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GAH! They're EVERYWHERE!
2004-06-02 1:16 p.m.

Additives and preservatives that destroy your cellular infrastructure whilst simultaneously zapping your energy and your mood, that is.

I'd hate to think I've become obsessed. I think perhaps a better term is "hyper-aware". What I'm talking about of course is how label-savvy I've become lately - scouring lists of ingredients looking for things like dyes, high-fructose corn syrup, and Xanthan Gum. Up to my eyeballs in theory to be read, arguments to be written, developmental teaching strategies and projects that needed directing, I was the queen of pre-packaged food. Who has time, I thought, to make (I mean really make) dinner/lunch? Certainly not I, I thought. And now, in my want-to-buy-a-house-and-still-go-to-Thailand-and/or-Nepal financial state of affairs, I try to eat at home as much as possible.

I resolved my time constraint issues easily - by realizing they were non-existent and that I was just creating a complicated situation for no reason. For example, Steve and I working together produced a whole bottle of Carrot Tahini salad dressing (if you're lucky enough to have gone to Dojo in Manhattan in your lifetime, you know how good that is), a container of hummus-like Sudanese Tahini Yogurt spread, and a container of Eggplant dip/salad in less than half an hour. So now rather than buying pre-packaged forms of those (I got the recipes easily off the internet), I make my own.

I had a tizzy in the supermarket the other day when we were buying food to barbque for Memorial day. I was about to buy a Teriyaki marinade until I looked at the label and saw how much HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP (not even sugar!) was in it. Rather than douse my chicken and beef with something so...toxic, I decided to make my own. It, also, took mere minutes to prepare, and I had all the ingredients in my refrigerator.

I think I do that - complicate things that don't need to be complicated - and I really need to fall into a new default response. Ironically, what's been helping me to stop is the food I've been eating. The more I cut the toxic crap out of my diet, the less additive-sugar, starch, and syrupy dyes I consume, the clearer and more rational I feel. Reading a few articles the other day after seeing Supersize Me, I realize this is not all in my head.

No wonder I was so healthy all winter long, when normally I get 4-5 cold/flu-type illnesses; I had been changing my diet radically to incorporate more of what's good for me. No wonder that bad-mood overhang that crept up so easily on me seems to have vanished; I'm eating better - really better - and have become very active.

It's not a cure-all, don't get me wrong - I'm just marveling at how nonchalantly destructive I'd been of my body before. Perhaps that's just youth?

So besides cooking, we've been scrubbing out every corner of this apartment. I wish we were this domestic-diva like all year round, then we wouldn't have so much work ahead of us right now. We're pushing to get this place spotless this week so that it won't build up even more later on before we leave in July. Trying to embark on a cleaning streak right before one leaves on month-plus long travels is a guaranteed way to forget something really important. I'd really hate to find myself at the airport saying "Duh! Immunization Records!" because I just had to finish washing out the window screens the night before.

I had fun this weekend with the Karn brothers whom I never see - Jeff agreed to hang out only after I promised him that this memorial day, no under-aged girls would be wandering around, trying to bite him. We have a lot of history, Jeff and I. He's one of those friends. We were invited to go to a party in Paramaus thrown by a bunch of SH Law students on Sunday. As thrilling as that sounded, we opted to stay home and wound up seeing Scott. I picked his brain a little bit since he's now a nutritionist type, and he reconfirmed my dismissal of all this atkins hooey. It was good to get an informed opinion and good to talk all night.

I must go - the book club is meeting at McGovern's tonight and I so disliked Joyce as I was reading it (again) that I must figure out what my contribution to our discussion will be. By the time I get out of class, everyone will already have started. Maybe they'll be drunk and onto another subject before I get there. That would be good.

My suggestion for our next book, since it must be canonical, is A HANDFUL OF DUST by Evelyn Waugh or GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN by James Baldwin, since I've never read either. I hope I'm feeling strong enough tonight to put up a good fight for those.

xo,