Food, Inc. and other health-related issues.

So I read an article in the Metro Express this morning about a new documentary film that came out this past weekend, geared towards exposing the “corporate underbelly” of American agriculture and food provision. The movie’s called Food, Inc. (website is here), and it calls attention to the way we approach food in America.

I’m planning on seeing the film (eventually), which means, of course, that here I am, endorsing it without actually having seen what it’s really about. The bottom line, though, is that the group that put the movie together hits on a few issues that I find incredibly important. I should probably warn you, this is something I feel very strongly about, so there will be a slant to the following post.

1. Fast food chains. It is so cheap, so easy, and so convenient to pop over to McD’s for a hamburger and fries. I’ve done it, you’ve done it, we’ve all done it. But have you ever actually LOOKED at the nutrition facts? If not, go here. A few cherrypicked favorites:

Double cheeseburger (a dollar menu favorite): 440 calories, 34 carbs, 25g protein, and…oh yeah, 1150 mg sodium.

M&Ms McFlurry: a dainty 620 calories, a mere 96 carbs, and 85g sugar.
Medium French Fry: 380 calories, 270 mg sodium, and 48 carbs.

The bottom line from their ideas is that fast food (and other restaurants) should be obligated to post nutrition facts on their menus, so that consumers can make a more educated decision. Would you make the same decisions if you had the nutrition facts staring you in the face? Or would you spring for the side salad and a cup of water, instead of the medium fry and cup of empty calories/waste-of-space (oh, I mean soda) or cup of no-nutritional-value-and-tricks-your-body-into-craving-sweets-waste-of-space (oh, I mean diet sodas)?

2. Environmental transportation costs of food. This is one that many people don’t think about, don’t think is important, or generally overlook because “well, it’s easier to buy what’s there.” Transporting food from Mexico, California, or Florida to DC emits tons of carbon (literally tons) into our atmosphere, either by on-the-ground trucks or through air freight (heinous). This is not a good thing, no matter who you are. My mom always taught me not to litter, and even if you don’t buy the whole “global climate change” thing, pollution is, essentially, throwing your trash into the atmosphere. Admittedly there are many situations where you can’t get away from it, and there are many naturally-created emitters out there of various gases (think cows = methane) which are hurting the environment. But. That doesn’t mean you should do it frivolously. Bottom line, polluting is bad no matter who you are, and transporting food like that is silly, particularly when farmers’ markets exist expressly for this purpose.

3. Sustainable agriculture. I can’t stress this one enough – our grandfathers’ grandfathers had to deal with this, because they had to literally live off their own land for many generations. Why do we think we’re any different? We haven’t figured out how to feed ourselves sustainably yet, but way too many people sit there and think “Well, it’s not my problem.” Guess what. Keep thinking that way, and eventually? It will be. And it will be too late. It’s a literal fact that soil gets depleted, insecticide and pesticide use over time generates mutations and other unhealthy things that I personally don’t want in my body.

Honestly I think the bottom line for the whole “food” issue is that we need to care for our bodies more than we’re doing now. Natural production methods are better for you, because they come from nature (sounds logical). That is not to say that technology is necessarily bad – there have been many agricultural improvements that are actually improvements. I’m not saying we all need to go back in time and hang with Laura Ingalls Wilder. But it is SO important to be aware of what we’re putting in our bodies.

Click here for some useful information on health, courtesy of the American Heart Association.