Both Sam and I are cautious of what we fuel our bodies with. The majority of our grocery cart is filled with items from the produce aisle, and this past summer we even grew our own food (100% organically). Having said that and knowing the unhealthy chemicals today’s famers spray on our produce is overwhelming and a shocking thought, so when we can Sam and I try to buy organic or in-seasons items.
After watching Food, Inc., I have to admit the raw facts certaily put a lot into perspective. Honestly, I can’t quite wrap my brain around the fact that people would rather be rich than healthy. Regrettably, I have always known (and can only imagine) what goes on inside meat factories, but it is one of those things where you know what is going on and choose to do nothing about it.
I don’t know about you, but it’s time for a change. Everything we buy and purchase is based primarily on supply and demand – from what we buy to how it’s produced. People want bigger chicken breast, tender meat – hey let’s give it to them. People want food to be cheap – hey let’s start taking out the good stuff (like vitamins and nutrients) and replace it with cheap chemicals and hormones until eating is based solely on our desire to feed our taste buds rather than fuel our body (beause eating a cheese burger at McDonalds is better than eating a healthy salmon dinner – NOT).
Food, Inc. fact - chickens in today's farms are pumped so full of hormones to make them grow bigger that they can't even stand up, and dozens of chickens die each day as a results.
On occasion Sam and I have purchased our meat from smaller farms that choose to raise grass fed animals. A few weekends ago Sam, and I went to the Schenectady Famer’s Market to stock up on grass fed meat. Our grocery cart:
1 pasture raised T-bone steak 1.65 lbs
1 pasture raised boneless Boston butt pork roast 1.16 lbs.
2 pasture raised chicken breast with bone 1.58 lbs.
1 package of pasture raised maple bacon 1.07 lbs
Total cost: $87
Honestly, I don’t think our wallets can afford this every time we buy food or dine out because the market economy just isn’t there yet, but I will say that every time I put something into my mouth I’m going to remember where it came from and how and why it landed on my plate.
• In 1972, the FDA conducted 50,000 food safety inspections. In 2006, the FDA conducted only 9,164.
• In the 1970s, the top five beef packers controlled about 25% of the market. Today, the top four control more than 80% of the market.
• The average American eats over 200 lbs. of meat a year.
• 70% of processed foods have some genetically modified ingredient.
• 1 in 3 Americans born after 2000 will contract early onset diabetes; among minorities, the rate will be 1 in 2.
• E. coli and Salmonella outbreaks have become more frequent in America, whether it is from spinach or jalapenos. In 2007, there were 73,000 people sickened from the E. coli virus.
So, when you go to the grocery store and you see the cashier scan the bar code (or when the cashier stupidly asks you what kind of mushroom you have because there is no little sticker with a number on it) – remember a little electronic waive goes from the bar code into the computer; then into a database; and a report probably prints out and says “hey more people are buying the organic portabella mushroom and not our pesticide mushroom; then those rich unhealthy asses who grow our food will say ‘hey people want organic.’ And maybe someday, the market economy will supply us with more healthier, (cheaper) organic meats and produce because we ALL want to be healthy, am I right?
One Response
December 7th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
To be fair, the pork roast was 3.65 lbs and good as hell!!!
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