Why?
Conversation started: 1 year ago | Stronger Together
Why?
Breast Cancer
Staying on my aunt’s farm on lake champlain every summer where I was forced to get out of bed (by sounds from my uncles blow horn!) to clean stalls, feed animals, weed and go for early early morning bird walks. At the time, it was miserable (I have pictures to prove my mood was foul) but now as an adult I can see that my time there left a giant and much appreciated love and respect for food, farming and nature.
my sister is an NHL survivor. I immediately began the CoOp at Outpost, almost instantly.
A diagnosis of multiple chemical sensitivity syndrome in 1997 and further resolve after reading books and articles on the conventional food industry. But I would like to say that I choose to eat healthy out of love and compassion for the planet and not from fear of what conventional food and agriculture does to my body and the planet.
When I was in my early 20s I had a pre-cancerous condition. My options were to cut it out (literally) or change my diet and lifestyle. I opted for the diet and lifestyle change…and here I am today in my mid-30s without a trace of the cancerous cells since.
There was a hippie guy who sold a newspaper called “100 Flowers” on the downtown Minneapolis Mall on Friday afternoons in 1971 and 72. I waited nearby for the bus after high school, and every Friday I’d buy the paper and ride home reading about the evils of white flour and sugar, and about this cool store on the West Bank. I started volunteering at that co-op on Sunday afternoons – it took two hours to get there and home by bus. It opened my eyes. The co-op sold Diet for a Small Planet, Eat Right to Keep Fit and The Vegetarian Epicure. Pretty soon I was on to Laurel’s Kitchen and The Moosewood Cookbook. I learned so much from the co-op members and the books they sold.
Around 1973 my Dad was diagnosed with high blood pressure and Mom took on a new crusade – low salt, low cholesterol, low everything, and especially no more Velveeta. There were signs all over the kitchen about what was still on the yummy list. She taught me to read labels. Now Dad is 90 years old. Mom, too.
Joining the Co-op and starting to volunteer there.
When I met my husband I started cooking. I really wasn’t interested in it before but it became a fun way to hang out. That escalated into learning more about food, where it comes from and how it can change your body.
When I read Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, my whole world view changed and that included the kind of food I ate…and continue to eat today.
My junior year of college, my eating plan fell through, leaving me responsible for my own meals. I bought an electric skillet and a Jamie Oliver cookbook, and I never looked back! Cooking fresh, local, seasonal foods has been a growing passion in my life ever since.