And I know some do.
Do you know that 90% of the food in the grocery store is processed?
It contains preservatives (it sits in salt and yucky chemicals) and it lacks the live enzymes that your body needs to function properly. These include:
•canned foods with large amounts of sodium or fat
•breads and pastas made with refined white flour instead of whole grains
•packaged high-calorie snack foods such as chips and candies
•frozen fish sticks and frozen dinners that are high in sodium
•packaged cakes and cookies
•boxed meal mixes that are high in fat and sodium
•sugary breakfast cereals
•processed meats
(Just to name a few)
And the food that is NOT processed? I know you are wondering.
Well, that would be the fruits and vegetables at the front of the store that have been harvested prematurely (not at it's peak of ripeness when all the nutrients are available), then are sprayed with a plant chemical to help them ripen unnaturally, then shipped across the country or countries, then they sit on the shelf for a few days before you and I go into the store to purchase them.
Um...exactly what kind of nutrients are left?
To be honest, I don't really know but I know it's greatly diminished through that process.
Sounds gross, huh? Well, it does to me.
Why am I blogging this you ask.
Well, I'm promoting growing your own. I'm sure someone somewhere has started a "grow your own" revolution. Be part of it! Grow what you can and do it ORGANICALLY! That seems to be a popular and fun word to say lately but do you know what it means and why it might be important.
Here's a definition on Wikipedia.
Organic foods are foods that are produced using methods that do not involve modern synthetic inputs such as pesticides and chemical fertilizers, do not contain genetically modified organisms, and are not processed using irradiation, industrial solvents, or chemical food additives.
For the vast majority of human history, agriculture can be described as "organic"; only during the 20th century was a large supply of new synthetic chemicals introduced to the food supply. The organic farming movement arose in the 1940s in response to the industrialization of agriculture known as the Green Revolution.
Yikes! I know that there are some studies that link the pesticides and chemical fertilizers to tons of different medical conditions.
Do you know how they do things in other countries? Did you know that in other countries Mac 'n Cheese has different (more simple) ingredients than the Mac 'n Cheese sold in America?
Someone I know said that she bets that "Mr. Kraft" doesn't feed the American Mac 'n Cheese to his kids.
I would guess the same thing.
ALSO...
In France and other countries they garden all year round. This is nothing new for them. Why isn't this more common in America? Heck if I know.
So, here's the info. I'm reading this book called Four-Season Harvest by Eliot Coleman.
You can harvest your own fruits and vegetables all year round. No, really, it's true!
By the way homegrown tastes a MILLION times better than store bought!
I'm not only for growing your own fruits and vegetables but your own meat too.
I don't do that YET but when we get settled somewhere I'm pretty set on getting chickens (for eggs and meat), maybe a few ducks, a cow (who knows). We'll see.
Bake your own, you'll know exactly what's in it because you put it there.
Use a popcorn popper to make popcorn instead of the microwave.
I know what you're thinking now. BUT I DON'T HAVE THE TIME! (for gardening or baking)
I'll tell you one thing everything worth while takes some time.
I'll do another post on saving time later but for now get your garden going if you haven't, make and bake your own, and try organic.
By the way, not saying we don't eat processed food sometimes...we do. We just try not to eat so much of it and we (by we I think I mean me) try to spread the word. FOOD IS GOING DOWNHILL FAST!
