Jungle Fever: An Adventure in Co-Ops & Raw Food

Do we remember how that Raw Food Detox Diet book was dropped off at a house where I was staying? Well, that same household has since then both joined a co-op and bought a juicer. This has been my homebase for the last week or so.

Our first victims

Now, these are not your average juicer co-op healthy eating kind of people. I believe this morning there were two "Garbage Burritos" ordered for breakfast take out. Not exactly raw, but whatever. Flip to the fresher side of things-- approximately one week post-juicer. We have juiced many tiny mountains of fruits and vegetables and have made tons of fibrous pulp food. This has to be the healthiest that this group of people has ever eaten. Its an amazing experiment.

But surprise, surprise, as I go along my merry path to better health and self, I stumble upon a volunteer component to it all. Apparently, at the People's Food Co-op in Southeast Portland, if you donate 3 hours of your time per week you get a 15% discount on your groceries.

Say what? I can do that! and it would be helpful to so many more people than just myself and the co-op. My friends could also benefit from my service through cheaper groceries.

So, of course, I chatted with one of the cashiers about the household volunteering at the co-op. She let me know how it worked. Apparently, they run 3-hour shifts where volunteers clean up, stock, do dishes, close the shop etc. Do one of these shifts each week and you get the discount on your groceries. I inquired about the possibility of high-skilled volunteer opportunities as well, which may be more fitting for some of the computer geeks in the group. This was also something the co-op was willing to accommodate.

After I spoke with the household and affiliates, it seems like we would like to volunteer in teams of two every other week to get into the swing of things. We could get to know the program better and see if we like working there. I promised to go to any volunteer shifts that people "forgot about" or couldn't make, since I have the time to do so.  I've also been charged with communicating our interest back to the co-op. I'll let you know how it goes. Cheers to fresher living.

Raw Foodist?

While I was "floating" last week, someone dropped off The Raw Food Detox Diet book. Oh god, not another book about food.

At my last job, we were knee deep in the shortcomings of the industrialized food system. In my humble opinion, a lot of our problems concerning our health, education, nutrition, environment and economy could be solved (or at least addressed) by implementing a strong local food system in every community. It's heartbreaking how easy it could be. Please pause for a moment of silence for the loss of our natural food system.

I am not, however, here to preach about the problems of the world or act like I have the solution. I'm just here to blog. Right? Whatever.

So anyway, I read the entire book that day--cover to cover. A lot of the information wasn't new to me. Really, the craziest things I learned about were poop, and the types of poop that there is. Never mind. I'm stopping here.

I'm not becoming a raw foodist. Eat more whole foods. Great idea! I really do feel best when I eat tons of fruits & vegetables and almost no wheat/gluten. I'll try to be better about that, but that's not really the epiphany that came out of this. What was the epiphany? Simplicity in food & habits.

The less I need my extravagant food & bad habits the longer I will be able to travel the world. 

Plain and simple.

So what's the first thing to get the boot? COFFEE.

And what was my secret? NAPS. LOTS & LOTS OF NAPS.


How's that for some self-help blogger guru bullshit? You're welcome.