My Food Soapbox

I seem to be running across disturbing food articles recently, and I feel I have to share it in any way possible (that doesn't require much effort- #lazy). I'm about fed up with the FDA. I pretty much take everything they say with a grain of salt. Both of the articles I will be talking about came from different issues of Prevention magazine, whom I trust but am not affiliated with in any way.

The first article I came across was in the September 2013 issue. I was flipping through it before it went to the recycling bin, and ended up reading this article called "Is Organic Food Really Better For You" by Richard Laliberte. Then I made my husband, who isn't much of a reader, read it. My husband has always been an organic/natural/vegan skeptic. I mean, he understands that these things, in general, are better for you, but he's always been under the assumption that if the government says it's ok for us to have, then it is. Well, he is completely on board for me to figure out how to switch us to organic after reading this article.

And ya know, I've been grunting and groaning a lot when talking about this decision. Look, if you know me, you know I'm a couponer. I save money on absolutely everything I can. My Mom calls me cheap, and not in a good sense of the word. (I still take it as a compliment!) Organic is more expensive! *insert grunt* I know there are coupons and sales for these things too, I've used them. I never thought I would make a committing decision like this, but I am. I realize I have to bite the bullet, for the health of myself and my family. This isn't going to be easy on anyone, except maybe June (who chooses veggies over everything). The boys love pizza rolls and mac and cheese, and I've just now been starting to force small amounts of veggies into them. Yes I know, parenting FAIL! But what do ya do, move on from here, and be better.

I'm going to have to make meal plans, and cook way more, just so we can afford to eat this way. Clarification, I cook plenty now, but like I said, my boys like mac and cheese and pizza rolls. I still want to let them have these things, so I'm probably going to be making a lot more things from scratch.

And I came to all these conclusions from just one article! Read it!

Then a few days later, I picked up my March issue of Prevention to find an article about antibiotics in our food and creating super-bugs. It's called "Cleaning up the Farm" by Jane Black. I didn't find the exact article online, but I found these two that give good info, that's pretty close to what I read.
http://www.prevention.com/health/health-concerns/nrdc-report-about-fda-and-antibiotic-use-farms

http://www.prevention.com/food/smart-shopping/what-you-need-know-about-antibiotics-beef

If you can find the actual magazine in half price books, pick it up though. It was a really great diagram from the CDC that depicts how animals that are given preventative antibiotics are developing drug-resistant bacteria. It's pretty scary stuff. To quote the article, "Margaret Chan, director general of the World Health Organization, has said that if we don't change course, we could soon live in a world where 'things as common as strep throat or a child's scratched knee could once again kill.'" Um, yeah, let's not let that happen.

I'm definitely not making all these changes overnight. I'm not throwing out the food I have in the kitchen right now, that's wasteful. I will probably make small changes until we've made the transition. If anyone has any tips or thoughts, please share them with us in the comments. I'm always open for suggestion!

Ok, I'm stepping down from my soapbox for now. Have a great weekend everyone!