I have been doing a lot of reading lately about the food in our country. Watched Food Inc. and that really had me go from disliking meat to not being able to stomach it at all. I was eating chicken and now can hardly get a bite down. I remember to check labels on all proteins to see what country it came from... in recent news I've seen too much about the seafood products from China. I won't buy anything from there in any food item.
Recently just read "Grow the Good Life, Why a Vegetable Garden Will Make You Happy, Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise" by Michele Owens. Loved it! Owens talks about her own experiences in garden gives mostly her opinion why you should do it versus buying from a store, and even throws in a few facts here and there to back up her opinions. A quick and fun read that had me designing my dream garden. Now I just have to find a yard with a little less shade and a lot more area to do what I want. I do know that next year instead of trying to plant corn and tomatoes in my garden they are going in my front flower bed where the sun actually shines! The melons grew in the limited light but the tomatoes are just now getting ripe and I started those as seedlings in my front windowsill in the wee hours of April! The cold chills at night here will finish my tomatoes off while they remain green. And folks... I'm not a green tomato eater. Sorry.
I've been growing an organic garden since I put my first one in when I was 21. Ten years later I still get a decent crop of food without pesticides, herbicides, or artificial fertilizers. I did use some fertilizer in my garden last year because the soil in a home test came back completely neutral and it was a first time dig. Never had a garden at this house so it was a necessity to amend the soil. I've continued to kill weeks by pulling and scalding with boiling hot water left over from canning! I use newspapers and leaves to create mulch and with much success! Plus as they decompose I am finding a health touch of soil where clay only once existed. The house was a foreclosure and the couple that owned it was older... they did not get out and garden much at all before losing the place and the weeds had taken over everything!!! It is a work in progress on a limited budget as I am not working outside the home. But progress is being made!
We see articles by well thought of people such as Dr. Mehmet Oz (of Oprah fame), published in Time, "The Oz Diet, No more myths..." It was an interesting read. And yes, we all really should know this information. It's about the four food groups that were in the 1940s known as the "basic seven" and how we need to watch our intake of them in a balanced manner which is why we now have "MyPlate" instead of the food pyramid. Not sure if the plate is more appealing and if it will help me eat healthier vs the pyramid, but the point is...we need to watch how much of what we consume. So not only do we need to watch what we eat to balance our diets we need to watch what we eat so we don't eat things that will hurt our bodies chemically because they are artificial.
There are countless articles about food dyes, preservatives, etc... and how they affect us, our children, and the environment. Sorry I don't find it healthy to eat a pudding colored bright blue when it is chocolate flavored and to find that all foods that pass through you for the next 24 hours or so are dyed that same blue. Something doesn't seem right there!!! It is not natural! Which leads me into another article I think everyone should read. The September 2011 Women's Health had an article titled "Frankenfish, The Scary Way our Food Supply is Being Screwed With."
We have no clue what genetically modified foods will do to our bodies in the long run. We do know that since they have been permitted into our food chain allergies have double in a ten year time span. Now we are looking at the possibility of salmon being put through this process and served on our plates without our being made aware. We need to know what we are eating. Things need labels. DNA is a crazy thing to mess with. We know that the results while on the outside can be great... can also be bad. Think two headed sheep! Is GMO salmon safe to eat. I don't know yet, no one does. But I do know that I want to know if my fish is a GMO or not before I purchase it. Just like when I check the ingredients on a box of processed food. I want to know what chemicals are in there.
I may be a far was off from being a scientist but I can make observations and put the information that is available together and come to a conclusion. The efforts of American corporations to provide as much as possible as cost effectively as possible has become a greed factor at the expense of the health of American citizens. We cannot continue in this direction or we will as many are foretelling ruin our food supply and cause starvation. We won't have to wait for natural disasters to do this for us! Eventually we will make it impossible to grow anything from seed because nothing will have seeds in them, or Monsanto will own them all and you as well if you continue to support all their efforts here and abroad.
I know, I know. I'm not quoting things specifically. I'm basing it upon things I've read that I didn't keep in my possession but passed on, or that I saw online, or on television... but still it is out there and these are all ideas, issues, companies, etc... that we keep hearing about on a regular basis. What I'm asking of everyone is to make sure that they are informed consumers. You don't necessarily have to choose green/organic because it is expensive. But you can chose the companies you buy from based upon business practices. The dollar you spend for each meal is your vote. If big corporations have too much power in Congress as it appears they currently do since the USDA has no rights to deal with GMO foods...use your money to speak up. Stop buying from companies that are not being ethically, morally, and socially, responsible. We may not live to the day things go downhill faster then we can go up shit creek, but our children and grandchildren probably will. Think about the legacy you will leave them. Do you really want them to starve to death because you could only think of yourself now?
Sorry if I come across a little harsh to those of you that are already trying to be responsible. But I'm hoping that the rest of you get that little nudge to move in the correct direction!!!
If you have a great article, book, video you think I would enjoy please let me know. I devour all good reads and use them to inform my little world!
