All the RAve - the RAnts of RA

You are what you eat!

Going to the grocery store in recent days has become an extreme act of faith and it's this author's opinion that this is just the beginning of things to come. Companies like Monsanto are intent on corrupting our food supply.

To be honest I wasn't overly concerned with the Spinach recall; I don't care for it. In fact, I can't even stand the smell of it, so it's never served in my home. Ok, I'll fess up, I don't eat tomatoes either, however, this issue hits closer to home because ketchup is made from tomatoes and so are many other products we use regularly.

A search turned up some interesting videos about the growing of corn; a huge controversy regarding seeds and growing conflict over who controls the food we buy. Our family has been following the raw milk issue in California very closely. As someone who grew up drinking farm-fresh, pure straight-from-the-cow milk, I'm a firm believer in the tremendous health benefits of drinking natural milk.

I still can't get the hang of calling milk "raw." I've always thought of milk as real and natural. We don't say I'm going to the store to buy raw eggs or raw onions. The stuff in the store is processed; it's processed food, just like that nasty Macaroni and Cheese you buy in a box from Kraft Foods. We know it's bad for us, but our kids just love it. I hated buying Blue's Clues Macaroni and Cheese - that stuff just looked nasty - but my son claimed he loved the strange looking stuff. Processed milk has had all the benefits of milk killed - it's dead!

I would be the last person anyone would call an environmentalist. We all know they are extremist, left-leaning whack-jobs that have too much time on their hands and not enough to do. But I no longer live on a farm and unless I want to try growing a pot garden (vegetables in pots, not marijuana), I must shop for my foods at the grocery store. I was shocked to learn that the US is one of only four or five countries that do not require the labeling of genetically modified foods. What?

I am outraged. I am frightened and discouraged. Our children are going to be left with a world that is not only sick from the effects of pollution, but of the long-lasting results of intentional tampering with their natural food supply.

We moved up to the mountains around 6-years ago – you know the place everyone goes to dump their garbage? How could someone disrespect these lovely mountains? The situation is kept at bay by a group of wonderful volunteers, who meet each month to pick up roadside trash.

I've turned over a new leaf and become what I think of as a naturalist. (Reminder to self – look up Naturalist.) We've never given as much thought as to what we purchase as we do today. After discovering that E. coli and other types of infectious agents, including bacteria are used to introduce spliced genes into GMO foods; corn, soy and tomatoes are the main items. It has been estimated that as much as 80% of the corn we consume and 70-75% of all processed food has been genetically-modified. This is huge.

It's in our tacos, our corn chips, corn on the cob; it's fed to cows and chickens. It's also in everything that has "High Fructose Corn Syrup". No testing has been done; the FDA claims they have no responsibility to warn us, since after all, "it's just food". This is one huge experiment that will cause untold harm to the public at large.

Today we read labels – closely. We've learned to avoid "high-fructose corn syrup." If you aren't aware of the history of high-fructose corn syrup, check it out. I was appalled by what I had learned. We are buying our fruits, vegetables and meat as close to nature as possible. It requires a great deal of rethinking our buying habits, since these days "natural = $$$$" and lots of it.

We ate our first sloppy joes made with 100% organic ground beef last night. They tasted wonderful! I figure it cost me about $2.00 more to serve the organic meat, than I would normally spend on beef that had consumed the genetically-modified corn. Health-wise, I'm not certain of the health benefits of eating ground up meat and fat scraps but I felt great knowing my son had one less meal of Franken-corn. The way I see it, if we don't buy it, there won't be a market for more of it.

I'm reading everything I can about our food supply and the technology being used to create it. I've posted some helpful articles at: Food and Nutrition in the News

Multi-Media Resources

• The Future of Food
• Genetically Modified Food: Panacea or Poison
• Bad Seed: The Truth About Our Food
• King Corn
• In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto
• Second Nature: A Gardener's Education
• Seeds of Deception: Exposing Industry and Government Lies About the Safety of the Genetically Engineered Foods
• Genetically Engineered Food: A Self-Defense Guide for Consumers
• Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods
• The Gmo Trilogy And Seeds of Deception Set
• The Hundred-Year Lie: How to Protect Yourself from the Chemicals That Are Destroying Your Health

Labels: food, genetically-modified, GMO, high-fructose corn syrup, raw milk