Last week I walked into The Outpost Natural Food Coop, my new favorite place to eat lunch in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin (called ‘Tosa by the locals). Desiring something different as a beverage, I reached for a Root Beer. Sitting down to enjoy my lunch, the label on the soda bottle caught my eye. (PLEASE CLICK ON THE TITLE ABOVE TO CONTINUE READING.)
|
“Here’s the thing: And then it continued, almost as a dare: “Go ahead, turn to the ingredients list. So, naturally, this got me thinking about how many ways there are to fill in this blank: “I care about what I put in my body, but dang it, I really love ________________”. Chocolate, wine, caramel macchiatos, Mom’s meatloaf, tacos, pizza, Wisconsin cheese, yada, yada, yada. This list is infinite. What I realized is that we don’t have to sacrifice forever the enjoyment of consuming what we have come to love to eat… it’s all about how we respond to the challenge. My new friends at Wisco Pop admitted that it took innumerable test batches. They worked hard at it, with determination. Can you imagine how frustrating that process must have been, and the horrid taste of some of those early potions? But in the end they discovered an answer. The question for each of us is: how hard do we really work to find our own answer to these dilemmas? Or do we just take the easy way out - ignore it or defer it. “I care about what I eat and I know it’s important, but I really love ______________”. Yeah, so? What’s your next thought – is it an excuse, an admission of weakness, or is it some determined effort to find a workable solution, a way to compromise? Try a few different approaches, get creative, establish your own version of ‘test batches’. Then get to work. The final answer doesn’t have to fit everyone, just you. In the end, that’s good enough, dang it.
*with apologies to my friends in South Jersey who have likely never heard me use such an expression as “Dang It”!
|