Eat REAL Food, part one

If you haven't seen the documentary "Food, Inc." yet, you must do so. I urge you to see it, because it will change the way you think about, buy, cook and eat food, forever.

Our society today has been hoodwinked. Our nation's food supply is not nearly as safe as we think it is. When we think about eating healthy, we are programmed to think in terms of "low calorie" and "low fat". But the reality is that since we've been trying to eat a low fat diet, we've gotten fatter, and that fat extends to the rising cost of medical bills. Yes, eating right and the cost of health insurance DO go hand in hand.

Michael Pollan, the author of "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and "Food Rules", among other titles, points out the as the cost of food has decreased for Americans, the cost of health care has INCREASED exponentially. Coincidence, one might say; but, then again, think about the old adage, you are what you eat.

This means really, if your diet constantly supplies you with an intake of anti-biotic rich, hormone fed chicken, then the chances are that those anti biotics and hormones are making their way into your body. Tyson Foods, Perdue Foods- the two largest poultry suppliers in the nation, refuse to allow any media access to their chicken farmers. They don't want us to see the manner in which their hens are raised. After you watch "Food, Inc.", you will understand that most if not all of the commercial chicken farming relies on anti-biotics, growth hormones and horrific conditions for the birds. So I put it this way, since everything in our society always comes back to baseball: If we object to baseball players taking growth hormones to improve their home run hitting skill, then why do we accept a hormone injected chicken on our dinner table?

And as a word of professional advice: DO NOT BUY prepackaged, preformed hamburger patties from your local supermarket. If you really crave a hamburger, then do it the right way; spend a little bit more, go to your favorite butcher, and request that he grind you hamburger meat fresh from grass fed, hormone free, naturally raised beef. Preformed, frozen and even "fresh" ground beef from your supermarket mostly comes only one of six major slaughterhouses in the United States, with very little FDA oversight and inspections. The chances of contracting e-coli food poisioning is a little like playing Russian roulette with hamburger meat. The same goes for fast food burger joints; where do you think McD's, BKing and Wendy's get their burgers from? Naturally raised grass fed beef? Check out the book "Fast Food Nation" or even see the film version. You'll think twice about the drive thru.

This is the first post of more to come in a series to raise awareness of eating REAL food. What's real? As Michael Pollan puts it, don't buy anything your grandmother wouldn't recognize. Another great rule of thumb is if the ingredients has a list of words a five year old can't pronounce, then chances are you shouldn't buy it, much less eat it.

Shop for fruits and vegetables that are IN SEASON. Buy chicken that is naturally raised, hormone free and antibiotic free, and fed a vegetarian diet. Buy beef that is grass fed (cows naturally eat grass, so why do ranchers insist on feeding cows corn? Perhaps our government subsidizes corn farming? Hmmmm...) Visit your farmers markets. You will be healthier and your cost of health care will go down, and the food you cook and eat will TASTE better. I promise.

And that's the view from my table.