[iriswhispers]

Mmmm I should hit up the WF salad bar!

Actually we have a really great restaurant in Tucson that's a salad place. It's like a huge salad bar where you order and they make you a big salad with all your fixings and chop it up. I liken it to a Subway but for really good salads.

[Tuca125]

Hi ....
I just came to say a quick hi to everyone.

I hope you all are happy maintaining this week.

Jessica.

[Marie]

Michele, where in northern CA do you live?

So Allison doesn't shop at Whole Foods and Shannon has a philosophical problem with the CEO. So.. having never been in one, not living remotely close to one, I have no concept what Whole Foods is like. Inquiring minds wants to know what's up with the place.

Had my orthopedic appt for the shoulder. No bone spurs or anything. Next step is an MRI for the bicep tendon and rotator cuff. Before the appt, DH and I biked 13.5 miles. It was a beautiful morning.
Marie

[traveling michele]

Marie-- I'm about 45 minutes east of San Francisco in the East Bay area.

I'm not sure I know that much about Whole Foods so someone else can elaborate. What I know is that the store has primarily organic, "healthier" foods. Very high end so no bargains. Great fresh produce, meat, seafood, etc.

Hope your shoulder feels better soon!

[Mudpie]

So there is a Whole Foods in Toronto and another in a suburb. I already know (from the locations) that I cannot afford to shop there. They also don't list any prices on their web site - another bad sign.

DH and I try to eat healthily but we can't buy all the organic stuff because it's just too expensive.

I am going to try a farmer's market held in a local park. I'm hoping to get there before they close. Some of them are only open during the day but this one is there until 7 p.m.

Great evening all!

Dagmar

[alinnell]

Whole Foods = Expensive in my book. That's why I'm happy they don't have one here.

Marie~my MIL had rotator cuff repair and said the pain from the repair was worse than the tear pain, and as I understand, if you're careful, it will repair on it's own. Slowly, but without as much pain. She's also had bone spurs removed and they were a breeze. I hope you don't have a rotator cuff tear. And if you do, make sure your doctor has A LOT of experience treating it (think doctor to the tennis and baseball players).

So I live in CA, but so CA--Palm Desert. I got my first real electric bill today. I've been running my AC 24/7 for over a month...albeit trying to "conserve" by having the temp go up to 82 during the weekdays. I also have a pool pump running about 8 hours a day during peak hours. My bill? $1.53. I'm going to give DS a reprieve and put the daytime weekday temps back down to 78. And this is with outside temps above 105. Gotta love solar!

Dagmar~I agree, organic is really expensive.

[iriswhispers]

Allison, I wish we had solar power! I'm in southern AZ and we had an almost $200 electric bill this month (AC to keep the house 77-78 when it's 105-110 outside). Since I'm renting I'm guessing the owner won't be interested in installing solar panels... don't think he cares what my electric bill is!

WF is decent on their bulk items - especially if you want grains and things that are hard to find at big, conventional grocery stores. But yea, the produce is crazy expensive. My BF almost had a heart attack the one time he went in with me and saw a $5 head of lettuce. And all the fancy organic prepared foods - seriously, is that an oxymoron - "organic prepared"?? Organic TV dinners make me giggle.

[Mudpie]

DH and I had a discussion about this.

He looked up what conditions were necessary in order for a farmer/producer to be able to label their produce "organic".

The first condition was that it had to be pesticide free. Well, if everyone around you is spraying pesticide into the air, and if pesticides have been found in the bark of old growth forest trees and in the jungle, how can your produce be truly pesticide free?

I think everything that grows on the earth now has some form of toxin in it. True, the "organically grown" food is not in direct contact but it still contains pesticides, as well as a bunch of other stuff.

I think, until we (the human race as a whole) start to clean up our act, we will continue to imbibe the poisions we are producing, through mouth, nose, skin.

But those poisions are necessary to power modern life.

No brillliant answers from me, just an ongoing discussion DH and I have from time to time.

Have a great Thursday all! (Friday for me )

Dagmar

[ICUwishing]

Marie - sympathies extended on the shoulder trouble. I do have a friend who's in her late 40's, in truly incredible shape (tennis is her game), who healed a rotator cuff tear on her own. It took a good 9 months, but she has a number of health challenges as well (thyroid, autoimmune, celiac and Crohn's). I know she would second what Alinnell said - find a specialist. She was working with a sports medicine guy who treats the Wash DC pro teams - and he does exclusively shoulder and neck issues.

Dagmar - agree with you on the systemic poisons. But as long as there's money to be made and these $%*#%^ executives can't comprehend time beyond their next paycheck (with help from the politicians receiving the fat contributions), I doubt it will change.

I guess I'm on the other side of the WF argument. I don't care for the CEO's methods of jockeying approval ratings, but I'm firmly in his camp regarding govt intrusion on business. But I go there because I can find unique foods that I've never heard of, the bulk grains/nuts/seeds, the best varieties of Izze sodas, and because it's the only place I can ever find wild-caught salmon. Yes, it's expensive, no doubt about that! Always a balancing act!

[paperclippy]

Dagmar, DH and I talk about similar things. There are a lot of issues about cross-pollination of crops and pesticides and such. At least here in Indiana, the organic farms tend to be well separated from the conventional farms and are plastered all over with big signs that say, "ORGANIC FARM, DO NOT SPRAY."

There was a big deal a few years back when an organic farm was found to have some genetically modified corn in their harvest. It was due to cross-pollination from a neighboring conventional farm, which had introduced the modified DNA into the organic corn. The organic farm actually got sued by the seed manufacturer for violating their patent on the DNA or something ridiculous like that.

Have you read "The Omnivore's Dilemma"? It's a great book and if you're interested in these issues I highly recommend it. Personally I prefer to buy local over organic, but I'll buy organic if the price is right. I'm more concerned with my meat than my produce though. I try to buy all my meat from local farms that raise their animals humanely on pasture with no hormones or antibiotics.

As for Whole Foods, it's great if you need to buy an obscure item. At least around where I live, you can buy all sorts of unusual grains and flours at Whole Foods that you can't get anywhere else. They also tend to carry some local produce at good prices (like local apples for 98c/lb), but their non-local produce is $$$$. The main thing I like there is that they have a lot of single-serve desserts and other tasty prepared foods ( Iris, but they are typically healthier/lower cal than the prepared foods at major chain supermarkets). I don't go very often though because the prices are so high on most things. Also, in terms of ideological problems with them, it bothers me that they used to be all about local foods and now they have their own national brands which come from factory farms. Organic factory farms are still factory farms in my book.

I did get mad at my local grocery the other day though because I went to buy zucchini, which is growing like crazy everywhere right now, and the zucchini they had was sad-looking and had a tag saying it was from GUATEMALA. I can grow zucchini in my backyard, the farmer's market is full of it, and you're importing it from Guatemala???

Allison, that electric bill is great!

This has been the longest week every. Tuesday night DH and I both were saying, it's only Tuesday??? I'm so glad it's almost over.

[bargoo]

Where I live in Calif we call Whole Foods ,Whole Paycheck. I presently live in Silicon Valley ( think San Jose) I may be moving to Sacramento, just a "maybe" at this point, possibly Elk Grove. Just a thought, my children have begun to think "What shall we do about Mother ? (that would be me) SIGH......

[traveling michele]

The other thing that is AMAZING at Whole Foods is their bakery department. We bought a cake there for my dd's birthday because it looked pretty. It was amazing! So much better than most grocery store stuff.

[Shannon in ATL]

Good morning -

On the WF discussion, they do have some products that are expensive, but like Becky said, I like the unique items I can't find anywhere else. I also find that some items are cheaper than other places, too. Different pricing at different times. Of the two, price wise I totally prefer Trader Joe's, but it doesn't have as wide of a selection.

On the pesticides, I've wondered the same thing about spraying. I wonder if anything can be totally pesticide free these days.

Iris - I find organic frozen meals funny, too.

Got in some good exercise yesterday, scale is down a little. Happy with that. DSS starts kindergarten next week - a little sad, but also happy about that.

Good day everyone!

[Marie]

Michele, are you near Vacaville? I like that area.

Dagmar, good luck at the farmer’s market. I’d much rather buy directly from the farmer. I totally agree with your argument against organic. It is impossible to stay away from the poisons but doing your best to limit access to them is worth the effort.

Allison, eeks on your electric bill. Did you need to take out a loan??? We have solar panels for our pool. I LOVE them.

Iris, nope, no way would I spend $5 on a head of lettuce. So far you all aren’t selling me on wanting a WF.

Becky, the ortho I is a shoulder specialists. Incredibly knowledgeable. I’ll have the MRI and decide after that point. I think I want to know what the problem is but I’m guessing I will choose to live with it as I had enough surgery this year.

Jessica, there is no way importing zucchini from Guatemala is cheaper than your local farmer. Did you ask the produce manager WHY? I think I would have. It doesn’t matter if the grocer is a national chain, they should be buying their produce locally when available to support the community they are taking money from. I know all our grocers have signs blaring where locally they purchased the produce.

Bargoo, one the WF name change.

Shannon, does DSS still have his food issues? If so, going to KDGN might help resolve that since peer pressure starts so early.

So this morning I was starting to write a list of everything that needs to be done before we leave for Minnesota on Saturday morning. Eeks, 2 days now sounds short when working both days.
Marie

[traveling michele]

Marie-- not too close to Vacaville but close enough to have been to the outlet malls there!

Scale is down a tad for the first day this week. Every other day it has been the same or higher than the day before. I'm hoping that it will start going in the right direction. I certainly worked hard enough at spin last night-- I don't think I've ever sweat so much!