I feel like I have talked a lot about food and grocery shopping since I started blogging about our time here...probably because it is soooo yummy and I LOVE to eat! I have always loved to eat and I'm pretty sure I ate my parents out of house and home when I was living there. We have definitely taken advantage of the fact that food is so delicious here. The access to local fresh fruits, veggies, meat, and bread, combined with stricter food regulations in Europe have made for a better diet for us here.
Although I have always loved to eat, I have not always loved to eat healthy food. In fact, eating healthy is not something that comes naturally to me. If there are chips and carrots on a plates, I would much prefer the chips. If there is chocolate and grapes on a plate...chocolate all the way! One of the things I was trying to get better at before we moved was eating a cleaner diet, meaning more real food (fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole wheat, etc.), and less processed junk full of chemicals. I wanted that for Cole and me, but even more for our children. We worry so much about vaccinations, medication, too much TV, or whatever, but we don't seem to worry as much about the food we put in their little bodies. So I started to get more serious about this before we left and we began cutting things out of our diet and making changes...what we were eating, where we were shopping, etc. I still eat junk sometimes...I'm a little ashamed to admit that Taco Bell is a guilt pleasure of mine! :/ Anyways, after we moved here, some of those changes took a hit as I was trying to figure out where to shop, what to buy, and where to get clean, healthy food (it didn't help that there are waffles and chocolate readily available almost everywhere)! Luckily, thanks to websites like 100 Days of Real Food and Food Babe, I already knew before we arrived that food regulations are much stricter here and that we would be better able to tell (after translating) what was actually in our food. I am also much more educated on the ingredients in our food and what effect they have on our bodies. I'm thankful that companies are required to label products when they have GMO's in them so that we can at least make an informed decision!
Now that I am more proficient with shopping here (remember this this post?!), I am happy to say that we have been doing much better with eating food that is better for us. I'm not talking about low-fat, low-sugar, or diet options (because they are not actually better), but real food...fresh fruits and veggies, things made from scratch, and things with ingredients that we can pronounce. Although the lack of preservatives, GMO's, and other chemicals that we have in the U.S. is a good thing, it was also an adjustment for me because things don't keep in the fridge or on the shelf for nearly as long as I'm used to. Consequently, I have to go shopping more often, but I don't mind because the food we have tastes so fresh and yummy. I have especially noticed this with the fruit and cheese here! Of course we indulge in local gelato or other goodies from time to time, but for the most part, we are doing better at incorporating these new foods into our diet.
I didn't realize how much of a difference the food here was making on my way of thinking until we went to the American Grocery Store in Antwerp the other day to stock up on some black beans. I am very thankful that there is a place to get black beans because they are a staple for me, but I was shocked by what I saw in there. Of course there is junk food here and we succumb to the temptation from time to time, but I am not used to seeing what I saw when we went there. It was processed junk and more processed junk. I went through the (small) store and looked at label after label. Everything was full of ingredients that I'm not as used to seeing anymore because they are either illegal or require a warning label. Most companies find alternate and/or natural ways to make the same products here as they do in the United States so they can avoid putting the required warning labels on their food. Thanks to articles that I have read on 100 Days of Real Food like this, my eyes have really been opened up even more to discrepancies between food in America and food in Europe. I was also surprised by the size of the packages...from candy bars to bags of chips, I am not used to seeing such ginormous portions anymore!
I was affected enough by the experience that I am now going to be ordering organic black beans from Amazon.co.uk so I can avoid the chemicals in the black beans from the American Grocery Store. We are by no means perfect at this and we still have a lot to learn...of course we still have to pay attention to what is in the food here, but it is so much easier to avoid a lot of the nasty stuff that is in our food nowadays in the U.S. It makes me nervous to think about moving back (when the time comes) and having to worry so much about this stuff again. I love being able to feel good about what I am feeding my family. I'm hoping that, by the time we come back, some of these ingredients will be required to be better labeled or that they will be banned all together! I'm also hoping that our taste buds will be changed in a significant way so that we won't even desire the junk food anymore! Until then, I am going to enjoy the fact that we have access to all this yummy, fresh goodness and keep working towards a better diet!
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