Dinner Never Looked So…Gross
December 13, 2009
I am all for the ethical treatment of animals but I’ll admit that I’m certainly not PETA’s next poster girl. I love my leather boots and the bunny fur lining of the hood on my coat… hell, I can’t stop thinking about the cobra skin clutch I just found at the vintage market. However, the movie ‘Food, Inc.’ certainly opened my eyes to a completely different perspective on the way that our food is treated, handled and processed – making me suddenly re-evaluate what I’m putting into my body.
whiter meat. larger apples. fatter cows – we assume that these things all make their way to our table because we have developed more sophisticated farming techniques…we rarely (or at least I never have) stopped to consider that these advances in science pump the chickens with so many hormones that they can’t walk from the weight of their own bodies, or that the apples are saturated in harmful pesticides – I never even realized that the cows are fed a 100% corn diet causing them to become vehicles of a deadly strand of e-coli, passing this onto (read as: killing) consumers.
‘Food, Inc.’, a documentary that would make Upton Sinclair blush with pride, investigates the evolution of farming to highlight the incredibly harmful effects our advances in science are costing the quality of OUR food, treatment of animals as well as the abuse, and what some would consider slavery, of farmers – mostly driven by the monopoly of massive corporations…which in turn is ultimately driven by our country’s demand and necessity for speed and growth (I’m guilty as charged). Although I’ll still happily inhale a thick juicy steak every once and a while, the undercover footage from inside the chicken coops and slaughter houses will make me MUCH more likely to read labels (look for ‘grass fed’ or ‘free range’ etc.) and spend more time searching out local small-scale farmers.
Maybe bigger/greener/whiter/faster…is not always better?
Map It Out
November 27, 2009
If you want to see a good family fight, hand my mom a road map and put my dad in the driver’s seat…things will get ugly and most likely result in a few painful hours of tense road trip silence. I’ve also inherited my mother’s inability (I like to think of it more of a disinterest) in reading maps. The best part of living in and era with GPS systems and Google Earth is that you rarely need to resort to your own skills (I know I know…say it, this is typical Gen Y attitude).
Map My Run (www.mapmyrun.com) is my favorite online resource to literally..map my runs. Available also for swimmers and bikers (www.mapmyfitness.com), this site allows you to map out a course using Google maps to show mileage, terrain, elevation etc. I love using it because I can map out my exact course by simply dragging my cursor across the screen – including areas that are not normal trails/roads/streets etc. By creating a free user name and password you can also save an archive of your maps to either re-visit or share with other users. If you’re feeling lazy or uninspired by your boring routine, type in your zip code and pull up other people’s favorite routes.
Get Your Facts Straight!
October 20, 2009
I’m a visual learner – I like graphs and charts…color coded tabs etc. In essence, it all has to look good for my brain to willingly digest the information (I admit, this also applies to my general life).
When it comes to learning about what kinds of food I’m putting into my body, I rely on sites like ”>NutrionData to lead the (good looking) way. NutritionData, produced by subsidiary of Conde Nast (www.nutritiondata.com), is a great resource to get quick food facts in an easy to read format. Each page clearly organizes the full Nutrition Facts into a Nutritional Target Map, Caloric Ratio Pyramid, Nutrient Balance Score as well as offers loads of other technical information if you want to fully embrace you inner geek.
Get your facts straight, like how good an ear of corn really is for you (lots of sugar)…just don’t stray too far because we’ll miss you at The Fit Post!
