on diet and processed food

So we did a mini group post on what we spend on groceries with our little expat et al community here in cyberspace. After seeing most peoples' posts/comments I realized I'm relatively thrifty with my shopping in comparison to the others. I think the main reason for this is my diet. A couple years ago I read Energía sin límites by Deepak Chopra. I was feeling quite fatigued at the time and so I followed a bit of the advice he gives in order to be more energetic. He analyzes lifestyle in general, not just diet. But I applied some of his diet advice to my diet. Specifically I stopped eating sugar and flour. While I wasn't out to lose weight, I dropped five pounds in a month and I was already pretty slim. But, more importantly I achieved my goal: my energy level went way up. I'd say it doubled. Avoiding sugar and flour means avoiding ALMOST ALL processed foods: pasta, crackers, bread, candy, jelly, manjar, most cereals, etc. Looking for dinner ideas that didn't have sugar or flour, I ran across a vegan forum. I started reading about veganism and went flexi-vegan and thus gave up dairy as well as sugar and flour. I ate mostly produce, grains, legums, nuts, and chocolate.

Then I read somewhere else of the non-processed food diet, which is pretty much the same as the "avoid sugar and flour diet". Processed foods, aside from being less healthy than foods you might have found in your great-great grandma's pantry, are generally more expensive. Our grandmas' grandmas probably wouldn't recognize the "food" we eat as food. Like non-fat dairy creamer. What the h#%* is that?

The thing about eating vegan (vs. vegetarian) is that vegans eat NO dairy products. Dairy makes up a LARGE part of the grocery bill.(As do meat, cold cuts, and processed foods). Try cutting these elements out of your grocery bill, and see how it goes down!!

Now I've gone back to eating dairy products, but I do it less than before. And I've started to make kefir (yogur de pajaritos). I'm pretty excited about this. My "yogurt" is cheaper, better quality and healthier than the regular stuff. (If anyone want's "pajaritos" (kefir grains) to make their own kefir yogurt, let me know.)


One last reason the grocery bill isn't too high:
I shop for V's food too, but he's not one to put the food he wants on "the grocery list" and I'm not one to buy things that aren't on the list. I sometimes ask him what he wants, but if we are depending on my memory for him to get his food, there's a 50/50 chance I'll remember. Perhaps even less. I don't like to buy what I'm not sure we will eat because I've had to throw out mayo, cheese, eggs, milk, meat, etc. because often we don't finish the food before it starts to rot. My Scottish genes cannot handle throwing stuff out, especially food. (Before I get rid of clothing and other things, I often have to take a picture of it to help me part. Here's an example.) So meanwhile, the bill stays low.