We Are Doomed

I was shown a documentary called "King Corn" during a course about sustainability. In short, the documentary traces how American corn is produced and where it goes afterwards. Most of the corn produced in Iowa has been genetically modified to resist pesticides and herbicides and virtually inedible. So where does this corn go? It ends up being cattle feed or processed into high fructose corn syrup. In the documentary, it featured the town of Greene, Iowa where farmers were growing practically shitloads of corn that tastes like crap and aren't making any money off of it. The money that the farmers actually get is from government subsidies that push farmers to grow as much corn as possible even though none of them will eat their own corn.

It was pretty depressing to watch because the farmers on the Corn Belt of America are stuck in this cycle of producing lots of corn and it appears that these farmers don't want to do this if they have a choice. Many of them are being pushed off their land because large companies continue get bigger while smaller companies are unable to compete. Cattle aren't meant to be fed corn as a diet, but most of the cattle raised in the United States are fed on a corn based diet. As a result, they get sick a lot. High fructose corn syrup and GMOs (genetically modified organisms) I don't need to tell you. There's already a distaste for these two. The depressing thing is that high fructose corn syrup is practically used everywhere and GMOs don't need to be labelled.

It feels like a cage really. I am avoiding high fructose corn syrup as much as possible, but now it seems like it's impossible. There are traces of corn everywhere in our foods. Why should we fear these corn? As shown in the documentary, this corn is grown with chemicals as many other crops are grown with. When converted into cattle feed, the chemicals are now entering the animal itself and we in turn will ingest it. It's all a chain reaction in the end. Though there has been no evidence proving that GMO definitely is responsible for many of today's diseases and medical conditions like autism, I have my suspicions like many Americans and do not support GMOs. With companies like Monsanto, I cannot be trusting of the food I am eating.

"King Corn" was a documentary made nearly ten years ago and is still quite relevant. Roughly nine years ago, I did a research report on food additives. I was still a kid, but from that point on I was well aware of the chemicals being put into our foods for the flavor, freshness, preservation and loads of other reasons. My family has made a promise to never buy or eat foods with food additives that are known to be chemically made. Reading the ingredient label is always our first priority and whenever we can, we try to find out how and where a food product is made. It's been made apparent in our family, whenever we eat something that has lots of chemicals put into it, we get something close to an allergic reaction. The same goes with certain fruits that have been sprayed or are not labeled organic.

Because there are organically grown produce available in the market and there are still choices that we can make, I feel that there is still hope. I am beginning to understand why so many people have chose to be vegan or vegetarian. I will continue to eat meat as long as I live and I will be picky about the meat I eat. Meats like goat are mostly grass fed and not as highly processed as beef and pork so I think I will start having more goat incorporated into my diet as well as having a huge variety of vegetables available as a source of nutrients. Not that I haven't already been eating a lot of vegetables, I recently have discovered a lot more new things to eat like kale, swiss chard, escarole, and dandelion. Surviving solely on Chinese vegetables is fine as well because we also have a large variety of leafy greens and root vegetables. It's just that since I have the choice to eat so much, why not try as many news things possible? Chinese broccoli, aka gai lan or jie lan, is in the same family as kale and taste quite similar to each other. If kale gets pricy, I pick Chinese broccoli. If Chinese broccoli isn't fresh this week, I go for the kale.

More and more Americans are becoming highly conscious of the food choices they make with obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease on the rise and occurring at young ages. Frankly, we are in fear and in danger of dying quicker than our parents. The fear is real and alive. You should be afraid. I think it's like living and dying at the same time.