How I'm feeling after a month...

I have officially been eating strictly organically grown local foods within a 100 mile radius of Allegheny College for one month today. The process has been both exciting and frustrating, deeply inspiring but also highly time consuming and burdensome. I think this is a good opportunity to reflect on my physical and emotional/mental health.

I have been eating as healthy as I've ever eaten in my life for the last month. I'm incredibly conscious of everything my body is consuming, and it has been truly life changing. I feel great physically; in the first few weeks I was noticing lightheadedness and dizziness, which hasn't happened at all in the last week. I realized that I needed to be snacking throughout the day, because I got very weak and fatigued when I didn't have enough food between meals. Though I'm not a doctor, I think my sodium intake also played a role in causing my lightheadedness. In the past I salted everything, and ate many processed foods already containing salt. I abruptly cut this large amount of sodium from my diet, and I think my body needed time to adjust. I find myself craving foods like eggs and meat, which I've found to be good sources of protein and sodium. I'm working hard to balance my diet - consuming the proper calories, carbs, fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals, water, etc. - because an important component of this project for me is nutrition. We shouldn't be eating locally just because it's fresher (tastes SO much better) and is better for the environment, but we should also do it for our personal health. I've also tried to keep in mind that I'm very active - 4 senior college courses, a part-time baking job, teaching 4 zumba classes a week on top of other exercise, cooking ALL THE TIME, as much social life as possible - and that I need a lot of energy (and sleep!) to sustain me. Finally, if you're curious to know about my bathroom habits (please skip to the next paragraph if this is "TMI"), but they are as healthy and regular as they've ever been, which is a clear manifestation of a truly healthy diet.

I've been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster the past month (my close friends and family may say this is no different from my normal self though!). Some days my project literally thrills me. I am absolutely passionate about what I'm doing and find myself daydreaming about new recipes. I try to stay as positive as possible, especially with my blog entries, but I think it's important to describe the difficulties involved with this project as well. First, cooking ALL of your meals (and cleaning) is incredibly time consuming. Not only that, but working with unprocessed foods is far more labor-intensive than conventional counterparts. For example, my glorious 1 lb bag of spelt only cost a dollar, but cost about an hour of my time in grinding it, and many more hours cooking and preparing it. This part was hardest for me when I first began, because on top of canning and preserving food constantly, I needed to be cooking meals for the upcoming days. My preparation methods have gotten more efficient and organized, which has made my life easier. Another issue is buying the food - you can't just go to Giant Eagle when you want something. You have to wait until your CSA bag is ready, or til the Farmers Market Saturday morning, or drive to a local farm and pick it up. Luckily, Rebecca has been an invaluable resource; without her this would have been a million times harder. Emotionally, I miss going out with my boyfriend, friends, and family, and I'm a little sick of eating at home all the time. This project requires a vast amount dedication, and it has greatly tested my self-determination and strength of willpower. I am proud of myself for what I've accomplished so far, and everyday feels a little easier.

As much as I feel frustrated, which is very often, I am irresistibly obsessed with what I'm doing. As much as my friends complain about senior comp research, I am thrilled when I have a few spare moments to sit down and read my local foods literature. I feel more connected to my food, and to the earth. I feel like an actual human - though I'm still heavily reliant on many of society's luxuries, I feel freedom and independence atleast from the food system, and I feel more like an "animal," when before I guess I felt like more of a "machine." I am eager to understand more about these feelings as they continue to develop over the next 2 months.

To sum it all up, eating strictly local and organic foods has its ups and downs. It's hard to stay loyal, it consumes your time and energy, and it tends to cause me to feel secluded from my peers. On the other hand, it is one of the most rewarding experiences I've ever known, and I can feel from within the evolution of my physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health.