Tuesday, October 12, 2010

[Discussion] Expenses

An old friend of mine said, "I really have to start packing a lunch for my break."

A friend of hers suggested; "Go to Wal-mart! They're really cheap!"

I resisted saying anything for a moment, but after a bit I said;

I can't disagree more.

I'd say don't go to Wal-mart because the company is not moral.

Also; usually when you buy something cheap, it turns out that it's worth what you paid for it: which is not much. And it's true what you are what you eat. You make millions of new cells every hour. Those cells are made up of what you've consumed. Do you want to made of cheap crap? Of course not! You're your own goddess and should feed your body as such.

I say go to the Lexington co-op and buy yourself some organic fruits and some raw nuts that you like the best and pack a mix of four or five of your favorite things in a reasonably easy-to-carry portion.

I pack my husband a mix his favorite greens, fruits, raw nuts, seeds, dried fruit & seasonings in a stainless steel lunch box on most mornings for his work break.

~Raederle


The friend of a friend who had suggested going to Wal-mart replied;

"Well don't you feel special for packing your husband's lunch with such good stuff. You are entitled to your own opinions and I'm very glad you express them in such and intellectual manner. Some people can not (I'm not saying my friend can't) afford to go to the co-op all of the time. Organic food is better for you but it is also more expensive."

Well, of course, she missed half the point. Organic fruit and raw nuts. Raw nuts was the other half. And the other point was entirely silent, which was what I didn't suggest. I didn't suggest a sandwich, or anything containing bread, meat, dairy, and so forth. She seemed to only catch the common 'buzz word' which is "organic." The other was "raw" but unfortunately it's not wide-spread enough for most people to pick up on it. I was tempted to go into that, but instead, I decided to reply the main point she was making, which is that what I'm suggesting is "expensive."


I said;

You know what's ironic though? Since I met my husband and we both went raw, he now spends just as much to feed both of us as he used to on himself.

I get the argument that my lifestyle is more expensive all the time, but in reality I spend much less money than most people. It's a matter of priorities, for one thing. Some women spend a lot of money on make-up, shoes, hair-products, going to hair-stylists, skin-lotions, etc. What's funny is that if you spend your money on eating as healthy as you can instead, you end up not needing any of that stuff, except perhaps a high quality oil like jojoba oil, but olive oil works too.

The other aspect of this is all the expenses as you get older. Medications, operations, anti-wrinkle creams, dental bills, a wheel chair, a nursing home, etc. I'm using my free time to learn about how I can avoid all of that by being as healthy as humanly possible and then acting on what I learn. In the long-run, this is incredibly cheap.

~ Raederle





I was tempted to go on and say more. Because there is so much more.

Being unhealthy is the most expensive thing in the world. It costs you your energy, your happiness, your potential and your goals. It's difficult, at best, to get anywhere in life when your lack of health is getting in the way. When you're too tired to work towards the things you want, when you're too depressed to go after something or someone worth having, when you're spending the afternoon sick or in the hospital instead of with loving friends: That is expensive.

In general, it seems to me that people really have their priorities backwards.

Where is the sense in buying the cheapest possible option when you know the cheapest possible option is cheap for a reason? The manufacturers cut every corner they could to offer that cheap product, and it's not going to function correctly. The cheapest camera will take tiny poorly-lit pictures. The cheapest printer will jam up and fail. The cheapest food processor will not allow you to make delicious nut bread. The cheapest food will not give you a life of health and happiness.




Here is a video by Yuri Elkaim about the expense of living on a raw food diet:









What's really ironic is some of the best things in the world are free (in terms of currency). Love is free, for example. If you paid for it with money, then it wasn't love. The healthiest food comes out of your own garden, which you don't pay for with money. The best garden is cultivated naturally, without pesticides, and without silly man-made contraptions. Everything we eat occurs naturally in nature, and it's possible to mimic nature in order to grow a multitude of food.

The most wonderful things in life require your time, not your money. Money is a tool for bargaining with other humans to acquire their services or wares. (Money is also a tool for telling businesses what you want to see more of.) It's not what makes or breaks the quality of your life. It's your choices, knowledge and priorities that make your life.

You could take all the money from all the richest men in the world and give it to all the poorest people in the world, and ten years later the same people would have that money back, and the majority of people would be back to being just as happy or miserable as they were to begin with. This is because having money or lacking money is not what creates your spending patterns. It's the way you think, and your priorities that determine what you do.

What you don't know is hurting you, right now. For every problem we have, there is an answer out there. And until we find that answer, we will continue to suffer from that problem. Knowledge is the real wealth. And in order to obtain knowledge, we need our health. We need to be sharp in our minds, clear in our emotions, open in our hearts, compassionate in our actions, and strong in our bodies. We are none of that without our health.

There is no one on this planet worth compromising your mental, emotional, physical or spiritual health for. If they would let you compromise your health for them, then they are not even worth a second of your time.




[October 31st 2010]
$31.00 at the farmer's market:

3 large organic yellow peaches
2 organic apples (one pink-lady and one "wine")
1 large bunch of the origional concord grades (full of flavor and seeds: remember, seeds indicate life)
2 organic persimmons (they taste somewhat like a cantaloupe crossed with a peach)
1 large organic bunch of sorrel (long sour leaves; like lettuce with a hint of lemon)
1 bunch of heirloom carrots (the sort that branch out in all directions)
1 loaf of home-made pesto bread (for my husband, obviously)
Half a gallon of fresh-made raw, delicious apple cider (the sample I drank sold me on the thought)
5 heirloom tomatoes
1 pint of organic strawberries
The above is just to note how much you can save, and the quality you can experience when you shop at a farmer's market. It's good for the community, for the economy, for the environment, for your body and for your wallet all at once! You have nothing to lose! Do you really have somewhere better to be early on a Saturday or Sunday morning?




Addition in February 2012:

My husband and I save a lot on organic produce by buying bulk from the Lexington Co-op where we get 20% off bulk purchases as member owners.

  • A week ago we picked up boxes containing the following:
  • 12 heads of romaine lettuce (1 box)
  • 10+ bunches of asparagus (1 box)
  • 70+ kiwis (2 boxes)
  • 75 bananas (1 40 pound box)


Everything except the lettuce is easy to eat before it goes bad. The lettuce is a bit of trick though, but we're making it work.

Good friends of ours grow lots of sprouts and eat five or more cups of sprouts each day. They pay next to nothing for them because the seeds are inexpensive. They use a few big plant lights and a very thin layer of organic potting soil and they compost the soil afterward so it all goes back into their garden in the summer.

They were kind enough to let us grab three huge bags of fresh-cut sprouts weekly for the month of February for $15. The same amount of sprouts from the store would have cost us easily over $100.

In the summer time my husband and I go berry picking, and this is something I did with my family as a child too. We aim to pick enough berries to fill the entire freezer and fridge and also eat nothing but berries the entire day we pick. Talk about a load up on antioxidants!

It's hard to find organic berry-picking locations in western New York, but in other areas they are more common. You pay $1-$3 a pound for berries when you pick them yourselves instead of $4 for ten ounces (or less) at the grocery store for organic berries. And you can eat as much as you want while you're picking.

My husband and I together eat about $19 a day or around $550 a month. We order things like organic nori wraps online in bulk and pay 33 cents a sheet (which is much less than you pay if you buy them in 10 packs from the store).

Including the probiotics we take and the vitamin D and vitamin B12 we take, we spend about $600 total for the both of us. That is more than half of what we usually make in a month. We value our time and our health most, work as little as possible doing things we don't enjoy, and purchase only things that are investments in our future happiness and health.





Related Posts of Mine:


Spending Trends & How They Affect Your Life & The Planet

Expensive Products Will Not Cure Your Cellulite

The Power of a Green Drink

Sheep Of America

The Cage We're In

Quality of Life

Doctor's Agree: Sugar Is Your Real Problem

6 comments:

  1. I am a single mum and am definitely not rich (in monetary terms anyway) yet we eat all raw and all organic, if we can't get it organic or in season, we don't bother. I have noticed that because we are getting such pure nutrients we don't need to eat as much anyway. I would rather spend $10 on some beautiful fruit/nuts/seeds/salad veges which gives me a huge variety of minerals and vitamins even if I am eating just a small portion, than $10 on a huge burger and fries which is just empty calories of flours and fillers and additives, or even sandwiches or a roll, which has just processed all the goodness out of it, and completely unsatisfying and non-nutritious. The other day a friend and I were discussing this, and she remembered eating mindlessly a whole packet of crackers and still feeling starving, and it was because although she was filling herself, she wasn't exactly feeding herself what her body was craving, all the nutrients it was needing. You are so right about the other costs too, medical bills etc - in previous pre-raw years I seemed to have a permanent flu, every second week I had a "cold" and I haven't had one since I've been raw. Soon I will be experiencing menopause apparently, I hope to be a poster girl for a drug free experience.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Raederle, sometimes you say what I mean to say but just can't put into words! Amazing!

    100% agree.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks guys! It means a lot to me. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I've read some of your articles and it seems to me you just repeat what you've heard or read elsewhere. Has a doctor approved of your nutritional habits? Are you monitored regularly by a certified physician so that you are able to prove the good health you claim to be in?

    Also, a little piece of advice, if you care to keep readers interested in your blog, it would be wise to not come off as extremely condescending and arrogant, which you do currently. Believe it or not, you do not know everything and the more you boast about yourself and your beliefs the more everyone else will shut their ears and start ignoring you.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Amusing how someone so adamant in disliking Raederle's style and presentation won't give their own ID. I get the sense that they're either a doctor, nutritionist, or some other medical practice who doesn't like the fact that their services are sometimes (and I do emphasize 'sometimes' as meaning not always) overrated.

    Thank you for your useful information, Raedrele. I don't see the condescending nature they mentioned... but I might just be used to you by now :P

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks Shikagsu. :)

    As for the post by the anonymous person: If I come across as arrogant that is probably because I'm so full of happiness and pride from the obstacles I've overcome. If you read the articles that are called "My Life Story" you'll notice the experiences I had with doctors in my life. Most of them were not at all helpful, so I have little interest in the opinion of a "professional." To me, my personal experience is golden, the experience of other people I've met is silver, and the scientific research is bronze.

    Nobody knows how you feel but you. A doctor can't really tell me what kind of health I'm in any better than I can really tell. My opinion is subjective based upon my experience and what I see around me, his experience is subjective based on what he was taught in school and on his previous patients. What makes his subjective opinion more valuable than mine? A slip of paper?

    ReplyDelete

What brings you here? What are you thoughts? Do you consider yourself a raw foodist? Approximately how much of your diet is raw? Do you consider yourself healthy? What would you like to see more of on this blog? Will you be back? Is this too many questions?