I had an 'A-HA" moment...

Ok, so have you ever watched Oprah and seen how she is always commenting on how she has "A-HA" moments. Well I was watching her show on where our food really comes from, and I had an "A-HA" moment. I am going to obviously blog about the show but here is the link so that you can read the transcript from the show including pictures. http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/The-Truth-About-Food-with-Michael-Pollan

So basically the show goes into the "Farm" production of food like Chicken and beef and the vegetables we eat, and where they really come from.

When we walk through the store we are sold on visual lies. We see pictures of quaint little farms with the big red barns and "Happy Cows" grazing in a pastuer, and chicken pecking in a fenced but free roam area, with no care in the world. We like to see this image, it makes us feel like everything is right in the world, or at least with our food.

But it is NOT! Michael Pollan reveals in his documentary "FOOD,INC." where our food really comes from. He reveals how we have become so demanding that chickens are no longer aloud to grow the ussual 3 months before they become our healthy sunday dinner. Instead they are pumped full of steroids and antibiotics and growth hormones so that they are "mature" enough for the slaughter in a mere 33 days. All so that we can have chicken for dinner every night of the week if we wished.

Now I have no plans to become a vegetarian, but I literally cried when I saw what happens to these chickens when they are forced to grow so big so fast. First they are jam packed into a sunless, damp and dirty chicken coop with feces deep on the ground and hardly an inch to move between themselves. Then they are fed growth hormones and steroids for rapid growth and antibiotics to try and counteract their dirty enviroment. Then they grow so quickly that their internal organs and their bones can't keep up with the amount of fat that they are forced to carry around. They struggle to breath and are unable to take more than two or three steps before they have to lie down again.

I still believe that these animals are here for our needs and sustenance, but I also believe that they should be given a full life for the amount of time they are alive. It breaks my heart that these chickens know nothing but a miserable existence. I know that this isn't how God intended them to live!

Cows too are forced into rapid growth, same as with chickens they are fed growth hormones, steroids and antibiotics. But they are mainly fed corn with only bits of grass mixed in. Cows are made and meant to feed on grass. Corn holds no caloric base for cattle, but fattens them quickly. Thusly they become sick quite easily and thus the reasons for the antibiotics.

Humans use only 3 million pounds of antibiotics a year, while 28 million pounds are fed to our livestock!

Back in the seventy's the top five beef packers controlled only 25% of the beef market. Today the top 4 beef packers control more than 80% of the beef market. They are deciding how our food should be raised and in turn are pretty much deciding how we are going to eat.

It's not just our livestock, our vegetables are being subjected to chemicals and pesticides, you wouldn't dream of eating let alone feed your kids. Tomatoes for example have been reengineered to grow quickly, they are pumped with growth hormones, sprayed with pesticides and then picked while still green. They are then shipped to your stores distribution center, where they are sprayed with argon gas (one of the main ingredients in rat poison) so that they turn that red color that tells us that they are supposed to be ripe. So if you have ever wondered why a store bought tomato has a weaker flavor than that of the home grown variety, now you know why.

There are no seasons in our American grocery stores! Now a days what would have been "out of season" even 20 years ago, is available at you nearest grocery store. Now I am not knocking on our import, export system, but at what price are we really willing to pay to have strawberries, tomatoes, and grapes all year long?

In the last 50 years we have reached great strides in the production of food, but we have also reached unthinkable hieghts and growth in food caused illnesses, such as type 2 Diabetes and morbid obesity. The occurance of cancer has also grown ginormously in the last 50 years.

The food industry will try to tell you that all these chemicals they are feeding our livestock and pumping into our vegetables is not transferable to us through what we eat. But think about it, they kill off entire herds of cattle because one cow gets sick with the "mad cow" disease. Even if none of the other cows were sick, they would kill them amyways for fear that that bacteria or virus would become part of our food. So what's to keep those chemicals from sticking around and embedding themselves deep into our meat and vegetables.

Or you could think about it this way. As a woman you are told not to breast feed when you have been taking drugs (prescribed or otherwise) that might be dangerous for your precious child because even a trace amount could get into your milk and hurt your child. Who's to say that it is not the same for our cows and what they are fed.

Now you are probably thinking "Crap! Now what am I supposed to eat."

Of course an obvious alternative is to go organic. "But that is so expensive" you say. And it is true, it is expensive to go organic. Oprah followed a family who was at the grocery store discussing what they were going to eat. The mom said that it was more convienent and cheaper to buy two already made humburgers from a fast food resturant for a dollar than it was to go to the store and get only one pear for that same dollar. SO the natural tendancy is to turn to the junk food aisle, and grab a bag of chips.

"A lot of what you see in the supermarket I would argue is not really food," Michael says. "It's what I call edible, food-like substances."
"We spend less on our food than any people who have ever lived, than any people anywhere on earth—9.5 percent of our income."
Michael goes on to say, "When I was a boy in nineteen sixty we spent 18% of our income on food, 5% of national income on health care. Fast forward to today, 9% of our income on food, 17% of national income on health care. The less we spend on food the more we spend on health care. Who would you rather pay?"

Here are three of Michael Pollans rules to eating and buying food (from his best selling book "Food Rules")

#1 Don't buy anything that your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.
ex: Portable Yogurt tubes, is it toothpaste? is it food? How do I get into my body?...

#2 Only buy food that will eventually rot
ex: little spongy cream filled yellow cakes wrapped in celofane that are just as spongy five years after you bought them as they were the day you bought them.

#3 Only eat junk food you make yourself.
ex: Homemade french fries are good, but how often are you willing to go through all the trouble of making them. Maybe once a month or every few weeks.

Well, I am sure that I can go on and on about the show and what I learned. I hope you learned something as well by reading this. Now about how this is going to help me in my quest for skinny. I am going to be way more careful about what I choose to eat. Knowing that processed food is the leading cause to obesity and cancer and type 2 diabetes, will help me choose more wisely.
My family has also made a pact to try and eat more organic food and natural foods. As a family we are going to start to "lean in" in to more healthy alternatives to sugar and "lean out" of the unhealthy state of our current food decisions.
My mom once told me "Knowledge is power" and I truly believe that!

Now just one more thought to leave you with before I go.

Isn't it funny how since the no-fat, low-fat kick started we as a people have gotten fatter!

Thanks for reading!
Sincerely, Aimee