My Personal Food Revolution

For the past few years I’ve been toying with the idea of becoming a vegetarian. Wait, I know what you’re thinking, I’m crazy, but really just hear me out. It’s not that I don’t like meat, or that I think it’s wrong to eat meat, or even that I LOVE vegetables (because I don’t). It’s mainly that I feel bad for the animals. I believe in a few things

D&C 49:19 For, behold, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, and that which cometh of the earth, is ordained for the use of man for food and for raiment, and that he might have in abundance.

This to me says very plainly that God gave us animals to eat, but he also told us

D&C 104:13 For it is expedient that I, the Lord, should make every man accountable, as a steward over earthly blessings, which I have made and prepared for my creatures

This to me says that although God gave us animals, we are to be thankful and to appreciate and treat them with respect.

Lately I feel like people have forgotten where our food is coming from. They have forgotten about the animals and how sacred their lives are too. It’s our responsibility to treat animals with respect and make sure they are cared for. This has been my main reason for wanting to become a veggie eater. I feel bad for the animals. I feel like our meat has become more about mass production. I really started to feel strongly about it after watching a documentary on Thanksgiving about turkeys. I wanted to cry, and I definitely did not want to eat turkey, but I’m American so I did, I just told the turkey that I was thankful for it, and tried not to think about it. I think that people have disassociated ourselves from the animals that give us our food, we don’t even think about it anymore.

There’s a documentary called Food Inc. You should definitely see it. I watched it and it completely made 100% sense to me, I then continued to watch Super Size Me, and have been watching Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution every week. Food Inc. is a documentary that talks about food corporations and really talks about where our food is coming from. It showed chicken farms and talked about how the chickens never even see the sun in their entire lives, how the chickens are created to be so big that their bones can no longer support their weight and that can’t even walk more than a few steps, they had video of the workers kicking them, it was so sad. Then the cows. Cows are so packed into feed lots, and they stand ankle deep in manure all day long. They are fed corn although their teeth are made to range feed.  Super Size Me is a documentary about a man who eats McDonalds every day every meal for a whole month. It was amazing to see how much his body changed, and how bad fast food really is. I mean I know it’s bad for you, but this guy would have died if he kept eating it. Crazy! Now Jamie Oliver is from England, and he’s a chef. He worked really had in England to help change the school food systems and make sure that kids were eating healthy food. Now he’s in America advocating for children’s health. I really appreciate his efforts and I hope that he can help the whole country.

So after all of this intake of information I have decided to make personal change. I am going to start eating more fresh foods, less processed, and definitely more cooking at home and preparing my own meals. Reading the labels and knowing where my food comes from is just as important. Now I have not decided to become a vegetarian but I have started buying my meat from a market here in town that sells all natural meat without steroids and antibiotics. I only wish that I could find a range fed beef.

Check out this website www.takepart.com/foodinc.