We Are What We Eat! So . . . What Is In Our Food?

I had a chance this past weekend to watch the movie "Food Inc." for the second time. And, let me tell you, it was actually MORE disturbing than the first time I watched it.

For those of you who haven't seen the movie, let me summarize in six words: OUR FOOD IS REALLY SCREWED UP!!

The movie makes the case that our national food supply has been governmentally influenced, corporately manipulated, financially exploited, and irresponsibly marketed to the point that it is, in large part, not fit for human consumption. All parties involved, from the regulators on down to the consumers, have failed in the area of creating a healthy and sustainable food source. And our nation is paying the price of this failure in disease.

One sequence of the movie talks about the average cost per calorie that has been flipped on its head over the last 20 years. You can actually go to a fast-food restaurant and buy a double cheeseburger for less than a buck. You can't buy a head of broccoli for a buck, how can you buy an entire hamburger?

We have completely skewed our food to cheaper "bad calories" in junk food. Much of this problem is tied directly to subsidies that are offered on commodity crops (wheat, corn, soybeans) that are used in nearly EVERYTHING in the supermarket. The subsidies have allowed these commodity crops to be sold below the cost of growing them, and the flood of cheap material has resulted in some very clever new uses of these materials in food. Just think about how many products high fructose corn syrup is in now? Seems like just about everything, right? It is cheap, it is really flexible for use in nearly any type of product, and it is REALLY BAD for our health. I have seen multiple studies that point out this one ingredient as the main contributor to our national obesity epidemic, as well as the skyrocketing rate of adult onset diabetes. Cheap to use. Easy to use. Poison to eat.

It is pretty easy, as an individual, to feel powerless when looking at this giant problem with our food, and at all of the giant entities involved. But the truth is the exact opposite! As consumers, we are incredibly powerful! We get to vote several times each day on which foods we want to put in our bodies. Food that we don't eat can't damage our health. And food that we won't buy will be replaced, eventually, with food that we want to buy.

There are several things that you can do today to build your health, and to send a message that you want healthy foods.

-Supplement your diet with healthy nutrients to avoid deficiencies.
-Detoxify your body quarterly to rid it of harmful toxins.
-Drink plenty of water to hydrate your body.

And, courtesy of the Food, Inc. official website:

-Stop drinking sodas and other sweetened beverages.
-Eat at home instead of eating out.
-Go without meat one day a week.
-Buy organic or sustainable foods with little or no pesticides.
-Protect family farms, and visit your local farmers market.
-Make a point to know where your food comes from - READ LABELS.

My best wishes for a happy, healthy life!

Wallace