Healthy Food or Lack Thereof

I am so pissed off.

I love ATS and am very intrigued by the majority of its threads and posts. However, I'm upset that more people aren't giving their opinions for solutions rather than (exclusively) venting about the problem of the lack of healthy food for the general populace to consume. There are a few people who post and re-post about how MSG, aspertame, fluoride, etcetcetc all cause cancer and mental disorders and whatever else. We get it!! It's not good to eat!!

Don't you think that the majority of people want healthy food to eat? Don't you think that if we could afford to eat all organic food then we would? Do you, who keep posting about the dangers of eating regular fruits and vegetables and meats from the oh-so-pedestrian supermarket, have any idea how freaking much it costs to go shopping at whole foods? Well do you?

I live in suburbia because all the jobs are in and around my major city. I have a teeny yard and grow what I can in pots (herbs and a few tomatoes, peppers, zucchini). What the crap else do you propose that I and the rest of the average members of society do? I'm not going into debt just to eat.

And before you blame the NWO or the man for keeping me down through the high price of good food...how about offering a hands on, practical solution that my ilk and I can implement? No blaming; all solutions.

I do think folk want to eat healthier but they also want their cake to eat.What do you spend when you buy your groceries? Spend the same amount on good stuff. You can probably live on a quarter of what you eat right now. I'm sure I read somewhere that scientists proved that if we're underfed on the best stuff we'll live much longer. Instead of a microwaved lasagne, have a bowl of broccoli instead, it can't cost more even if it's organic.

Can you imagine what the response would be if someone tried to move a small calf into their condo saying that is was for the pure fresh milk...

My son works for this big corporation here. their factory is sitting on a massive amount of unused, really nice land. I was sitting in the car at work one day thinking to myself just how neat it would be if this company put some of that land to use....by allowing their employees to have gardening plots on it...

Maybe you could get together with some likeminded people, and connect with someone with a nice piece of unused land that they'd be willing to rent to you at an affordable price for you to farm?

Also, one could write to their representatives in washington, ask them to reevaluate the farm subsidies in light of the new dietary recommendations being made by the dept. of health. one of the problems is that they are subsidizing the unhealthy foods!! ya, they subsidize the crap out of corn, make it real cheap, and as a result just about everything on the store shelves has corn syrup added. which is linked to the obesity outbreak we are experiencing I think.

produce is much better for you if it is grown in your own area, so well, have you tried your local farmer's market, if their is one? I am not sure if this is still the case, but it used to be cheaper than the store, or maybe a little more. but the prices were reasonable.

You can buy organic foods quite cheap from places like Farmers Markets and local CO OP's, which produce food in the raw and without all the pesticides and such you find in normal grocery stores. However, by the time most food arrives in grocery stores (after it has been handled, washed, etc.) pesticides and such are virtually non-existant on fruits and vegetables. In fact, around 90% to 100% of the pesticides are completely removed from the food during the transition from cultivation till arriving in your grocery store. The human body is also able to filter out a good number of the toxins you consume when you eat highly processed food or foods that contain horomones. Current research shows that unless these foods contain high amounts you will generally have no short or long term side effects from consumption.

I grew up on a farm myself, so I know firsthand how foods are grown and what is added in the cultivation process. Trust me, you would save yourself time and money by just buying foods from a Farmers Market alone, and buying grains and such from CO OP's. I buy from these types of markets almost exclusively, and there are two benefits of this:

1. Foods are generally cheaper for the consumer.
2. You will be supporting your local community and supporting farmers to grow organically.

I always buy organic food if possible and I do shop around farmers market when I can...the only thing I notice is that people find processed food very tempting and it's everywhere you go. Sometimes it's the only thing you see in some places...especially during travel.

I think if you don't have a garden and there's a vacant piece of ground nearby you should gather the neighbours to convince the local authority to let you have it as an allotment. It's hard work but very rewardingIt's so important to teach kids early what's good for them too, & teaching them to grow stuff from seed is a must IMO. My oldest son would live on pizza & chips if I didn't force fruit on him. It's a real struggle as a parent to make them know what their eating. My problem with my 6yo daughter is that other folk think it's okay to feed her sweets at every opportunity, (her friend lives on sweets & crisps). I'm the real baddie when I take them from her and bin them, and I actually do this a lot. If I didn't, sugar would take up half her diet. I'm lucky enough to have a garden big enough for a veggie plot. This year I've managed to squeeze in my own spuds, carrotts, broccolli, swede, beetroot, onion, garlic, leeks, strawbs, red & blackcurrants & brambles. I also have some small fruit trees, some of them cropping for the first time this year. I have pears, apples, cherries & plums. None of this is enough to feed my family over the course of a year but if the shops run out of food for any reason I've enough veggies for us all to have a good big bowl of soup every day for the next six months.

Originally posted by Jazzerman
You can buy organic foods quite cheap from places like Farmers Markets and local CO OP's, which produce food in the raw and without all the pesticides and such you find in normal grocery stores. However, by the time most food arrives in grocery stores (after it has been handled, washed, etc.) pesticides and such are virtually non-existant on fruits and vegetables. In fact, around 90% to 100% of the pesticides are completely removed from the food during the transition from cultivation till arriving in your grocery store.

That's really interesting to know. So often I've read people posting about how the fresh fruits and veggies at the grocery store are so filled with pesticides and such that they're practically poisonous...haha should have known they didn't know what they were talking about.

Lots of great suggestions! I love the ideas for the communal garden. That's truly a marvellous idea! thanks

You'll get some good tips here if you ever do get your piece of land. www.nsalg.org.uk...

Grow as much as you can on your parcel. Expand to "public" areas and "abandoned or unsold" lots.

Keep it in clay containers if you cannot trust your local soil.

Give away your excess amongst friends you know also grow... watch what happens when they harvest.

Sri

Originally posted by sc2099
I am so pissed off.

I love ATS and am very intrigued by the majority of its threads and posts. However, I'm upset that more people aren't giving their opinions for solutions rather than (exclusively) venting about the problem of the lack of healthy food for the general populace to consume. There are a few people who post and re-post about how MSG, aspertame, fluoride, etcetcetc all cause cancer and mental disorders and whatever else. We get it!! It's not good to eat!!

My opinion: you can still live a healthy, long and happy life without organic food. Exersize is a good 75% of the problem. If you exersize on a regular basis, that greatly reduces the chance for a lot of cancers. Just watching food ingredients can help as well. If you buy something, not sure what Xanathan Gum or Malodextrin is? google it, find out what its used for. (Believe it or not, Xanathan Gum is used in motor oil).

You can't stop people from putting bad stuff in food, but you can stop eating it