Out with the Bad Food, in With the Good

I shopped early (5:35) this morning & only bought “good for me” live food from the outer perimeters of the store.

 

The good for you live food in a grocery store is always on the outer perimeters–did you know that?  That’s because it has to be constantly monitored, swapped out, and refreshed.

 

The inner aisles in a grocery store are for “dead” foods: processed, salted, boxed, canned, etc. Dead foods are less healthy options.

 

So this morning, except for some canned meat baby food for Patches, I shopped only in the produce aisle.

 

Imperfect Foods cost less

 

I’ve also subscribed to ImperfectFoods.com so I can get food at 30% off and delivered to my door weekly. They have a shopping list of all kinds of “imperfect” (visually) but perfectly safe foods that larger grocery outlet buyers reject because they look like mutants–carrot with two trunks, for example.  They also get the smaller cuts of meat that are rejected by big box stores and offer them at a discount.  They have vegetarian, vegan, and omnivore options, too.  I’m going to give them a try and see how I like them. They appear to source their items responsibly, too. THAT appeals to me greatly, as an environmentalist.

 

When I got back I made a fruit and cucumber smoothie and ate 12 almonds. (12 almonds is one serving. I’m checking serving sizes now and abiding by them.)

 

In Other News…

 

Still waiting for my Stealth Core Trainer to arrive. I’m on pins and needles waiting to try it out. I haven’t planked yet today in the hope I can do it on the trainer. I’ll plank before bed tonight if the trainer doesn’t come today.

 

On the Critter Front

 

Patches is doing soooo much better. She has gained her weight back and is grooming and chatting again.

 

I need to take her back to her doctor this week so he can take some blood and see if anything other than a hyperactive thyroid is amiss. If not, and she’s hale and hearty otherwise, I will have her thyroid destroyed with radioactive iodine so she doesn’t fall victim to it again. (She has been on a regimen of methimizole until just this morning to mitigate against the hyperthyroidism for now.)  The radioactive thyroid procedure is going to cost $1200 plus the bloodwork (several hundred more) IF her bloodwork checks out and she’s healthy otherwise, so I’ll create a GoFundMe fundraiser in an effort to help me foot the bill.  That’s the best option for hyperthyroidism because it takes care of the problem once and for all. Other options require frequent bloodwork because pills can cause big problems down the line with internal organs.

 

I mucked the goat sheds and put new straw in for them to bed down on. They’re happy campers again.

 

I completely cleaned my fish tank at 3:00 on January 1st, so the water is nearly crystal clear again (I added 20 gallons of the old water back in and it wasn’t crystal clear; that’s the best way to keep from shocking the fish.) The whole procedure took about an hour, but the results are always gratifying. (And it’s a whole  lot easier than mucking out goat sheds, that’s for sure!)

 

On My READING LIST

 

I’m reading a lot, of course. I always am. It’s my nighttime guilty pleasure.

 

Right now I’m reading a book about shame by a counselor. I’m pretty shame-free these days, but for a lot of years I was riddled with it for being (what I later discovered was called) “transgender.” I thought I was the only one! (See what shame can do to you? Keep you isolated so you never find out there are so many others just like you battling the same secret shame.)  It’s a good book for people who are still saddled with shame. It’s called I Thought It Was Just Me (But It Isn’t) by Brene Brown.

 

Next on my list are The Daily Stoic, My Penguin Year: Life Among the Emperor, Sarah Plain and Tall, and The Art of Hearing Heartbeats

 

Last month I read Felix Ever After (fabulous!), A Promised Land (amazing!), Joey: The Story of Joe Biden (for kids, but illuminating!) and 100 Reasons to Love Reading (terrific!).

 

I guess that’s about all the news that’s fit to print for this time. Tomorrow I’ll dive back into writing for clients so I may not get back to my various blogs until next weekend, so don’t panic if I seem to drop off the face of the earth on social media between now and then!