mmm dinner

I think I'm allowed to be pretty proud of our dinner tonight. It's as from-scratch as I can do without my own garden or animals and such. It's chicken noodle soup, with leftover chicken bits from Saturday's roast chicken, and stock made from the bones. (I didn't make the noodles either - although I've made noodles before. I wonder if my mom's kitchen ever recovered?) I also made bread from scratch but that's "dessert" because no soup will be consumed by The Small One if there is bread around. Even if the soup has peas in it (which it does).

Toddler aside: Lucy just sang "doo dooo dooo! Don't worry, be happy now!" We are a fan of singing these days.

It seems to me that if I listened to everyone who told me what was poison I should be dead. Or dying. I believe that the following have been pointed out to me (indirectly, via the internets) as poisonous: fat, meat, animal products of all kinds, sugar, anything not organic, fruit, milk, salt, bread, beans, quinoa, carbs of all kinds, and "anything with a label." So... I can eat lettuce? And maybe water? It's disconcerting, because one day milk is horrible because it's mostly sugars, the next day it's horrible because mammals aren't supposed to drink milk over the age of weaning due to loss of enzymes, and the next day full-fat dairy is supposed to be a staple. I really do not wish to become stressed out about these things, but it does make me wonder where the truth lies. Advertising is obviously biased, and most scientists and their studies are sponsored by giant farming corporations or others heavily invested in one food group or another. It makes me think that any sort of diet, lifestyle, plan, or idea to make people healthier or skinnier or more ethical or return their youth is mostly driven by money. So essentially, whose money am I eating when I buy into one of these ideas? Even fasting isn't immune to marketing - it appears as though cleanses are able to make a mint by telling people not to eat anything for several days.

I hope that my lovely readers recognize that I'm not passing judgment on anybody's food choices. I'm just pondering one of the many facets where consumerism and marketing have done so much damage that I can hear five different versions of the truth backed up with studies and facts and not see any means of determining between them, other than personal preference. I personally drink milk and eat cheese and yogurt like it's going out of style with no ill effects. I feel like crap if I eat more than a wee bit of sugar and a few servings of gluten-based carbs. I love meat and eggs, and I can't afford to "buy organic." So those factors are the ones that inform my choices, and I feel like I can be proud of roasting a chicken, using the leftovers, and enjoying my dinner.

It was really tasty. Feel free to invite yourself over sometime.