I don't think we're in Trader Joe's anymore, Toto.
For the last two months I've almost exclusively shopped at the local farmer's market and Trader Joe's. (Yes, I know I'm ridiculously lucky that way.) I've gone into a chain grocery store but for like one or two things and didn't actually walk around.
Anyway, (at Target of all places) I found these great Kashi bars that I love (basically fruit and whole grain with nuts. So good, yum.) and was almost out. As Trader Joe's generally only carries their own stuff I figured, what the hell I'll go to one of the local chain grocery stores.
Oh.my.god, can you say "culture shock". At this point it was like going to a different planet. A planet where there's a giant display of Mallomars in the produce section. Seriously, mallomars. How the HELL are those even related to produce? I mean, sure the places I have been shopping have end displays but at good old TJ's it's mostly things like a new kind of organic applesauce or maybe chips and salsa. It's never freaking empty calorie crap.
It's so hard to shop in a regular grocery store if you're looking for things that are healthy. For those of you on my buddy list who do so, I really give you crazy props. I went down the aisles and couldn't even begin to tell you the number of things I picked up thinking they'd be okay only to put back because the second ingredient was high fructose corn syrup (seriously, the SECOND ingredient) or because there was nine billion chemicals in them that I couldn't decipher. I was looking for simple things, cereal/granola/fruit bars that I could throw in my bag and take with me to school and work.
I started going down the cereal aisle thinking that's logically where Kashi bars would be. Kashi cereal, yes, no bars. But hey, there's a big honking display of Pop Tarts and chemically flavored oatmeal type product. (I don't even think it's actually oatmeal.) Then ended up going up and down trying to find them and was struck at the layout. Yes, the local store stocks some more natural products, but they're a tiny segment of the aisle with the other stuff. For example, if you want baked chips you have to look for them in the aisle where HALF of the stuff is candy.
The granola bars, incidentally, are the other side of the cookie aisle. There's your typical HCFS crap, but I did find a few natural/organic ones without strange ingredients in them. The Kashi bars I wanted btw? Buried on a bottom shelf behind a freaking box display. But hey, if I want slimfast bars those are easy to find.
After finally finding my snacks, I figured I'd pick up some laughing cow cheese as I love it on a bagel thin in the morning. So I go to the dairy aisle, and I start looking, I spot the babybels (which it's usually next to) but it's not there, I go down. There's some random bread (no, I don't know what the hell it was), cookie dough, this buffalo "cheese" dip crap (which I didn't even know existed) and some south beach/atkins/ww stuff. No Laughing Cow. It's possible it might've been in the more gourmet cheese area but I doubt that.
Seriously, what the hell does this country eat? Processed buffalo cheese dip? Stuff with HCFS as the second ingredient (and that was some kind of granola bar)? Random frozen crap? No wonder our obesity rates are completely out of control.
The sad thing is, this is the grocery store I used to shop at ALL.THE.TIME. This is where I did probably 80% of my shopping. I can't see myself going back there again. I was completely horrified.
I know I'm probably coming off as a complete harpy, but seriously. I never realized how absolutely horrible 90% of the crap being sold in grocery stores is. The other thing that amazed me is that I had absolutely no desire to buy any of that stuff being heavily promoted. There would've been a time that I would've at least looked at the Mallomars and I'm sure I would've probably picked up that buffalo cheese crap. I had absolutely no taste or desire for any of it. Instead of feeling enticed, I felt repulsed.
I have a friend who's very into organic food. Like if we're having a party he'll be the one who's bringing the organic chips. For years, I laughed at him not understanding why anyone would buy organic chips and thinking it was all a gimmick. I used to tune him out when he went on about organic food (which was a lot) but for the first time I completely and totally understand where he's coming from.
Is this a normal step on the journey? Have any of you experienced this state of complete repulsion about certain foods? In the last week I've sworn off fast food and major grocery stores. All I can think of is the food lobby stuff I read in "Don't Eat this Book" and all the marketing info I know from my MBA classes.
I'm going to go find some vegetables. I feel like I need to cleanse my body.
ETA: These are the bars I was talking about. They must be new because I had to add them to the database
Kashi TLC Fruit and Grain Bars