Evan D. Bennett
Professor Oweidat
English 1510
December-10-13
The Undesirable Truth
Food
is sometimes a thing that we take advantage of in the western world. Everyday
we have the ability to eat to our heart desire and not worry about ever running
out. It’s hard to see a world without food and abundant resources. With 35.7%
of adult Americans being obese, according to the Center for Diesis Control and
Prevention, it isn’t hard to see that we have a problem with the way people eat
in the United States. It may not be just how much we eat exactly but what we
eat. Almost all the food we eat is from a genetically modified source usually
full of trans fats, salt, carbohydrates, and cholesterol. Ever since I was a
little I have had a deep interest in the way we eat and how we obtain our food.
It is very interesting to think about
the food we consume and how we sometimes over think how lucky we really are to
have all these resources. The food and the lifestyle choices I have made
about what I put into my body and understanding the effects of what these foods
do to us has shaped me as a person. It also has given me a greater
understanding of the world and what it takes to survive and not looking over
the important things in life such as being healthy and taking care of our
bodies.
From
a very young age I remember my family putting a very high emphasis on food and
what we eat and how it affects the way we live. I always remember family dinner
when I was a child. Sitting at the long extended table with my family members.
It was always a lush array of organic food spread across the table. As I child
this food always seemed like a bunch of green mush, not sounding appealing at
all. I never wanted to agree with my family at an early age, complaining to
them that this food is gross or doesn’t taste as good as the food I ate over at
my friends house. I remember this one incident when I was in 7th
grade. Being an insecure middle school I was really nervous about having a
friend over for dinner at my house. I recall my friend, Alex, asking “what are
we going to have for dinner tonight?” I was very nervous when my friend asked
me this because I knew that it would be something he is not used to eating at
home. I nervously responded “I am not sure” knowing that he would probably be
disgusted about what we actually were going to have. The evening finally fell
upon us and my teenage nerves were getting to me. My mom brought the food out
to the dinner table and I glanced over at my friend’s horrified look. All vegan
cheeseburgers steamed broccoli and unbuttered mash potatoes, all vegans, all
gluten free. Alex, reluctantly put the vegan cheeseburger in his mouth in fear
of my moms hard work. The look that he gave was actually quite unexpected. A
look of surprising satisfaction came across his face. “ This is actually really
good” Alex explained to me as he dug in for more. My nervousness swept away,
and I thoughts of healthy organic food maybe isn’t that bad.
As I
grew older and started to research this issue for myself it started to make
more sense. It all started in 8th grade when my science teacher, Mr. Thoma, told me about the possible negative
consequences that occur when we just stuff food into our mouths without even
thinking about how it was made or what is in it. This guy was the definition of
a health freak, organic concoctions spread across his desk, always telling kids
about their eating habits and how debauched some of the food they ate was. Most
of the other students couldn’t relate to Mr. Thoma, but I could. Growing up in an
organic household Mr. Thoma and I really hit off and always talked about healthy
food choices. This teacher really got me interested in healthy food, which has
stayed with me all my life. A lot of
kids made fun of him saying that he was a crazy health freak. I remember one
specific story from earlier that year when somebody threw a bunch of grass in
his salad thinking he wouldn’t notice; he did of course. He always used to tell
me “ you are what you eat” and this stuck with me. As I went on the great World
Wide Web and researched health food and the benefits of eating healthy, I
became even more convinced. I kept researching and found some really interesting
facts on the evil corporations that produce these manufactured foods, such as
Monsanto and Tyson chicken. Here is a picture shown below.
A tiny interest in organic food soon turned
into an anger towards these evil corporations that control the food that we
eat. According to Non GMO Project.Org “Most
developed nations don’t consider GMO’s to be safe. In more than 60 countries
around the world, including Australia, Japan, and all the countries in the
European Union, there are significant restrictions or outright bans on the
production and sale of GMO’s. “This is a surprising fact that the United States
does not want to accept, mainly because we are the biggest producer of GMO’s in
the world and our economy relies heavily on them. These facts absolutely disgusted
me, and made me really adamant about how to change. My mother soon took
interest in my awareness about food and decided to take me to my uncles organically
run farm.
It was a hot July
day going into my freshman year of high school and my uncle invited me to come
down to his farm to see how he made his food in a good wholesome way. I remember coming down that country road
looking at the lush green fields of my Uncles farm. A far contrast from the
dirty farms I saw on the documentary Food Inc. There was almost clean country
smell in the air that I will never forget. As I walked with my uncle around his
farm, he explained to me to me how he did everything. It seemed like very hard
work to produce such a small amount of food. He had livestock at the farm that
he raised for milk and meat, and also grew an abundance of vegetables such as
spinach, mushrooms, beets, and soy. I remember specifically when he was showing
me how to milk the cows at the farm, he explained the down fall of having an
organic farm. “ It is hard to have a farm like this, the huge corporations are
always breathing town my neck. Giving me offers on my land. It isn’t good
money, but I do it for the people who believe in a healthy lifestyle for their
children and their children’s children.” What my uncle said had a lasting
effect on my life. It also made me redefine the way we get the organic food my
mother spend a lot of money getting for family dinners. The price of organic
food really made me think twice about how we can get a hungry world to
healthily without the price effect. I thought that the only reason why the food
prices are so expensive is because the evil corporations such as Monsanto cut
out he competition and make it hard for local farmers to run a successful
business. According to the Center for Diseases control “low income families are
more likely to be obese then their higher income counterparts.” This statistic
got my thinking about ways to help these poor people become more aware of the
things they eat and make organic healthy food more available for lower income
people.
These ideas
eventually led me, and a couple friends to create an organic food club in high
school. It wasn’t hard to start up the club because my school gave us a lot of
opportunity’s to be independent and expand on ideas. Not many people joined the
club but the few that did were very adamant about organic healthy eating. Other
kids at school never seemed to understand about what we were trying to do, and
some even looked at us in a negative way, mostly out of misunderstanding. Our
job was to get people to recognize the ill effects of eating genetically
modified foods, and help people get access to organic food. We actually did this trip were we went to an
inner city school in Columbus and proposed the idea of urban gardening. A lot
of kids living in a rough urban environment do not have access to organic food
and eat a dinner of chips and soda that they got from the local convenient
stores. One of our main goals was to give information to students and teachers
about school lunches and the horrible food we were giving to our children.
According to Lindenhurst Health and Fitness website school lunches have very
little nutrition and are high in cholesterol and trans fats. The website also
states that school lunches are a leading cause for childhood obesity in
America. A lot of the school lunch ladies were very offended. They thought we
were insulting them by calling their food unhealthy and not nutritious. This
wasn’t our goal to insult them, and we tried to explain to them that it wasn’t
their fault but the governments for allowing this food to be served to our
children. We tried to get the kids to make healthier choices at lunch,
especially the younger ones. We made trips to the middle school and tried to
teach them the negative consequences of eating without thinking. Most of them
didn’t believe us and were very skeptical but hopefully we changed their minds
on some things. It was hard to teach kids new things about subjects they
already have a wrong idea about. My ideas about healthy organic food stuck with
me all through high school and eventually into college. Even to this day I try
to eat healthily and spread the word to my classmates and friends to try to get
more access on the foods we eat every day. All someone needs to make a change
in his or her life is access to good information and a push in the right
direction.
It is kind of a
life goal for me to change the way people eat and make a difference in their
lives. I don’t care about the money that is involved or the fame I just want to
make a difference. With such a huge food epidemic in the United States of
America there is a lot of work to be done. We have to come together as one
human race and make a change. We have to cast out the evil corporate food monsters
that plague our society and start thinking for ourselves. This is a very
important issue to me that I really want to change. One day I hope to start a
group similar to the one I started in high school here at OU. Maybe
even someday I can make a career out of nutrition. It is very hard to change
the minds of people who have been doing something their whole lives. When there
is something worth fighting for I will do it in a heartbeat. If we come
together and slowly began to realize how bad the food we eat is and actually do
something to change it could change lives. It could reduce obesity, fix the
healthcare problems, and make people live longer, happier, healthier
lifestyles. I’m not trying to force anybody to do what I say but just to listen
and be open minded to the facts about the food business in the United States.
It is hard for a health freak to live in a world constantly surrounded by the
horrible foods we eat and it can even change a person. Maybe it is a good thing
because it gives me the energy to change something that has gone horribly wrong
in our society and eventually change myself to be a better person.
Works
Cited
"A Collaborative Initiative Working
to Ensure the Sustained Availability of Non-GMO Options." The NonGMO
Project RSS. NonGMO Project, 2013. Web. 06 Dec. 2013.
Ogden, Cynthia L., Dr. "Obesity and
Socioeconomic Status in Children and Adolescents: United States,
2005-2008." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, 14 Dec. 2010. Web. 05 Dec. 2013.
"Three Facts About School
Lunches." Three Facts About School Lunches: Health & Wellness Tips:
Community:. Lindenhurst Health and Fitness Center, 6 Mar. 2010. Web. 08
Dec. 2013.
Physicians committee. Tyson Chickens Food
manufacturing business, march 28 2010. Web. 08 Dec. 2013
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