Message from Earth

Why it's a good idea to buy Organic.

http://youtu.be/NFJlK2l5zNs

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.

Thanksgiving weekend at St. Lawrence Market

Thanksgiving is the perfect time to thank local farmers for providing the Fall Harvest for Your Thanksgiving Meals. There is no better day to do that then a sunny summer like saturday afternoon at St. Lawrence Market in Toronto.

I very rarely have time to head down to the Saturday St. Lawrence Farmer's Market but today I had to meet up with a friend for her Birthday and I headed over to the market first to get some great local fresh food. The North Building Farmers Market is akin to going back in time when you knew who grew your food. It's like going back to your roots...or in the farmers case the soil of the land. They say that Organic Food now is what regular food was over 20-30 years ago. All I know is that I never heard anyone talk about organic food when I was a kid. A tomato tasted sweet and juicy when you went to the store to get it in the summer. Fruit didn't come from half way around the world and you knew what the fruits in the store were because most of them came from somewhere familiar. Now you can get foods that won't grow in North America delivered to your grocery store any time of the year. Is that a good thing? Well sometimes I just feel like having some exotic food and maybe that happens in the dead of winter. But are we losing something in the process? Yes we are unfortunately. We are losing our eco system and good and healthy food. Food free of pesticides, hormones and genetically modified concoctions made to sit on the shelf for a while. Organic food is expensive now but i think the only way to make it less expensive is to shop from local farmers if you can and buy Organic when necessary and show the buyers that you prefer these foods. Loblaws has started putting local foods front and centre in their grocery stores now. That doesn't happen by chance, it happens because we choose it.

Because we live in Canada, although you wouldn't know that it gets cold here from the past 6 months of fabulous and hot weather, but we can't always go to the farms and farmers markets because they don't operate year round but St. Lawrence Market does. Try and go to a farmer's market year round if you have one near you. It can be a planned outing and it will also connect you to the regular folks that sell their products at the markets. I hope to be able to frequent the markets more often this winter depending on the weather. If you can try and go as much as you can to markets that try and have the most Organic produce they can stock. It's a win win situation for everyone. It doesn't take massive trucks to drive the produce from different countries and it also saves energy on huge big box stores that need refrigeration and shipping and receiving and stock rooms. I love my big stores but sometimes I just love to have a tomato that tastes like a tomato the way it was intended to taste.

I am excited that they are building a Whole Foods close to where I live because they do try and sell the best foods possible.

My parents never had a lot of money but our fridge was always stocked to the max with fresh fruits and vegetables. Buying cheap crap saves you money in the short term but costs you Big money in health costs in the long run. Don't sacrifice your health for a Big Screen TV. When you get Cancer because you have eaten toxic bad food all your life you won't care how big your tv screen is. Make food a bigger priority and you will reap the rewards later.

Don't get me wrong. I just got a big tv but I have spent my past few weekends shopping at farmer's markets and in the kitchen whipping up food that tastes delicious and is good for all things in a good life.

Shop local and stay healthy.