Food Inc.

After much urging from my sister, I caved and decided to watch the documentary, Food Inc. To say that I was horrified is an understatement. For the past 4 months, I have been unable to eat any meat and have been completely grossed out by eggs. The image I had in my mind of happy cows grazing in large open fields of grass was replaced by cows standing in piles of dirty manure in tight, unsanitary quarters. It got to a point that every time I took a bite into any kind of meat, these graphic images were rehashed in my mind. So, I stopped eating meat.

Not only did I stop eating meat, but I started shopping at local farms. I loved that Food Inc. wasn’t preach-y. It had a great, healthy, earth friendly solution to all of our farming issues—buy local! I knew that I had heard about local eating, but I didn’t really know what it was or the impact that it had on the earth and the farming industry. If everyone in our society would just commit to eating locally, we would support local farmers AND be a lot healthier.

The biggest change I noticed in my body was weight loss. I don’t know that this was a result of not eating meat. I think this was more because of the fact that I was cooking for myself rather than eating out. When you stop eating meat, there are a lot of things that you can’t eat out at restaurants. This made me eat at home more, which had me shopping at farmer’s markets, which in turn had me eating more healthily, and dropping weight immediately. I always say it to my friends, but the best way to lose weight is to cook for yourself. It’s good emotionally and physically. Emotionally because there is nothing more indulgent than taking the time to make yourself a meal. It’s great for you physically because you know exactly what you are putting in your food. Even grilled vegetables eaten at restaurants can be bad for you because of the oil and lard caked on restaurant grills.

So the moral of my 4-5 month stint without eating meat and eating local…it’s good for you AND it’s good for the environment. I definitely will start bringing meat back into my diet as soon as I can stomach it again, but it will be locally farmed meat or at the very least, hormone-free, and free range.