We are all just trying

                                                   PRESS PLAY

I recently concluded a part-time gig which had me hanging out at Whole Foods Markets around the Chicago-land area.  I was offering shoppers a chance to try out (relatively healthy) products.  Sounds fun right...well I sure did meet a lot of fun people.  I talked to so many shoppers and what I found is virtually everyone is trying!

Examples: low/no-fat, vegan, vegetarian, gluten free, no corn, only things wife selects, allergic to_____(pepper/nutmeg/celery/parsley), lactose free, low sodium, no carb, no sugar,  seeds only, no seeds and my personal favorite - don't care, will eat whatever (these were mostly men with noticeably naked ring fingers).

After being bombarded with everyone's restrictions it hit me...with the exception of the few men who ate 'whatever', we are all just trying!

That's when this classic BoDeans song popped into my head...at the heart of it all I believe we'd all love to be free!  My darling grandmother was a vegetarian (practically vegan) for 40 years.  The last two years of her life, she gave up trying.  She ate whatever she wanted.  Now I don't know about you, but I don't want to wait until the end of my life to enjoy food.

I have met many people, self included, who have fallen off the vegetarian wagon after years of passing up meat.  My cousin had been a vegetarian since she was 11 and after years she admitted, "Life is too short to not enjoy it"... and the vegetarian community lost another member.  Friends who had been veggie fell off once they became pregnant.

We have a plethora of food education surrounding us and I freely admit it is entirely too difficult to keep up with everything!!  We are all just trying to be closer to free.

My advice - be a savvy foodie and get thee to a gym, regularly!  We may never be truly free, but at least we can be savvy!