So tonight David and I went to dinner with my parents. Before going, I decided it was a good idea to start watching Food Inc. on my instant play for netflix.
It. Was. Amazing.
I obviously have not had time to do ANY research of merit on this topic before being interested, but I feel this is a bandwagon I can jump on, research or not. I have included the website for the movie for you to see ( how do you get the trailer to show up in a blog?), but I urge you to watch the whole movie as well. It's only an hour and a half, but very informative.
I will give a warning on this movie. There are two scenes which caused me to cover my ears and close my eyes that take place in a slaughter house. When you start seeing a large quantity of pigs being ushered into a tight place, lock 'em up (even with my fingers in my ears I could still hear the pigs so volume off might be the way to go here). The other is slaughtering chickens, which I have actually seen in person so it wasn't that bad (I do love eating chicken so I have to understand it must die before I eat it)
This movie really made me start thinking. What has our country come to? I have always been the person who trusts whole heartily in the government that leads our great "free" country (which I use free very loosely, but that is for another blog) and never questioned anything. Well, with President Obama in office I am starting to ask a lot of questions. This is, of course, not because I am a conservative or liberal, but because I have started to realize our government is failing us, continuously. But again, that is for another blog (hey at least I'm not putting it on facebook right?)
Any way, the movie basically identified that CORN is the main cause of so many of our food related problems. CORN? Never would have thought.....
This super crop is what is responsible for mutant strains of E coli that are killing us. Corn is in everything now. The movie gives a few examples such as batteries, cheeze its, Twinkies, Velveeta etc that I would have never thought contained corn. Then I started thinking, "How would I have known that if I had not watched this documentary"?
Food allergies and it's implications on eating have always intrigued me. Over the past few years though, I have really started to take an interest in this topic because i have seen so many of my friends struggle with finding something they know will not make them sick. An allergy to milk, celiac disease and allergies to soy have really made me think about what we should and should not be eating. How have we let this get soo out of control that a government run agency such as the FDA looks the other way when someone makes a note of high levels of AMMONIA being in meat fillers used in many common restaurants you and I patron frequently. Ammonia used to kill bacteria from the scraps of meat left over from the cows. Bacteria that is now present because those cows are forced to live knee deep in their own feces until they are loaded into the slaughter house to become that wonderful beef tenderloin that is the center of conversation at your next dinner party.
This movie made me think. So now I know that I have been ingesting ammonia without knowing it (I know we need ammonia to live, but we are talking about more than is needed to live). What else have I been eating that I was unaware of? Why have I not looked into this before? Perhaps now we should start looking into this topic to answer the health care questions being asked, the questions of why our 20 something friends are getting cancers and other illness that have NEVER been present in humans our age before. Why cancer is running rampant in our country in general? What about mental health concerns for younger and younger children? At what level should we start to make a change with this. As a counselor should I start researching ammonia levels and pesticide levels in people with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia? Maybe.
Many (95ish%) of my consumers are on Medicaid and SSI (welfare). They have very fixed incomes which force them to buy the cheaper but less healthy items at the grocery store. My consumers are not unlike all of America now. Many of us are forced to cut back on things, but what about out health? Should I have $2.00 more for a chicken that is free range and hormone free? what about $1.50 more for the organic canned veggie that you usually fill your buggy with? The movie also goes into the explanation of why bad food is so much cheaper. We can make a stand with this now.
Alright, I think my hypomania is wearing off (I'm not kidding...I think I might have an issue here) so I will stop ranting for now. Maybe I will forget about this issue next week like I tend to do with things I think I can change and make a difference with. Or maybe I will stop at Jimmy Lows on the way home to pick up locally grown produce that is not affected by the recalls we frequently hear about, caused by the huge food operation that are contaminating EVERYTHING. I am going to attempt to make small changes with this. I am not saying that I will never eat at McDonald's again. For now though, I am going to hold off to see how it makes me feel.
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