+the catch 22s are all catching up with you

Food, food, food. There has been a recent push to put out much more literature on how our food is made, where it comes from, how it affects us, and giving us more facts. It is an interesting trend and one that I am very pleased about learning while I'm still in my 20's. For some reason I have been sucked into the articles, books, films, and studies that are coming out. Four films that I watched in the past couple of weeks have been helpful enough to give my mind tons to think about.

Also, I visited Long John Silver's today and got a kids meal. After eating 3/4th of it with a cup of water, I felt a little sloshy. After 4 hours I still felt sick to my stomach. I drank two cups of water, ate a couple handfuls of fresh blueberries and a large cup of plain tea. I now feel alright, but know I will probably not be frequenting LJS's for quite some time. There is something about eating healthy consistently that makes your body recognizes toxins again.

Food, Inc.
Director, Robert Kenner, 2009
Mostly I feel like Food, Inc. was a great look at the veil that is placed over our food that we are able to purchase at a grocery store. I have been reading The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan for ResLife because it is the Freshmen common read book for the fall. Pollan was interviewed for the documentary and many of themes of his book were addressed in the film. For me, it was fascinating to see the governmental policies and exactly where food I eat is processed and how unnatural it all can be. It has encouraged me in the past couple of weeks to learn about the options I have living here in Nashville. I have been able to eat fruits and veggies that were picked and grown locally and I have been much choosier about the meat I purchase. I have even been second guessing eating Lean Cuisines and sodas and things that I liked because they were low-calorie foods, but now I don't really know where the meat came from or how many steps it took to put all those ingredients into a little frozen meal.

Killer At Large: Why Obesity is America's Greatest Threat
Director, Steven Greenstreet, 2008
Oh gosh, another eye-opener. Killer at Large showed how many ways that food affects our lives and how so many times we do not even realize how many areas we are attacked from. A main focus was on school food - school lunches, vending machines. I started to think about what I ate in middle school. My favorite middle school meal? Chicken fingers, mashed potatoes, chocolate milk, and 3 chocolate chip cookies. And of course there were sodas and vending machines available, but all of that never bothered me. I never even made the food to weight gain connection. But I do remember being significantly overweight in middle school. What changed it for me? Liking sports. Playing tennis with my dad. Taking walks with my friends. This led to wanting to run a little bit to see if I could. Being an overachiever, one thing spurred another and I wanted to join a school sports team. I felt the affect of food so much - a fatty lunch meant a tough practice. A healthy, reasonable lunch meant a productive, energy-packed practice. Good food choices like not drinking soda and eating less desserts just came naturally. As I got older I realized these choices meant a better figure and better heart health. But what if I had never joined sports? What if I had never decided to train for Cross Country? What if I was never motivated enough to do so? This movie got me thinking. I rememeber when we took vending machines out of our high school and when they outlawed saturated fats (somehow french fries weren't reduced...).

Other than school food, they discussed who is really responsible? Advertisers? Big business? Parents? Personal choice? Do any of these people hold full responsibility? Who is to blame? Does it really just come down to personal choice and discipline?

The final thing that took me aback was that the Surgeon General from 2002-2006 was actually censored as to what he could tell Americans. So much scandal that was under the table. Other shocking fact? 61% of military men and women are overweight. National security threat?

King Corn
Director, Aaron Woolf, 2009
I liked the charting of the corn calendar - good documentary for the unknowledgeable corn consumer. Really the same question just kept repeating over and over in my head -- "why do Americans think quantity is so important?" Yes, profit. But to what end? What are we really after? What are we so convinced that money will buy us? Why does our government have such a strong grip on all agriculture? Why do we allow it to continue?

Super Size Me
Director, Morgan Spurlock, 2004
The first time I saw this film was in a health course in college. It documents Morgan Spurlock's 30-day McDonald's binge coupled with no exercise. Besides the inevitable gross feeling you get from watching someone eat fat, sugar, starch, and processed synthetic 'food', it is a well-documented account with medical professionals weighing in. In 30 days, he gained 20 pounds and sent all levels of his moderatly good health into high risk for disease territory. I am still in shock at the amount of mood swings, depression, exhaustion, lack of sexual desire, and lethargy that Morgan incurred just by eating poorly. Many of the same facts were introduced that all of these documentaries seem to be focusing on - big business, mass production, food addictions are all getting America into an undesirable predictament.