Chew on This: 10 Simple Things...

Catching up on my movie viewing, I recently had the opportunity to watch Food, Inc.  And wow, did it dig into the very core of what's wrong with our food supply!  This is something that I could go on and on about, but instead, I'm going to let you read up on it for yourselves and draw your own conclusions.  After all, what we eat is a personal choice.  But... if we all start choosing differently and better, what a difference we could make and be healthier as a society!  So, in the spirit of eco-steps, here are ten simple things you can do (borrowed directly from the website, links and all):

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 (preferably water).

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.

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 United States are given to farm animals. (And then we eat the animals-- no wonder we develop antibiotic-resistant strains of illnesses every year!!)

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.

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.

That's it.  No more for this post.