Ignorance is not bliss

Not too long ago I never ever bought anything organic. I didn't know anything about eating food in season or locally grown/produced. I read labels, but only to watch out for fat and calories, nothing else. The only thing I worried about in my food was the price, if it was somewhat healthy and if my family would eat it.

Then I read a couple books on healthy eating and tried to start eating more organic food, like milk and yogurt and kiddo snacks. Not too long after that, I read an article on beef. I blogged about it here. That really opened my eyes to the state of our food in this country and I started trying to purchase more organic than not.

But, I must confess, I have gotten out of that habit. I still buy organic milk and I love visiting our local farmer's market, but the rest of it is kind of hit or miss, depending on convenience, price and taste. I have sort of put up this cloud of ignorance to it all again, figuring that it didn't really matter.

Guess what, it does matter though. I watched the movie, "Food Inc." last night and my eyes have been opened once again, but this time to more than just the state of our beef. If you havent' seen this movie, I highly suggest you do so. You will learn a ton about where our food comes from and it will make you think twice about what you spend your money on, and even more so, what you feed your family.

It's a little overwhelming to me. I found myself thinking, "well, how can we change this?" while watching the movie. The cool thing, is that they end the movie with suggestions for what you can do.

You can choose with your money. Every time you spend it on a food item, you are choosing that item and everything that goes into it, whether its locally grown/organic or produced by one of the big food companies. So it's like you're voting every time you put something through that check out line. And yes, most of the time, organic products are more expensive, but the only way to change that is for there to be higher demand for them instead of the other stuff. It's all supply and demand. What are you voting for? Unfortunately I have been voting for the yucky stuff.

So, I've decided that I will change how I feed my family.

I will buy more organic.

I will support local farmers, frequenting my farmers market and finding local farmers who sell grain-fed beef/pork.

I will try to purchase food seasonally. (I need to research this as I have really no idea what is in season and when.)

I will no longer purposely buy anything with high fructose corn syrup in it.

I will cook more meatless meals. I do this already a little, but I need to do it more.

And, of course, I will talk about it, telling my friends, family and you what I think, because the more people that know and that are on board, the quicker things will change.

Have you seen that movie? If so, what did you think? Have you changed how you eat as a result? Or has there been something else that has spurred you to change something in your life?