animal, vegetable, miracle

the book i am reading now (in the spare time, of course). it was given to rex and i by our partner and good friend, sandy sachs. written by Barbara Kingsolver, i wasn't thrilled to start it. i have tried to read some of her past books which have ended in failure. this astonishes many of my friends and co-workers who all LOVE her reads. BUT, i'm proud to write, this one has captured my attention and i find it full of fascinating information and stories. it is a journal of her families vow to only buy and eat food raised in their own neighborhood or grown themselves. based on the old truth; WE ARE WHAT WE EAT. my sister-in-law, christy, has informed me that locavore is the word of the year - which means that eating local is hitting the mainstream. It can be done with great success and i encourage you to read kingsolvers book about the fascinating journey of moving away from industrial food to the backyard (or the local farmers backyards).

a fascinating tidbit from the book: (i only relay this as my plight to prevent childhood obesity.)

"U.S. farmers now produce 3,900 calories per U.S. citizen per day. That is twice what we need and 700 calories more a day than was grown in 1980. Commodity farmers can only survive by producing maximum yields, so they do. And here is the shocking plot twist: as the farmers produced those extra calories, the food industry figured out how to get them into the bodies of people who didn't really want to eat 700 more calories a day. ..... most of these calories enter our mouths in forms hardly recognizable as corn and soybeans, or even vegetables in origin: high fructose corn syrup (hello soda), lecithin, citric acid, maltodextrin, sorbitol, xantham gum, and 'added fats'.

and here is the really frightening part: "children have been especially targeted. food companies spend over $10 billion/ yr on selling food brands to kids, and it isn't broccoli they are pushing. overweight children are a demographic in many ways similar to minors addicted to cigarettes, with one notable exception: their parents are usually their suppliers. we all subsidize the cheap calories with our tax dollars, the strategists make fortunes and the overweight consumers get blamed for the violation. the perfect crime."

thank you barbara. well said. read labels, know what you are feeding yourself, add one earthly element to your diet every day and don't be a supplier to your children.

-molly