Last night I finally watched the movie Food, Inc. I agree with others who say that it is an absolute must see. It is shocking and totally disturbing but it is information that no one in America should be without for another minute. It will change the way you view food forever. I honestly hope that the feeling that I have right now sticks with me forever because I don't want to go back. I don't want to go back to viewing fast food as quick and convenient. I don't want to go back to be addicted to sugar and constantly craving it. And I certainly don't want to go back to exposing my girls to such things at such a young age. They deserve better, Justin deserves better, and I deserve better.
So, after watching it, here is my plan. First, there is no way we are going to realistically become vegetarians. The movie doesn't say to do that, but you feel like you should after seeing it. What we are going to do, is reduce the amount of meat that we consume and I will only be buying meat from Whole Foods from now on. No ifs ands or buts about that one. We will only be eating free range, organic chicken and when we do have beef, it will be from grass fed cows. I am not sure I can go back to pork after seeing and hearing the pig slaughter house in NC. That was more than I could handle. I am sure we will still occasionally eat pork, but again, only from Whole Foods.
Fast food is out. It is just too disgusting and too easy to rely on and I am over it. Chickfila is one of my favorite places, but I just can't handle chicken filled with antibiotics and hormones after seeing that movie. I really don't want the girls eating it.
Tomorrow morning I am starting a 14 day cleanse from Whole Foods. It is just pills that you take in the morning and evening. Some day I would love to do a more disciplined detox, but this is all I can handle at the moment. The lady working there told me it was a really great choice and that I would definitely notice the difference. I will keep you posted on that.
We will be eating a boat load of fresh veggies and fruits from now on. I am also reading the book Eat This and Live. My mom sent it to me and I literally can't put it down. It is an easy read and I will have it done by tonight. I am taking notes of all of the foods and supplements that I will be getting for this upcoming week. I can honestly say that I am excited for this change. I know we will all feel better and our bodies deserve to be treated better.
If you haven't seen the movie, please go and rent it. Seriously, you need to. The girls weren't into pictures today, so you just get Bianca. The rain and cold and ugliness of the past many days is making them a tad nuts. We will be ready to get some fresh air asap.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
01.30.10
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17 comments:
If I get Bianca, I really want to see Bruiser, too!
I already can tell from the sound of your movie, that I can't handle all the grossness. I'm such a wimp. I can work on eating better, fresher, etc, but not looking at all the horrible things that happen to animals, processing, etc. We all do need to get in control of what we put in our mouths!
Still cold and a pretty uneventful day. Watching a Hallmark movie--thought you'd want to know that!
Hug and kiss the girls for me! Love, LeeLee
What do I owe you for such an early post??? Yea you!
Getting my book out to read also. Love, Lee
you sound like me 6 months ago. We only eat whole food meat and have for a few years now. And I limit fast food but we can't cut it out, not realistic right now. And I try really hard to buy local, cook at home and know where my food is coming from.
I did that whole food cleanse in the beginning of Jan. and it really does wonders just getting the pills down is hard. Make sure you eat with it cause you will be nauseous from the pills.
Good luck-Jenny
Welcome to my world ! Yippee! Now if you read the book The China Study you may not eat meat anymore either. That's what did it for us. We started off eating organic meat, but after that book we never ate it again, and it's just for health reasons. Haven't had fast food in 5 years now I think. Lucy has the right idea with not wanting the meat! : )
Would love to know more on the Whole Food cleanse if you would think to do an update.
I haven't watched the movie and don't know that I will, I am a bit squeemish at stuff like that. We used to get our milk from the Amish and one night I went there right as they were snapping their dinners necks (and yes chickens do still flop quite a bit afterward....blech.) Now we get our milk at a farm that I love. there is nothing better than fresh Jersey milk. Not that I didn't love the Amish or the chickens were the end all of going there. We still get quite a bit from them, but the Amish were following a couple practices I didn't trust with drinking raw milk.)
Love this website for great whole food, nourishing recipes and articles: nourishedkitchen.com
Lastly, I have to say it, the girls are so beautiful and always
make me smile. BUT, your pic tonight really made me smile while sitting here keeping warm with my freshly trimmed pooch. Unexpected and personally fitting :)
You'll notice a huge difference in the grass fed beef. It is unbelievably better. I buy a quarter cow from a grass fed organic farm and have it shipped. It is worth it.
I'm going to need to know what this 14 day cleanse from Whole Foods is named...I feel like I need to dark across the snow covered street tomorrow and start it.
I decided, this month, that no matter how much more expensive organic is, I'm going to buy it as exclusively as I can from now on. And you know what, I feel better this month than I ever have...I'm more energetic, I feel so much healthier, and I'm happier. I haven't seen that movie, but I can only imagine. I don't know if you can handle fish, but I eat that most often these days because I really don't like cooking much meat, just beef and steak. But fish and shellfish is so easy and so yummy. I have lots of great shrimp & fish recipes if you're interested.
Yay! You know this post makes me happy :)!
And the pooch pic makes me happy too.
Wanted to mention that Trader Joe's has some free range meats for less $$$ than whole foods. Not sure if you have one...but we shop there for as much as possible. They don't add a lot of crap to their products and have much healthier choices for convenient foods. Oh and don't forget milk from grass fed cows too!
While your at it...you might want to knock out high fructose corn syrup too, hee!
Food, Inc. changed my family. We haven't had fast food in months. The kids complained in the beginning, but it's a way of life for us now. The money we save from Burger King goes into the pockets of our local farmers. What really bothers me about organics in grocery stores are that just because they say "organic" doesn't make it entirely so. How can an organic food still contain corn syrup? Crazy. The information from Food, Inc. about soybeans was frightening and really confused me as to where I'm suppose to go for good, real, whole food. You can't win the battle entirely, I suppose, but you can change it drastically.
Once we began to make changes in our diet, I noticed huge improvements, almost immediately. Weight loss, more energy, and my sleep efficiency improved tremendously. I've struggled with insomnia for years and now I have no problems falling asleep. My kids rarely complain anymore and I thought it would be a difficult task with my oldest boys. For those with older kids, it's not too late to change you, so it's not too late for your teens.
My biggest goal is to change the mindset of my friends and family by simply setting an example. I have family that refuse to watch the documentary because they would rather not know. They choose to turn a blind eye. It's so irresponsible. We owe ourselves so much more than what our nation has set us up to eat.
Don't drink the Food Industry Kool-Aid. Literally.
I need to blog about this, too. Great idea, Kelly. Thanks for putting it out there for your readers. Good luck with your cleanse.
Hi Kelly,
Would you mind telling us more about what the Whole Foods cleanse is all about. It sounds like something I would love to do but don't have enough info on it.
I already have it in my netflix order! I watched a bit of Oprah about the movie and I was horrified!! We arent huge meat eaters anyways but YUCK!! The thought that they have made our chickens grow fast and fat.. oh YUCK and of course all the other nastiness and abuse! YUCK.. wish I had a whole foods closer.. not sure what I will do!
my little precious pumpkin!! I miss Bianca SO MUCH. Don't ignore Bruiser, Kel.
almost 8 years ago i read 'fast food nation' and it completely altered my life. so these things can stick.
initially i only ate organic/freerange meat. but eventually i moved to no meat (except fish). the main reason for me was the animals. but i LOVE the fact that i have been only feeding my family antibiotic free everything since then.
lulu occasionally has chickfila. but no meat/milk/eggs ever enter my house unless they are antio. free and the animals have been treated well.
the extra effort to go to whole foods just becomes routine. you dont think about it. and i know it cost more. but pay now or pay later!
obviously you didnt need more convincing after seeing this movie (i havent seen it),but just wanted to encourage you.
SUCH a great way to live!!!
and if you are wanting meat free recipes then try any of the moosewood cookbooks. i love them.
xx
ps..let us know how the cleanse goes..i have seen the whole food cleanse box and almost bought it a few times.
Kelly-
Check out books by Michael Pollan -- particularly "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and "In Defense of Food". Basic instruction is "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." Of course, the real challenge is separating what he calls "food" from what are "edible, food-like substances".
Adam
Fortunantly, the Gluten Free thing knocks out almost all fast food for us and my girls think that Sonic is a place to get ice cream. We do all organic milk, eggs and meat and always have but since the kids have come along and we started having to cut out gluten with Taylor we also cut out all food dyes (which totally gross me out and it ticks me off they put that in our food & medicines in the States) and preservatives.
Frankly, I'm afraid to watch the movie because we've cut out so much that the idea of restricting our diets any more sounds healthy but exhausting since it's an hour and a half to get to a Whole Foods. Oh to live in the city again!
Good for you girl! I did the 10 day Master cleanse...hard but good! I know this sound redneckish but with the meat...B and I bought a grass fed cow from on of our local guys here, had it cut up and froze the meat. Perfect to have in the freezer when you just cant get out... saved us a lot of money and he has lasted us about a year!!!
I just bumped Food Inc. up to the top of my netflix queue. And I am definitely going to check out the food cleanse from Whole Foods. Thank you so much for posting about this!!
I also had to tell you that on January 1 I started the 365 project of taking and posting a picture every day and I am so glad I did!!! I already love looking back at the pictures from just one month. I definitely took pictures of things I probably would not have taken before.
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