shopping

 Maybe this doesn't work for everyone's vices, but if you are like me and your vices are $5 chocolate bars, then it works great. Every month I've been looking at my budget on mint.com. I used to just have a lump sum for "Groceries" but I've found it's better for my budget and my health to break that down. My categories are

- Cowpooling/meatshare

- Other good things like condiments, vegetables, and fruits

- Treats

Once you start doing that, you realize that every time you buy a chocolate bar it takes away from better things you could be buying and eating. It's also been helpful to microbudget for Meatshare because while the sum for purchase often is huge, if I use Mint to spread it out it doesn't look so bad. I guess this is less applicable if you actually make a decent amount of money, but just seeing how much money goes to junk can be enlightening. For example, in October I spent $60 on chocolate! That was the first month I tracked it and since then I have curbed my spending on that. Of course this also doesn't account for chocolate received as gifts :) 

Overall, my food expenses are quite high as percentage of spending. But since the rest of my health budget is so low, I don't mind. I also had cut other budgets like for clothing because food is so much more important. 

How do you budget for food? Do you find it a useful tool for eating healthy?

Frugal it's not, but for busy New York City professionals time is money and Freshdirect does save time. Luckily, their product line has also improved recently and there are several wild local seafood options and even a limited selection of grass-fed local meat. I usually only use Freshdirect if I'm working on an important project with a tight deadline. Despite being kind of expensive, it's a lot cheaper and healthier than the alternative when I'm busy...which is eating takeout.

So what's good at Freshdirect?

100% grassfed local ground beef is an obvious choice. It can be quickly made into patties and seared. If you eat dairy there are several good grassfed cheeses available, as well as grassfed milk and cream. Unfortunately, the local chicken and eggs are fed a "vegetarian diet" which is a euphemism for grains.

But the seafood options are great. My favorite is the local sea bass, flounder, and cod filets. You can also order wild salmon and crabs. I hate to say it, but when you are busy and don't have access to real cooking equipment, a fish cooked in a microwave can be a good option. When a microwave was my only option, I would put the seasoned fish in a microwave-safe glass dish with some chopped vegetable and microwave until cooked.

The Thai coconuts I've ordered from there have been the best quality that I've found in the city. I often get purple spoiled ones at the coop, but the Fresh Direct coconuts are well...fresh. They also sell coconut oil now.

They have local vegetables and fruits too, which are usually pretty good. If you are truly pressed for time, they also sell vegetables that are pre-prepped.

Overall the OMGIDONTHAVETIMEFORANYTHING Fresh Direct diet is: grassfed beef patties and local fish cooked in coconut oil with some easy-cook vegetables like asparagus. Now if they only sold lard...

While I think it's too bad that John Mackey is rather foolish about food, I think the Weston A. Price foundation is overreacting a little bit here. I got an email from them, in all caps, that said WHOLE FOOD PROMOTES MILITANT VEGETARIAN AGENDA. I think it's a shame, but the diet he is promoting is almost certainly better than the diet our own government is promoting. And as an aggie, I appreciate how Whole Foods has invested in improving slaughter infrastructure, which the US is really lacking. 

Overall, the diet Whole Foods is promoting doesn't make people completely obese like the USDA recommended diet. Some people are quite happy on this diet. Adult humans are robust enough that they can survive, like this guy who eats only candy or several long-term fruitarians I know. I don't think John Mackey looks so great, but there are plenty of people on vegan/low-fat/otherwise evolutionary inappropriate who are good looking. This vegan body builder is a good example, though I would note that like many vital looking vegans he is a high-fat gluten-free vegan. And while a diet can change how fat or thin you are, you are still stuck with your basic facial and bone structure. 

Paleo is about more that just being not obese and feeling OK though....it's a whole other level of nutrition and many people like me who try vegan often move towards paleo once they notice they aren't at the level of vitality they want to be. The real danger is when people continue to adhere to a diet that causes problems because the community says they are "detox symptoms" or they are rigid because the reason they are vegan is ethical.

I'd also worry about the Whole Foods diet for children, childbearing, or elderly stages of life when fat-soluble vitamins are critical. The real test of a diet is probably how adherents age and how healthy their children are. 

But I digress. It's too bad Whole Foods has staked their flag in the low-fat vegan camp, but hopefully it will get people thinking about why they shop there. Whole Foods is convenient for many living in NYC, but the price of their meat is a little frightening. I personally shop at the Park Slope Co-op and I'm a member of a CSA. I'm also in the process of organizing a meat share for the Eating Paleo in NYC meetup. This one is sold out, but hopefully there will be more in the future. It's a great way to both save money and put your dollars directly in the pockets of farmers rather than stores promoting veganism.