My Inner Hippie is Coming Out! (eating healthier in 2010)

Well, last month I spent some time with my daughter Christina and my son in law Suj and sweet grandson Kavi in Florida. It was a lovely time even though Kavi was sick, then Christina was sick, and we didn't go out and about much! We still managed to eat some tasty Thai food at a retaurant nearby and watched a bunch of movies. (I really liked "Paul Blart ,Mall cop!") My husband Ray ended up surprising us at the end of the week by driving there from Alabama cause he was so bored and lonely and wanted to see everyone! (I had driven back to Florida with Christina and was to hitch a ride back with some friends who live across the street and were also visiting family in Fla)
Stina and Suj have Netflicks and can watch certain movies on demand by hooking up their laptop to the TV, so we watched a few BollyWood movies among others, but Suj and I really wanted to see "Food Inc", as I has seen something about it on Martha Stewart and was hungry to learn more, but Stina and Ray were not convinced it would be so fun to watch. Anyway, we DID end up watching it along with the documentary "King Corn" and let me tell you it was quite eye opening! Now I am not a vegetarian, but I do want to eat healthier meat and all, it's just that it is very hard to find chicken or beef that is grass fed and free roaming around these here parts at an affordable price! I live an hour away from "Whole Foods" which actually has some better priced organic meats and foods which makes it hard to spontaneously plan a meal!
I plan on making as many changes as I can within a reasonable budget and look forward to supporting my local farmers markets. Food inc. has come up with these 10 simple steps to effect change in our diets:

Learn more about these issues and how you can take action on Takepart.com

Stop drinking sodas and other sweetened beverages.

You can lose 25 lbs in a year by replacing one 20 oz soda a day with a no calorie beverage (preferably water).

Eat at home instead of eating out.

Children consume almost twice (1.8 times) as many calories when eating food prepared outside the home.

Support the passage of laws requiring chain restaurants to post calorie information on menus and menu boards.

Half of the leading chain restaurants provide no nutritional information to their customers.

Tell schools to stop selling sodas, junk food, and sports drinks.

Over the last two decades, rates of obesity have tripled in children and adolescents aged 6 to 19 years.

Meatless Mondays—Go without meat one day a week.

An estimated 70% of all antibiotics used in the United States are given to farm animals.

Buy organic or sustainable food with little or no pesticides.

According to the EPA, over 1 billion pounds of pesticides are used each year in the U.S.

Protect family farms; visit your local farmer's market.

Farmer's markets allow farmers to keep 80 to 90 cents of each dollar spent by the consumer.

Make a point to know where your food comes from—READ LABELS.

The average meal travels 1500 miles from the farm to your dinner plate.

Tell Congress that food safety is important to you.

Each year, contaminated food causes millions of illnesses and thousands of deaths in the U.S.

Demand job protections for farm workers and food processors, ensuring fair wages and other protections.

Poverty among farm workers is more than twice that of all wage and salary employees.

http://www.foodincmovie.com