What's in your Burger/fries?

Do you love your Happy Meals? Your McD's Burger/Fries? Are you a fast food junkie? Well I admit that when I am lazy or just craving a burger and fries it's really easy for me to walk across the street and grab a burger and fries from your well known fast food chain. I always feel guilty now after having seen Super Size Me and know it's bad for me but sometimes can't resist because it is quick, tasty and relatively cheap. But we all know it's bad for us but this video is shocking at how bad it really is.

Food is meant to decompose as are we. If it doesn't decompose it doesn't leave your body. Think of your body as a garbage bag. If you keep stuffing food and packaging in it and tie it up but keep stuffing it, it will just get bigger and stretch out more but if you poke a hole in the bag it will all come out but think about any liquid in the bag, that will be the first thing to come out of the bag. If your food doesn't decompose it can't liquify which means it's never going to leave your body. When they say "You are what you eat" it really becomes true when you eat a Big Mac because it will be in you forever it seems.

I find it really scary when I think about what I am eating these days because I never really trust any food anymore because the food industry seems to place an importance on profits over health so who knows if your food is GMO'd to death or if it has hormones, preservatives or any other toxic substances added to it.

I recently visited a family that grows all of their food or only buys from local markets and knows the farmers they buy from. They buy only certified organic meats from local vendors. They basically don't have to shop in a typical grocery store anymore. They are lean and fit and energetic and part of the reason's they do it is because of the health of the food that is sold and also the waste of all the packaging.

While they live in a house and the wife only works part time so she puts a lot of effort into cooking and maintaining the garden so this isn't an option for most of us. It's not an option for me since I live by myself and in an apartment so I can't exactly grow an abundance of food on my balcony but I will attempt to grow some herbs and whatever else I can grow on the balcony in the spring.

So what's the answer to this? It keeps coming back to knowing where your food comes from and buying local and if you can buy from people you know so they can be accountable for what they are producing and distributing. You don't know where the food comes from for the fast food outlets or how it was manufactured so you never know what you are really eating.

This stuff is as scary as war. It contributes to the war on obesity that we are battling in the First World.

I suppose the best way to make a change is to learn from this information and make change through consumerism and don't buy products like this but support your local farmer. Either the fast food chains will have to change or they will go out of business. Money talks, and that's the reason they add all the preservatives so they have long shelf lives guaranteeing them no spoilage losses. That's why organic food doesn't last as long. I know I get frustrated when I toss out organic food when it goes bad because I haven't eaten it but I also know that it's a 100% better for me and the environment when I buy it. I just need to buy less and find ways to use it all. It's an adjustment I need to make and one we need to make in the World. I myself know I need to waste less food so that there will be food in the world for everyone for years to come. We shouldn't need things like food banks, we shouldn't need to have so many people on medications because of complications from eating a poor diet. A poor diet.... if you think about it a poor diet is pretty accurate because it's generally the poor who eat a lot of fast foods or convenience foods because they are fast and cheap and they are the ones that need better food the most to sustain themselves. If you look at the poorest people in the western world I bet they are also the fattest. They are not overeating they are just eating things that are killing them. I could go on forever on this subject because there are many layers to the domino affect of the fast food industry.

My suggestion is to watch documentaries like these:

Forks over Knives
Super Size Me
Food Matters
No Impact Man
Food Inc.

Get Smart, Go Local, Think Global.

Change comes in baby steps... start with taking harmful foods out of your regular meals and keep going...you will get to your destination faster than you think.