And so I returned with two heavy shopping bags on Friday (boerenmarkt), and two more on Saturday (Natuurwinkel). I doggedly refused to calculate what I spent; all I know is that it was A LOT. I guess one of the reasons why many people drop out of detoxing their lives, is that it isn’t cheap. Sadly, unhealthy, mass-produced, toxic foods offer the cheapest (and easiest) way of living.

Admittedly, I gave up several times before, simply because my financial situation temporarily wouldn’t allow getting all my groceries at the biological supermarket. Once back in the habit of shopping at Super de Boer, convencience (close) and habit would take over. I would still buy biological milk and yoghurth, but that, for a long time, was as eko as it got.

Detox advocates argue that you save on all the unhealthy stuff you cut from your diet, but I’m not sure it quite balances out. The barren fact is, that junkfood is awfully cheap, even if you buy lots of it. On the bright side: part of what I bought this weekend were non-perishables such as wholegrain rice, coconutoil and herbs. The weekly refill will mainly be fruit, vegs, fish and some dairy. Besides, Boele Ytsma twittered a very useful tip: the newsletter of Biologische Aanbiedingen, which lists the special offers of all supermarkets, and you can simply scan the list for the offers at the supermarket where you shop.

But there are other concerns. I never used to plan ahead, for example. Having the supermarket so close at hand, I would often decide what to eat around five, walk to the shop and get what I needed. Not wise now. And what do I eat in between meals? Say, the times when I used to have ‘ontbijtkoek’, ‘beschuit’, cup-a-soup (poison!) or crisps?
Oh dear. And I haven’t even started yet ;)

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