You are what you eat (or don't eat?)...

Many of you know that in the past couple of years I’ve become increasingly aware of what food I like. Not to say that I’m a picky eater in the normal sense. I love trying all sorts of new foods, and to that respect I’m very open. What I am now rejecting quite emphatically is all the garbage that the FDA allows to be in our food. Food used to be simple, not pumped full of preservatives, hydrogenated oils, and mounds of salt. It has now become difficult to go to a normal grocery store and buy foods that haven’t been bastardized by additives, many of which would not exist outside a lab. America’s children are getting fatter, there are all sorts of new ways of getting cancer and heart disease, people are getting more stressed out, and people everywhere are complaining about not being “in shape”. Well, right, they’re not in shape. And it goes beyond food, but food is a big part of it. I saw a statistic on tv last night that stated less than 25% of American children eat a home cooked meal at dinner time. People dig boxed up fast foods over cutting up a vegetable or baking a loaf of bread (neither of which take much time at all, by the way). This particular program was actually focused on school lunches, which in most places are a disaster health-wise. But not according to the FDA. America proclaims how wonderful it is in all facets of life, but in many areas we are content in setting the bar dangerously low in the name of economic efficiency. I say cut it out! Support your local food co-op/health foods store (if someone in your town is smart enough to run one, and enough locals smart enough to keep it in business). Or if you live in a larger community, check out Whole Foods Market. Sweet place. Buy organic, or at least natural foods. Your heart will thank you, and you’ll even find that you actually feel the difference in your daily routines. I’m not just blowing off steam, I’ve found it true in my own life. And yes, I know that buying organic foods is actually negative to the area I’m living in (tons of factory-style farming happens in the Red River Valley), but you know what, just because something is good for the economy doesn’t automatically mean it meets the greater good of the people, and the earth that my grandchildren someday have to live in. I’ll stop ranting for now, but the point is, I think people have reached a dangerous point in their eating, and it’s not at all hard to see. Change it.