How Come My Food Makes Me Sick?

I watched a movie the other day called "Food, Inc.".  Have you heard of it?  Check your local video store or internet rental.  I was at a major membership warehouse chain the other day, and they had it for sale.  Good movie.  It talks about how and why food is produced in America.  How many of you out there read the labels on your food items?  How many of you will start by the end of reading this?

Everyone has heard about corn syrup, especially high fructose corn syrup.  Well how about dextrose, maltose and maltodextrin?  These are also sweeteners that are derived from corn.  Then there are the starches.  Modified starch and unmodified starch, corn starch and tapioca, all from corn.  All of the aforementioned items are found in such a high percentage of our food, every time you open a soda you just broke open an ear of corn.  Every time you eat a snack cake, you are eating an ear of corn.  Every time you feed your pet, you are feeding them corn.  In fact, the food you give them contains many of the same ingredients that are also found in chemicals and poisons used by different industries.  How many of you have vehicles that run on ethanol?  All from corn.

So.  We eat beef that is fed corn.  We eat chickens that are fed corn.  We even eat fish that are fed corn.  Huh?!  Fish that are fed corn?  I didn't know that Mother Nature grew corn in the oceans and rivers also.  A cow's stomach is specifically made for processing grasses.  Because of the demands made by the beef industry's largest clients, aka the food industries, the beef growers feed their cattle corn.  Corn makes the meat grow quickly and abundantly and corn is cheap to buy.  Why is corn cheap?  Because our tax dollars subsidize the farmers who grow it so it can be sold cheaply to the food industries. 

Now the speed at which something grows directly effects the health of that thing and is relevant to the type of thing that is growing.  Plants grow quickly.  Plant a potato in the winter and by spring you'll have new potatoes and before summer you'll have bakers.  That is normal for a potato.  Cattle, and other animal types, naturally grow slowly.  It takes time to develop strong tissues and such fleshy masses.  A human takes 18-25 years to come to adult maturation and then continues on to peak years later.  A cow's average life span, if properly cared for and fed a nutrient-rich diet suitable to their needs, can live for 20-25 years.  Heifers will happily and healthfully produce milk for their calves and at the end of their life, they will happily and healthfully supply their caretaker with meat and other valuable resources.  A dairy cow's average life span is about 4 years.  Their bodies are considered too drained of valuable nutrient qualities to make it any higher up the food chain than hamburger or dog food.  The dairy cow is impregnated through artificial insemination once a year to ensure a constant flow of milk and when the calf is born, it is taken away from the mother within a day or so.  Female calves will soon be producing milk right next to their mother and males are sent off to live in a confined space so that they cannot move much.  Veal is much more tender when the meat hasn't been roughed up, didn't you know?  They are fed low nutrient diets to keep the flesh color as pale as possible.

When we take a look at all of the facts about where are food comes from that we buy in the markets and how that food is produced, packaged and sold, we begin to realize why we are a nation of bad health.  You don't have to go through the drive-through to eat poorly, just walk in to your neighborhood grocer and buy a meal prepackaged or a 6-pack of beer.  Heck, go up to the butcher and ask for a pound of hamburger.  Large chains don't usually grind their own burger so the butcher doesn't know what went in to the mix. 

What can you do to ensure your health while eating?  There are two things.  First, start reading labels and educating yourself as to exactly where your food comes from.  For optimum health, you should be eating locally produced vegetables, meat and meat products (cheese and dairy, etc.).  Know how your local farmers are managing their farms and what kind of feeds and products are used in the production of their output.  I am lucky that I live in a place that has grassy grazing lands up and down the coastline.  A large local dairy producer uses those lands to graze their cattle.  This company is very reputable in the treatment of everything they manage from the cattle to the employee. 

Second, and this will be easier if number one is done, eat seasonally.  Part of the reason why food is grown and distributed the way it is, is because of our demands.  Damn the first person who said I want fresh strawberries in January.  There was a time when people ate what was in season because that was what was available to them.  Otherwise, they knew how to preserve food that they grew, so they could enjoy it out of season.  Now all you have to do is go down to your local grocer and see what flew in from South America.

I hope for this to be the first of a long series of posts related to the health of our food and ways to eat better.  Please share any and all comments you have.  For more information on the facts used above, use your favorite search engine and look for "farm cattle life span" and "corn by products".  Thanks.

The information contained herein is not intended to diagnose or treat any condition, nor to insult or demean anyone or any being. Please respect this boundary. Otherwise, anything goes.