We are getting sicker and sicker as a nation. We are also getting fatter and fatter. It should be no coincidence that these two items go hand in hand. As I look around I see hospitals adding new wings onto their existing buildings. I see doctors expanding their offices. I see new physical therapy centers, cancer centers, cardiovascular offices all opening up. I see pharmaceutical companies pumping new commercials out all of the time about this new drug and that new drug whose side affects may kill you, but hey! at least you won't have reflux when you die.
And what do we do as a nation? What do I do as a mother, wife, and human being? Absolutely nothing. I do not question the status quo I just continue to pick up my $5 Hot-N-Ready pizza from the local Little Caesars when the night is too busy for me to cook. I pretend to get serious about our diet by investing a lot of time into the subject for a week or two, and then when I realize the amount of change it would require to make things right I abandon ship. I allow myself to be bamboozled by the food companies with their advertising campaigns on TV or in magazines that tell me that their box of processed crap is the way to go because I am too busy to cook my own food. I buy the "organic" label whenever I can, but do I really know anything about it except that the government slapped that label on the food. (And, of course, it has been proven time and time again that my government is so trustworthy because, of course, they have my best interests at heart. They would never allow themselves to be swayed by, say, money to promote a certain product or say that an item was organic when indeed was not.) And so I blindly walk into a grocery store and pay an exorbitant amount of money for food that I am trusting my government to make sure is really what the product says it is. Or I blindly buy a box on a shelf because the labeling on the box tells me it is healthy, and the label has to tell the whole story, doesn't it?
There could be many factors as to why we are getting sicker as nation. Perhaps there is something in the air, or water, or in the chemicals we spray on our furniture to keep them stain resistant. I believe, as do many of you, that all of those things contribute to our sickness, but the main culprit is: FOOD.
I am not a doctor or a scientist. I am a mom and wife and a woman with a vested interest in the health of not only myself, but of these four beautiful beings that call me their mom. Because food = big money there are very few sources I can trust for information on food. Even book authors are suspect because you never know who they really could be working for. My government and food corporations as well as the medical community expects me to blindly follow them and to trust that they all have my best interests at heart. To believe that none of these entities would ever do anything counter to my best interests just to make a buck.
I am D-O-N-E. Fed up. Angry. Here is why:
1.) Our family has been eating like garbage lately. Sarah has never felt worse. Coincidence? I think not.
2.) You all heard about Chipotle causing food poisoning in some of its patrons, right? Well, did you happen to come across this article that said that maybe a Biotech firm caused this to happen because of the company's stance on GMO products? Now...I completely understand that there are articles out there claiming that this blogger is a nut job and that this article is no way true and that this guy is just a tree hugger, etc..and those writers may be right. BUT it wouldn't surprise me at all if it was true. I do not think a biotech firm would stop at anything to keep themselves profitable and in business. As the anti-GMO movement is growing I do think that these companies are beginning to panic a bit about their bottom lines eventually taking a hit. After all, if they weren't worried about it why would they block our right to know what foods are made with GMO's as states try to pass right to know laws? And if their bottom line wasn't taking a bit of a hit why is Monsanto airing commercials about "being part of the conversation" in their "food is love" campaign? (According to The Guardian Monsanto's earnings fell 34% in the first quarter of 2015 due to global issues with their products.)
Anyway, I digress...
I love my family. I love my kids with every single cell in my being. As many parents would, I would die for my kids in heart beat. No questions asked. No thought taken. I would just do it. But what if I am killing them by my own ignorance and lack of motivation in doing my due diligence into what we are fueling our bodies with?
Because after all, the main point in eating is to fuel our bodies. I am not sure what good chip dip and Doritos are doing to help fuel the kids bodies. Or Ramen noodles or Stouffer's mac-n-cheese either. Those foods taste good, don't get me wrong, but they are designed to be addictive because it is crap food.
So, what I am going to do about it? I am going to research the hell out of every possible solution that I can. I am going to make my family healthy. I am going to give them the tools to be able to tell the big food and drink companies to piss off. All of this may back fire on me. I am completely aware of this because the food companies are powerful. They want me to fail at feeding my children well. They want me to fail at teaching them why and how they should eat what they eat. They will come up with fancy commercials and they will make formulas to make their food even more addictive. They will tell my children that restrictive diets are meant to fail. And they may win some of my children back. The reality is I have no power over my children or their choices. They have free will to choose however they would like to, but for the love of my family the least I can do is give them that choice instead of blindly allowing our family to just assume that all of those companies have our best interests at heart - which is what we essentially do when we buy their products.
I plan on reading books about several diets (that aren't really diets in the sense that you and I think in terms of losing weight). I have chosen to research the Paleo diet, Mediterranian diet, Gluten Free diet, & Vegan diet. I will be researching gut health. I will be looking into alkalinity and acidity in our bodies.
I am not going to make changes overnight. I have done that before and it was hard on my kids. Plus, I am not sure what foods I think will be the best for us to eat. I am going to take notes on each of the books I read and make educated choices based on the research I do online and the books I read. This change is going to be a long and hard process. I will mistakes along the way. I will change things along the way, but I will be moving in the right direction. I have always had a fear of making the wrong choice about which foods we should & shouldn't eat because there is so much conflicting information out there which is why this whole idea to eat healthy has failed before. I really feel that if I research most options my gut will tell me which of the researched options is the way to go based on the information that I find.
Oprah has a new commercial where she is partnering with Weight Watchers and in her commercial she basically alludes to the fact that all of our previous starts and stops have led us to be who we are in this exact moment. All of those starts and stops (no matter whether they are in weight loss, finding the right job, leaving a bad relationship,etc..) may not have been successful before, but they have made you who you are today. And today you have the ability to make the changes you need to because of your failures in the past. I found that to be so true to who I am.
Anger tends to be a good motivator for me. And I am pretty pissed off. I am angry that my daughter may be sick not only because of genetics, but because of the food I feed her. How sad is that? That the food that we are supposed to be using to nourish our bodies is the food that is potentially killing us. It is easy to be a sheep and follow what the food industry wants us to believe about our diet. It is hard to go against the grain, but just ask my parents, when I have ever let the hardness of going against the grain stop me?
For the love of my family and the health of my daughter I will get to the bottom of this. I am a fighter and a seeker. There is no stopping me now as hell hath no fury like an angry mama. And if that doesn't help I have H-O-P-E and that, my friend, has carried me very far.
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