One of "those people"

Many times in my life I have been labeled as one of "those people", especially now that I Homeschool. My children have allergies, so I am "that mom" who has to read every label of every food anywhere near my kids. I have to explain to people why we Homeschool (a whole different post). And at least once a week, I have to explain "about the food". The other day I was waiting for the doctor and passed the time reading a book. When the doctor came in, she asked me if I was reading anything good. I showed her the cover of the book (Food, Inc. How Industrial Food is Making us Sicker, Fatter, and Poorer-And What You Can Do About It. Edited by Karl Weber) so she could judge for herself. She then looked at me with a raised eyebrow and what I call the “so you are one of those people” looks. 

Friends, I am proud to say, I am one of those people. I care about what I eat. It matters to me the true cost of what I put in my body. I am an informed consumer. I am one of “those people” who will not feed my children fast food. I am one of “those people” who buys produce at the farmer’s market and quizzes the farmer about pesticide, migrant labor, and fertilizer. I am one of “those people” who picks and chooses which vaccinations to give my children. I am guilty as charged.

Now, please don’t get the wrong idea. I am not touting myself as a pillar of health. I admit I do not run several miles each day or that I abstain from mac and cheese. I do try and make the best choice possible. I buy organic, whole wheat mac and cheese (or make it myself) and use organic milk and butter (local if it’s not loaded with pesticide) and it tastes fine. Was this an easy change over? Sometimes yes. I found a few brands of organic mac and cheese that I like and stick with it. Conversely, I had to try at least 50 different kinds of wheat bread and force myself to eat it for a year before I would willingly make a sandwich with it. That one was more painful. I do miss squishy white bread. But when I think of the true cost of cheap bread, it’s easier to make the choice. Not only am I making a positive choice for my health but for the planet and the people.

When my husband and I began this quest for better food and informed buying, we thought that just buying organic was enough. After a few visits to the “Whole Paycheck” we decided we had to find other options. It has been a journey filled with wonderful surprises and some disappointments. When I talk to people about becoming and informed consumer, most often I get the following comments:

·        It’s too expensive

·        I don’t want to know what’s in my food

·        They are animals, who cares

·        What are you, some kind of conspiracy nut?

I admit, getting to this place took time and effort. I read many books and asked many questions. I spent a lot of time reading labels in the stores. Now, I have it streamlined, but it’s still not a quick trip to the grocery store. I’m ok with that. When I look at my children and know that their immune system hasn’t been compromised by pesticide, I can live with a little more time at the store. According to the FDA, half of the produce tested in grocery stores contains measurable amounts of pesticide. Lab tests of baby food show the presence of sixteen pesticides including carcinogens. Looking at blood samples from children aged two to four, concentrations of pesticides are six times higher in children eating conventional foods vs. organic foods. Pesticides are found in blood samples of ninety five percent of Americans tested. These levels are twice as high in children. Exposure to pesticides can lead to hyperactivity, learning disorders, and cancer. Have we seen an alarming rise in these areas? You bet. The EPA reports that children receive fifty percent of their lifetime cancer risks in the first two years of life. That’s a figure that should keep us up at night. I don’t care if it costs more initially, what will it cost my children in the long run, much less myself?

That’s the real question we should be asking ourselves when we shop. What is the real cost? Like everyone else, I live on a budget. I go where the bargains are for organic produce (all within short distances) and buy meat from a local farmer I have interrogated. If it’s out of season and comes from another country, I don’t buy it. I also try and buy the majority of my food from local sources and/or Michigan owned businesses. The good news is that many more stores are adding to their organic lines. The bad news is, you still have to be vigilant. After all, greed is greed. A little research will tell you that the USDA is more focused on good PR than stringent organic standards. If it says “USDA Certified Organic” I look for a second certifying agency on the back or I pick something else. 

Same goes for vaccinations for my children. Do they need five vaccinations at a time? Do they need all of them? I am not going to be bullied or cowed into doing what “they” say I should. How many times have we seen medications touted on TV and then recalled because they are unsafe? I research everything before making a decision. I am an informed consumer. Again, what is the real cost? Brand A milk might be cheaper now, but what will the pesticide and hormones do to me or my family in the long run?  It’s not conspiracy, it’s common sense. Which brings me to the point: be an informed consumer and use common sense. Most people know that when a woman is pregnant or nursing she cannot drink alcohol because it passes through her bloodstream to her child. Yet the majority of Americans willingly drink milk from cows that have been shot up with hormones, fed antibiotics, and given feed loaded with pesticide. Can you honestly say that those residues don’t end up in the milk? How about the meat? (Yes, you eat dairy cows. Not one to waste anything, commercial dairies sell used up cows for cheap hamburger. Yummy) If you aren’t willing to drink it from the bottle (i.e. pesticide) why will you drink it in milk? Same for your pasta or your veggies. Do you really think that the pesticide just sits on top of the plant? Better yet how much of it is washed off before it is sold? Pesticide is not supposed to wash off in the rain, so my bet is not a lot of it is removed during the rinse cycle. And don’t get me started on genetically modified foods. That’s a whole ‘nother blog.

The next time you are in the fast food line, consider the following:

Beef: that cheap hamburger came from a commercial feedlot where your friendly cow was packed into pens and fed a diet of corn, antibiotics, and other good stuff like chicken manure, feathers, concrete dust, and garbage. Why corn and not grass as cows have been designed for? Corn packs on the fat and after all, “marbling” is key. This leads us to antibiotics. Cows weren’t made to eat corn, so they get ulcers and stomach infections. The antibiotics keep the cow from dying but it is still in massive pain all while crammed in the feedlot. The antibiotics are passed on to the consumer. Cows aren’t allowed to be fed certain cow parts like spinal cords, because this can lead to mad cow. But, chickens can be fed these parts, and then the chicken manure is scraped up and fed to cows. Finally, this cow was forced to stand in their own waste, (which gets on their hide and in the meat during slaughter) and runs off into waterways and poisons local animals. The slaughterhouse is no picnic either, but you get the idea.

Chicken: that nugget has approximately thirty six ingredients, one of which is butane. Yes, like what’s in your Zippo. Chicken life is much like the cow, except they get so heavy their legs break under their weight.  And the grind up The. Whole. Chicken. The nugget sauces? See High Fructose Corn Syrup below.

Salads and veggies: not to be left out, those veggies (especially lettuce) need to be harvested by hand. This requires a huge labor force of…illegal immigrants. The migrant workers are paid slave wages and forced to work without shade, water, or breaks to harvest by hand. They are exposed to massive amounts of pesticide (again, going on your food) that leads them to high rates of cancer. They don’t have insurance or legal status, so they don’t get medical treatment when they collapse out of heat stroke or pesticide related illness. Ask yourself: do I not care about the human cost because I didn’t know or do I not care because people who aren’t citizens don’t count.

Ice Cream/Shakes: dairy cows have to mature in order to be able to be pregnant and thus give milk. Not wanting to wait, the dairy industry loads them up with hormones and keeps them pregnant. Putting aside that these cows are never able to nurse their young, these hormones make the cows mature faster and gain weight. Then you and your children drink the milk. Wonder why our girls are developing earlier and our nation is getting fatter? The cheeseburgers don’t help, nor does our lack of exercise. I’m sure we don’t need any more help from the hormones. Finally, sugar is expensive and high fructose corn syrup is not. HFCS spikes your insulin levels much more than sugar and is just bad for you. Also, HFCS is in existence because we had way too many farmers growing corn (see beef above) so we had to find something to do with the excess.

After you have considered the true cost of that value meal, what are you going to do? What choice will you make? As an informed consumer, only you can decide. My role is not to judge, but to get you to think about what you buy and it’s true cost. For me, the cost is too great and I pull out of line.  Am I perfect? No. Am I sometimes in the position to eat commercial food? Yes. But I make as many “true cost” decisions as I can. I am “One of those people.”