The Future of Food (the movie) and GMO foods...let's talk

[Halcyon]

So I'm about halfway through this movie, and while I've always been pretty informed about GMO crops and such, I now have a fire lit under my bu*t about it! I would like to learn more about how avoid GMO crops in my purchases (I'm already doing the political action component, which is SO important). We eat well, mostly veg, not a lot of processed, but I am going to basically eliminate processed snack foods and cereal...and corn LOL. We eat a lot of beans--my guess is those arent' heavily GMO, but I could be wrong, lot of brown rice...I'll need to start buying tofu at the health food store, as soy is very GM. Obviously, HFCS is out.

 

Anyone else working on reducing their GM food intake? How's it going? What have you changed?

[Peela]

We basically have stopped eating processed foods. I was still buying some corn chips and meusli bars and 2 minute noodles for the kids- I recently stopped- and my dh , who I didnt think realyl understood the issue- was the one to ask me to stop. He said they need to eat "real food" not that stuff. Of course he is right...I was just getting lax about it.

 

I have a concern though about the amount of severely hybridized foods around nowadays- cant get watermelon with seeds in it any more around here. Hard to get oranges with seeds. There are hundreds of varieties of bananas, but the only ones in commercial cultivation are I think 2 or 3 different types- right across the world- and they are very hybridized. These types of foods are much higher in sugar than the more natural varieties. ANd you cant take the seed from the fruit and plant it.

 

You can only do your best. Its pretty hard to avoid it all nowadays. FOrtunately non hybrid soy is available here- my son absolutely adores tofu, which is quirky but I give it to him (we all eat it).

 

It does sounds and look like, from what I have seen, that commercial farming in the US. is worse than here in Australia. Cows still graze on pasture here.

[DarcyB]

We're not there, but we try really hard. It's hard to get away from all of it because it is so entrenched in the food chain here in the States. But the more we purchase outside of that chain with organic practicing farms (not everyone can afford to get certified organic, even though they use organic practices).

 

It's REALLY hard. I don't know when we'll get all the way, but we've worked at cutting all processed foods out of our diet, though we're not there, yet. We quit vegetable oils of all kind awhile back. No soy. No HCFS. And we try to be very informed about what we're buying and doing the best we can!

Edited October 23, 2010 by DarcyB
oops..forgot a word :)

[Heather in WI]

So I'm about halfway through this movie, and while I've always been pretty informed about GMO crops and such, I now have a fire lit under my bu*t about it! I would like to learn more about how avoid GMO crops in my purchases (I'm already doing the political action component, which is SO important). We eat well, mostly veg, not a lot of processed, but I am going to basically eliminate processed snack foods and cereal...and corn LOL. We eat a lot of beans--my guess is those arent' heavily GMO, but I could be wrong, lot of brown rice...I'll need to start buying tofu at the health food store, as soy is very GM. Obviously, HFCS is out.

 

Anyone else working on reducing their GM food intake? How's it going? What have you changed?

 

That movie (along with Food Inc. and The Omnivore's Dilemma) significantly influenced the way we eat. We rarely eat "highly processed edible food-like products". {grin} For sure, we only eat organic corn and use organic oils. We buy our meat right from the farmer. We found the farmer on http://www.eatwild.com/ . HFCS is out completely, but we aren't complete kill-joys. We make sure that we have yummy homemade treats. :-)

[mcconnellboys]

It's extremely difficult to try to avoid GM foods because there are no requirements regarding labeling and because there's no way to control pollen. Most organic farmers, I've read, believe that they have to accept some level of GM contamination within crops today and into the future. It's a Pandora's box that's already been opened - it's too late to recapture the contents now....

 

From what I've read, soy is so highly contaminated that there may no longer be any soy that's not GM contaminated. I've been trying to avoid soy for a while now.....

 

I don't buy corn any longer unless it comes from a non-GM seed (I have to trust that my co-op labels it correctly and has not been misled by the farmer who sold it to them). I'm trying to participate in seed swaps for the future, obtaining heritage brands of plants that have not been genetically modified. Even doing such things, however, you can not guarantee that once you plant the seed, it won't be contaminated by GM pollen blowing on the wind.....

[gaillardia]

"no requirements regarding labeling," how'd we sleep through that one?

It has been hard for us to eat organically, the cost anyway.

 

So, I was going to do a thread on this: I buy certified organic seeds and have been planting.

I went to the store today and decided to not buy the usual cereal.

 

What some of you are saying is that soy, even if it is labeled organic, is probably cross-contaminated? They've been saying it would happen, though, haven't they? GM pollen blowing on the wind.

What will happen to the bees?

 

Darcy: you said you quit vegetable of all kind awhile back. What do you mean?

[DarcyB]

 

Darcy: you said you quit vegetable of all kind awhile back. What do you mean?

 

Oils..meant vegetable oils.

[gaillardia]

What do you use instead of vegetable oil, Darcy?

[tex-mex]

Start a garden with this seed -- they use only organic heirloom seeds that are not hybrids.

 

http://www.seedsavers.org/

[DarcyB]

We use coconut oil, olive oils and peanut oil, butter and applesauce (which can replace oils in many baked goods).

[Halcyon]

We're not there, but we try really hard. It's hard to get away from all of it because it is so entrenched in the food chain here in the States. But the more we purchase outside of that chain with organic practicing farms (not everyone can afford to get certified organic, even though they use organic practices).

 

It's REALLY hard. I don't know when we'll get all the way, but we've worked at cutting all processed foods out of our diet, though we're not there, yet. We quit vegetable oils of all kind awhile back. No soy. No HCFS. And we try to be very informed about what we're buying and doing the best we can!

 

 

What about olive oil? Thoughts?

[Halcyon]

okay, found info about a local farmer who grows organic vegetables and also raises organic beef, chicken, pork and chicken. It's VERY hard in Florida to find this stuff, and she's not that far away so hoping she passes through here once in a while.

 

I totally get that tofu/soy is cross contaminated. Sucks.

[Guest mrsjamiesouth]

http://www.heirloomseeds.com/

 

Here is another seed sight. Keep in mind that Organic Farm Veges can still be hybridized. Ask the farmer what type of seeds they use.

Another good show was Food Inc. Both of these really convicted me about paying more for real food instead of "fake" food.

I am currently trying to talk DH into buying chicks. I need him to build me a coop, maybe I should just get a book and make it a school project for the boys.:001_smile:

 

Check out this site:

www.locallygrown.net

The head person will organize a ton of local farmers and sell them to you in one place. I put my order in on Monday and pick-up Thursday. This way I can order eggs, dairy, veges, fruit, and meat all online and pick it up at one place. They give background info on each farmer and almost everything is organic.

[mcconnellboys]

Well, summer before last I stopped on the way to Elizabethtown to buy some honey from a Mennonite gentleman. He told me that all the beekeepers in his area had been having trouble with their bees that summer.

 

They had just begun to rebound some in my area from the mite problem and I had lots of them in my yard on my lemon thyme all summer for the first time in several years.

 

He told me of various problems that had been occurring, from the bees eating their own honey (a thing they generally never do save in a too cold winter) to sealing off their combs at improper times....

 

In reading about the many problems associated with GM foods last year, I began to form an idea, based on all the problems that I read could be caused by disruption to the systems of those ingesting such foods. It seems to me that the bees might be having problems based on their ingestion of GM altered pollens.

 

If, as some studies seem to indicate, GM organisms are not simply digested in our guts but can remain alive for some period of time there, and if such DNA can attach to ours, as has been suggested in some studies, then I would think that the same thing can certainly happen to much smaller organisms, such as honeybees, and perhaps cause problems for them, too.....

 

I highly recommend the book Seeds of Deception for more info on these topics....

[mcconnellboys]

Yeah, Seed Savers is a great organization but if Monsanto has their way, saving seeds will become illegal for everyone and they will control the food of the world.....

[elegantlion]

I just watched the movie today. Ticked me off. :glare: We're trying to eat more natural and it seems everywhere I turn I'm crossing foods off the acceptable list.

 

Regena, can you confirm which author on "Seed of destruction"? there are two titles by diff authors on amazon.

[Halcyon]

I just watched the movie today. Ticked me off. :glare: We're trying to eat more natural and it seems everywhere I turn I'm crossing foods off the acceptable list.

 

Regena, can you confirm which author on "Seed of destruction"? there are two titles by diff authors on amazon.

 

 

I think it's Seeds of Deception, not Destruction. Just put it on hold at my library.

 

So pis*ed at Monsanto. And the US Supreme Court for allowing the patenting of life.

[elegantlion]

I think it's Seeds of Deception, not Destruction. Just put it on hold at my library.

 

So pis*ed at Monsanto. And the US Supreme Court for allowing the patenting of life.

 

Deception, destruction...kind of interchangeable in this topic. :001_huh::lol::tongue_smilie: Thank you, I'll look for the correct title.

 

Are there some websites or blogs that are good to follow on this issue?

[Audrey]

Yeah, Seed Savers is a great organization but if Monsanto has their way, saving seeds will become illegal for everyone and they will control the food of the world.....

 

 

Monsanto is #&!@%&! evil.

 

If you can find it, there is organic canola oil out there. I know because we grow some. I feel pretty confident about the GMOlessness of it, but as a PP said -- the Pandora's box has already been opened.

 

At any rate, purchasing organic canola, soy and corn supports the movement to end Monsanto's tyranny over those crops.

[mcconnellboys]

So sorry! I'm always getting my titles mixed up! There are too many that are too similar. Here's the book I've read, Seeds of Deception (not Destruction):

 

http://www.seedsofdeception.com/Public/Home/index.cfm

 

Jeffrey Smith is the author.

[mcconnellboys]

I linked you to Smith's website and that's a good place to start....

[mcconnellboys]

I'd like to see every state introduce legislation to refuse seed patenting within their state borders as well as refusing to allow GMO crops grown within their borders. If the federal government won't support this, then the states need to stand up and protect themselves....

[6packofun]

The shopping guide on the site is VERY helpful! I had no idea that aspartame--which we avoid anyhow--is made from GM microorganisms. Wow. Thanks for the link!

[elegantlion]

So sorry! I'm always getting my titles mixed up! There are too many that are too similar. Here's the book I've read, Seeds of Deception (not Destruction):

 

http://www.seedsofdeception.com/Public/Home/index.cfm

 

Jeffrey Smith is the author.

 

Oh no, it was I who had the titles confused. You wrote the correct one.

 

I linked you to Smith's website and that's a good place to start....

 

Thank you.

[jenn1129]

we buy as much as we can from Trader Joes. They say everything is GMO free. We have completely changed our eating habits this summer. no HFCS, no hydrogenated oils, no colors, no MSG, no GMO's and no chremicals(we aren't always 100%, but mostly. it's hard when we are at other people's houses). Cage free, grass fed eggs and chicken. we don't eat red meat.

 

i've struggled emotionally with paying higher prices. But the alternative is feeding my children poison. can't do it.

 

thanks for the various links. i found a farm in my area we can buy meat and eggs from. :)

 

Jennifer

[cyndi60]

Have you ever heard of Azure Standard? I dont know where you are in the country but they go from Oregon all the way to Iowa and working on getting down to Texas. You make your order and a truck comes through and you get your good food for nearly wholesale price once a month. You have to find out the closest drop off point where others are ordering. The orders all together have to be at least 500 or 550. I have been doing this for a Long.....time and it is great. Look them up on google.

Cyndi

Wife to a wonderful dh of 29yrs.

Homeschool since 1986 6 children 28-11