Seth’s World View

Just finished reading Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. It’s a disturbing book. I have read a fair amount about eating healthy in the past, and have applied it to varying degrees throughout my life. For instance, I know that refined white sugar, bleached white flour, and foods high in fat aren’t good for me. I even know that fast food such as hamburgers and fries aren’t that great for me (my stomach tells me every time). Having recently watched Super Size Me, and now having read Fast Food Nation, I am reminded of a lot, and have learned more than I’m happy to know.

Fast Food Nation is really a study of cultural and industrial trends as they relate to fast food. The bibliography is 6 pages. There are 50 pages of footnotes. The book contains three years of research into the topic. While the book is dealing with a topic that is of more concern to the liberal side than the conservative side, I found it to be fairly bipartisan. As Eric says, “Ideally, food safety would be a nonpartisan issue. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Republican or a Democrat, you still have to eat.”

The book explains the beginning of the fast food industry, most of which takes place in the last 60 years or so. It’s amazing to see how fast culture changes. People didn’t eat burgers and fries very often before then (and the burgers and fries in 1960 were very different than they are now).

While I knew fast food was unhealthy, I didn’t realize how synthetic is was. Granted, a lot of food is synthetic in today’s world. The section of the book about the flavor industry was quite fascinating. We have the technology to create most any flavor or smell and insert it into a food, and these extracts may be derived through natural or artificial processes. There is a special feature on the Super Size Me DVD where they take McDonald’s food and put it in glass jars to watch it decompose. 2 months later, the fries look good as new. It’s comforting to think how well that will decompose in my stomach…

There were two things that really, really disturbed me in Fast Food Nation. The first has to deal with the meatpacking industry. While some of the standards have recently improved (due to pressure from the largest buyer of meat, McDonald’s), it is appalling to realize how unsafe and unsanitary many meatpacking plants are, as they use the cheapest labor possible and find ways to circumvent workers comp laws and OSHA restrictions (or limit them through legislation). It’s bad enough that many workers in the third world have to work in these conditions. To know it’s happening here on an industrial scale makes me mad.

I am rather disgusted to learn how they feed dead cows to cows in their feed and dead poultry to poultry (among other animals). Before 1997, there were few restrictions on what could be fed to animals, though the laws weren’t strictly enforced until 2001. Still, realize that cows naturally eat grass. By moving towards a grain-based diet, they were able to feed cattle year-round, and the meat was more tender (and more fatty). Now the feed has grain AND dead animals, among other things.

I don’t ever plan to stop eating meat, but I’m definitely going to think through my choices more than before. First, I can grill or bake my meat. Second, I can buy whole meat more often than ground, since I at least know it’s from one animal and it’s easier to know what’s in it. Third, well-done, please. Fourth, I don’t need meat every day.

My main concern actually is to make sure I get fresh fruits and vegetables every day, and I’ve done well this week in that regard. I’ve had a hearty salad every day with a dressing of my own making (without sugar). I’m majorly cutting down on sugar, white flour, fat, caffeine, and snacking. I don’t drink much pop anyway, and I don’t drink coffee every day. After being a barista though, I can’t do decaf coffee, it just doesn’t taste as good as fresh, natural coffee. My roommate bought a treadmill this year, and I really need to get into a routine. Changing my died = easy. Exercising every day = not easy.

I’ll be getting a food steamer and juicer soon. My bro and I plan on doing a cleansing in February, so I look forward to that. It’s overdue. In case you’re wondering, I don’t see this as a sacrifice or feel I’m restricting myself at all. I’m going to be 32 next month. I’d rather take stewardship of my body seriously while I can choose to do so, not when it’s a necessity. When I eat right and exercise, I feel better, period. I also enjoy eating fruits and vegetables. The main reason I haven’t done so is because it just hasn’t been a priority. Sometimes I haven’t cared, but mostly I haven’t planned my meals well enough. It’s just too easy to throw pasta on and add bottled sauce (not to mention inexpensive).

So, food won’t be hard for me. Discipline in other areas of my live will be a challenge though…