It's Andy Fish!

I have a good friend in the Midwest who is trying to lose a lot of weight, and we’ve often discussed the products he has to eat because he has no farm stands or fresh bakeries near him. This means they have to turn to processed foods, recently I needed bread and instead of hitting my local bakery I decided to see what I could find at Target ™ and chose this SARA LEE ™ Healthy Multi-Grain bread– now to be fair I don’t know that its loaded with chemicals, but it sure tastes like it is– and in comparison to the fresh made bread I’m used to this bland substitute was wretched.

Do our tastes change when we start choosing fresh options?

I’ve found that to be the case. Not that long ago I would buy a box of COUNT CHOCULA around Halloween and have a bowl at night as a snack a couple of times a week (I don’t think cereal is a breakfast food by the way). Well after skipping the routine for a few years I grabbed a box and sure enough– it was awful- and tasted of chemicals and stale chocolate flavoring. Like the cheap hollow Easter Bunnies with that weird chocolate there was nothing appealing about it so I got rid of it.

I start my morning with what I call a European Breakfast– coffee and a small pastry of some kind– I’m not sure where I picked that up or when, but I find by easing into the day with a small snack is preferable to a huge breakfast (which is often the pattern on weekends), while I still eat a hot breakfast about an hour after I’ve gotten up. If it’s a nice day I’ll have the snack and coffee out on the deck under the shade of a dozen trees. The snacks are usually fresh baked from a bakery I frequent– or home made cookies or muffins. We really don’t eat processed food, in fact we eat so little of it that when we do it really stands out. Hostess Cupcakes were once a favorite of mine- now? I can’t finish one. Kit Kat’s at Halloween? Yes please, now it’s “how did I ever eat these?”

It goes the same since I’ve been going to a fresh butcher- I have a hard time eating packaged meats and I’ve virtually given up deli and its all made quite a difference.

But for the folks living in parts of the country who don’t have any other choice? I’d say try harder to either find a bakery or start making your own– because you’re going to be amazed at how much better you feel and how your taste will change too.