Catching up with Fooduciary (Part II): Shot in the Arm

Ok, so I left you hanging on our way out the door to New Zealand from Utah.

We loved New Zealand, and would go back in a heartbeat. There are too many great things about New Zealand to write about here. As far as food goes, we managed to eat pretty well in line with our ideal, but we had a difficult time finding much in the way of health food stores. While there was always a huge variety and large amount of produce, it was discouraging not to be able to find any organic food anywhere for most of our trip.

We got to Auckland, and unfortunately had a very bad eating experience at their First Vegan Restaurant (at least that’s how it was advertised). It was a Chinese restaurant, and while we usually find vegan restaurant options to be healthful as well as helpful in our need to avoid dairy, this was just wrong. Even though we stopped eating half-way through our entrees, we both felt very sick from it and it really slammed me via the arthritis – by that night. As it’s stressful to be traveling and trying to eat the way we do anyway, and sometimes we just let ourselves go hungry (which often inspires some grumpiness), we were just plain frustrated. We were disappointed at the idea that his place may have been New Zealand’s best attempt at a restaurant option for healthy eaters. The next day we went straight for a little store called the “Gluten-Free Grocer” that we’d noticed on our bus ride the day before. It was a great store with some great products and yummy snacks. The very nice clerk there put us on to an organic store in town, and that was paradise. Even though we couldn’t stock up with any more food than what would last thru our flight to Sydney the next day, we were thrilled with the great find.

In our short two days in Sydney we were able to find a great neighborhood called Glebe that had a few health food stores and even a healthy café chain that was delicious. If we had a few more days for more exploring, we would have found several other great places. Sydney was really nice.

Perth started off a little more difficult. Internet searches brought up very little for any kind of organic stores or even healthy restaurants. I did find a café that supposedly had vegan and gluten-free options, so Brad and I went to check it out. It was a café inside a small book shop. The food was decent – we ordered a smoothie and asked the cashier if she knew of any organic food stores or restaurants. She told us about a store downtown that we’d already visited and been disappointed for what we were looking for. Then the magic happened. As we turned away from the cashier, Brad noticed a book lying on the counter (out of place in the book shop). He picked it up – it was about food in Perth. It had a healthy eating section, which was a gold mine of information. I pulled out a pen and some paper and copied down the info for about a dozen stores that sounded like they were right on the money. We’ve had a great time tracking each one down and checking them out.

At one of the shops we picked up a flier advertising a meeting to discuss a local GMO issue. We were so excited to be able to attend it and get a feel for what the thoughts and concerns of the locals were on a topic like GMO.

So we’ve had some great pick-me-ups to help keep us motivated in our efforts to eat healthfully. What do you find helps keep you going with healthy eating or anything positive you’re trying to accomplish in your life?