but this porridge was juuust right...

so, a dozen random healthful choice foods that john and i now eat on a pretty regular basis that we would not have even considered, or did not know existed, just a few short months ago:

1. prunes (how old am i?)
2. steel cut oatmeal (i didn't even know what 'steel cut' meant before. it sounds like somethnig that has to do with a car or expensive kitchen appliance)
3. dried dates (if it was good enough for Biblical folk, it's good enough for me)
4. Bocca burgers (do not be fooled, there is nothing 'burger' about them except the shape)
5. vanilla rice milk and chocolate soy milk (who knew?)
6. soy nuts and pine nuts (no, you cannot pretend to talk yourself into believing it is buttery popcorn you are crunching on. i know. i've tried)
7. aloe vera gel (as healthful as it is, yes it does have five ragingly good things for your body, it is such gross gelatenous goop that i do not recommend this unless you are actually combating vasculitis or supporting someone who is)
8. almond butter and sun butter (made from sunflower seeds. seriously, this one i could roll around in. and at 200 calories a Tbsp what i really need to do is stop sticking my finger knuckle-deep in the tub and pretending that if it never touched a Tbsp spoon then it doesn't count)
9. Ezekiel bread (i swear if you eat just two pieces of this you are full for a week. No wonder it was eaten in Biblical times when i bet there wasn't much to go around. 'does jacob need a piece of the slaughtered calf?' 'oh nooooo. he had TWO pieces of ezekiel bread just last thursday'.)
10. ok this one isn't a thing, it's something i've learned. so, did you know that just b/c a yogurt SAYS it has active live cultures for healthy flora it's not necessarily so? (it cracks my ass up that i even know what healthy flora is. until i remember why i was forced to learn it. then i want to cry and drink. so, we'll just step away from this emotional contradiction and get back to the flora). ok, so, the yogurt container can say it has healthy live cultures in it but if it doesn't have the LAC symbol then the levels are so low it doesn't really do your body much good. not that it does it any bad, ... but if i'm paying that price for a YOGURT when i could have spent that hard earned money on oh, say, cheesecake, then it better be freakin' good for me thank you very much). so, check your containers and don't be fooled. the symbol looks like a block print, capital 'L' with a lower case, cursive 'ac' scripted in the middle of it.
11. kale (i have nothing to say about this one. i'm just so amazed that it even exists on the list that i'm left with no words. really. kale.)
12. i ran out of steam. no 12th item. i'm sure there is but i'm tired. today i will embrace my human imperfection and not my OCD cumpulsion to finish what i started. it's true progress when you learn which dysfunction serves you well in different situations.

and yes i know that salmon rocks and soy is contraversial and too much any one thing is no good. i get that. i'm still just pretty amazed with myself everytime i find me shopping in the international section or handing john a list to get from the health food store. this is a new life we are living.

k