Full Circle Child Blog

   You’ve probably seen the commercials paid for by the “Americans Against Food Taxes” which depict a happy American family who is concerned that taxing their soda will financially destroy them.  Are they kidding?

First and foremost, soda and juice drinks ARE NOT FOOD!

   I find it appalling that a great number of citizens actually believe that soda, “juice drinks”, and other flavored beverages are a necessity.  Now I understand why so many children today hardly drink water.  For anyone who believes this nonsense and scare tactics, look at the “Americans Against Food Taxes” website and notice who their main supporters are; Pepsi, Coke, McDonald’s, etc.  Sure, there are some other associations, including AARP, but these groups oppose basically ANY TAXATION.  Think about how much profit beverage companies, fast food chains, and grocers make on sugary drinks.  It’s all water and high fructose corn syrup! 

   For everyone complaining about taxation, the government already heavily subsidizes the producers of corn; a big portion of which goes to manufacture high fructose corn syrup.  Therefore, we are already being taxed to produce soda and other sugary drinks.  The difference is that now those government subsidies find their way into the pockets of those huge corporations (as cheap production costs, etc.), whereas the proposed taxes would help fund healthcare in our nation (God forbid).

   Don’t expect most healthcare professionals to point it out, but many chronic health problems, including obesity, diabetes, and even some behavioral issues, are directly related to nutrition.  So, if the government is going to provide healthcare to everyone, nutrition must be a part of it.  A proposal that helps discourage people from buying products detrimental to their health (and proven so), is fine by me.  Personally, I’d like to see more junk taxed in order to subsidize healthy, nutritious foods and healthy school lunch programs.  What people should be upset about is the fact that many Americans have a hard time affording fresh fruits and vegetables and whole grains.  This falls into the same category as other excise taxes and is no way a tax on food or any necessity.

This tax may not be the best idea, but detrimental to families?  Give me a break and go drink a glass of water!  

   Yesterday was both fun and an educational experience for us as we visited the Shatto Farm, home of the Shatto Milk Company.  We have been buying Shatto milk for about two years and had been looking forward to their annual family day festivities.  Upon arrival, I was surprised at just how many people were there.  It was a 45 minute wait to get into the cow barn.  The kids ate a snack and watched a couple horses while in line.  It was a worthwhile wait to see the baby calves and our oldest even got to milk a cow!  Then we were able to walk through the milk production facility.  Outside they had free food, samples, music, and bouncy houses for the kids.  

   The kids really enjoyed it and I think it was a great experience for them.  Now they know just where their milk comes from and I can feel even more confident providing it for them. 

   If you live in the midwest near a grocer who sell Shatto, try it!  You’ll have a hard time going back to your old milk.  If you have tried it, you know what I mean.  Whatever part of the country you live in, I encourage you to find locally produced, glass bottled milk.  Our family’s purchases alone keep at least 200 plastic bottles from being used each year, the milk is fresher, tastier, and I believe more nutritious. 

Check out our Local Foods Page for pictures.

   I just finished reading Michael Pollan’s latest book, In Defense of Food, and it is full of great information, as I knew it would be.  One of the most basic points he makes is that we must get informed about our food choices; not only what we eat, but where it comes from, how it is produced, and how we consume it.  The idea to eat healthy, nutritious, “real” food consumed at the end of a short food chain is not new at all.  The difference is that until recently, people didn’t have to think about it. 

   It seems to me that perhaps a shift in the way our food was produced, and the rise of big agribusiness, coincided with the feminist movement.  As women went to work outside of the home and had less time to worry about what to make for dinner, this important role was taken over by corporate marketing.  Women were told they could get more done and spend less time in the kitchen with quick, easily prepared meals and TV dinners.  This propaganda pushed away the very person who made the decisions about what to eat, knew where her family’s food came from, and took pride in nourishing her children.   

   Of course women have every right to work outside the home or not, and equality is a right all people are entitled to, but the idea that providing healthy meals for a family is an unimportant chore simply needs to end.  As strong women and mothers we must take back our right to know what we are feeding our children and take pride in doing so!

I wonder if citizens today, for the most part, believe that deception by government or corporations is only something read about in our history books?  No matter how much evidence to the contrary, mainstream Americans seem to think that their best interests in matters of health and well-being are being looked out for by government and that it is just crazy or paranoid to think otherwise.  Nor do they believe that it is possible for corporations to conspire to deceive them.  Well, just check out this link!  It is unbelievable, even for those of us who do not trust the government and huge corporations!   http://www.enviroblog.org/2009/06/-its-1960-embattled-tobacco.html?utm_source=BPA-Call&utm_medium=Email&utm_content=second-link&utm_campaign=Toxics   

   After decades of technological advancement and corporate domination over the natural world, our children are paying the price for the convenience of modern society.  The symptoms are millions of children suffering from asthma, ADD, and previously unheard of allergies to foods humans survived on for thousands of years.  Mainstream medicine and pharmaceutical compaines would have us believe that our children should be medicated, just as millions of parents are today.  However, a growing number of scientists, doctors, nutritionists, educators, parents, and even journalists are joining together to stand up for the rights of the next generation to have a clean environment, healthy nutrition, natural and preventative healthcare.  Given these basic human rights, our children will have the opportunity to create a better future through innovation, creativity, and perseverance.

I recently visited a facility where hundreds of pigs are contained.  It was a disgusting site and the smell was horrid.  They had virtually no room to move, no access to the outside, and poor ventilation.  This looked like the perfect breeding ground for viruses. If one of these pigs got sick, it appears the virus or bacteria would spread very quick.  The shift from animals being raised humanely and hygienically on small family farms to most of our pork coming from CAFOs and factory farms could be partly to blame for the swine flu pandemic.  Combine this with the fact that these pigs (as well as other animals raised for food) are routinely pumped full of antibiotics, decreasing their resistance to infections and the mutation of viruses, and you have a public health situation that has been coming and perhaps will only get worse.

 According to the media, our options in dealing with this information range from getting vaccinated, staying home, not eating pork; to doing absolutely nothing but washing our hands.  Propaganda is rampant with people selling kits to protect your family from the deadly swine flu and pharmaceutical corporations gearing up to inject millions of citizens with UNTESTED vaccines.  This is unbelievable considering the fact that the swine hasn’t killed nearly the amount of people worldwide as the seasonal flu kills each year in the U.S.!

Why aren’t people talking about the reason this is happening and how we must change our industrial food system?  We need to care about where our food comes from, not only our produce, but food animals.  We cannot support legislation and corporations that confine animals and pump them full of antibiotics, steroids, etc. and expect that our health will not suffer as well!  Think about it–you are what you eat.

If you want to protect yourself and your family from swine flu or any of the viruses and diseases that aren’t in the media spotlight right now, educate yourself about the food you eat.  Buy meat and dairy products from local farms, preferably grass-fed or organic.  Support current legislation to cut down on the use of antibiotics in animals. 

Dr. Mercola has a must-read special report about the pandemic at http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/04/29/Swine-Flu.aspx

Read my blog about the media before you believe everything they tell you.

As another McDonald’s goes up in my community, I find myself fantasizing about plowing my car through it (when no workers are present, of course).  Like Kathy Bates in the movie Fried Green Tomatoes when she repeatedly rams a younger woman’s car in a parking lot, I would surely feel satisfaction afterwards, imagining the countless number of children I had saved from a quick, greasy, “happy” meal.  Of course, reality sets in and I realize that McDonald’s wouldn’t suffer if one building was wrecked just as they aren’t doing any less business since I vowed never to eat at one again.  And those children’s parents wouldn’t go home and cook a nutritious dinner because that restaurant had been destroyed either. 

Why single out McDonald’s?  There are other fast food chains that are just as unhealthy, but when it comes to clever marketing directly to children, outright lies about nutrition, and setting the standard for oversized, highly processed, fat-laden products which can hardly pass for food, Mickey D’s is number one!  I made the decision long ago to never eat McDonald’s again and rarely eat fast food at all.  I have no problem driving by fast food places in search of a healthier alternative or giving my kids one of the many snacks usually stashed in the car to sustain them on the road.  I try to keep my opinions to myself when I see a toddler at the park eating french fries or mystery nuggets or apples drenched in high fructose corn syrup.  Parents are becoming wiser and people are realizing that our eating habits are one of the main reasons (probably number one) why our children have numerous health problems including obesity, allergies, even diabetes.  Less people will be getting dinner from a drive-up window soon, right?  Then McDonald’s did something that no company which sells food with ingredients that are detrimental to a child’s health should be allowed to do; marketing directly to children, they had a sticker put on my child’s shirt at school telling him to eat there for dinner to help benefit the school PTA.  Talk about clever marketing!  Now I am the mean mom who doesn’t support the PTA.  

Why is the fast food industry more prevelant today with our supposed vast knowledge of health and nutrition?  Why do more American children eat fast food meals than ever before, giving powerful corporations like McDonald’s an ever-expanding customer base?  Todays’ children generally have bigger homes, expensive electronics, and better educational opportunities.  Parents have the advantage of being able to provide more for their children financially, but we also have more collective knowledge at our disposal.  With the click of the mouse we can find nutritional information, and yet our children are more nutrient-deficient than past generations.  This is where we have failed as a society.  Not only are we leaving the next generation with the burden of dealing with climate change and the federal deficit, but we are destroying their health as well.

Am I alone in my hatred for this corporate giant?