Politics and profit of your diet

[conntom]

OK so as Stretch suggested, I just finished watching Food, Inc.

Scary stuff but nothing that was all that shocking (except for the Monsanto stuff)

What struck a chord with me is that the suggested route for action against this system was the free market system.

Buy from businesses and farmers that operate outside of the food factories. This will be expensive but I believe it is necessary. It also happens to fall in line with my sense of how things should be driven. Businesses will deliver what we demand.

People need to be educated, think for themselves and make better decisions about many things - food being one of them.

I find it troubling though that so many people are willing to let gov't think for them, provide for them and rule over them. I look at the democratic voters and see so many people who are either walking dead or well intentioned but unrealistic.

If you haven't seen Fat Head or Food, Inc. then I suggest you do so this weekend. Learn the Glycemic Index and understand what you are putting in your body and/or your family's body.

 

[Rikter8]

I'm not sure if I want to watch.

Learning about a Gluten allergy/sensitivity was depressing enough walking around trying to find foods in the supermarket.

Now I cant eat meat or dairy? Damn I'm really screwed!

 

[conntom]

I'm not sure if I want to watch.

Learning about a Gluten allergy/sensitivity was depressing enough walking around trying to find foods in the supermarket.

Now I cant eat meat or dairy? Damn I'm really screwed!

Not at all Rikter. There are many Gluten free products and if you are willing to bake your own bread you can have decent bread too.

You can eat meat and dairy and you need to to be healthy. just buy from the right sources. Go to local organic sources.

 

[D_Wilburforce Throttlebottom]

Oh My gawd! We all are gonna die!

Oh wait thats gonna happen anyways....

 

[conntom]

Oh My gawd! We all are gonna die!

Oh wait thats gonna happen anyways....

Ha. That's the argument for the other side.

 

[phillyhangin]

Oh My gawd! We all are gonna die!

Oh wait thats gonna happen anyways....

It's just a matter of whether or not you want to hurry that process through the choices you make - or allow to be made for you in the name of short-term profit chasing. I personally intend to live forever - or die trying! - so I avoid things (wherever possible) that might interfere with that goal, such as drinking; smoking; drugs; hormone -, herbicide-, and pesticide-laden foods; and synthetic foodlike substances that just happen to be cheap and therefore profitable for ConAgra.

You, of course, are free to choose differently, although I personally don't understand why you would; the long-term costs to your health and quality of life in my opinion far outweigh any short-term pleasure you might be getting now.

 

[B_VinylBoy]

Something to lighten the mood.
Ifc High Fructose Corn Syrup Spill: Timeline Of A Tragedy | The Onion - America's Finest News Source | Onion News Network

 

[phillyhangin]

Something to lighten the mood.
Ifc High Fructose Corn Syrup Spill: Timeline Of A Tragedy | The Onion - America's Finest News Source | Onion News Network

You can always count on The Onion to provide high-quality reporting on important events such as this. :wink:

 

[D_Wilburforce Throttlebottom]

It's just a matter of whether or not you want to hurry that process through the choices you make - or allow to be made for you in the name of short-term profit chasing. I personally intend to live forever - or die trying! - so I avoid things (wherever possible) that might interfere with that goal, such as drinking; smoking; drugs; hormone -, herbicide-, and pesticide-laden foods; and synthetic foodlike substances that just happen to be cheap and therefore profitable for ConAgra.

You, of course, are free to choose differently, although I personally don't understand why you would; the long-term costs to your health and quality of life in my opinion far outweigh any short-term pleasure you might be getting now.

I know what your saying and I try to live healthy also. Eat beef from our ranch whenever I can, at least I know where its been.

But you know my grandfather goes through a bottle of 25 year old scotch every other week or so. Smokes cigars constantly and eats 4-6 eggs for breakfast along with bacon ham or some other carcinogen. He has ranched most of his life except for when he flew planes in WWII and can still throw a calf around and rope it faster than most of the hands. He will be 91 in July and still gets up before dawn and puts in a full day. I would be afraid to fight him and I was a combat Marine in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Then there was HS friend that I wrestled with, was a health nut and was training for a marathon when he was run over by some drunk driver and died at 21.

So Im just saying....

 

[phillyhangin]

I know what your saying and I try to live healthy also. Eat beef from our ranch whenever I can, at least I know where its been.

But you know my grandfather goes through a bottle of 25 year old scotch every other week or so. Smokes cigars constantly and eats 4-6 eggs for breakfast along with bacon ham or some other carcinogen. He has ranched most of his life except for when he flew planes in WWII and can still throw a calf around and rope it faster than most of the hands. He will be 91 in July and still gets up before dawn and puts in a full day. I would be afraid to fight him and I was a combat Marine in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Then there was HS friend that I wrestled with, was a health nut and was training for a marathon when he was run over by some drunk driver and died at 21.

So Im just saying....

All true. Sometimes people have great genes, and sometimes the universe likes to throw curveballs - and its apparent sense of gallows humor can be quite perverse! My own grandfather is as healthy as a horse well into his late 80's, whereas most of the men in his family were dead of heart disease by their 50's, so it's partly the luck of the genetic draw, partly lifestyle choices, and partly just random crap that happens for no good reason. I still choose to do whatever I can to tilt the odds in my favor - and with my doomsday genes, I need all the help I can get! :wink:

 

[Redwyvre]

I feel compelled to add something to this forum. Here in the corn belt we're seeing corn and soybeans selling for eye-popping prices. Roughly 2-3x what they were selling for before the economy cratered. While I indirectly benefit from this run up in commodity prices, I'm also quietly concerned and interested in what is going to happen next. I've been told the increases are due to a combination of increased demand for food worldwide and the recently passed federal biofuel mandates. It's interesting to think that maybe at this rate conventionally grown food in this country will soon cost the same as organically grown food, food at fast food restuarants will have to become more expensive, since as Michael Pollan points when people eat fast food they are basically eating corn, and Goldman Sachs and the the Federal Government will actually help people become healthier because by diverting corn and soybeans into biofuels cheap junk food will be a thing of the past. To have a better idea of the imponderables of biofuels check out the E-85 entry in Wikipedia.

 

[midlifebear]

I feel compelled to add something to this forum. Here in the corn belt we're seeing corn and soybeans selling for eye-popping prices. Roughly 2-3x what they were selling for before the economy cratered. While I indirectly benefit from this run up in commodity prices, I'm also quietly concerned and interested in what is going to happen next. I've been told the increases are due to a combination of increased demand for food worldwide and the recently passed federal biofuel mandates. It's interesting to think that maybe at this rate conventionally grown food in this country will soon cost the same as organically grown food, food at fast food restuarants will have to become more expensive, since as Michael Pollan points when people eat fast food they are basically eating corn, and Goldman Sachs and the the Federal Government will actually help people become healthier because by diverting corn and soybeans into biofuels cheap junk food will be a thing of the past. To have a better idea of the imponderables of biofuels check out the E-85 entry in Wikipedia.

How sustainable are multiple generations of soy and corn in the same dirt? There is a point of diminishing returns when vast acreage becomes a mono ecosystem and has a direct effect upon all wild life living nearby.