I just got done watching Food Inc. I know lots of my more food conscious friends were lining up to see this because it's a great thought provoking movie that will really make you think about what you eat. Some people have been said they converted to vegans after watching. I honestly wasn't interested... yeah we know our food is less than where we live and we should eat better but really in our little tiny town in Kansas how are we supposed to do that? And with our lack of income how am I supposed to pay for it? So I didn't bother and kept on getting our cheapo meats where I can and buying some organics when I can find them, reading labels occasionally... Really, taking the lazy approach to what we as a family consume and really confused on what to do!
This movie really got under my skin in a good way! It totally pissed me off to see how big corporations treat farmers, workers, animals and with total disregard to the consumer! My Grandma and Grandpa are wheat farmers. Grandpa Stan passed away in 2007 from nonalcoholic cirrhosis. In the 70's he was known as the Anhydrous King dipping his bare arms in giant tanks of anhydrous ammonia. He lost all the pigmentation in his arms from doing so because at that time no one knew that it was that bad for you and that is what's going on our food. Now you can't tell me that his entire body was not effected by those chemicals and in turn you can not convince me all these chemicals are not passed to your food. In the past years they changed their way of farming to a more self conscious way not using harsh chemicals on their crops. But that's not the only problem farmers face! What about those seeds? Hum guess what? They all come from the same company. Really! As Food Inc points out soybeans... the 'all and mighty great source of protein' all comes from one company... well okay about 90%. Also those farmers who buy all those seeds (genetically engineered seeds)... well at the end of the year they are not allowed to keep any of them. Yes the most cost effective way of farming by keeping your own sown seed stripped away by one giant company because of patent infringement. So why not just keep them? Stick it to the man and save a few bucks.... well sadly that could potentially cost them their farm not something those families can afford to loose.
But how does this effect our food? Why should we care that one company has a hold on the seed? Because they have the power over the farmer and the consumer. They decide how that seed is engineered what goes in to the basic make up of all the soybean products. And this is the same with all most all grain, beef, pork, chicken, vegetables and fruits!
So my Grandma has been telling me buy organic meats, grow your own garden, stay away from soybean products. And I really really did take it to heart but there's something about seeing it in that makes you think 'yeah that hamburger from the store really is from about 100 different cows'. How hard would it be to go to our local butcher and buy some hamburger from one cow? Who didn't live in a giant feed lot of E-coli. How hard would it really be to support our local farmers at farmers markets and buy their fresh produce? We have a local one here in our little town who organically farms and sells her produce, why can't i buy hers instead of buying it from Brazil or Mexico?
This has always been a great debate within myself on what to do best and now that's over. The bottom line is I've been lazy about my choices and that has to stop. My children already have the cards stacked against them with a family history of Diabetes, Auto Immune Disease, Weight issues and more. Their only defense to all of that is what I.... I!!! put in their mouth! Yeah it won't be easy because that's what's sold at the grocery store but it will be worth it! My goal is to get more whole foods in our home, less processed foods, foods without an ingredients list a mile long. And to find a cost effective way to do it! So now we just DO and SEE! No more wait and see just doing.
