Food.... Oh Yummy, Scrummy Food
One of the reasons I love fall so much is that the holidays are right around the corner, including my very favorite - Christmas! I also love thoughts of squash, pumpkins, apples and any recipe with cinnamon and nutmeg in it.
Food is such a centerpiece of our lives that sometimes I forget that it is a gracious gift from our Creator. Thanksgiving rolls around at just the right time to remind me that our country is rich with many things including food. And this sparks that happy time of giving to others and gathering with family all the way through the new year.
With our current economic crisis, the news is out that food banks such as Feeding America are also suffering a loss and in fact 35.5 million Americans are currently hungry.
I can't remember the last time I felt hunger pains, but there was always the possibility of remedying that feeling. It's extremely difficult for me to imagine myself in a state of starvation. I think I would buy some sort of a weapon and start thieving deliciously smelling restaurants.
In America many families simply learn to live with hunger. Some utilize food banks and some just go hungry for a while. Some do resort to crime or dishonest means. Some attempt to drink away their dilemmas.
My main concern for the present state of America is that there are going to be many more people just simply cutting back. Persons will go from eating out to cooking at home a little more. They will be more conscious of grocery sales and they will go without that extra snack and dessert. Some will shop at cheaper grocery stores.
Most Americans believe that it is easier, cheaper and even wiser to make a trip to WinCo and load up with the shrinking amount of money in their wallet. This is completely understandable since this generation has been trained from Kindergarten to the Wall Street Journal to think this way.
I believe we are in a severe need of a renewed mind concerning food however. There are plenty of things we should go without buying, such as a new car each year, but there are other things that should not be skimped upon, things that require a little more sacrifice, a little more of our money ... and one of those things is healthy food.
Healthy food (which is defiined as real food, properly grown and processed) isn't just healthy. It is an expensive bottle of vitamins, it is emotional stamina, medical insurance, a clearly thinking brain, physical energy, an investment, and it is a charitable donation. By purchasing sustainable food grown without damaging chemicals, we are contributing not only to the earth but to our neighbors and to the generations that follow us.
Real food provides assets that money could never buy such as a longer, sick-free and happier life. Contrary to widespread, popular belief, cheaper food is NOT cheaper. The discounts that are seen on conventional grocery store receipts are not actually discounts. These stores are filled with items that nobody should be eating and this food is bought with an invisible, extremely high price tag.
I want to spread this wisdom so that others are enlightened in their understanding, so that people can be healed from their diseases. It makes me cry to think of people, especially children, feeling hunger pains, even here in wealthy America. It shatters my heart even more to think that our American children are being fed toxic food, and that we are sending this same food to foreign countries to feed their hungry as well.
Real, unadulterated food should be a basic human right since it can be abundantly provided for from our planet. I'm wondering why this is not happening and what I can do change things, especially for this bountiful holiday season.
