The Art of Zen Living

My loving kindness mantra gets good usage on any average day, but today was something special.  You’d think that perhaps I did a lot of driving in rush hour, or had a difference of opinion with a friend, or waited in line at a government service only to be told I had to go do something else first and come back.

My friend, it was nothing of the sort.  I went shopping with the intention to eat moderately healthy.  I wanted to see what the average shopper was up against in sorting through it all.  I went to WalMart - both because the prices there, according to my grocery guide, were likely to be lowest on the things I wanted, and because it was somewhere that a significant percentage of America shops.  Frugal and educational (for me) and relevant.

I wasn’t annoyed at Walmart.  The store was clean, and not too crowded.  The shelves looked a little picked over (for instance, I didn’t get the spaghetti squash that was on my list) but the things I wanted there was no problem finding.  Well, sort of.


I went in tonight looking for flour, rice, molasses, and to check which whole grains were available.  I was willing to buy “organic” if I had to, but my intention was to find “regular” foods.  When I buy a 2 pound bag of Great Northern Beans, I don’t care if they’re organic or not.  For the most part, I figure a bean is a bean.

My first “huh?” moment came when I saw the “ORGANIC” processed, bleached and enriched white flour.  White flour is bad enough, but then you “enrich” it, bleach it and (likely) treat it with bromate or bromide as well?  I’m making the assumption that it was treated with bromide on the fact that it didn’t say it wasn’t, while a number of other packages of flour had, in large letters, that they were free from bromate/bromide.  What’s next?  Labels on the gas pumps that say “Made with 100% prehistoric organic matter!”?

I went to the store looking for simple, whole grain, whole food.  Although I eventually left with it (brown rice, whole wheat flour with no additives, and organic soy milk) it took far longer than it should have, and I was truly annoyed at the amount of effort that was put into misleading people into making unhealthy choices.

I’m going to do more research, because I think it’s important to eat right - that includes good, whole, healthy food without unnecessary additives.  When I say “additives” I mean both the chemical kind that could harm your body and the verbal kind, designed to steal extra money from you without giving you any benefit (like the aforementioned “organic” chemically treated flour).  As always, I’ll be sure to share with you what I learn, and hope you’ll share with me what you know!