Fat America

One thing about always being on the road is that I always seem to leave when I buy new groceries. What a waste. I not sure if you have noticed or not, but America is getting fatter and fatter. Manufacturing cheap and unhealthy food in this economy makes companies’ money and people heavier. So what can we do as the consumer to get healthier foods at a more affordable price?

As a collective if we all decided to buy fresh organic foods we would be increasing the demand on the supply of the products which will lower the price. However that would take more than just a handful of individuals. You are what you eat and eating unhealthy plants and animals won’t make you healthy. There’s less natural nutrition in the food and that’s what you are putting in your body. All the chemicals they are putting on the foods or feed for the animals is also a part of what you are consuming.

So what have I done? Well I switched from buying regular 2% milk to buying organic 2% milk. I don’t drink a lot of milk so a half gallon usually lasts me for a long time and I noticed the shelf life on the milk is longer. For example, the regular milk usually lasts for a couple of weeks. The milk I bought yesterday expires June 11. So that’s little over a month. Perfect. It also tastes way better! Like milk is supposed to taste, not all bland and watered down.

I also switched to buying organic or free range chicken eggs. That is what eggs are really supposed to taste like! Eggs do have a flavor! The regular eggs taste bland and not like anything. I also try to buy organic chicken or free-range chicken. Honestly working out in the middle of nowhere I get to see random things the average person does not. For instance, working in the field it was always easy to tell when we were downwind of a chicken coop. The smell is literally god-awful! The chickens are in a shed thing with no windows and little vents to get the air in. It’s dark in there and the chickens just live in there and get fat. The chickens are obese. They are barely able to walk around yet this is what you are putting on your dinner plate. I want to eat the chicken that’s outside and enjoying the sunlight and getting exercise. I don’t need a 3 pound chicken breast.

Vegetables are pretty hard to eat organic for me. Why? I usually don’t eat them in time before they start rotting. That’s something I'm working on. In the meantime, although bags of frozen veggies aren’t going to give you the max amount of nutrition from the veggies, veggies are still super important for your diet. You NEED veggies!

You also need fruits! I find easier to get them fresh and eat them in an appropriate time. Now when you see organic fruit, they are often smaller and less shiny. That’s because that is what they are supposed to look like! Go ahead and take a bite! It’s probably more flavorful and tasty!

Now I know what you are thinking, just because the label says organic, doesn’t mean they aren’t using any pesticides. Unfortunately with the loose regulations they have, “organic” means they complied on the amount of the use of pesticides. So hopefully, little by little we can all move toward a world where we demand better foods and can be healthier as a species.