Corn Sugar...really?

So lets slap some lipstick on this pig.  HFCS or high fructose corn syrup is getting a bum rap so the Corn Refiners Association is pleading with the FDA to change the name to corn sugar....hoping it will change public perception of this sneaky sweetener.  And the overall reason food manufactures use HFCS instead of sugar.  I'll give you one guess.  Answer:  IT'S CHEAPER!  The number one overall thing that drives our food system.

Really?  Changing the name is suppose to fool people.

HFCS may be linked to obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and cancer.  Those in favor may argue that table sugar does the same thing.  However, it doesn't change the chemistry and the process in which your body breaks down HFCS.  However, studies are inconclusive.  Again, really?  We are going to chances on your health and your life on inconclusive results.  No thanks!

The corn is made into corn starch then into syrup....consisting primarily of glucose.  Enzymes then convert the glucose into fructose.  Table sugar is mostly sucrose, which is a molecule that consists of both fructose and glucose.  HFCS has been said to disrupt normal metabolic function.

And they are sneaking this stuff in everywhere!  Wondering how your fat free and low-fat foods taste so good?  Check the label...betcha they are packing some HFCS!

The MILKY way....

One of the biggest questions I get is "why are you trying to eat all organic?'.  As if it were a religious choice that keeps me from eating a certain way.  If it helps you to grasp why I want to eat better for me and for my daughter...then fine, "I am choosing to eat this way as part of my religion."  Didn't convince you?

The better questions is why not eat organic?  Among other ways to eat, organic, local, farm grown, farm raised, free range, it has it's advantages.  Even if they are not proven that there is an advantage, it is also not proven that all of the added hormones, antibiotics, high fructose corn syrup and pesticides are not some sort of threat to humans and animals.  Better safe than sorry.  And to be honest, I don't trust companies to do the "right thing" in lieu of the almighty buck.

For a long time Josh and I have drank organic milk.  And honestly, when we first started it was because we rarely drank it and it didn't expire for weeks.  Now, we've come to enjoy the taste and have discovered things about "regular" milk that would make me switch today.

Milk...

Heard of rBGH or rBST?  Well unless you were paying attention, you wouldn't.  Monsanto, the company that makes the artificial growth hormone has 20 toxic side effects to cows and unknown possible side effects to humans.  Cows injected with rBGH have increased exposure to mastitis, which cause blood and puss to be secreted into milk.  In turn, farmers give the cows large quantities of anti-biotics to combat the infections.  There is an allowable amount of puss and blood allowed in milk before it is considered not to be suitable for consumption.  Yum!  

In human's rBST has been linked to colon and breast cancer.  However, it is unknown the true harmful effects that injecting cows has.  The FDA, has partly consisted of ex-lawyers of Monsanto.  And ex-FDA directors have direct links to Monsanto.  Making testing and labeling very difficult.  This hormone was not present in the milk I used to drink, and you should think twice before letting your child drink it.  Monsanto does not know you, nor do they care that you have the sweetest 10 month old baby girl.  Their motives have always been and will always be about profits.  One by one, consumer by consumer, we can help those profits slip away by choosing to not buy their byproducts.  

Being cognizant of rBST and choosing not to purchase products from cows that have been injected with these artificial growth hormones, anti-biotics, etc. is the first step.  However, realizing that other foods we consume are produced from this same milk is the next step.  So if this is of concern, remember to check your cheese, sour cream, cream cheese, yogurt, etc.  

Maybe someday you'll be able to go to the grocery store without having to wonder if your dairy has been artificially injected...and just maybe it will be the natural and unmodified, they way it was intended to be

Food education: Part One

So, once you learn about food, you can do a few things with your new found knowledge.  You can learn and choose to not make any changes.  Or you can learn and learn how to eat in a whole new way.  Then you can eat somewhere in the middle of this.  It is unrealistic to think that by changing your "food philosophy" that you will be able to eat this way 100% of the time.  There will still be birthday parties, meals out, and circumstances that force you to "drive through".

So, with that said, let's start with knowledge.  Chicken first:


Farm-Raised Chicken:

·      unvaccinated

·      full beak

·      probiotics

·      composted litter

·      practically no ammonia vapor (smell)

·      no medications

·      no synthetic vitamins

·      no hormones

·      no appetite stimulants

·      natural trace minerals (kelp)

·      small groups (200)

·      low stress (group divisions)

·      clean air

·      sunshine and fresh air

·      plenty of exercise

·      fresh green grass and bugs daily

·      manure falls directly on ground to fertilize soil

·      no bleach baths during processing

·      freedom ranger breed

·      consumer/producer relationship

·      no genetically modified feed ingredients

·      organic feed

·      no animal by-products

Conventional Chicken:

·      vaccinated

·      debeaked (cannabalism)

·      antibiotics

·      sterilized litter through toxic fumigants and sprays

·      hyper-ammonia toxicity

·      routine medications

·      routine synthetic vitamins

·      routine hormones

·      routine appetite stimulants (arsenic)

·      manufactured trace minerals

·      huge groups (10,000 +)

·      high stress

·      air hazy with fecal particulate

·      limited air and sunshine

·      limited exercise

·      no green material or bugs

·      manure fed to cattle or inappropriate spreading

·      up to 40 chlorine baths

·      Cornish cross breed to grow fast

·      consumer producer alienation

·      genetically modified soy and corn

·      conventional feed

·      animal by-products (chicken guts)

 Information provided by Half Moon Farm LLC, www.thehalfmoonfarm.com

My journey to finding out the truth about the food we eat...

When I grew up, dinner time never consisted of stopping at BK, Wendy's, McDonald's or Arby's.  My meals where spent around the dinner table with food.  Real food.  Food that was killed, plucked, grown, washed, heated and served.  I don't think "high fructose corn syrup" even existed yet.

As Charlotte begins to eat "real food"...I can't help to be contentious about what I feed her, but how without being pretentious?  So begins my journey to find the truth about food and help me educate others around me in an honest, caring, non-pretnencious way.

Today Matt called me a "food hippie".  Hopefully by the end of my journey I'll still have shaved armpits and won't smell like patchouli.