Transformations have been occurring in our home ever since Jason and I watched "Food INC" on Netflix Instantplay. This documentary has created a whole lot of hype, so you have probably heard about it before.
If not - check it out now! [or maybe after you finish reading this post!]
I was a little disappointed with myself because, disgusting as it was to see the putrid insides of the meat industry, to hear the unappetizing truths about Genetically Modified fruits and vegetables, to see how the few remaining honest farmers are being bullied and run out of business by a handful of overgrown food corporations... I was surprised that I really wasn't all that surprised. It was like I had known or suspected some of this all along, just hadn't allowed myself to face the facts. This upset me probably more than any of the actually footage or information on the documentary.
On top of all of this, Mr. Baby turns 6 months old in 9 days, and his pediatrician gave us the go-ahead for solids! Doing some preliminary research before going grocery shopping, I realized how strongly I am committed to running my home with nothing but clean, wholesome, efficient energy. I want to give my little son the gift of radiant health.
One of the points made in the documentary is that the commercial food system has distorted our understanding of the real cost and value of food. Its so true - just think about it - when you live totally disconnected from the farm on which your food is raised, its easy to stand there in the Fresh Food section of Harris Teeter and complain about the fact that apples cost more per 1 lb than a manufactured, factory produced hamburger from a cheap drivethrough. You didn't raise the apples, and you didn't see them raised anywhere near you... you didn't have to plant them, protect them from pests and weather damages, not to mention pay lots of workers to pick them for you, clean them and ship them to stores. So its easy to forget that someone else did. It only makes sense the natural evolution is to find artificial ways to make genetically modified apples which can be controlled better by chemicals and made to look better and bigger.
Meanwhile, our society suffers from debilitating diseases and mysterious cancers. Nothing is free; seems to me you can pay for health now or pay the piper later.
My best friend gave me this awesome cookbook while I was still pregnant:
I just cracked it open yesterday - its awesome! Making your own baby food is so ridiculously simple and inexpensive, there really is no excuse for buying the preservative, artificial flavored jars.
I am so excited to be armed with all this knowledge and conviction about the importance of whole organic foods at the very beginning of my homemaking/mothering career!
I won't try to further go into all the many good arguments and facts revealed in the "Food INC" documentary... you should just watch it for yourself. However, I thought about it all alot as I shopped for our weekly groceries yesterday evening.
The hard part is that it requires changing a system; only the very wealthy can just buy the organic "versions" of all their favorite foods at the grocery store, and not have to lift a finger to change the way they shop or prepare their meals. For the rest of us, "going green" involves getting educated on eating in season, shopping at more than one store for your weekly supplies - i.e. the local Farmer's Market, giving up alot of that delicious, comforting, pre-packaged junk food we are so addicted to in our culture (the organic versions are okay some of the time, but are often just too expensive to justify - at least for myself!), and - most difficult - changing the way we prepare food.
For example - we used to live off of Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast. I could get it on sale almost every week, for so cheap! - and I had a ton of recipes I just rotated around with it. Super easy; and I didn't have to get nasty raw chicken juice all over my hands in the cooking process.
Now however, after doing some hardcore price comparing - the only way to economically go organic when buying chicken, is to buy it whole - yes, bones, skin and all [my last organic chicken even had a few tiny feathers stuck to the wing. GAG.] My big beef with this (oh the joys of puns!) is the nasty feel of raw meat in your hands as you tress it up and prepare it for cooking.
But do you want to hear the results? After about a month of gradually going organic in our diet, I hadn't really noticed much of a change. Until yesterday. I had to go to SuperTarget instead of my usual fave, Trader Joe's, and as I walked the aisles looking for some staples, it suddenly struck me - months ago, when I shopped at Target for everything, I would be so continually tempted to buy junk - ice cream, Oreos, chips, french fries, soda - you name it! Last night, I realized with delight that it hadn't crossed my mind once to be even tempted by these artificial foods! I looked proudly in my shopping cart as I stood in line - beholding nothing but colorful, natural goodness. Victory!!!
I want to keep sharing my triumphs and discoveries with living organically - if it is interesting to anyone besides myself! Give me some feedback, please! Also - feel free to share your own victories! :) I loved how one of the writers on the documentary put it: this is the only issue in which we get 3 VOTES EVERY DAY - breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Vote to change the horrendously disgusting factory food system!
Here is my Mr Baby enjoying his first "vote" to eat organically!
mmmmm yummy Brown Rice cereal!!
Labels: clean eating, organic, something good, wellness, whole foods
