I am trying to eat healthier. I am constantly picked on by friends for not buying “organic”. Ever since the whole ‘organic’ wave began hitting regular grocery stores, not just your Whole Foods or Trader Joe's type stores, I have been more conscious of where and how my foods were grown, not if they were labeled properly. I have never believed the label of ‘organic’, not from the get go. Not when you stop and read the fine print, which gets finer and finer w every passing year.
Many organic products can be labeled ‘organic’ and still have been exposed to pesticides and chemicals and who knows what else, under the letter of the law. It all depends on whether the government wants to look the other way, or call some chemical a ‘good’ chemical or not—good can mean it shows negligible trace amounts in the foods or whatever.
Long have I watched too many people fall for labeling and governmental approval, without taking responsibility for themselves or their families…and later when things really began to crop up, when other people noticed and brought it to the world’s attention, the lax people stepped back and blamed the labels, blamed the government, blamed whatever and whomever, except themselves. We no loner live in a world where we have that luxury. We have to take responsibility into our own hands.
Have you seen the trailer HERE for the movie Bananas? This is about Dole, you know good ol’ Dole bananas, being brought to trial in the United States for the deaths of workers in Third World Countries, workers who died after being exposed to the chemicals Dole sprays on its bananas, chemicals that may or may not be legal in the US…
Do you think that it is only Dole who does this? Anything labeled ‘organic’ that comes from another country may have been exposed to you may never know what…no matter what anyone tells you. Do you think government officials or whoever tests the foods that enter the country have time –or the inclination—to test each and every fruit, vegetable, piece of meat, what have you that enters the country? Much less that which comes from this country?
Do you have that capacity, to follow each and every single operation to the exact specifications of your training and job duties, every single moment of every single day? Without taking any short cuts? Some people may actually be able to say yes to that…and I applaud you. For the rest of us, it is not even a dream, since we are so overworked.
Do you Dole is the only one who does this sort of thing?
Self-education is the key, because if you think someone else is going to hold your hand and tell you how bad things really are, when the government is making money hand over fist, when the corporate giants are making money hand over fist, and the people in this country feel powerless to do anything at all about anything—you have another thing coming.
Have you even heard of Food Inc? View the trailer HERE. One thing I do love about this trailer is it points out we as consumers are NOT powerless. We managed to change the tobacco industry; we can do the same w the food industry—and we have so much more at stake w the food industry! The Food Inc site offers a reading list…check it out here.
Learn about how food used to be grown in this country versus how it is grown now. Here are some statistics.
Want to compare your current food budget w the budgets of other countries? Here is a start.
This link was sent on, described as a long article, about eating to save the environment. Although I am not part of the raw food movement, I do understand and support what they do…and there is a great deal of sound information here.
You want really simple? You want something even the every day man who has to work for a living to feed his family can sit down and read and understand? Greet the Lorax of Dr Seuss fame. He has been telling his story for quite awhile, but of course, no one ever listens, until it’s too late.
I live in St Louis, where thrives the great Monsanto, genetic influencers of seeds. The great business who sues farmers who has crop fields near their fields where Monsanto GM corn pollen blows into the farmer’s fields via the wind…among other things that I won’t even touch.
My point is: educate yourself. Find out where and how your food is grown. Grow your own food when and where you can. Buy local.
All the normal rants and raves ….
This from me, a person who strongly believes that in its pursuit of trying to build the bigger/better/bestest race of all things, be it foods or vaccines or whatever, the government is going to kill us all…and then sit back and look for someone to blame when it is clear they themselves were in the wrong all along.
I have spent too long, not just reading my history books, given to me in a public school environment with the really good parts of the story missing (usually), but paying attention to things that have gone on around me, and around the globe.
That’s just my own two cents worth there.
