Happy Memorial Day! I hope you enjoy the holiday and remember the sacrifice of so many people so that we can enjoy it! I know that you will. And while you’re having your cook outs and picnics let me just say a few words about food….
Uuuuuuuuggggggggggghhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!
Well, guess that was just one word. 😉 I’ve been reading and hearing more than I want to about food these days. Well, maybe not more than I want to since I’ve been the one doing the digging, but it’s certainly more BAD news than what I want to discover!
As I’ve mentioned (several times you may recall) we’ve been trying to move our family over to a more healthy eating lifestyle that excludes pretty much most processed foods. I’ve felt pretty good about that actually and it’s going well. The kids LOVE fresh fruit and will gladly chomp down an apple or cutie or banana for their “snack” and don’t even know they are missing out on all the unhealthy sugar/dyes/preservatives/chemicals in fruit snacks and peanut butter crackers. Yay!!! Stu and I have been listening to an audio book called “Fat, Sugar, Salt” and it’s about the way that the processed foods industries have basically sold their souls to the devil sucked the American public in to buying TONS of their processed “convenient” foods by adding exorbitant amounts of sugar, salt and fat. It’s actually pretty enlightening because it sheds light on the idea too that most of the packaged foods that are labeled as and generally accepted as “healthy” are nothing more than brilliant marketing schemes and are no more “healthy” for you, and sometimes worse, than the other processed foods that they share the shelf with. *sigh*
Dishonesty really bothers me. I mean, you’re going along through life trying your best to raise your family and be healthy and the very foods that you think are helping you out are really just a box full of lies and nasties. 🙁 No likey!!!
So with that little fire lit under me I started to do a little MORE digging. See the audio book just kind of confirmed what we’d already been thinking with the whole processed foods thing. But I’ve been seeing lost of stuff about the GMO produce that is so rediculously popular in our country. I’ve known about GMO’s for a long time of course, but was naïvely thinking that for whatever reason those foods would be labeled with a BIG skull and cross bones GMO sticker or something. Ha ha, not so saith the trixy farmers and the completely inept congress that we are stuck with! No. It doesn’t have to be labeled, or listed or anything! Zilch, natta, nothing.
Apparently some GMO’s do have a tell tail sign on their PLU stickers. You know the little stickers you have to peel off your apples and stuff before eating them. Here’s the clue: If it’s a 5 digit number that begins with 8 it is a GMO, run for your life!!!! If however the 5 digit number starts with 9 it is organic, that’s good. And if it’s a 4 digit number it is “conventionally grown” which means it has likely been exposed to pesticides, BUT it isn’t GMO. For what it’s worth. The thing is that those stickers are “optional” for the produce people. So you may or may not even find one on the food. *double sigh*
So all this time I’ve been thinking that I was making healthy choices for myself and my family by eating more “fresh” foods, and most likely we’ve been eating genetically modified food. And if you’ll read THIS article you’ll see why it’s probably not a good idea. Too bad congress can’t understand scientific logic though because apparently they passed a bill (read HERE) that would protect the companies that create genetically engeneered crops from people like ME who are rather riled up about all this garbage that they are feeding us… ha ha, just kidding, I’m not much of a threat, but I did sign THIS petition and you can too if you dislike the idea of GMO’s invading the crisper in your fridge without your consent. 😉
Anyway, so that’s what I’ve been spending my brain power on for a few days. I was going to cook up some corn on the cob but after reading the likelihood (corn is one of the biggest GMO’s) that they were indeed modified I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Pretty sure my “deal” of 4 for a $1 won’t get me heirloom corn. So they will be going directly into the compost bin. *sigh*
All I want is good food…. is that too much to ask?
Stu is building us a green house as I type. He’s awesome that way!