The Cows

At lunch, my coworker brought in a big juicy hamburger from Wendy's and started eating it.

After viewing the life changing documentary that caused me to never look at food the same way, FOOD INC. I was glad I wasn't the one eating that hamburger.

I have no desire to eat this kind of fast food again.

OK, Yesterday I explained a little about the chickens. Today, it's the cows turn.

There are close links between the big food corporations and the government regulatory agencies.

This has resulted in the government's ability to keep the price of corn low, which is a significant ingredient of almost every food item imagineable.

Corn is cheap food for cattle; however, cows have evolved to eat grass and the corn is making them sick. Their diseases are treated with antibiotics, which produce E. coli in their stomachs.

The mass produced cows move through the slaughterhouses so quickly that contamination occurs easily.

So the meat is ground up all together and washed with ammonia. The company said that 90% of our beef is being produced this way.

I never realized what I was putting into my body! Who wants to eat cow shit?

Visit some of your local fast food joints and there is a pretty decent chance you will.

Oh, but don't worry, it's been treated with - what was that, ammonia? Not sure I got my science right here. Go see the film for yourself.

Here is the social action networking sight for this, takecharge,com!

FOOD

My partner is very much into organic foods. When I would eat meat that was from Fry's or IGA instead of Whole Foods, he would say to me "Jennifer your eating a very sick animal!" Despite this, I was still not convinced and if I was hungry I would eat a piece of meat that wasn't organic or grass fed. Food is food, right.

Well after seeing the documentary today, my whole opinion has changed. FOOD INC. shows what we don't know about the food industry. It shows just how corrupt and sick it is. Sick with a literal meaning.

Many years ago the industry was full of small companies. It wasn't as big business or as unhealthy.

However, today there are only a handful of big companies of whom the farmers sell their meat. I can't talk about the entire movie in this blog.

But I will start with the chickens. The chicken farmers are required to have mass amounts of chickens and are also required to have them grown and ready to butcher in 49 days instead of the natural way which is usually 3 months.

They give them hormones, and put them in the dark.

When the documentary showed inside the chicken farm. There were so many chickens and not enough space, some of them were dead. Some were even deformed. These were sick critters. They were all standing in their feces. This scene was appalling.

The company that set these requirements and bought these chickens was a common vendor.

The workers would go to the farms to retrieve the chickens and literally throw them alive into their trucks.

It was disgusting. They tried to show more chicken farms in the documentary; however, most of the owners were scared that their contracts with the vendor would be terminated. They didn't feel like risking their lively hood. They even admitted this.

This is just one part of it. I haven't even gotten to the cows. Perhaps, that will be tomorrow's blog.

After watching the documentary, I realized, how we get our food is extremely disturbing. If there is one movie you should see, for your life's sake, it's this one.

FOOD TO BE CONTINUED

Why Me?

I was in the surgery room and one of our patients asked the doctor, “Why, oh why, does life give us so much pain?” The doctor responded, "Because if we didn’t go through pain, we wouldn’t progress and evolve."

This is so true. We all face pain of some kind throughout our life.

However, even though it may not feel like it, when life brings us events or situations that cause this, it’s usually beneficial to our evolution. For many of us, joy follows pain.

For example, John was a truck driver for years whose life belonged to the trucking company. Much of his time was spent driving routes accross the country.

Even his free days were spent planning for his next trip.

He didn’t really like his career, but he had bills to pay.

He lived the stressful life many of us endure. He was in survival mode. Because he liked toys, his credit card debt was high.

He bought the dream home he wanted, but didn’t have anyone to share it with and didn't even have time to enjoy it.

He had to pick up extra routes just to pay for the home.

Traveling, didn’t allow him close relationships, though he had old friends whom he spoke to occasionally.

If we asked John what his passion was, he wouldn’t be able to answer. He would give us a dumbfounded expression. Why, he didn’t even know his favorite color.

What he did know, was that he loved to treat himself to Dunkin Donuts every morning and he drank beer in his hotel room to relax after a full day of driving.

Most of his dinners were bought at Mcdonald’s. He wasn’t much of a cook.

Despite this lifestyle, John was never sick. He had always had a stomach of steel and a high immune system to colds and flu. Drunken evenings rarely even caused him hangovers. It was easy for John to take his health for granted.

He didn't take care of his body or health. In fact, he mostly lived out the anxiety his mind created. But, it finally caught up to him.

One day, John woke up in his hotel room feeling dizzy and lethargic. He ran to the bathroom feeling like his bladder was going to explode, but he couldn't pee.

He was forced to see a doctor.

The doctor entered John’s hospital bay after running some tests. He said “Your Bun and creatinine are extremely elevated.” "Mr. Drummond, this is the result of kidney failure.”

John sat there with a look of shock.

“We need to admit you and put a catheter in your chest so you can dialyze as soon as possible before any other organs shut down.” “Your blood is highly toxic, this is serious.” he continued.

The news was just as tragic for John as it would be for any of us.

Life as he had known it had abrubtly come to a halt. He couldn’t travel anymore because he had to have dialysis three times a week four hours a day.

Still in shock and extremely devastated, he leaned forward, cupped his temples with his hands and continued asking, “Why me?” "Why oh why is this happening to me?"

It's amazing how quickly our lives can take a different turn!

JOHNS STORY TO BE CONTINUED.....................................