Food Inc.

We recently had a "forced family fun" movie night at our house and watched the movie Food, Inc. Check out the trailer here. Filmmaker Robert Kenner exposes our nation's food industry, focusing on the highly mechanized food environment that remains hidden to the American consumer through the assistance of the USDA, and FDA. It is a scary thought to know our goverment's regulatory agencies are allowing our food supply to be controlled by a handful of corporations that have put profits ahead of our health, workers and farmers safety and wellbeing, as well as the environment.

This topic has been the discussion of multiple books including, The Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollan, and Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser. I have read both of these books but the film placed a visual to what I had been reading and has put me off meat for a while. Food, Inc reveals suprises about the food industry that, while disheartening, I found extremely interesting. The shocking truths that are revealed place a larger emphasis on the importance of knowing what we put in our bodies.

Official Food, Inc. Movie site

Next time you go to the grocery store look for the following things...

Buy organic and local: know when fruits and vegetables are in season and purchase from local farmers and farm markets

Make sure your beef is grass fed, NOT corn fed

Avoid factory farmed meat: These animals are raised in inhumane conditions and as shown in the movie farmers, and the environment are suffering greatly from the factory farmed meat regulations.

Read nutrition labels: the smaller the list of ingredients, generally the better. If you cannot pronounce it, don't eat it.

Avoid processed foods.

Processed meats contain sodium nitrate which can lead to a multitude of illnesses, this means avoid bacon, hotdogs, lunchmeat, and sausage (sorry I know bacon makes everything better...)

The bottom line is that processed foods are a large part of the reason so many Americans are overweight. Learning to eat right takes time and knowledge. Now you know what to look for and what to avoid. Food, Inc. does a great job of showing the public what the food industry is like. There is so much hidden in our food that we aren't even aware of. Take the time to make the changes in your diet, accompanied by an active lifestyle and you will live a much more productive, happy and healthy life!