Food

As a cook, both home and semi-professional, food is huge to me. I have been having a huge dilemma for several years about where the food I eat, cook and serve comes from. I'm a firm believer in buying locally and yet I don't follow it to a "T". Because we are a family of limited means with many mouths to feed I have to compromise. I don't want to do that anymore!

As consumers we tell farmers what we want to eat. Right now we are settling for what is given to us, unfortunately, and I think it's because many really don't know what they are feeding us. There are several things I’ve always had trouble with, but watching Food Inc. yesterday put the nail in the coffin.

1. Corn fed cattle should NEVER be an advertising campaign! Corn fed verses grass fed is no comparison. Corn fed cows are fat meaning the producer (not farmer) gets more for their money. You know what else they get? E. coli O157:H7. Cows have a wonderful digestive system with 4 chambers giving them the ability to eat grasses. Corn IS a grass, but they only feed the cows the grain. They need GRASS! If we fed all of the cows on feed lots grass over a short period of time they would shed 80% of the E. Coli and be healthier cows and healthier food. This is their NATURAL food. So that "All Natural" Beef you think you're eating is anything but!

2. Monsanto! Look it up. Go to their website see how awesome they make themselves seem. Then find the truth. You won't tolerate monopolies in energy and technology companies but you will with your corn and soy products which go into pretty much ALL processed food. You should try to avoid processed food as much as possible. I am guilty of eating and feeding my family processed food. I plan to change that. Oh and Clinton and Bush thanks for lying in bed with this company. I hope it was as good for you as it seems to have been for them!

3. That nice LARGE juicy chicken breast you're about to dive into came from a genetically modified chicken (unless you bought it organic then you man carry on). They are bred to grow bigger breasts and to grow larger in a shorter amount of time than a chicken should. Hormones, antibiotics etc course through their systems at a large rate. These chickens grow so large so fast their organs and bones cannot support them. The chicken you eat spends the majority of its 46 day or so life sitting in its own feces on the ground. YUM! A chicken house can hold thousands of chickens. What are the odds that when they collect them you get one that ends up on your plate that was ill? Very very good odds. Have fun eating it now!

4. McDonalds can suck it! That's all I have to say!

5. Want to see how many times they rearrange corn in the food you eat? Find out all the different ingredients corn is TURNED into (genetically modified) and then read your labels. It's in just about everything and your government controls it. It even fills that meat you love so much!

6. Veggie Liable Laws???? WTF??? I'll go to jail! I don't care. The government protects these industries to the point that you cannot speak out against what people put into their bodies. You have got to be kidding me!!! People can talk crap about our President more openly than they can about these producers. Hmmm something is wrong with this picture!

7. Everyone let me repeat that EVERYONE deserves healthy food. It's obvious we are always going to see the "haves" and "have not’s.” But a family shouldn't be able to buy greasy, processed, nasty hamburgers cheaper than organic, natural food. This is unacceptable!

We have a say America! Just like the movie said you cast your vote for what gets produced by what you take across that scanner at the market. Demand better for yourselves, you families, Americans and the world. Big companies want you to feel powerless against them, but you aren't.

Here are a few things you can do to put the power back into your own hands.

1. The healthiest food in the market is in the produce section. Eat seasonally (tomatoes in winter??? NO!) Also eat organic. Spend the extra money on that instead of that pedicure ok? Those toenails don't do your children any good.

2. Don't feed to your kids or eat cereal that changes the color of the milk. Bad bad bad.

3. If it comes from a plant eat it

4. If it grew in a plant or lab avoid it. NO MONSANTO!

5. Plant a garden whether it’s huge or patio sized find a way to plant the produce you like best. Bigger is better, but whatever size you can do is better than nothing so get out there and plant something beneficial.

6. Eat all the junk food you want as long as you make it yourself. This was in the interview I watched yesterday. No, junk food isn't healthy, but if you make your own French fries from potato to plate you'll most likely eat them less than if you pull them out of a bag or worse go to a fast food restaurant. You wash, (peel) cut, fry and it can be a process. It's the same for any food.

7. If you are going to eat a processed food, stick to foods that have only 5 ingredients or less.

8. COOK!!!!! This is the easiest way to take back control of what YOU eat.

All of these come from Michael Pollan's book “Food Rules.”

Many of my family and friends know that this is very important to me. I try very hard not to shove propaganda down your throats, but I cannot stand by and watch people I care about continue to consume something that sustains our lives that has been transformed into unrecognizable products. It's bad for you. It's proven.

Here are some of the things we plan to implement here in our home.

1. We already grow an all natural garden. This means we do not treat with sythetic fertilizers or pesticides. To extend this we are growing it larger this year using a new method to help us grow more and feed the soil so it can sustain us over time.

2. Since I do love beef and other meats I need to research where, in our food shed (100 mile radius of your home), I can find organic grass fed beef and other organic meats or naturally grown at least.

3. That being said I am cutting meat down in our diets. We eat meat everyday with just about each meal here. That's not necessary nor is it healthy. 90% of what we eat daily should be vegetable based. I'll be working on this.

4. Bake more bread from whole wheat

5. Find healthy snack recipes and make them here for the kids (anyone have a dehydrator they want to unload??)

6. Sorry kids but your Lucky Charms and Fruit Loops have seen their last visit to my cupboards.

7. Can from our garden, eat seasonally and eat organic as much as possible. There is a list out there of the 12 worst foods to eat inorganic. I will find that list and those will be the ones I INSIST are always organic.

8. We do not eat often in restaurants, but we will be doing it less. This one is hard for me because I work in a restaurant. I’m not sure what to do here on this one.

9. Buy fast food! This will be hard because I love the convenience and boy do I love the taste sometimes, but I won't take it and I won't feed it to my kids. Not anymore.

10. I plan to research more and share what I know. I've never has any trouble sharing that I'm a Christian and what that means to me, so I will use that same idea here. This is very important to me, my family and the future my kids and grandkids etc. will see.

We can change the world one voice at a time. I just added mine!