Food Inc.

I recently rented the documentary Food Inc. WOW! I was horrified, intrigued and disgusted. If you haven't seen it, you should. I always make fun of my hippie friend Erin for the way she eats (granola, yogurt, organic no red meat etc.) and would always give our friend Micah a hard time for saying that Walmart was part of the evil empire but I now see myself moving closer and closer to this way of thinking. I have always tried to eat fairly healthy and even more so try to give my kids healthy food but this movie and other research I have been doing lately has made me think that I need to do better and possibly...cut out red meat, GASP! Oh man how I do love a juicy steak...that one may take a while to implement but I tell ya when you see that your steak may have poop in it somehow it doesn't sound so good. After coming home from my girls weekend I had a great idea, or so I thought. My friend Kristins' friend has begun a small farm in order to live a more sustainable lifestyle. I was inspired. I thought it would be great to have a cow, some pigs, chickens and our own vegetable garden in our very own backyard. This way we would be assured that our milk, eggs, meat and vegetables were safe to eat right? When I brought up my fabulous idea to Mike (I do realize that I often have an idealistic way of looking at things, bear with me here) he first asked who was going to take care of the farm...for some reason he couldn't see Kennedy waking up bright and early to milk the cow =) He also reminded me that the ideal neighborhood that I would like to live in is most likely not going to allow us to have a small farm in our backyard. The vegetable garden he was fine with. So I guess I will not be living out my dreams of being Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, churning my own butter and tending to my livestock. My dad grew up on a farm and is now laughing hysterically at my idea. The movie and website did offer some good suggestions of what we can do to change the food industry and to eat better so I thought I would share them with you. There are also books and magazines you can read, they will be included too.

10 things you can do to change our food system

Blog about current issues and change in food

Specific explanation of food issues

Books to read (scroll down and you will see a list of related books)

My good friend Charis has done an overhaul of her families food. She is trying to eat clean; without dyes, hydrogenated oils and cutting unhealthy fat. They have had great results and she recently posted about the food they eat if you want to check it out. She turned me on to various 'clean eating' resources that are listed below. Her site is Chic Thoughts, if you scroll down you will see her post 'Trying to go more natural?' and it will give you a list of foods.

Clean eating magazine

Eat Clean Diet (site offering books with recipes for family and yourself)

Clean Eating site for information