08 January 2011

This is food?!

Food is a BIG topic at my house. We have a pretty big love/hate relationship with food. When Mr.FCS and I met, we both ate anything anytime. We went for pizza regularly and slurpees even more. No more.

In 1998, we figured out that I have Celiac Disease. This means no wheat, barley, rye, oats (except uncontaminated ones), spelt, triticale. At the same time I figured out that I'm dairy intolerant. (I'm not really intolerant, I just refuse to put up with dairy's shit!)

When I was pregnant with Crackle, my husband was also diagnosed with Celiac and we took gluten out of Snap's diet to see if she improved too. Lo and behold...

Anyway, the bunch of us have a variety of other allergies and intolerances. So our meals are gluten, dairy, corn, colour, egg, canola, and nut free. Mine are also meatless - Mr.FCS makes chicken or roast beef every once and a while. Mr.FCS's have no tomatoes. It gets a little tricky. But I'm an awesome cook (if I do say so myself!) and so we have some pretty good meals. I make a fabulous squash soup that Pop will eat by the boatload.

So we're really careful about what we eat. Food that is produced on the same line as gluten foods is verboten. No one may bring gluten into our house. Reactions pretty severe, especially for Crackle. I've gotten pretty good with whole foods. We eat almost no processed foods. We buy organic when we can find it and/or afford it.

So I'm appalled by what they (the ubiquitous 'they') put in food. Animals that are pumped full of antibiotics and growth hormones. Pesticides that have dioxin in them. Dyes that are made from industrial waste. We're destroying the environment and ourselves by trying to save money and trying to have more colourful food. It's sickening.

The chart I posted above is cute, though I don't agree with it in full. Dairy is food for baby cows. Eat it if you like, but it's not human food. It's just not. Meat, meh. I just find it gross. And I disagree with the five ingredients rule. I mean, my favourite crackers have 9 ingredients and they're almost all seeds and grains. And as for that stupid rule about 'if you can't pronounce it or don't know what it is, don't eat it'? Well hello. How many people would say, "NO! Can't eat ascorbic acid!" There are plenty of morons who don't know what is good and what isn't.

I want more regulations on labeling. Food manufactures should have to tell us what is genetically modified and if there is contact with gluten, dairy, egg, corn, etc. Right now, they only have to say if it contains the top 10 allergens. Not if there's been contact. I call companies regularly to find out if they process their foods on the same line as wheat or barley. I cannot find gluten-free lentils anywhere, but I've never found one single label stating that the lentils have been in contact with wheat. It is perfectly clear that the consumer is the least of their concerns.

2 comments:

stuartbramhall said...

What you propose sound utterly reasonable to me. I also have celiac disease, as well as being lactose intolerant. Parents who give their children milk should make sure to boil it first (at least in the US). American herds carry mycobacterium avian paratuberculosis - which isn't destroyed by pasteurization - and which is linked to Crohn's Disease and irritable bowl syndrome. The USDA and the US farm lobby are engaged in a systematic cover-up of this fact: see http://tinyurl.com/3admat8

Luna said...

EW! That is so disgusting. And not particularly surprising. The dairy lobby is VERY strong. That our food guides say it's necessary is infuriating.