new goal for october: find my way thought one of vermont's corn mazes. yes, you heard right - mazes - there are several. you just gotta love vermont for that!
last night, we finally watched food, inc. and i am exhausted this morning. both from the intensity of the movie, but also from the heated debate it sparked between mr frederickson and i.
but my late night was well worth it, as it was one of the most interesting and upsetting films i have seen in a long time (although admittedly, i don't typically chose documentaries or any movie that might be upsetting in anyway!) and it really does make you think about the way we as a country, and we as individuals behave when it comes to food and lifestyle. take a quick look...
i thought one of the best parts of the film was that it didn't end with you thinking "ok, this is a problem, but what the heck can i do?" but rather gave you a list of easy next steps and ways you can change your behavior and make a difference...
stop drinking sodas and other sweetened beverages. you can lose 25 lbs in a year by replacing one 20 oz soda a day with a no calorie beverage, ideally water. (woo hoo...i just did this!!!)
eat at home instead of eating out. children consume almost twice (1.8 times) as many calories when eating food prepared outside the home.
support the passage of laws requiring chain restaurants to post calorie information on menus and menu boards. half of the leading chain restaurants provide no nutritional information to their customers. (this law just passed in vermont!!!)
tell schools to stop selling sodas, junk food, and sports drinks. over the last two decades, rates of obesity have tripled in children and adolescents aged 6 to 19 years.
meatless mondays - go without meat one day a week. an estimated 70% of all antibiotics used in the u.s.are given to farm animals. (new weekly blog idea!?)
buy organic or sustainable food with little or no pesticides. according to the epa, over 1 billion pounds of pesticides are used each year in the u.s.
protect family farms; visit your local farmer's market. farmer's markets allow farmers to keep 80 to 90 cents of each dollar spent by the consumer. (thank goodness, vermont has more farmer's per capita than any other state. for a complete list, click here. and for a national list, here.)
make a point to know where your food comes from—READ LABELS. the average meal travels 1500 miles from the farm to your dinner plate.
tell congress that food safety is important to you. each year, contaminated food causes millions of illnesses and thousands of deaths in the u.s.
demand job protections for farm workers and food processors, ensuring fair wages and other protections.
see? easy, right? we can do it! to prove it, i'm off to the farmer's market this afternoon, am going to sign up for my summer CSA ASAP, and visit this site to see what else i can do to help. i think you should to.
ok, that's all. i'm getting off my soapbox, now. i promise!
i have a new favorite thing about vermont: CSA shares.
perhaps i am on the real slow boat in discovering such a phenomenon, but i am beyond excited to sign up this spring. (admittedly, my excitement levels could have something to do with my recent crankiness over the cost of good vegetables and last night's spirited debate on health care reform and the wellbeing of our country) regardless, this is the best thing ever.
so, what the heck is a csa? well, community supported agriculture (CSA) is the name of a relationship between farmers and subscription consumers. this direct sale opportunity invites consumers to directly support a farm or group of farms by enrolling in a seasonal share in the farms’ operations. while details differ from farm to farm, csa shares are usually purchased for a set price early in the season in exchange for weekly boxes of mixed produce (which can be picked up at the farm or at a selected drop off location) the partnership allows regular people like us to share in the seasonal produce that these farms work so hard for. so, it's local, it's fresh, it's healthy - and with the selection of products changing weekly, you are forced to go outside your foodie comfort zone. so fennel and radiccio and cauliflower, here i come!
click here for a list of vermont csa's. decisions, decisions...
