got health?
My regular doctor recommended that I see a doctor in the practice that specializes in Integrative Medicine. My appointment was last week. It’s awkward to tell people about the blog. In this case, it was easier because after I spilled my guts, the doctor said, “I’ve been to your blog.” Meeting in real life is such a huge relief.
The doctor said, “You’ve really taken one for the team.” It’s true. I’m still not feeling very good. The test results from ten days ago revealed I have a Vitamin D deficiency so that could be some of it. The doctor said it could be because of not drinking milk, but also commented that most people who live in northern states have low Vitamin D during the winter months. I’m to take 4,000 mg of Vitamin D per day. I need to eat salmon and sardines more frequently too.
I”ll be getting on a probiotic. That should be doable. I need to eat even more fruits and vegetables and eat foods rich in Omega 3s. I’m on the road to wellness. I just don’t want to feel so totally wrecked anymore.
Two Angry Moms
I finally had a chance to see the video. Early last year, my husband and I tried to get the video through Netflix, but it’s not available to rent there. The only way to get it is to purchase it.
This Christmas, I ripped open a present and found the Two Angry Moms video. My husband bought it as a Christmas gift! Talk about the perfect gift for me!
The movie is good. There wasn’t a lot of new information for me. If I had watched it a year ago, then I think it would have been educational. I sat there nodding my head. Everything I learned last year either by eating the lunches, blogging, tweeting, researching and through the comments and emails from you wonderful people!
Getting a share
My husband and I have signed up for a share or a CSA (community supported agriculture) or whatever they are call since we are newbies. Last year when we first really became aware of their availability in our area, we tried to sign up and they were all gone. We were advised to start in January and we found one with a pick-up that isn’t too far away.
We’re doing a half-share from June to October (~$300), which means every other week we will pick up our share. Then we added on a half-winter share from October to December (~$50). It’s expensive, but we already spend money on good produce. We might as well try to get it locally. We have to pony up the money now, but we’re banking on spending less on groceries after June.
Since my husband is teaching himself how to cook and I’m cooking more, it seems like a worthwhile investment. Of course we’re going to have to learn how to be creative with whatever they give us. Don’t worry, I’ll blog it!
If you want to find out if there are CSAs in your area, check out Local Harvest’s CSA Finder.
Heartburn Book Club
Please check last week’s blog post to see if your name was chosen as a winner for Free For All giveaway. Waiting for your email! How’s the reading going? I’m moving slowly…
We've been doing a CSA for four years (my kids are 6 & 9). It can be hard work- be prepared to have items you don't know how to cook and some you don't even recognize! A good CSA won't give you a glut of squash, but will sell the extra somewhere else. But be prepared to start googling new recipes and put some in your freezer for next winter if you can't keep up.
First off, best wishes on your probiotic diet! Anxious to hear all about it. Secondly, I have started the book but since I am reading it on my Kindle, I don't know what page number I'm on!!! (My one criticism of ereaders–no page numbers!) I only know that I am 24% along LOL. Wow, is this a good eye opener about the history of school lunch! I had heard how political school lunch was, but until I read about the policies that have come and gone and the feuds in Washington that have shaped policy, I was really unschooled! It is fascinating to follow the country's leanings over the years in regards to feeding hungry and often-impoverished kids at school. What I thought was a no-brainer has a lot more ramifications than I knew! Like you, I'm moving slowly with the book–there's a lot to absorb!!!!
BTW, is the name of the book club Heartburn Book Club? I may have missed a post.
I've been doing CSA for almost a year and I LOVE IT! You will get items you would never buy in the store, but it's fun to find new recipes and try new things. I get so excited to pick up my box and see what new things will be there. Plus, the taste of the produce is unbelievable! I can't even buy produce from the store anymore because you can really tell the difference in freshness. Delicious! And the bonus is supporting our local farms. 🙂 Good luck!
I just looked into a CSA in my area (Ohio) and was very interested but the price seems a bit steep for me at this time. I'm still doing some figuring and maybe we will be able to afford it but I'm not sure yet. It runs May-early November and is $675 with weekly pick up of a basket of produce and a dozen free range eggs. They also have one for $1200 with the produce, eggs and you also get 1/2 a pig and 1/8 a steer!
I love my CSA, thought it's not really a CSA. It's a local organization that delivers organic produce to my doorstep – what i get each week (or in my case, every other week) varies, like a CSA, but I have the ability to list items I don't want. They have a big master list and you just check off what you don't want to get, which is great. It's helpful when I want to try something new – I can try one new thing at a time. And the quality of the produce is SO much better than what I can find in the grocery store, especially during winter!
I chuckled at your doctor's excuse for low vitamin D levels. You could never have a high enough D level by just eating dairy. Especially dairy from cows that rarely, if ever, see natural sunlight. I'm glad you stuck up for yourself! Once your levels are back to normal, you'll be feeling much, much better.
As far as probiotics go, have you considered eating fermented foods instead of supplementing? Google "Real Food Media" for more info.
Well, anonymous, milk is fortified with extra vitamin D (at least, it is in the US), but then, so is orange juice nowadays.
We've been members of a CSA for several years now (we're fortunate to be close to several farms) and it has made a huge difference in our overall diet. We eat more veggies and a bigger variety of veggies because they are sitting there in front of us, challenging us to figure out something to do with them. Have patience with yourselves learning to make use of the share. It takes time.
We've been members of a CSA off and on –the price was high (it sells to the northern suburbs of Chicago, but we live up near the WI line, and the cost of living is quite different in the two places). This particular CSA (Angelic Organics) also didn't offer 1/2 shares (you can divide up your share, but you have to handle it). We're a family of 3, and we just couldn't go through the produce fast enough –especially the lettuce!! I composted a ton of greens, and it was rather expensive compost. We've looked into some others that do 1/2 shares, but haven't committed yet.
I love the idea of the organization that Monica posted about above –that sounds better than a CSA!
Mrs Q,
It seems that the commenters are pretty creative when it comes to souping up meals. That would be a fabulously fun game to play if you join a CSA–take a picture of your weekly box, tell us what produce you've been given, and we can flex our google skills to help you come up with recipes.
I would also be interested to hear you review new produce/recipes that you try. Assuming you guys can join, of course. I'd love to join a CSA in my area, but the sticker shock always sends me running for the hills. *sigh* Someday…
We joined a Co-op and get 30 pounds of fresh, local organic produce every other week. We love it! There is always a surprise inside, with something we've never seen and can't identify. Facebook to the rescue. Usually one of my foodie friend can identify and give me prep suggestions. I won't go back to buying in the grocery store. It's actually less expensive for us and we are exposed to a bunch of stuff we wouldn't otherwise have tried. You get realy creative when you know you have a zillion things of squash to use up.
Our first CSA experience was terrible…way too expensive & we got the most of the items that we found not to our taste buds – bitter melon, cactus spinach, collard greeens, and not enough of what we loved – kale, green onions, & beets. We switched to a new CSA that seems quite a bit better for half the price.
The most challenging thing is finding enough recipes to use up all the produce before you get more.
A good way to determine the price is divide the total by the # of weeks you will have produce ~ our new CSA is around $22/week – I could easily spend that on inferior produce at the store!
CSAs seem expensive but a lot of them are actually incredibly affordable if you actually figure out what it would cost to buy equivalent (usually organic) produce each week. You kind of have to commit to not really buying other produce until you've used up your share each week so that stuff doesn't go bad. My partner and I get summer and winter shares and I want to highly recommend the MACSAC Asparagus to Zucchini cookbook (http://www.macsac.org/atoz.html) which helps a lot with providing prep tips and different recipes for common and unusual CSA produce.
Yeah, bracing myself for the CSA that starts in June. Of course it's going to be labor intensive. Of course my husband was all fired up for us to join one because he's not the food prep person in the family, he has no idea what to do with kohlrabi or kale. No one that works full time with an hour commute should have to wrestle with sandy boxes of farm produce at the end of the day and force it down the gullets of four hungry mouths. That's going to be my job, unfortunately. Interesting how in our case, the CSA is pushing us further into traditional gender roles. Not a deal breaker in our case, but still…I understand why more people don't do this.