This week I started a 30-day nutritional cleanse. The first several days have been great. However, there have been cheats; I'll call them "leftover cheats." When my sister and I would visit my mother's parents, my grandmother would say, "Finish what's on your plate. Think of the starving Armenians." One visit, my sister and I pointed out the the Armenians had been killed our scattered to the wind and so now it was the starving Africans. Now my grandmother admonished us to think of the starving Africans when we sat down to eat. Every time I eat leftovers, so as not to waste food, I hear my grandmother's words. Since my daughter is going through a phase (I hope) where she won't eat leftovers, I snuck them as the "snacks" on the cleanse, to prevent wasted food. Then I cleaned out my pantry. I recently learned that I am not intolerant of yeast, cow's milk dairy and eggs. I rid my pantry of offending items and ones past the expiration date. Talk about waste! There were several unopened boxes, jars and cans of food items that my grandmother's words sounded like shouts in my head. Then I realized that I don't need to look beyond my hometown to find starving/hungry people. It is shame that in a country that boasts the "American Dream", free public education and free speech, that there are people who go to bed hungry and/or show up for work starving because they can't afford groceries. To off set my waste, I will make a donation to a fight hunger organization to help those right here in the USA. I will also be more conscious of what I buy when I food shop. Since sugar is out for me too, I don't need to replace the past due box of gluten free pie crust to make my famous Bourbon Pecan pie.