I recently watched two documentaries on my streaming Netflix via my iPhone. – btw thanks for doing that Apple & Netflix…being able to watch movies on the fly will make my traveling and wait time that much more enjoyable! KUDOS!
I watched ‘Food, Inc.’ and ‘College, Inc.’ One was about the food industry and how American basically is beholden to a handful of Corporation for our food consumption. Our foods that are basically ‘shells’ of actual foods we used to produce normally, not like an assembly line. It also highlighted farmers – the traditional ones pretty much are non-exsistant due to large corporations using all types of methods to gain control over their market. One such company “Monsanto” owns 90%+ of the Soybean market due to the fact that they modified the soybean to be resistant to diseases natural and un-natural. It used to be farmers had their OWN seed, now since Monsanto owns the patent on the seed the farmers now own nothing. Any farmers caught saving seed are prosecuted and bullied. You need to watch this documentary. It’s eye opening.
The other topics the movie touched on was the healthiness of it’s food, safety standards – think the recent recalls of beef, eggs, greens…all based off these 5-6 companies disregard for common sense. Proper feeding techniques, housing, storing and the use of chemicals is amazing it’s allowed. They also dig into the D.C. political connections where they ladder of power of these corps go right into the White House, regardless of whose President. It’s always about Money. Always.
I’m certainly not a champion of change (see Obama) and I won’t be protesting with signs outside Big Business as I believe Capitalism with Conscience is what should be happening. Currently, our – god..I hate sounding negative — currently our Government systems and Big Business are one and the same. Us middle class people have next to no power or voice. Our Government is supposed to protect us from harm, illegal motives and listen to us. I think it’s too late for any change until something drastic happens in the form of a National or Worldwide * if it is Worldwide it HAS TO INCLUDE AMERICA otherwise we won’t care…* crisis like disease, global disasters, etc. Only then do the pragmatic minds come together.
Since the movie, I’ve changed my eating habits. inorite? While we already frequented the local growers and Farmer Market I plan to get MORE and ask questions about their food. We were already talking about getting 1/2 a cow…yes a cow…these are the kind that are raised on a local farm, local grower who graze the natural grass on their farms. Not corn fed, grain fed but grass fed Beef. No chemicals or enhancers. They will let you come to their farm and tour it. You can see first hand what you’ll be eating. Sounds a little weird yes, but I think it’s a much better choice than what’s in your local Wal-Mart, Hen House or grocer.
The biggest obstacle for us is price. It’s no surprise that fast food and theme eateries (Chili’s, Red Lobster, Red Robin) are less expensive to eat than a home cooked meal. When I can get a double cheeseburger, fry and a Ice Tea or $3.00 in less than 2 mins. my mind and bucks tend to go that route. You have to work for healthy foods. Pay 50% more on produce and meats. That certainly adds up. We did the ZONE diet last year and within 2 months we lost a combined 30 lbs but were broke. The ZONE diet is basically like any other diet except that you eat more Vegetables and Fruits. You can still eat meat, sugars but the proportions are almost 3:1 against.
One of the MOST interesting facts they showed– the relation to how healthy someone was, was in direct relation to how much money they made. The more money you made the healthier you were (since you can afford the Healthier foods), the poorer you were the less healthy and obese you were. That goes hand in hand with your personal health down the road. Diabetes, Heart Disease, Obesity – if your poor and not white your odds of being sick and unhealthy were almost 75% higher than Middle- Upper Class people. Makes sense. I’ve never seen a WHOLE FOODS on Troost. I see Popeyes, Churches Chicken, Liquor Stores, Donuts, Fast Food, Check Cashing and Pawn Shops. Go out to where I live – aka per Tony of Kansas City – “Golden Ghetto” and we have 3 Whole Foods grocers, Hen House has entire sections dedicated to Organics, yes we have Popeyes and Liquor stores and a few check cashing places but we also have Farmers markets (4) not including the one at the City Market. Tons of Health Clubs. Community Centers. Parks and Parks for Dogs…..
I’m getting off on a tangent. I do that.
My point of this blog post is to take an hour and half and watch the movie. Go to a Salad Bar vs. Red Robin (Yummmm). btw I fuckin LOVE BURGERS and FRIES…. and I’m certainly not pontificating that I’m going to change every eating habit overnight. I love chocolate. I love Pasta! I love Chick-Fil-A! I WILL shop locally for produce and support local farmers.
Old School 