I need to admit to something...
On Friday...
I ate...
Kentucky Fried Chicken... :(
Yuck! Yuck! Double, triple yuck!
Friday night we went over to Nat and Steve's and we all decided to order KFC. Not the smartest choice (no kidding), but it was something we were all craving (except Jeff, he hates KFC). So we decided to get the family deal thing and share it. After eating it, we all felt pretty disgusting. I think I had about a pound of grease on my hands and face. As the night went on, we didn't feel any better. All night I had cramps (so bad that I had a hard time sleeping). I know Steve and Nat felt the same way. Alexis complained of a stomach ache. It was awful. Steve made a comment on Facebook about never eating it again, and someone commented back about taking a look at a documentary called Food Inc. I love documentaries in general, I especially love them when their about a topic that I'm interested in (food). So last night I downloaded Food Inc. (which I think might be illegal, so don't tell anyone), and Jeff and I sat down to watch it.
What a terrifying film. Jeff and I were both enthralled by it. Probably the best documentary I've ever seen. It's insane to think that we don't even know what we're eating. I've read Skinny Bitch which talks a lot about cutting meat and processed food out of your diet, but it's a completely different story when you actually watch what happens to your food. From seed and 'farm' to supermarket, it's not the journey we all imagine. Food Inc. is directed and produced by Robert Kenner. Robert talks about this veil, this curtain that is dropped between the shrink wrapped products in the stores and where it really comes from. Most companies still use these beautiful pictures of farms and farmers, of hand milking cows and of people churning butter by hand, when in reality, it's so far from the truth, it's terrifying. Food Inc. hits on too many issues to go into detail in here, but if you want to visit the website it's posted below. After watching the movie, Jeff and I have decided to make conscious decisions about what we eat, and where we get our food. I started doing some research last night, and came up with a couple of different places in Ottawa where you can buy anti-biotic free and free range meats, pesticide free produce and hormone free dairy. There are actually quite a few. Ottawa has it's very own farmer's market at Landsdown that I didn't even know about. I've attached a bunch of links at the bottom of this blog to better explain the difference between organic and not organic. Even if you don't care about animal rights, I think you probably care about what your eating. Between the pesticides, the antibiotics, the growth hormones and the bacteria, you might want to take a look at what they do to your body. Buying local isn't only going to help out our local farmers and our local economy, but it'll will greatly affect our health.
http://www.foodincmovie.com/ - Food Inc. Movie website
http://www.ottawafarmersmarket.ca/ - Ottawa's Farmer's Market at Landsdown
http://www.stonyfield.com/ - Organic Dairy sold at Walmart (one of the few truly fantastic organic companies.)
http://www.foodrevolution.org/grassfedbeef.htm - explains the problems with corn fed beef.
http://www.polyfacefarms.com/default.aspx - Even though this company is in Virginia, their story is amazing. The amount of work they put into fresh farming is impressive.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin's_law - This talks about Kevin's Law (which I'm sure most of you have heard of). Even though it's American, Kevin's Law will most certainly affect Canadian food.
http://theorganicchic.com/blog/tag/kevins-law/ - Blog about Organic Food/Food Inc./Kevin's Law - Fantastic blog!
http://www.farmersmarketsontario.com/index.cfm - Farmer's Market's all over Ontario. Local, fresh products, made close to home.
On average, the consumer feels pretty powerless about what they eat. Most of us feel that we are stuck eating whatever they put in our stores. In reality, the exact opposite is true. Every time we go to a store we vote for organic or not, for pesticide free or not. Walmart has started changing what it's selling because of what their customers have voted for. If we can change a huge conglomerate like Walmart, we can make anything happen. If we as consumers were able to change the tobacco industry, we should be able to do the same for our food. We need to take a stand and demand safe, healthy, fresh food from the beef, dairy, pork and poultry industries.
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have you ever heard of the 100 mile challenge? its very similar to what you are talking about except for the fact that you can't eat anything that is not from within 100 miles of you. See if you can download it. Its not a movie its a series. And its about how a certain amount of families go on this 1-- mile challenge and see what difference it makes to your life and you meals. Basically it boils down to the fact that they throw out everything in their cupboards that isn't made within 100 miles.. so no sugar no salt no pepper no canned foods no candy no nothing. and they have to figure out how to make their own stuff. Now i would never be able to do this but some people actualy have im serious.. if you liked that documentry then check this series out it will blow your mind on how they do it.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad you watched this documentary, it's fantastic! One of the guys you see in the film a lot is Michael Pollan and he is really great. He has several books out which I have found really inspiring.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that I really try to stick to is to only by dairy and meat from animals that are pastured, this means they get to spend most of their time out in the pasture rather than locked up.
The dairy products are so much tastier and so much healthier when cows get to eat grass instead of corn. Plus it's better for you because you get the nutrients they got from the grass instead of more corn which is in almost everything with an ingredients list.
I'm totally ranting, but I feel so much healthier now that I am eating food that is the way nature intended it to be. You should definitely go to the farmer's market. I love going to them! There is so much produce and roasted vegetables are delicious. I think I kind of forgot how good real food (not junk food) tasted until I started going to the farmer's market and seeing movies like food inc and reading books like those of Michael Pollan's.