Your food supply is not what is was just a few short years ago. Earlier in this century, our food was grown more on a local basis in and around communities. When the food was harvested from the farms, it was processed on a local basis as well, and then brought to the cities.
Over the last 50 years, it was discovered that it was possible to increase food production in a more efficient manner by applying techniques that began to substitute ingredients that changed our food substantially. Discovering that these additional ingredients allowed food to keep from spoiling so quickly allowed the shipment of fruits, vegetables and meats over longer distances and from foreign countries.
Massive growing areas were then created where more food could be grown and processed, yet the need to ship right away became less of a factor. The downside to all of this has been that our food is not as nutritious as it once had been, and in some cases, the food had become harmful.
GMO food – the undercover danger
GMO food is food that has had its DNA altered by genetic engineering as opposed to a method of natural crossbreeding. The food looks much like it once was on the outside, but on the inside, it is an entirely different product. This new food does not have near the nutritional value that that same type of food once had, and our populations are suffering from it.
In 2007, a bovine growth hormone called rBGH, which is a synthetic substance that is injected right into the dairy cows. Its purpose is to increase the production of milk. It has been found that milk from cows that have been injected with this substance is linked to certain cancers that develop in people. There is currently no requirement for labeling of milk with this hormone added.
Why should we be concerned?
Obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension, heart disease and cancer are way up, as though a plague had invaded our populations. Nearly all of the packaged food products that we buy off the shelf at the grocery store are chocked full of sugar and chemicals.
The sugar is in the form of fructose and sucrose, to simply make the taste more palatable. The chemicals are there to enhance flavors, provide color to the product and to bind ingredients together. It is cheaper to include chemicals than to actually grow the food naturally.
All of this has been a boon to the medical and pharmaceutical industries, but is that how we really want all of this to turn out? Is it worth it to enjoy your steaks, potatoes and ice cream for your first 40 or 50 years, only to spend the rest of your life with chronic illnesses which are controlled for the most part by drugs, and finally experience a difficult death?
What you can do
People are catching on, and they are not quiet about it either. They are picking up information wherever they can find it, and we see more and more response from the food companies. There is a real push to get back to more natural and non-GMO foods. While this has not yet become a major movement, it is a start.
Be proactive and take care of your own health. Spend some time and effort and find sources of natural foods, and get as close to the farm as your can. Finding sources of natural foods will be easier to accomplish as this movement matures, you just have to pay attention.
Article sources
GMO Milk – action.greenamerica.org
http://action.greenamerica.org/p/salsa/web/common/public/signup?signup_page_KEY=7608&tag=adwords&gclid=CJCJvbmzlNACFYdAhgodUckNzg