My wife and I recently saw Food, Inc., a documentary by Robert Kenner. We were stunned to find out the lengths to which the public is kept in the dark about the food we eat. This is an even more important issue given that we are in a national obesity crisis.

One thing that I found particularly disturbing was the ways that food companies like Tyson, Perdue and Smithfield keep the farmers under their thumb. The farmers must continually buy expensive new equipment or face termination of their contracts with the companies. This keeps them heavily and constantly in debt.

Since most people love white meat, the food companies have genetically modified chicken so they have bigger breasts. This is achieved by injecting them with hormones. Naturally these hormones make it into our bodies, causing any number of health problems for us.

Our beef has also been tainted because cows have been taught to eat corn feed instead of grass. This deprives the beef of the natural nutrients that grass fed cows have long provided. In turn, it affects our bodies in a negative way.

What we took from the film was the need to know what is in our food. We cannot assume that our best interests are being looked after. Knowledge is the best weapon.

There is a growing movement to buy your food locally from local farmers and going to restaurants who also buy local. Most people think the reason behind this movement is the organic foods movement.  However, many locally grown food stuff is not organic so you will need to ask if you are looking for certified organic food. The main reasons buying locally is a great idea is to support your local economy as well as cut down on greenhouse gases from transportation of foods from outside sources.

Buying a tomato grown in your neighborhood means it doesn’t have to be trucked in and you can see, how over time, this is a great saver in emissions. It can also be a great saver on your pocketbook as well.  Consider the fact that the transportation has to be paid for and you can see how prices can go sky high to truck those items in. If it’s grown within a fifty mile radius, you are not paying to have it brought to you. Another benefit is the taste of the food! When you buy local you purchase the food when it’s ripe. Food that is trucked is picked way before it ripens and you can tell by the taste.  Bottom line is you will be well rewarded by buying food locally.