Where is the Au Naturale Drive-Thru??

There is a post I wrote sometime in the past that I desire to link to, but am too lazy right now to dig around and find. It's about expanding waist lines, the ever-present Health Thing, and the fact that eating too much Au Naturale food is still eating too much food. Perhaps you can go look for it on your own? (Tee hee. See what I did there?)

In any case, I was reminded of this post the other day- most days, lately- when I put on a pair of my more forgiving work slacks and had a muffin top the likes of which you only see in a Panera bakery counter. Blech.

(Wait- didn't I use that terrible analogy in a previous post, too? Someone look it up and let me know.)

This recent health decline is, without a doubt, due to the stresses of the Big Life Things that I mentioned 2 posts ago. During the height of it I didn't have much time to cook, when I did it was nothing really remarkable, and I dealt with the stress by eating and drinking way too much. I've never been much of an exerciser- more like a reluctant exerciser- but I've also been moving around a lot less than I normally do. If I wore a pedometer, it would be seeking counseling for neglect.

Granted, I could go out and buy those organic frozen dinners, but there's a lot of evidence that pre-packaged organic is getting less and less so, and it's a drain on the wallet. And it's a frozen dinner. Meh.
It also wasn't very motivating when we had all kinds of CSA deliciousness that should have been used before we could justify going out and buying completely different food. But, as sad as I am that the Farm Box season is over, I'm slightly relieved that I can go out and buy some staples to make easy dinners instead of having to figure out how to use what was given to me.

Sometimes I wish there was an Au Naturale version of McDonald's, complete with a drive-thru for seasonal ingredients, pasture-raised burgers and chicken sandwiches, quinoa parfaits, etc. Wouldn't that be awesome? Perhaps there's a business idea in there. In fact, I once sat on a panel at a college where students were giving presentations for charitable ideas/clubs for which they wanted start-up funding. One girl had just that idea. Unfortunately, it wasn't developed at all and she had really very little clue of what it takes to run a restaurant, or how to make money selling premium organic meals at a discount, but she had the right idea for the right reasons. In any case, I appreciated her vision then. And certainly now.

Here, Fishy Fishy Fishy...

I was posting the previous blog post onto my twitter feed (ahem) when my eyes caught this post from Slow Food USA:

Pacific Bluefin Tuna Overfishing


This, my loyal readers is TERRIBLE NEWS. Sadly, this news isn't new at all.


First of all, show of hands: who even knew bluefin tuna was in this much trouble? If you didn't, you're not the only one. At many a sushi restaurant here in Chicago you can still easily find it on the menu. It's not like shark fin soup, which everyone seems to know is bad. If a reputable US restaurant has it on the menu, it can't be that bad or unethical to eat, can it?


I admit that until a few years ago, I didn't think so. On our third date, the BF and I went to a sushi restaurant where he whipped out his copy of the Monterey Bay Seafood Watch list so he could order responsibly. I had never seen or heard of this thing. Clearly, our waitress did not either: as he probed where and how certain fish were caught, she kept assuring us the fish was fresh. Not was he was asking, ma'am. 

But I was intrigued (after the date, he remarked that he was glad I didn't run out of the restaurant thinking he was some sort of a freak for having a seafood guide). As I didn't have a smartphone to download the electronic copy, he gave me a nifty little wallet-sized Shedd Aquarium seafood guide. I've used the same one ever since. 

Which reminds me: I now have both a smartphone and a need for the updated guide. Hold on a sec.... okay, I'm back.

But when it comes to making only intelligent seafood choices, I'm not perfect. Sushi is far and away my favorite food, so it's really hard to say no to things that I'm just a sucker for, although they may be in the yellow zone. However, I do put my foot down on bluefin. There is a sushi restaurant near me that has a special (although I'm not sure why its called a special when it seems to be on the menu every time) that serves tuna sashimi 3 ways: otherwise known as 3 levels of fattiness. And make no mistake, it's delicious, without comparison. Every time a good friend from New York visits, she always requests one evening at this restaurant simply because of the tuna special. Last time, though, I inquired with the waitress about the type of tuna they used for it. As soon as she told me, I just couldn't order that appetizer along with her. You get one guess why.

Don't get me wrong- I wanted it. But I also want to be part of the solution, and the solution is not really all that difficult. By making my voice known with my dollars and decreasing demand, fishing will decrease. When that happens, the tuna population can relatively quickly bounce back. Fishermen overfish because they say their livelihood depends on it. But yet they've never given an answer to what they will do if they cause their own livelihood to go extinct. Cutting back won't make them a ton of money, but it will keep them in business for far longer than if they continue down this road. And with proper regulation- if that ever happens- we can all happily enjoy bluefin moving forward. But if not, enjoy your next piece, because it may be your last.

By the way, curious about what the Seafood Watch is? Click on that link above. They even have an app (available here) that you can download to have at your fingertips. Not only will it help guide you on responsible purchasing choices as it relates to seafood populations and ecosystems, it will also help you make healthy choices in terms of mercury levels, and your own health. 

Yowza

Ay, geez, I didn't realize how long it had been since I last posted. Yes, 2012 was not the greatest time for writing in the short history of the Au Naturale blog, my loyal readers, so if you are a loyal reader, thanks for continuing to be loyal.

I once read an article that took a very pointed jab at all the abandoned blogs littering the internets, and I swore I would never become one of those. Hey, look what (kind of) happened. So I'm slapping myself on the wrist (or back of hand, or across the face) to get back in shape.

You know what else I'm doing? Apologizing for not writing at all, which I swore to you I would never do again. So, there goes that resolution. But look! It's 2013! It's time for new resolutions! The slate is wiped clean!!! At least, I've decided it is.

In any case, I won't make any excuses. There's been a lot of things and big changes going on in my life in the past few months, and hopefully a few good ones coming up in the next few months. I'm not going to give details here because I feel like I might jinx it... as in, what if the good thing doesn't happen and then I have to answer for it? Granted, some of you readers are also folks I talk to on a regular basis and know what this is all about and are probably rolling your eyes at me. The rest of you are probably rolling your eyes because I could seriously not be more vague right now if I tried.

Disclaimer: this is probably the most annoying post I've ever written. Apologies.

But in any case, these Big Life Things have taken over my life, and in the times I finally felt like I had a free hour to write, I instead decided that was yet another hour to devote to working on the Big Life Things. And then I saw an update from a blogger I've been following who is working on similar Big Life Things, and I decided if he can find time to blog, so can I!

So here we are. Um. Hi.

As usual, I have many things I plan to pontificate on. I won't do it in a novel here. I can say that recently I enjoyed a lovely dinner with some good friends and we got into a discussion about healthy things, thoughts on meat vs. vegan, and the follies and thoughts of what has been referred to as the Western Diet and western diseases. My friends made some good points- some of which I agreed with, and some of which I didn't. The ones I didn't had to do with the fact that I am more of the belief than they are that the modern Western Diet- think corn everything, artificial everything, preservative everything- is a cause of many western ills. Do I think it's everything? No, because I don't believe that much of life has simple answers. But I can't imagine how many other things affect our health as much as our very wonky, very unnatural diet.

I didn't debate it much with them because it was super loud in the restaurant, I was uncomfortable because a rotating heater above our table made me feel like I was having post-menopausal hot flashes, and I didn't want to get into a heavy debate at such a lovely dinner. But wouldn't you know it, the next day I saw this article and it reinforced much of what I was thinking, including the fact that one factor cannot explain it all. I wish to learn more about this study:

New Health Rankings: Of 17 Nations, US is Dead Last

It's also a great argument for more gun control. But that is a discussion for a different day, in a different venue.

So ends my crappy new year's post. There are more that I've half-written until the guilt of not working on the Big Life Things left them idling in my drafts folder. But I see a light at the end of the tunnel, and expect this blog to make a resurgence. We're going to party like it's 2011.