In the Beginning.....

Sometime mid-December, 2009....can't remember the exact date....Philip and I watched Food, Inc. on the instant-viewing feature of Netflix. When we turned it on, we had no idea that our lives would never be the same...



Okay, so that's a little dramatic. But just a little. That documentary really is a life-changer.


Let me give you a little background.

We watched Super Size Me in late 2005. I can count on one hand the number of times that we have eaten at McDonald's since.....and I haven't eaten there at all since summer of 2007 (Philip had one guilt-ridden slip-up around Thanksgiving....). Fast forward to summer 2008...we are bored, watching OnDemand, and Philip finds Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price. I have been to Wal-mart exactly twice since viewing that doc...once to buy something, once to return it. Let me remind you, we live in Wal-mart country. I can't tell you how many times I have been asked how I can survive without going to Wal-mart. It can be done, people. It can be done.

So now you know I tend to take things to the extreme. I'm okay with that. I feel like we as a society like to complain but don't like to do anything about it. We tend to think that we, as one person or one family, don't have the power to make a difference. But we do! I recommended Food, Inc. to a friend a couple of weeks after watching it, and she decided to stop buying factory-farmed meat, too. So if she recommends it to one person who does the same, who also recommends it to one person who does the same....you get the picture. That, my friends, is how we make a difference.

So, here's what we are doing:

1) No more factory-farmed meat, eggs, or dairy. None! I will buy from suppliers that I trust. Certified organic is best, but sometimes smaller producers don't pay the price to get certified even though they really meet organic standards, so knowing where your food comes from is key.

2) Buying organic fruits and veggies as much as possible. If not organic, then local. And in season when it's possible, although not much is in season right now. This spring, we will start a square foot garden to grow our own fruits and veggies.

3) No more fast food! Okay, not none. There are a couple of regional fast-food restaurants that I still like whose standards I have always felt were a little higher than most of the others. But still, fast food is a very rare occurrence.

4) If I can make it at home, I will! I puffy-heart love my bread machine. It rocks my world, and it ups my carb consumption. Not saying that's a good thing, but here's the thing...

We have lost touch of where our food comes from, how it's made, what's in it....heck, how it tastes! I want to know what's in my food....if possible, to know who made it, where it came from! It costs more, and that's hard for me. I am very frugal, and right before starting all of this I was very into the "couponing" trend. But this is important to us, and it's about more than money....to us anyway. As Philip likes to say, and of course as the Bible says, the love of money is the root of all evil...and the love of money leads our food industry to deceive us, to mistreat humans and animals, and to feed us disgusting slop that we don't even think twice about eating. I, for one, am sick of it....and I know people think we're a little nutso, but I don't care! This is about something bigger than us.