Where the heck is my food coming from?!

Pin It Now! I've been into documentaries lately.  I love them actually.  And tonight I watched Food Inc.  If you haven't seen it you should. Why?  Because it will open your mind to a whole new way of thinking about your food and where it comes from.  I've briefly seen videos on youtube and from PETA about the cruelty towards animals raised for food, but honestly I didn't take it too seriously.  It seemed like dramatic, biased information.  And maybe to some extent it is, but with good reason.  I plan on doing my own extensive research, but after watching this documentary I am shocked and disgusted by the treatment of animals.  Chickens and cows are not the cutest animals to ever exist and they both definitely stink.  But they're living creatures!  The people working for these corporations must have no soul.  Seriously. 

Chickens are kept in "houses" where they never see the day of light in their entire existence.  They are given antibiotics to make their breasts larger and to make them grow in half the time, as a result the chickens can barely walk two or three steps.  These were examples of chickens raised by a Tyson chicken farmer.  I will never, EVER again buy Tyson chicken.  If I continue to buy their product I am supporting that treatment and in a sense "voting" for supermarkets to continue to sell that product and condone such cruelty.  I refuse to support an organization that is so repulsive and clearly has no ethics.  That is just my personal opinion and hopefully I don't get sued as a result. 

Another disturbing fact mentioned in the documentary was the laws set in place to protect the corporations, NOT the consumer.  In the state of Colorado you can go to prison for criticizing the beef that is grown there.   What the hell happened to "freedom of speech"??!  Yet it's ok for people to have a say and opinion about the holocaust never existing or for white surpremicists to have opinionated, hateful websites?  Oh....that's right.  There is no money involved for those kind of opinions.  It's bullshit.  If there is information known by the government or food producers that would dramatically affect a consumers decision, then those are opinions that deserve to be spread.

Something as basic to survival as food is now consumed by greed and legal jurisdication.  It just seems out of control.  It makes me wonder if a lot of the disease and health issues that are worsening in our country have anything to do with our diets.  I know I have read articles linking diet to autism, but I honestly haven't done any research on it.  In the documentary one woman's 2 year old son went from being a happy healthy toddler to dead in 12 days because of e coli from a hamburger he ate at a restaurant.  He ate the burger on August 1 and the USDA didn't recall the beef until August 26 (even though they knew the batch was contaminated there were laws at the time that wouldn't allow them to recall right away).

As a parent it is ultimately my responsibility to be as educated as possible in everything that can affect my kids.  I can not control everything and I know there will be things that go wrong, however why not prevent bad things if I can?  I directly have control over the food my family eats.  Given that fact I am responsible for knowing where that food came from and what is in it. 

It's going to be annoying and time consuming to overhaul our lifestyle, but right now I feel commited to doing so.  Given Mr. Wright is a health nut he is on board, which makes things easier.  Until I can find quality sources of organic meat, we aren't going to eat it.  No more chips.  No more juices.  No more boxed cookies.  I have a major sweet tooth right now, so I'm going to have to figure out healthy ways to get my fix.  I know it will take time before we can fully eat the way I want, but I am taking the steps to get there.  I really want a garden now.  So here is to a new lifestyle change.  Day one starts this weekend... problem is  I have some meat in the fridge and freezer right now and am torn on what to do.  I don't want to waste it, but don't think I could stomach it right now either.  What to do, what to do.

I'll probably just start tomorrow.  Which means I have lots of researching to do on food products.  I plan to do a few research based articles on this topic, so stay posted!