On black Friday, the consumer world that we live in goes crazy. I willingly was dragged into the hype by my husband, who has been after a few big ticket items, mainly a TV. We currently don't have a TV and I would be happy if we never have a TV. (Youtube plus an occasional movie on the laptop is good enough for me). Of course, being married, it is OUR money and he wanted my input on preferences: size, plasma vs. LCD vs. LED., budget, etc... We had our budget set, and he was deciding between a larger, poorer quality TV or a smaller, better picture quality TV. All weekend all I heard was, "Dot, What about THIS??" or "daaang, check out this one!! We should get this! No, wait, its not what I want." Back and forth all weekend. I humored him because I know it's a big change, us jumping into HCRV lifestyle, and it puts an $100 dent in our pocketbooks every week.
My husband is probably 50-70% raw vegan, depending on the day. He eats what I eat by default (It's whats for dinner!). He acknowledges the health benefits and clearly notices the difference when he's had a high-raw day, however he unfortunately does not empathize with the environmental or ethical impact of the diet. He still eats SAD when we go out to restaurants and at the in-laws. I make him cooked vegetarian dishes weekly, sort of as a compromise. He definitely respects me for doing HCRV 100%, but is in denial that he can do the same.
So what does shopping around for the best quality for your money TV have to do with eating the diet that is best and most suited for you as a human?
Well, as we were discussing the TV issue, I had an epiphany. I said, "Mike! What the heck!? $400 for a 42" LCD TV or $400 for a 46" plasma??! We are talking about a moving picture. We are comparing what used to be the best with what now is the best! If this were 2 years ago, plasma would have been a huge splurge! Nobody had any complaints about plasma UNTIL the ppl who make tvs were all, 'ummm, plasmas are outdated. They reflect lights. Come by our newest TV, LCD, no reflections! Brighter, sharper images!" Who says so?? They do! Because they want your money! A plasma is a perfectly quality picture..the only reason people need to buy tvs is because the people who make tvs keep on changing what is considered 'the best.'"
K so maybe this is a given. My husband just looked at me (he's a business major), laughed, and said, "well DUH. Its called MARKETING." tu-shay.
I've thought about that a lot recently though, and how it relates to diet. Stay with me.
Back in the day, way back in the day, people ate raw food. They lived in tropical places, plentiful with fruits, ate to their hearts content, stopped when they were full. Then people began, for whatever reason, to migrate. They moved to colder places. They didn't have a steady residence. They were now required to hunt and gather for their food-this was the next best option. Ok. Now fast forward to the days when dehydrating meats and cooking stews became "the thing" to do. Wow! suddenly people could be enjoying the meat that they had killed months previous! Food preservation because a huge motivator, as well as diversity in what they could make that cooking offered. Skip even more to the future, and we have the invention of canning! That completely took off, and soon thereafter came grocery stores filled with shelves of cans, jars, and OH LOOK a freezer isle! Somebody figured out how to creat an ice box that keeps food fresh and, OH now we have a microwave to re-create that dish whenver you wish! And lastly of course, came Dominos Pizza, freshly delivered to your doorstep. You don't even hafto walk five feet out of the house.
So that is basically a mini-explanation of how the food that we eat has progressed. Now, ask almost anyone and they would say, yeah eating packaged, restaurant, gourmet food is great! Its convenient and delicious, if nothing else. It is, lets say, the LED 51" TV that my husband fantasizes about. The only reason he fantasizes about it is because it EXISTS. Before LED technology was around, my husband fantasized about Plasmas. There was no way that he could have guessed what the latest and greatest TV would be, because THAT WAS the best.
Ironically, pros and cons wise, I would argue that NO TV is infinitely better than the biggest, best TV out there. I would also argue that our ORIGINAL DIET, that of fruits and veggies, is infinitely better than all the take-out, restaurant, convenience food out there. It may not be convenient to have to figure out ripening-times of bananas, but its a lot more convenient to grab a banana on the go, crap it out an hour later, and reap the energy, compared to grabbing a pop-tart, feeling sluggy, and keeping it in your colon for a week. Maybe it's a stretch, but I see the connection quite clearly. Simplify.
