, and make them eat as if they were on food stamps.  Some are trying it, voluntarily. https://www.facebook.com/ChrisMurphyCT?fref=ts

Unfortunately, it is not the people who need to try it.

What we need to do, as a nation, as a world, is support the small farmer.   The organic (or those who do not have certification, but use organic/sustainable practices).  We need more CSAs, we need more sources for fruits and veg for the general population.  We need more farmer's markets.

One blog I read, Food Babe, has a lady who went to a town in one of the most obese counties in the US.  The town is surrounded by farms who take the produce, which the residents cannot get in town, to a location at least 45 minutes away.   The food is there, but the residents are not getting it.  They are getting processed white flour, sugar, and fat.  

We need to ensure that every child gets enough to eat.   Enough healthy food.   Why not turn vacant lots into farms in the cities?  This might work in some parts of Cairo too...   (not, unfortunately, in the poorer sections, which need this the most)

We need to make a stand.  We need to write to our Congresscritters and say "you need to step up" You need to put back the food stamps, and change the farm bill.  Stop supporting Big Ag, stop supporting all the GMO corn and soy which is transformed into dietary high-calorie nonutritive crap.    Reinforce the parts of the farm bill which support FARMERS, not Big Ag.   Support the creation of new farmer's markets, and the use of SNAP benefits at those.  

Are there CSAs in Cairo?  Or organics?   Set up organic farms in Egypt where a certain amount of the extra food goes to the poor.

It just seems like we are heading for a worldwide cliff...

Thoughts on health...

So, I follow and read lots of healthy eating blogs.  People who eat paleo, who are gluten-free, who are locavores.   I read healthy eating books,  The science of skinny, eating raw, Paleofantasy, Animal Vegetable Miracle...

And I take something away from all of these.   My philosophy was always to eat organic as much as possible...  fresh, local, was how I grew up.   I also grew up walking a lot.

I wish that I had saved wrappers from some of the sweets I grew up with though.  I suspect that we would look at an old packet of M&Ms and see fewer ingredients.  I suspect that, not only was the serving size of Coke smaller, that it was less sweet.   I strongly suspect that Nutella (aka sugar ambrosia) was less sweet as well.

It turns out that eating the coarser, less refined sugar was actually better for us.   The powdered milk? not so much.

We had more exercise built into our day, naturally.    Walking to school.   Even Sports (god help me) at school.

But one thing strikes me about most of these "healthy" lifestyles.  The vegan ones want you to eat lots of processed alternatives (Vegan Earth Balance, tofu shreds, various fake things).  Or if you are doing 'raw', you need a juicer, a blender, a dehydrator, yadda yadda.  And what is with the packaged 'raw' stuff at the grocery store?     Most of them want you to cut out entire food groups, or replace them with highly processed food.   Where's the healthy in that?  Or they want you to add in bought products like whey protein, which, guess what? They just happen to sell.  

*sigh*

Or else you get to spend all day chopping and pureeing and blending and being a good little housewife.   People keep telling me about the joys of kale smoothie.  umm no, just no.   Have kale in a soup or a salad like a normal person.

Balance.  BALANCE.   I suspect the reason most people who aren't celiac lose weight when they go gluten-free is that they eat too much bread.   They have toast or cereal in the morning, a sandwich at lunch, rolls and maybe cake with dinner...   or pasta.    I would advise most people to just go whole grain instead.   Whole wheat pasta.   Go organic.  Add some other grains in...

I read an interesting book called "Paleofantasy" which argues that we were also evolving in the caveman days, and that we really can't draw a lot of conclusions based on an idealized concept of cavemen.

I do think we have destroyed our food supply.   We have so many GMOs in our food now.   Pesticides, herbicides, anti-mold agents.  And they don't just wash off.   Otherwise they would wash off in the rain...

We used to be a country that had four food groups, and could have the occasional donut, cookie, etc.  It was a nice treat.   As someone who is gluten-free, all the cookies are in multi-packs, as are the donuts.   Everything seems to have become higher in processed fats...processed sugars.

I do think different things work for different people.  I am not a high-protein person.   Never have been.  But some people do well on higher protein.    Some people do well with carbs for breakfast.  I'm not much of a breakfast person....  and carbs for breakfast make me sleepy.   I've found that I need carbs at dinner, if I eat high-protein at dinner I don't sleep well.   Mark Bittman is vegan before 6, which works for him.  

You have to find what works, what helps you function coherently.    I tend to think more in terms of the four food groups, and eating "whole".    Trying to get something from each food group (grains, dairy, meat, veggies/fruit).  We didn't have a weight problem when we were on the four food groups.  

You just really have to figure out your own way...  take a little from this, a little from that.  Read with a cupful of salt.   If books only use one or two studies.. or they all use the same studies, then there is a flaw.  That does not mean that it won't work for you.... but just be aware.

On the essential aloneness of modern life.

I'm a relatively attractive, personable, nice female.    I have my foibles, of course.   I'm not a great housekeeper...Betty Crocker I am not.   But essentially I'm alone.

I have lots of acquaintances.  I spent seven years building up acquaintances.

But friends? No.  People are either much older or much younger.  People my age all seem to have families, or lives.

And, yes, I have enough to live on.  And I have a house.   But in the end, it is just me rattling around in this house, and no-one really cares.

I've taken classes.   I've gotten involved.  All it did was get me busy, busy, busy.   I didn't actually make friends.   Even through work... people who worked at the Branch in the past have no interest in reconnecting.  And I didn't work enough at the Main to have really made many friends there.  

I trusted people in the past, and every time I have, it has bitten me in the ass.  

I always thought that by this time my life would be different.  

But instead, I fit in nowhere.   I don't *get* the suburban American mentality.   I don't get games and backstage politics.   I'm complex, yes, but complex in that I read a lot, that I'm a deep person.  I'm always looking for the deeper meaning.

I don't fit in in Cairo, though.   I am more American.   But I'm also comfortable in French, in a polyglot culture where folks use an Arabic or French word to illustrate their point...  

I am NOT a city girl.   I hate the city.  

I love my house, I just wish there was more space between me and my neighbors.  Like miles.  

I am artistic.  

and damnit, I am lonely.  

Fashion in my forties and beyond....

So, recently I've been skimming some fashion blogs.   I need to jazz up my wardrobe, my look.   I don't have a lot of fun pieces anymore.    But where to shop is the question?

Marshalls seems to go Ka-thunk in a big way these days.   I have not walked into a Marshalls and walked out with anything cute...   I used to find things at Forever 21 (yes, I know...no NOT pants or shorts, I know my limits with that store), but they've gotten a little too flimsy for me....  I see things from time to time at Anthropologie, mostly on the website...

Used to find things at Target, but that has gone downhill.   And there doesn't seem to be a decent vintage store around...  what's a gal to do?

If I find something I like online, on a blog, its gone in real life.  Or its sized for a skinny minny.

I think, though, as I hit my forties, I am coming into my own.  I have found fun things in various places to layer up,   I know the feel I want, and even if I'm not skinny, I'm so much more.

I have the confidence to color my grey hair teal.  

I like some patterns, I like florals.   I like things that are a shade different.    I'm artsy, always have been, and now my clothes reflect that.

I just wish there were more clothes out there for rebellious forty-somethings.   For funky ladies, who like color, movement, and some shape.

I have a lot of clothes "to fit into", to shrink into.   So there's that issue, too....

But finding cute clothes as a "mature" woman...that's unique.     Being short doesn't help much either....

Let me give you a slightly blurry example:

http://www.anthropologie.com/anthro/product/shopsale-clothing/26119479.jsp

Obviously did not buy it.   Although I really thought about it.   Opinions?   I loved, loved, loved the material and the sleeves.  I tried it without the undergarment and it looked a little better...   but *sigh*....

Prepping for CSA season.

So.  I have a CSA share this summer, again.  And this year, I'm hoping to use the bounty even more...   so I am preparing now.  

I bought a dehydrator.  And am going to buy a juicer.   The pulp from the juicer, (which contains all the fiber) is going to go into making crackers and fruit leather and such.  

I also bought some little ceramic berry baskets from Anthropologie to keep the produce in...

I need to figure out some kind of bag to put the PYO produce in, some kind of containers.  We get cherry tomatoes, we get peppers, we get beans...  and the mesh bags I used last season don't really work.   I'd like to figure out a decent way to deal with the raspberries and the herbs...any suggestions?   I get tired of ten million plastic bags...  they are not kind to the environment and don't really biodegrade.


(now I just need a bigger kitchen..more counter space!!!!!!)

I am not thrilled with the idea of buying more things made of new plastic, but the dehydrator and the juicer should last a while, unlike plastic bags.... and they will lead, in the long run, to a healthier me.  Most of the dried fruit that I find, these days, seems to have added sugar, or be "processed on equipment with wheat" (yyyaaaaaarrggggghhhhhhhhh).  So at least, with this, theoretically, I can dry fruit in season, locally, and have something more sustainable for my health, with less chance of gluten contamination, and less sugar.

It is just amazing how much sugar there is in our food.  

In an ideal world, I would eat sustainably all year round.  But that is a full-time job, in some ways.   That is one thing that amazes me.  Eating healthy is work.   It isn't quick and easy.    There is a reason that the processed food industry grew up around women becoming more independent/self-sufficient/something other than home-makers.    The challenge now is how to incorporate healthy eating/food preparation without it becoming a second job for most people.

There is BPA in cans.  So can your own tomatoes!  whee... that takes at least a day.  Worth it, but it is hot, sticky work.   And then you have to store all your jars.   Plastic leaches...  BPA, among other things.   So you start carrying around a water bottle made from stainless steel....  but then you have to remember to wash it out....

And the list goes on...you want to reduce your sugar/salt/fat, which basically means cutting out processed foods...which means you start making things at home.   So either you end up with a kitchen full of gadgets (mixer, blender, immersion blender [love this tool for soups], dehydrator, stand mixer, food grinder, juicer, food processor, coffee mill, toaster...am I missing anything?) or you end up really making things from scratch. (Bread maker, microwave [these are things I do not own, but that people have] rice cooker, sodastream, coffee maker)

GAAAAHHHHHHH.

It all needs storage space, or easy access.  Or counter space, or, or, or.....and TIME.

Sometimes it is just discouraging...

Revolution in Egypt led to a regime/dictatorship which is putting Egypt so badly into the red that no-one will be able to get it out.

Rape culture seems to be endemic.

I can't find gluten-free chocolate anymore.  waaaah

Too much crap needs to be done on my house and my yard, and everything seems to have a corollary.

Plumber: needed to fix upstairs sink and shower, but apparently they cannot replace the dual taps with dual taps.  Also need to put a utility sink of some kind downstairs.  I want a double sink so can use for ceramics/jewelrymaking.

The house needs painting.

I want to get the back cleared, and plant some trees.  Quince, apple.  

I want a deck.

And some hardscaping.

I want to pull up the ugly walks, replace with stone.

I want to replace the grass with thyme.  

I need yard furniture

I want to have some kind of shed for the ugly trash bins.

bleargh.

I want to get rid of the popcorn ceiling.

New lighting.

The floors should also be refinished.

New kitchen, bathroom above...

And then I just wonder if I should move out and start new.  *sigh*

I need help.  Bleargh.

Help me obi-wan kenobi.

And I wouldn't mind a date.   Although, as a bright point, I've finally started using the WHOLE bed to sleep in.  (Only took ten years).  Which brings me to another thing, I need a new bed.

I give up.

Unemployed and side effects thereof...

Now, granted, for me, it does not come with money worries, lets get that straight right now.   But it is very odd going back in to the library and not going in back, and getting to work.  I went yesterday.   Got some fascinating books (new books, too, since I've been good at getting them back by the due date!).  But I also ran into two patrons from Barney, and had to tell them I no longer was working at the Library.   One man, a fixture at Barney, was very disappointed.  

But it was nice to be able to chat with some of my former co-workers at the desk...

And i had not realised the stress that I was under in that job..  which should not have been a stressful job.  My hair has stopped coming out.   Now it is just shedding at a normal rate.

The advantage of having gone virtually full-time is that I'm less in the "sitting and snacking" habit.  I'm still trying to keep to somewhat of a meal schedule.  Which is one of the things that can go by the wayside if you are single....

The house is cleaner.  I tidied the basement the other day.  Now I need to look at getting some shelving.  Shelving for the basement, for the garage.   For the "linen closet" (although why I bother with that one, since apparently I don't own any full sets of sheets anymore...)

I was sick for at least two weeks after quitting.  I think my immune system had just had it and gave up the proverbial ghost....

I still have the bug in my brain, though.  As I was skimming through the shelves, I kept thinking "This would be good for so-and-so" and I did give a couple of book suggestions to people.

Old habits die hard.