**This post is part of the Get Real series. Please remember that this is meant as a learning community. We know that many of you are passionate about what you do and we want you to express that, just please do so in a way that will be an encouragement and aid to others making a transition. We want this to be a “safe space” for participants to learn. For that reason, we reserve the right to delete any comments that are not handled in this manner.
This week we challenged you to take some time and watch the movie Food Inc. Have you had a chance yet? It’s not too late! Once you’ve seen it, come join in on our discussion, or come by our Facebook Fan Page Night THIS Sunday at 9:00 PM EST. ***This event is now over.***
Please keep in mind these are our PERSONAL thoughts and notes, and we want to encourage you to come up with your own views and opinions from what you saw. We want you to have your own conversations about how these issues will affect your life. Here are a few things that Tricia and I took away from watching the film:
Kelly’s Notes:
I personally have watched it several times, and each time I watch it I learn something new and become inspired all over again about why I’m on this journey.
- The majority of Americans have no idea where their food comes from. And most do not care to know. Is ignorance bliss if we have such an obesity epidemic?
- The average chain grocery store has over 50,000 products to give the appearance of variety and choice, when in fact there are a select few behind all brands.
- Most if not all processed foods have some sort of rearrangements of corn or soy (or both) bi-products.
- Corn is a cheap and easy-to-store staple. Corn farmers in the US are simply providing for the demand because it’s a commodity crop that is heavily subsidized.
- Corn is being scientifically created to be fed to cows and fish, who by evolution eat grass and insects alike. Causing them to have multiple health issues and increasing the need for antibiotics etc.
- Our government agencies who are in charge of protecting what we eat are in fact being paid by many food lobbyists.
- It appears cheaper and more convenient for families to eat fast food and highly processed foods than whole and real foods.
- Food poisoning is on the rampant rise and becoming even harder to control and determine the source.
- Store-bought and fast food ground beef is being combined with a filler washed with ammonia hydroxide to prevent E. Coli outbreaks.
- Chickens are being engineered to produce bigger breasts for the high demand for white meat.
- Chickens are also being engineered to grow twice as big in half the time since 1950.
- Joel Salatin is a revolutionary man when it comes to best farm practices.
- Interesting to compare farm-direct foods from store-bought when it comes to bacteria etc.
- We CAN change the system! “We vote with our forks three times a day, and each time we are at the grocery store.”
- Cooking meals at home and eating at the table is a huge first step in the process.
- Eating one meatless dinner a week can change how you feel and the impact on the system.
- “Eat food (means to eat real food — vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and, yes, fish and meat), mostly plants and not too much.”
Tricia’s Notes:
I have known about this movie for quite some time but had been avoiding watching it. Perhaps it was because I knew I would want to make changes in my life afterward and wasn’t quite ready? Perhaps it was because I thought I knew what I needed to know about the food industry? Whatever it was, I was wrong for not watching it sooner. Or at least I am finally glad that I did.
The first time I watched it was about 3 months ago as we were doing some planning for this series. I had some downtime, and I felt like it was “time”. I had been waiting on a time I could watch it with my husband, but in the end decided to watch it on my own and not wait for him. Waiting for him had become another excuse not to act.
My initial thoughts were that I loved the movie for being a look into the situation without being super pushy about what choices I should be making after watching it. Really, they don’t ever say, don’t do this or you must do that, they just present you with the state of affairs, legislation, and our system and I appreciated that. I don’t like being bullied or manipulated into believing something.
I walked away deciding to make a change in some of the sources where we got food; however, I knew the battle to get my husband on board would be difficult, and I wasn’t sure how I was going to do THAT! So I decided on some immediate and simple changes and hoped that as we headed into 2012 I could get him on board as well. Since all of you were watching the movie this month, I managed to talk him into it as well. So we sat down a couple of weeks ago and watched it together.
Again, it was another eye-opening look into our food industry and it was exactly what I needed him to see to get him on board. After watching we talked about the most important aspects to each of us and decided on some changes we both wanted to make in our everyday food habits and purchases. I am excited to finally have him joining me on this journey. He still has a lot of questions, but then so do I. So with you, we will spend some time learning together these next few months. And if I ever get lazy about this journey, I am just going to pop in that video and watch it again!
Your Thoughts?
Now it is your turn, in the comments section below – what did you get out of watching the movie? If you wrote a blog post about it please feel free to leave the link.
January Get Real:
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