Food, Oil, & The Power of The Consumer

Alright ya'll, Time to get serious. I'm on a mission with a message. Now that this blog is up and running I feel like it's up to me to choose what is conveyed to the masses. Facebook is great and all, but there's something viable and juicy about this little blog seed planted into cyberspace. I will water it with my words, may they be pure, true, and on purpose. May the angels protect me and Source be my Flow as I delve into what I feel in my heart is the Truth, while exposing and revealing the deceptions, lies, scandals and flat out murderous tactics of the Oil, Food, Pharmaceutical Industries and other Criminal Corporations. To be frank, I am pissed. I've been on too many pills and been told too many bullshit excuses from doctors who COULD NOT HELP ME with my mind and body issues. No one asked me about my diet before loading me up with scripts and shooing me out the door. They with hold information and tell us things that are not only lies, but also are harmful and cause death. MEDICAL CARE is the number ONE cause of death in this country! Not malpractice, CARE. That is friggin' scary. The reason this country is so dependent on this so-called 'medical care' is because the food made available MAKES YOU SICK! It all comes down to the food eaten. There is very little government provided Food Education that is worth a damn. 'Someone' provides us with a Food Pyramid, with no education on nutrition, just advertisements on TV for sodas, cheap drive through meals, and crap out of a box (as opposed to the ground). The really sad part? Most of these ads are geared towards kids. I've talked to kids who think Chick-Fil-A is 'healthy' and things from the ground are 'gross'. Sigh...more on this in a later blog. As for me, I am done eating food that has a mysterious origin with a polysyllabic language involving numbers, colors, and acronyms (ie. Yellow #4 and MSG) Why does my FOOD have to have a bar code? Why are there things on the label I can't pronounce? Why is it so hard to find raw, living food? No more, I say! I will shop at Farmer's markets and eat local at every chance and avoid all 'food substitutes'. I will eat real food and use it as medicine so that I have no reason to believe some stranger with an expensive 'medical degree' who does not know my body, nor asks any questions to make the attempt. I HAVE done this, and healed myself. I changed my life by letting go of prescriptions and doctors and embracing medicinal foods and HEALERS. I am ready to show the way. I am ready to help facilitate the distribution of power from the crumbling corporate entity to the people, and BE the example of POWER through physical and emotional HEALING. I am taking this fire and passion that I feel pumping through me and transform it into powerful devotion to written word. Ready? :)

I have noticed, lately, that my personal issues are quite small in comparison to issues that affecting the entire world (ie; the Gulf Oil Crisis) I am finding it easier to not sweat the small stuff, like, 'He never washes dishes', or 'ANOTHER bill is due.' My thoughts are more along the lines now of 'Where did everything on my dish, COME FROM?' and 'What did it REALLY cost?' Is it local? Or shipped from another state or country? Seriously. This 'oil crisis' has totally transformed my way of thinking about the way I consume, and the way the human race as a whole is consuming. Oil and food are directly linked. The food we eat is a big deal. After reading some very interesting literature I have found that the average American consumes about 400 GALLONS of oil a year THROUGH THE FOOD WE EAT. Are you freakin' kidding me?!

While sitting down to write this first informative blog and introducing myself a little further, I had no set agenda. I am learning to just let it Flow. Looks like this one is going towards the issue of Food and Oil. I will pose a question. What does the average American know about the Oil Industry, and it's involvement in the food they eat?

I am reading the book 'Animal, Vegetable, Miracle' by Barbara Kingsolver. It is so very interesting, enlightening, and educational. This is where I am gleaning information from for this article. I highly suggest you read this book. Here is what I have learned so far. Back at the turn of the century in the early 20's, wealthy people started serving some specialty items at dinner parties, (such as artichokes and lettuces) during the winter months. These items were shipped on ice in box cars by train. It stayed a 'party trick' for a while, and most almost all food consumed in daily life was still grown by local farmers. Then, as the railroad industry grew and subsequently was superseded by interstate commerce, food grown in California was being shipped across country far more frequently. California found it's niche in the agribusiness as a year-long producer and provider of 'out-of-season' fruits and vegetables. This led to small farmers still growing heirloom produce seasonally, being in competition with the 'indestructible-always-in-season' food coming from thousands of miles away. Food that looked pretty after being prematurely picked and shipped a very long way. As a nation we used to consume thousands (about 8 thousand to be specific) of varieties of many different species of plants. Not anymore. Small farms are going under, heirloom seeds are being lost, and the hybridized seeds owned by a sole SIX companies (more on Monsanto and cronies later) are becoming the main crops produced and distributed in this country. We now consume an average 8 species of plants in the American food culture. Seriously? 8,000 to eight in less than 100 years? Our kids are in big trouble if we don't change something.

So, how is oil involved in all of this? America is destroying rain forests in South American countries and all over the world to grow corn, wheat, soy, and canola as feed for animals, fillers for drinks and processed foods, and billions of dollars in profits. These companies underpay the workers and are destroying indigenous life and cultures. The cost it takes to ship the 'seasonal' veggies and fruits of these foreign countries to our supermarkets is outlandish, extravagant, and not just a waste of dollars, but life itself. Money wise it is VERY expensive to ship food here on boats then put it on trains and in refrigerated trucks. This requires millions of barrels of oil. Then, think of the oil/money required to keep these factories running. They have machines that process, package, preserve, and store. These are just a few examples of how much fossil fuel is consumed by the food we eat before we even turn on our car engine to go purchase it from the well-lit, air-conditioned super-market. This is just the beginning...

The fast food industry is what is killing this nation. We have fat kids and fat parents, two types of diabetes and high blood pressure and millions of people a minute going through friggin' drive-thru windows! Keep the prescriptions for high cholesterol and insulin rollin' in! It costs a hell of a lot of oil, YOUR personal health, and even more plant and animal life for fast food to be quick and cheap. The wheat, soy, palm oil, and meat products used to fill up your Burger King bag most likely came from a crop that used to be an Indonesian Rain forest. What used to be the lush and vibrant home of billions of medicinal plant species and endangered orangutans is now miles pesticide ridden, inedible, consumable only after processing, genetically modified corn. We are trading entire ecosystems containing billions of priceless plant and animal life for cheap, tasteless, nutritionally depraved food substances. This is NOT a fair trade, and is making humans the REAL endangered species. How ya feelin' about the price of the $1.99 Happy Meal now? There is no nutritional value in it whatsoever, and is actually full of toxic, addictive, disease causing substances that are not even real food. I know this may seem a bit intense, but I'm sick of this country being sick, fat, stupid and afraid. I am just sharing what I read, and how this knowledge catalyzes my feelings. I hope your still with me!

So, now that I have ranted for a while, time to quit bitching and start a revolution. How does one work towards weening themselves off of this food that comes from somewhere else and costs oil, lives, money, and the health of an entire nation and the economy of the WORLD? Easy. Eat local and seasonal. I am really working hard at this. It doesn't come very easy in most parts of this country, unless you grow your own food. I am not growing any of my own food right now so I am still at the mercy of Earthfare, WholeFoods, and LOCAL FARMER'S MARKETS and health food stores. I do my best to cook my own food, and if I eat out I do my best to find places that serve food made from local produce, meats and baked goods. These places are everywhere! One of my favorites is in St. Petersburg, FL. Angie's Front Porch Cafe. Angie, the owner, frequents many farmer's markets throughout the Tampa Bay area, supporting the local farmers and growers. She makes the food at that Cafe herself, and it is some of the best food I have ever eaten. She also has local musicians booked for brunch on Sunday mornings. The sense of community that gather's there is special. Not the same as a Waffle House or First Watch. It is truly communal and full of local life. I love it there! Also, I do my best to stay in the produce isle of the health food store and if they have local options, that's what I buy. Many communities have what is knows as a 'Co-Op' (short of cooperative). These are amazing. People in the community become members of these co-ops, contributing money or food they have grown, and in turn are able to purchase anything at the co-op for a member price. My favorite one is located in Carrboro, NC and is famous in the hoop community. The Weaver Street Market (we call it The Weave) has local produced, hand-made gifts, soaps, teas, coffees, all kind of local everything! PLUS, they have amazing live music on Sundays and Thursdays, and of course, it's a haven for hoop dancers in the community. Co-Op's are cool! Find one!

What else can you do to lighten up on your consumption of oil through food choices? Eating very little to NO meat and dairy from corporate commercial sources is the best way. It takes a disgusting amount of energy to house, feed, medicate, slaughter, ship and process these poorly treated animals. The less expensive the meat, the more f****d up the process was for you to purchase it at that price. I do eat some meat, mostly fish. In the last year I have had perhaps two servings of organic, free-range buffalo. I only ate that because I felt weak due to a very heavy menstrual cycle. I have done research on iron, and found that spinach is a better source of iron, and has a higher bio-availability (absorbs into the body) rate than any meat source. So, I will most likely never eat red meat again, unless the farmer down the street from me brings me something HE raised, loved, and respectfully slaughtered. I have been a vegetarian in the past, and I have found that my body really does operate more optimally with a diet of 5% meat consumption, 95% veggies, grains, seeds, nuts and fruits. It is the way nature intended, I feel. Every 'body' is different, as we all have a different heritage and biological needs. I eat almost no dairy at all. I use coconut milk, almond milk, and rice milk for all my 'dairy' needs. I eat very little cheese and don't miss it at all. My digestive tract is happier as well. If there is a locally made cheese, I will eat that, and only in moderation. As for eggs, I do eat A LOT of eggs. I purchase them locally every chance I get. There is a great little co-op in Athens with yummy local eggs. I eventually want some turkeys or chickens to take care of this for me :)! Until then, I will continue to spend the extra money on Organic, Free Range, Cage Free, Antibiotic/Hormone Free Eggs. Jeez, it costs a lot just to print all that sh*t on the cardboard carton. I am doing my best with the options I have, and I hope I have encouraged you to do the same. I am always open to suggestions about how to be an even more responsible consumer. Please share!

Well, I feel like this is a good start. I want to recommend Barbara Kingsolver's book to each of you, as it is changing my life page by page. The key to changing the world is changing where you put your money, energy, and efforts. IT ONLY TAKES ONE, and you are ONE! Go forth my healthy, hooping friends, into the world today and make one choice that you feel really good about. One choice that you KNOW in your heart is good for your body, planet, and vibrational consciousness of all life. I love you all. Until next time...Health, Love & Hoopiness your way <3!