It's not just about the diapers anymore!

While I fully intend to get back to talking more about cloth diapers soon, I felt that I had to discuss another important topic that has been on my mind pretty much constantly lately.  As parents there are so many choices that we make on a daily basis that can affect the health and growth of our children.  In this day and age of quickly growing technology and convenience foods, it has become too simple to live a life of blissful ignorance to the reality that is killing us and our planet.

Seriously, those of you who know me, know that I am not a crazy "Go Green" kind of person.  You won't see me out protesting in the streets or harassing my neighbors to recycle, but something changed in me when I became a parent.  I started to feel this obligation to make sure that I wasn't leaving a mess for my kids to clean up someday.  Initially my choice to cloth diaper was a financial one, but it soon became more than that.  I started to realize that with each cloth diaper I changed, I was keeping trash out of the landfill for Anne's future.  I actually started to feel a bit guilty about the disposables that I used on and off for the first few months of her life.  I am determined to never put a disposable diaper on my son after he arrives in August...except for in the hospital, unless I can figure out a way to get them to let me use cloth there...

So my rambling thoughts lead me to today's topic of the food we eat.  I used to live my life on a processed food, fast food, very few fruits and veggies kind of diet.  I paid no attention to what was in my food as long as it tasted good.  Then the day came for me to feed Anne her first solid food.  My perspective slowly started to change...suddenly I started to care about what was actually in the food that I fed her.  I didn't start buying organic food then because I didn't think that we could really afford it, but I did start reading labels, and being more careful about what I bought.   Eventually I started making my own baby food from frozen veggies.  But I was still blissfully ignorant about what was in my food, even though things were changing in me more everyday.  This journey has lasted a year and a half now.  I cannot believe how much I have learned and how much I didn't know.  It has only been about six months since I started to learn about the Bovine Growth Hormone and antibiotics being in our dairy and meat products.  I shudder to think about how much of Anne has consumed before I really knew. 

I also lived my life blissfully unaware of what happens to the animals that produce our food.  Then I saw Food Inc, and several  Humane Society Videos.  I have no desire to become vegetarian, but knowing what happens the poor factory farmed animals in this country really threw me.  I was and still am sick about it.  And I am sad that so many people don't know what is happening.  The animals that give us life deserve a life where they are treated with respect and allowed to be cows or pigs or chickens.  There is no reason for baby animals to be brutally murdered because they are the wrong gender.  There is no reason that living creatures should be subject to overcrowded and filthy conditions and never allowed to see sunlight or breath fresh air...but this is the food that most of us eat.

Then there is the whole issue of GMO's and GEI's.  These are Genetically Modified Organisms or Genetically Engineered Ingredients.  I had no idea that this was happening at all until I saw Food Inc.  Now I am making a point to learn as much as I can.  I read every label and realize that I, like most Americans, have no idea what half of the ingredients are in our food.  Our food is full of additives, preservatives, pesticides, chemicals and dyes...and stuff that has been scientifically created to make food cheaper to produce.  Chickens have been modified to grow much faster than a normal rate, and to produce more breast meat, so the poor creatures grow so fast and so big that they can barely even stand.  A huge company called Monsanto has genetically engineered corn and soy and other crops so they can are immune to pesticides, so that they can be repeatedly sprayed with pesticides to keep the weeds out of the crops, and they will still survive.  Those pesticides are in the food you eat and they also run off into the soil and the water and are destroying the farmland that grow the crops.  And since High Fructose Corn Syrup is made from this corn, it is in virtually everything that we eat.  Try to find a loaf of bread in your local supermarket that does not have High Fructose Corn Syrup in it.

What I also find frustrating is how the people who work for these huge food corporations are treated.  A farmer who works for Tyson or Purdue will go a quarter of a million dollars in debt to build a chicken barn to raise chickens and will make around $18,000 a year to support their families.  The working conditions in some of meat packing plants are so outrageous that workers have been seriously injured by stampeding animals or falling carcasses.  Cheap labor is always good, so hiring illegal immigrants or migrant workers is beneficial to these companies because the workers won't unionize to demand better conditions for fear of deportation.  So we are getting our food from companies that not only have no respect for the life of the animals, but they don't care about the human beings who work for them either.

There is more and more research showing that the food that we eat is causing the obesity and diabetes outbreak in America.  The food is causing cancer and I believe contributing to the skyrocketing cases of ADHD and Autism in this country.  Food Inc states that 1-3 people born after 2000 will get diabetes. Well, Diabetes runs in my husband's family and I am going to make darn sure that my kids, who are already genetically pre-disposed to diabetes will not become diabetic.

I just keep thinking about all this stuff and I get so angry.  But all I can do is what I can do about it.  I have taken these steps over the past year and a half.  I no longer eat fast food.  I have switched to eating only Humane Certified Meats and Eggs.  They are definitely more expensive, and can be hard to swing financially sometimes, but for me knowing how the animals are treated is too important, if I eat non humane certified meat all I can picture is those videos I have seen and I feel horrible.  We also are eating much less meat, and go meatless at least 3 days a week now.  Dairy was a little harder for me, because initially I did not realize that the dairy industry can be just as cruel as the meat industry.  A video I have watched this week caused me to switch to only organic milk from companies that I know get their milk from small dairy farmers who treat their cows with respect.  I have been doing research to find out where my cheese and ice cream are coming from as well, as I am finding out that some of the big companies, such as Breyers, still buy milk from cows treated with the Bovine Growth Hormone.  Now I am determined to make sure I know where my milk and cheese come from too!  And I am switching us over to a nearly completely organic diet.  My children will not eat fruit and veggies that have been covered in pesticides, and they will not eat processed foods.  This has been difficult for me because I am not a fruit and veggie eater.  I want brownies and ice cream.  I also hate to cook.  And eating this way is more expensive, and my food budget is extremely limited.  But I have made a commitment.  I very carefully create a menu each week and I buy only what I need to complete this menu.  This keeps me from spending too much money.  If we have a little extra cash I will stock up on organic beans and pastas and humane certified meats that I can freeze, to make my menu planning a little easier.  We still do buy some non organic items, but only after carefully reading labels, no high fructose corn syrup for us!  I look for minimal ingredients, and if I don't know what one of the ingredients is, I don't buy it.  My one vice remains sweets, particularly chocolate and particularly brownies.  My next step is to search for a yummy homemade brownie recipe that is quick and easy to make, but I can control the ingredients that go into them.  I am pregnant and need my brownies and right now admit that I am still buying the boxed mixes.

When I started this journey when I first started feeding Anne solid food, my question to myself was "how can I afford to go organic?".  But we have done it, and I feel great about it, I actually feel better physically and much better emotionally about the choices that I am making for myself and my family.  I am starting to feel more confident that I can teach my kids good habits so they will want to eat the better food.  The question that I ask myself now that I know more is "How can I afford not to go organic". The organic lifestyle respects the earth, promotes sustainability,  respects the animals that give us life, and gives my children a brighter future to look forward to.