This Is Honestly Good....Honest

...I cannot really explain why succinctly, but I really enjoy grocery shopping. In a Larry Dallas fever dream, it is said that it is a perfect way to meet women. In my experience, this has been anything but as I often find myself trying to squeeze past sweatpants-adorned haggard mom's with "Hot Stuff" written across the butt while they stare blank at differently-branded-but-nutritionally-similar can of green beans. If these trailblazers of shopping zombies aren't with child or children in tow, the econo-sized package of diapers is a dead giveaway that they are unlikely to be seeking their Prince Charming in the cereal aisle, let alone having that Prince be me.

When I shop these days, I make a fairly strong effort to steer most or all of my purchases towards natural, organic and non-GMO selections. In the past few months, I have been fairly successful at keeping my entire receipt full of these types of items. As some might say the jury is still out on GMO's, most health experts agree that the more ingredients contained therein, the worse the foods are for human consumption.

In my weekly excursions through the adventurous aisles of food and beverage, I am noticing more and more items from well-known multinational food corporations carrying claims of "All Natural" and "Real Ingredients". The obvious is that this benefits more people because as this trend continues, these higher end items will likely became more affordable to more consumers. This is obviously a good thing. For as punk rock as it might be to want to only buy from small food manufacturers, the necessity of food does not always allow.

The part that cracks me up is precisely those labels which I still believe broadens the issue of the importance of what is in our food. When I see "Real Ingredients" on a jar of Jif Peanut Butter or a Lean Cuisine meal, I am tempted to ask what that means for their cheaper options or earlier iterations of these products. It feels very much like an admission of guilt of once having rounded out the ingredients list with unclear chemical surnames that are actually just raccoon pelt shavings and grass bag dust.