Its all about Food!!!

When I think about the life I want ones of the first things that comes to mind is food.
Why you ask? Well if you want to live your most happiest, healthiest and fulfilling life you need to be running on the right fuel and sadly most of us are not and a lot maybe even most don't even realise it!

When we watch TV were bombarded with ad's for food and there all full of words like fresh, happy, naturally ect and images of crisp fresh produce, smiling happy people, farmers on there lovely looking farms and so so so much of it is just a lie and it tricks people into thinking when they go to the supermarket that what they are filling there trolley with is actually good for them and their family.

 Some of the ads that get to me most have to be from the chicken industry and Safeway, Pappa B and I were watching TV two nights ago and an ad came on for Baiada poultry who also owns Steggles and Lilydale free range (so when you buy Lilydale products your supporting Baidia and their cruelty) and it all looks lovely and shows a nice big open barn were the chicken roam and its all nice and clean and the farmers are smiling and looking happy ect and its completely false advertising and we get so annoyed about this type of thing cause this is why people think what their eating is healthy.

 The truth of the matter is these chickens are living in factory  environments where there welfare isn't taken into account at all its all about mass production and producing the largest amount in a shorter amount of time so they use  hormones to increase the growth of the chicken in a shorter time span and because the body mass is too big for the poor chickens bone structure it will only be able to stand for short periods of time then fall down again in pure exhaustion and extreme pain.

They are living in extremely close confinement with the current Australian laws allowing 20 chickens per square metre and they are standing in there own faeces all the time, in some sheds they never see any sunlight and can never take part in normal chicken behaviour like scratching in the dirt or roosting ect and sadly Australian current law is not on their side. You can read more here at http://www.voiceless.org.au/the-issues lots of good information here not just on chickens either.

Then you see the ads for Safeway claiming that the fresh fruit and veg is received by Woolworths within 48hrs of it being picked from the farm but that's not to the stores themselves that's to there storage factories were things are kept in refrigeration for weeks on end before they reach the supermarket and you never see any mention of all the chemicals they have been sprayed and washed with to keep them looking nice and "fresh" Yuck!

The next on the list is Genetically Modified foods, now currently in Australia the only GM crops that are grown are cotton and canola but that doesn't mean the food your eating doesn't contain GM ingredients as the Australian and New Zealand food standards allow manufacturers to use a large range of GM ingredients in there products from overseas so if Im buying anything that is commonly genetically modified I wont buy it unless it either says its organic or states it contains no GMO's. Even some baby formula contain GMO's.
Foods that may be genetically modified include:
                                                                      - Soy Beans
                                                                      - Corn
                                                                      - Canola
                                                                      - Rice
                                                                      - Potatoes
                                                                      - Cottonseed oil

Here is some more information I have copied and pasted from Choice online

• Soybean products are used as ingredients in many foods. As well as soybeans, oil and soymilk, soy protein is used in products where you wouldn’t expect soy, such as bread, snack foods and even meat pies. Soy lecithin (additive 322) is used as an emulsifier in a vast range of products, including spreads, cakes and confectionery. Soybean meal is used in stockfeed (particularly for pigs and poultry and in supplements for dairy cattle). Much of this is imported from the US, the world’s largest producer of soy, where more than 90% of the soybean crop is now GM.
• Corn products used as food ingredients include glucose, fructose, maltodextrin and modified starches (1410, 1412). Again, these are often imported from the US where more than 80% of the corn crop is now GM.
• Canola oil is used in margarine-type spreads, dairy blends and as an ingredient in many other foods. Canola meal is used in stockfeed. Australia is largely self-sufficient, and locally-grown canola is segregated into GM and non-GM streams.
• Cottonseed oil, most of which is GM, can be used for food (it’s often used for deep-frying) and cottonseed meal is used in stockfeed.

And another link about GM foods here from Green Peace.

And last but certainly not least is of course chemicals and artificial additives in foods which include preservatives, colours, flavours, thickeners, anti caking agents and the like which are very bad for you and have a lot of bad side effects on our kids not to mention the long term health effects.
 If chemicals in the home are something your worried about I suggest you buy The Chemical Maze or download the Iphone app which is written by Australian Bill Statham so its all relevant to us here in Australia.
 The chemicals in our foods can cause problems that range from headaches behavioural problems, respiratory problems, diabetes, cancer and the list goes on and on and on so it really is important to know what affects the food your putting in your body can have.

A lot of people find it hard to believe that the Australian Government would allow this sort of thing to be going on but its all about the short term gain and money money money sadly not about the health of the people and  future generations.
We hardly buy and processed foods now and make everything ourselves and in the beginning I though it would be hard but it really isn't once you start, we eat as much organic produce as we can and have drastically reduced the amount of meat in our diet.
You get so used to buying the easy to get brands in the shops ect you think it would be hard to find the healthier alternatives but they are out there and its not hard once you start educating yourself you realise the food sold in the big supermarkets really isn't real food at all.

So my top tips for avoiding nasty food are
                                                                - Buy organic and local
                                                                - Avoid all processed foods
                                                                - Have a Vegetable garden
                                                                - Get the chemical maze book or app
                                                                - Research, research, research.

So while your chowing down on that big mac and your little ones are scoffing a cheese burger think about the long term and what's more important cause if by feeding my kids the best healthiest food I can means they will live a longer, happier and healthy life full of less ilness or onset of ilness at a later age then I cant see why I wouldn't be doing that.

Who wouldn't want their children to have the best life they can?