Pesticide Warning Sign
© Valley_PhotographsPesticide Warning Sign -- Don't walk there, but eat the food!

Pick Your Poisoned Food

Is it possible to eat food that is not poisoned today?

If you buy 98% of the items in a grocery store they are processed foods with all kinds of preservatives and other chemicals added.

Even if you buy food labeled organic, there's a possibility that a percentage of the food is problematic.

Buy produce and most likely it is saturated in insecticides or weed killers, especially the GMO food brought to us by Monsanto and friends. The whole idea of GMO is to breed plants that are not killed when sprayed with insecticides and weed killers.

Well, you could find a local organic farm and join its CSA (community supported agriculture) but you can't be sure that the groundwater isn't polluted from local fracking. Frackers don't have to say what's in the fluids they pump into the ground-- fluids which pollute the local aquifer.

You can be pretty sure that if you are buying food packaged by any of the big food companies that it's been processed, and even if it isn't, there's a really good chance the company has donated to GMO labeling campaigns. I'm using the Buycott app on my phone so I can scan products to make sure I'm not giving business to the Koch brothers or companies that have funded anti GMO campaigns.

If you go to a restaurant you can be almost certain that the food is not organic, that it's loaded with chemical preservatives, or worse, poisons from pesticides and weed killers.

A huge percentage of foods and drinks use corn syrup to sweeten them. Almost all corn is GMO. GMO food is made so it tolerates more pesticides and weed killers. Sweeteners are used to addict us to foods.

How about farmed fish? They are given a lot more antibiotics and other drugs and you do not want to know what's in their feed. Ok. I'll tell you. Dried pig blood, chicken parts--- feathers, claws, beaks-- and I guarantee you those are not from organic, range fed animals. They're from animals that have been given all kinds of drugs. If you're going to eat fish, buy wild caught, but don't forget the mercury that they accumulate.

So what's the answer? Grow your own or buy only organic whenever you can. Get to know the ten or twelve dirtiest foods-- the ones with the most chemicals on them. Keep the list with you:

Apples, celery, peaches, strawberries, blueberries, nectarines, sweet bell peppers, kale, spinach, cherries, grapes, potatoes.

Tell your grocery store, your produce store and any restaurants you frequent that you want organic produce and free range meats-- if you have to eat meat at all. Talk to the manager. Ask them if there's anything on the menu that is made from organic or free range. Tell them you'll pay more for it. Pay more for it. Ask them to buy local and provide locally grown food while you're at it.

Start re-framing the way you see food. See it as a delivery system for poison and toxins. Look at fancy, pretty packaging by big food companies as packaging for poison. Think about manufacturers of processed foods as purveyors of poisons partnering with the pharmaceutical industry and medical industry prepping you for hospitalization.

When you go to the restaurant, unless you're going to one you know is organic, realize that you're going to be eating food laced with insecticides and weed killers.

The problem is it is so hard to avoid eating these poisoned foods it is more a matter of avoiding as much as you can. It's a bit depressing and makes food more expensive. But the other side of the story is medical. We are all seeing much higher rates of cancer, heart disease and diabetes and other diseases. It's no accident or fluke. We are being systematically poisoned. Knowlingly selling food with poison on it should be a crime. And vendors and restaurants should all know whether or not there is poison on food. There should be inexpensive tests that consumers can buy that checks to see the amount of poison on any food. Every big food supplier should be required to test every batch of food and prove that it is poison-free.

And let's not forget polluters who make it hard to find water and soil that are safe to grow food in.

The people of the world are being systematically poisoned by industries that are un or in-adequately regulated. Wealthy people buy organic food and eat at restaurants where the food is organic. They hire chefs to cook for them. This is another aspect of the wealth divide. And the poisons in our food are killing us, and probably contributing to even more diseases that cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

So, stop buying crap. Avoid 95% of the aisles in the grocery store. Avoid the dirtiest produce.

Stop going to restaurants that serve poisoned produce and meat and meals loaded with GMO grown contents. Tell the restaurant management that you only want organic food. Check out how Chipotle Restaurant chain approaches labeling their food. They actually have an ingredients statement. Every restaurant should have something like this. It should be a law that the do.

Cut out products with corn syrup or other forms of processed sugars. They're all addicting and you don't need them

Start by looking at the ingredients of everything you buy and if you can't say them or don't know what they are, don't buy them. Don't eat them. Pat yourself on the back when you skip an aisle at the supermarket. Skip the whole damned supermarket.

Probably most important, prepare your food at home. Yes it takes more time. It's worth it. You'll save money, be healthier and live longer.

And tell your local, corporate-owned legislators that food safety, GMO labeling and the environment are very important to you.

If you've gotten this far you may be feeling that it's almost impossible to eat safe poison-free food. Changing to a diet that is as free from poisons as possible is difficult in today's world. The best thing to do is to start somewhere. Find out where they sell the organic products at your local grocery store. Try to ask the manager-- so they know you want organic. Try to avoid the dirtiest foods on the above list. And don't forget about beverages-- OJ, beer, apple juice, soda-- they're just as bad or worse.

Whole Foods, Trader Joes and Aldi offer organic foods. Check them out. Ask about GMO contents since there are no regulations to label food as GMO. They are far from perfect but at least offer some products that are better. Still, be cautious at those stores too.

Want to stay on top of GMO and organic food issues. Check out organicconsumers.org

Become an activist consumer of food. Tell your grocery story and produce store you want MORE organic and better labeling. Tell the management of every restaurant you go to that you want organic and non-GMO. Businesses listen to consumers. But you have to speak up.

Please share what you are doing.