I’m no stranger to the farmer’s market. After watching sick, fat and nearly dead I got a juicer and started my way on a juicing journey which cleared up my skin, reversed my new onset of carpal tunnel, and just gave me energy. It was my first time exposing myself to all different types of leafy greens, I never bothered to eat before hand. I wasn’t huge on fruit except an occasional pound of grapes or a rare apple. Fruits and vegetables were garnish on my plate not the main attraction. But that started to change when I started to bin watch every food documentary Netflix had. Show after show much left me wondering what am I left to eat if everything has a chemical or compound in it that I shouldn’t be consuming but yet taste so good. At the time, going to the farmers market was a new concept and overwhelming. I knew it would lead to canning, preserving, freezing and dehydrating if necessary for winter months. Every winter January through March, the farmers market is a barren apple or jar abyss. The colorful veggies that once were are gone for the season and it leaves me lost at the supermarket. Supermarkets give me anxiety just because 98% of food at the supermarket isn’t good for you. As a kid, I had my king’s share of cereal box consumption. As of late, marketers have introduced words like “all-natural” “organic” “non-gmo”, “farm-raised” etc. to make you feel better and pay more however it’s still laced with something. Just pick the lesser of the two evils if your pockets will allow. One experiment I did was avoid for 30 days with out high fructose corn syrup. It scared me half to death how I threw out half of my cabinet, had to stopped drinking artificial juices and start reading labels. I lost 5 pounds, my skin cleared up, and I wasn’t in a mental haze. After the personal challenge was over it stuck to my way of life but I compromise on my ketchup. Now sugar has over 80 different names and I try to keep up with them all by limiting my intake when I go to the supermarket.
Typical Names of Sugar
Beet sugar
Blackstrap molasses
Brown sugar
Buttered syrup
Cane juice crystals
Cane sugar
Caramel
Carob syrup
Castor sugar
Coconut sugar
Confectioner’s sugar (powdered sugar)
Date sugar
Demerara sugar
Evaporated cane juice
Florida crystals
Fruit juice
Fruit juice concentrate
Golden sugar
Golden syrup
Grape sugar
Honey
Icing sugar
Invert sugar
Maple Syrup
Molasses
Refiner’s syrup
Sorghum syrup
Sucanat
Treacle sugar
Turbinado sugar
Yellow sugar
Barley malt
Brown rice syrup
Corn syrup
Corn syrup solids
Dextrin
Dextrose
Diastatic malt
Ethyl maltol
Glucose
Glucose solids
Lactose
Malt syrup
Maltodextrin
Maltose
Rice syrup
Muscovado sugar
Panela sugar
Raw sugar

But this is the year when I say enough is enough and I want to change my lifestyle by making sure I get the best food possible. I’m currently researching starting a small little indoor ‘garden’ and learning how to make more things from scratch. Even though this will be long walk and not a race. It’s one step in the right direction.
