Eric Schlosser, author of "Fast Food Nation"

[sin_goodfellow]

Fellow Knuckledraggers,

I will be attending a discussion tonight and this weekend involving the above speaker. If you have not read the above book, I highly reccommend it. Don't eat any fast food before you do though.

I will post any insightful comments I receive during the conference.

[Scott Sonnon]

We eat predominantely (meaning when it's available) only free-range, organic, whole foods, and support local growers. It costs more, but we're made of food, so prefer to making the investment in high-quality produce.

However, you need to be as informed about "organic" as possible, for the name rapidly becomes an ambiguous marketing buzz-word, changing from State to State and region to region.

Down with fast-food for sure. Basically, the longer the shelf life, the longer it takes to break down the material internally and reap the nutritive value (if any.)

Report back with your feedback on the discussion.

[Doug Szolek]

:lol: "silly hippy" :lol:
that's great, thank you for that.

-Doug

[DaveRandolph]

......discern 100% real organic food soon. The FDA has new regs in reagrds to the labelling of organic foods and how they are grown, treated etc. If I remeber correctly there will be 3 or 4 grades of organic food. THis gradations are suposed to make it easier for we consumers to pick what we want, but will make the food more expensive becuase of the extra work, including paperwork, the growers have will have to do to meet the gov't regulations.

www.ams.usda.gov/nop/NOP/standards/LabelReg.html

a) Products sold, labeled, or represented as "100 percent organic." A raw or processed agricultural product sold, labeled, or represented as "100 percent organic" must contain (by weight or fluid volume, excluding water and salt) 100 percent organically produced ingredients. If labeled as organically produced, such product must be labeled pursuant to § 205.303.

(b) Products sold, labeled, or represented as "organic." A raw or processed agricultural product sold, labeled, or represented as "organic" must contain (by weight or fluid volume, excluding water and salt) not less than 95 percent organically produced raw or processed agricultural products. Any remaining product ingredients must be organically produced, unless not commercially available in organic form, or must be nonagricultural substances or nonorganically produced agricultural products produced consistent with the National List in subpart G of this part. If labeled as organically produced, such product must be labeled pursuant to § 205.303.

(c) Products sold, labeled, or represented as "made with organic (specified ingredients or food group(s))." Multiingredient agricultural product sold, labeled, or represented as "made with organic (specified ingredients or food group(s))" must contain (by weight or fluid volume, excluding water and salt) at least 70 percent organically produced ingredients which are produced and handled pursuant to requirements in subpart C of this part. No ingredients may be produced using prohibited practices specified in paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) of § 205.301(f). Nonorganic ingredients may be produced without regard to paragraphs (4), (5), (6), and (7) of § 205.301(f). If labeled as containing organically produced ingredients or food groups, such product must be labeled pursuant to § 205.304.

(d) Products with less than 70 percent organically produced ingredients. The organic ingredients in multiingredient agricultural product containing less than 70 percent organically produced ingredients (by weight or fluid volume, excluding water and salt) must be produced and handled pursuant to requirements in subpart C of this part. The nonorganic ingredients may be produced and handled without regard to the requirements of this part. Multiingredient agricultural product containing less than 70 percent organically produced ingredients may represent the organic nature of the product only as provided in § 205.305.


It looks as though this may have aready gone into effect

Dave

[sin_goodfellow]

Knuckledraggers,

I must apologize for the late response in posting this information.

Schlosser did not give much specific nutritional information. He instead spoke of justice, or more appropriately the lack thereof. He spoke of the fact that Fast Food Nation was written not solely to speak of the negative effects a Happy Meal has on your health but of the effects fast food theory has had on America. He spoke of the fact that Fast Food is all about conformity and that this need for conformity has spread into almost every facet of our daily lives. As a man who has lived his whole life going against the grain, paying for it and loving it anyway, I can attest to the pervasiveness of the conformist trend and the damage it does.

I will offer up some of the things he said, paraphrased to an extent as I am not fast enough with a pencil to catch every spoken word. I highly recommend reading "Fast Food Nation" if you have not done so. He documents his sources very well, something I highly appreciate.

"Some kids can recognize the McDonald's golden arches before they can recognize their own name."

"[John Doe] succumbed to the toxic gas at the bottom of the blood collection vat he was attempting to clean, the two men who went in to help him died as well. OSHA charged the plant a fine of $480 dollars per man and closed the case."

"Meat packing used to be one of the most highly paid industrial professions. Then McDonalds grew tired of purchasing beef from so many different sources and having to bid for it. Now meat packing is one of the lowest wage positions in the industrial world. It is also one of the most dangerous."

"Every time you purchase food from a fast food establishment, you are helping re-enforce that industry."

I had never thought about fast food in the fashion of the latter quote until I heard him say it. I can say without a doubt that a lack of fast food in my diet has helped my health to a considerable degree. My health was the main reason I chose to limit my fast food intake as much as possible. Now I realize that I should limit it too try and put a stop to the abhorrent practices of said industry.

The best thing he said all night though was this: "I know you vegetarians out there are thinking, 'but I don't eat meat, so why should I care?' You are not off the hook. Those vegetables you eat on a daily basis where picked by people who live in horrible conditions." I get damn tired of getting the evil eye from vegetarians when they see me eating meat. Now I can give them some information to remove that smug look.

"15,000 to 20,000 illegal aliens sleep in the hills of San Diego to pick the salad your eating. They are not welfare parasites. They are the backbone of the most important industry in the world, food."

My roommate from San Diego spoke to me about the truth of the above. He also told me about how the rich kids like to drive up into those hills with bats for some "fun". I'm tired of hearing people complain about the illegal aliens who "steal" their jobs. These people do the jobs that no one else will do. They pick the food we eat and some of them are literal slaves. If they are so illegal and such a problem, why does no one arrest them all?

In closing, please excuse the length, I will offer up two other quotes.

"If you want to learn about a country, look at the way it treats the people at the bottom."
-Eric Schlosser(?)

"Once there is seeing, there must be acting, otherwise what is the point of seeing?"
-Vietnamese Buddhist Monk

Jesse Wells

[sin_goodfellow]

Knuckledraggers,

I hope that my previous post did not come off as too strong. I have a strong passion for my beliefs and some times I can come off a little heated. :!: As J. H. Meyers Jr.'s signature states, I am always trying to fight the culture of fear. I try to fight it's affects on me and I try to fight it's affects on other people. Eric Schlosser, Michael Moore, the people who have written about the culture of fear we live in, have done a great service to humanity. "You are not the clothes you wear..."

Eating well has cleared my mind of a lot of funk. It seems like the more processed food I am able to remove from my diet, the better I can perceive my reality. Candy bars just taste bad now and I am almost free of the grasp of Pepsi. I have access to grass-fed, free-roaming meat due to my local Co-op. It tastes great.

I think one of the biggest tragedies of modern living, aside from the horrible practices that are foisted on the public as "miracle cures", is the widespread idea that we are powerless to change things. That we should just take it, day in and day out, the bound flow, the abuse, the pollution.

Find your dreams and never let them go, ever.

Jesse Wells

"The only possible alternative to being the oppressed or the oppressor is voluntary cooperation for the greatest good of all."
-Errico Malatesta

[Scott Sonnon]

Keep up your research and sharing. Very interesting topics you present.

[Doug Szolek]

Think for yourself, question authority.

We will change the world, one individual at a time.

-doug

[Connie Brown]

Jesse I like what you wrote here. Not too far out for me.

I find it amazing the parallels between movement and food.

You release flow by removing bound-flow.

You release clarity of thought & energy by removing junk from your food.

I also made the change to organics incl grass-fed protein and groceries. Got a share in a Community Supported Agriculture farm this year and oh my gosh is that stuff good. Oregon is a wonderland for that sort of thing.

Connie

[sin_goodfellow]

Thank you for the compliments everyone. I am always happy when something I write can have an effect. Since I plan on being a novelist, it's an encouraging event whenever it happens.

Sometimes I question my sanity, not only do I want to be a functional strength athlete ala Coach Sonnon, Steve Maxwell, Coach Davies, et all, but I want to be a successful novelist as well. :lol:

Yet, there can be no pleasure without pain and no accomplishment without suffering. My knee injury is humbling me, but I will work through it and be a better athlete at the end of this particular tunnel.

Jesse Wells

[dave_rusin]

I regret that I cannot recall the exact quote, but I shall paraphrase some wise words that I read several months ago.

"Let it never be said that individuals and small groups cannot change the world, for indeed it is the only thing that ever has."

... And was it not the Lady Galadriel who said to Frodo, "Even the smallest person can change the course of the future."

(If you have not read the epic masterpiece, 'The Lord of the Rings', you really don't know what you are missing!!)

... And Brother Szolek, I concur! Think for yourself, question authority, but also REJECT authority that has no moral standing. A criminal in a position of authority is still a criminal, and we have very many in this country!!

[sin_goodfellow]

"Apathy is the mask of suffering."
-(Unknown)

This is a quote that has much meaning to me. Not only does it definitely apply to politics, but also to personal improvement. How many times have we grabbed that inappropriate something when where in the dumps?

If taking the right path, if making the right decision or avoiding garbage was easy, we would all be saints. It seems tragic to me at times that just taking the easy path leads ever downward at a fast clip while choosing the right path up the mountain is always hard.

I think the most important thing I took away from my three day Buddhist retreat was this:

"You must cultivate independence from others, for only with trust in yourself can you find true happiness. You are the only one responsible for your actions."

When your working on improvement, remember the above. Following through on a promise you've made to yourself is one of the greatest joys we have in this life.

Jesse Wells

[Vbrown]

Firstly, I normally don't reply to these sorts of thing, but I'm learning to be well behaved.

Sure, conformity is bad and all that. But as far as the fabric of the nation, well, be afraid of turning that bright beam of truth onto any industry. You don't get to cherry pick morality.

Perhaps the books is just a bite-sized portion of ethics?

As to the illegal aliens toiling in the central valley and the whol "don't steal our jobs...are the backbone of our economy" thingy....How is it moral to turn a blind eye to low wages, unsafe working conditions and no legal recourse of complaint? It's just shy of indentured servitude, and quite frankly, that's crap.

They do jobs that no one else would do -for the money that's being paid. Raise the pay, hire people legally and pass the prices on. Yep, folks will be unhappy, but if they are against illegal immigration, they should step up and pay. If they are for non-exploitation of their fellow man (person) then they should be glad to know they are paying a fair wage for the food they eat.

Crushing someone under 12 hours days in the near desert heat who cannot call OSHA about the pesticides being sprayed over head while they work does not make my food taste good.

Rant is over, carry on.

Vince

[sin_goodfellow]

How is it moral to turn a blind eye to low wages, unsafe working conditions and no legal recourse of complaint? It's just shy of indentured servitude, and quite frankly, that's crap.

They do jobs that no one else would do -for the money that's being paid. Raise the pay, hire people legally and pass the prices on. Yep, folks will be unhappy, but if they are against illegal immigration, they should step up and pay. If they are for non-exploitation of their fellow man (person) then they should be glad to know they are paying a fair wage for the food they eat.

Crushing someone under 12 hours days in the near desert heat who cannot call OSHA about the pesticides being sprayed over head while they work does not make my food taste good.



Schlosser directly spoke of the above. He made the assertion that if we doubled the wage of farm workers, it would cost the average American 25 to 50$/yr.

I agree that shining a light of full-disclosure on any industry will most likely bring to light things that will disturb you. We live in an age of denial, where the majority of people turn on the big glass teat to make big scary reality go away whenever it starts to creep in past their rose-tinted glasses.

I'm very glad that people like Coach Sonnon and Coach Davies are trying to re-invigorate people. They are trying to help people wake up and realize that all the power they could want is already within them and all they have to do is let it loose.

I read part of a book yesterday entitled "Hard Core Zen: Punk Rock, monster movies & the truth about reality" by a professed "renegade monk" One of the more crunchy bits was his opinion that you do not need to always be running around exhorting a "popular cause" to be doing good. He talked about all the people he knew who were incredibly energized about saving the whales but whose personal lives were a complete mess. It reminded me that sometimes taking the time to clean up your own life can do far more good than marching in a protest.

Jesse

[Doug Szolek]

It reminded me that sometimes taking the time to clean up your own life can do far more good than marching in a protest.

Jesse

Jesse, I used to think that only way an individual can change the world is one person at a time. This idea has been refined in me in recent weeks to where I now believe that the only way I can change the world is by changing myself.

When we systematically set right the many varied areas of our lives (diet and training being two big ones to those reading this forum) the affect reaches far beyond our short-sighted self image.

Affect who YOU ARE deliberatly with faith in the fact that, those things out of your hands will take care of themselves.