Madly Madly Green

I just finished reading Eric Schlosser’s “Fast Food Nation” and I’m feeling awfully queasy! It’s not just the graphic descriptions of conditions in the slaughterhouses, or even the the idea of meat being riddled with feces that can kill people. What I am feeling ill over is the absolute corruption and lies within the food industry, and the seemingly equal deceit being promoted by government agencies that were created to protect us. I’m not going to get into details or yell and scream about what I’ve learned from this book or the food industry related films I’ve watched lately. What I am going to do, is encourage everyone to check some of this information out yourselves. It goes way beyond what we thought we already knew about how bad processed food is for us, or how badly livestock is treated. Read (or watch) and weep. I can’t see how you won’t.

On a more optimistic note, your journey should also shed some light on a little hope. There are indeed people out there who care and who are doing things the right way. There are farms who are completely sustainable without the use of engineered fertilizers, feed and pesticides, that are producing good, organic and really healthy foods. There is also you. As the film “Food, Inc.” states, we vote every time we go to the grocery store. I’ve you’re scanning junk at the checkout isle, you’ll keep seeing junk on the shelves.

I leave you with a list of books and films that have inspired me to rethink my habits and to place much greater attention on my family’s health—as well has the health of our earth. If I can influence even a single person to take a look, I have done something right.

Film:

• Food, Inc.
• Super Size Me
• Fast Food Nation (read the book first for the movie to make sense)
• Killer at Large: Why Obesity is America’s Greatest Threat
• Fresh (haven’t seen it, but looking for an opportunity to)

Reading:

• Fast Food Nation — Eric Schlosser
• The Omnivore’s Dilemma — Michael Pollan