Friday, April 22, 2005

The Downside of Fast Food Nation

Cross your fingers for me. I have a giant, hard bump on my arm that looks like a zit but I think it really a spider bite. And as many times as my daddy has had fiddleback spider bites, I always get a little scared when I see hard red bumps on my body.

So since no one else will read this book, I really have no place to discuss any parts of it. This will have to temporarily suffice to get my feelings out until I force (feed) someone else to read it. If you are squeemish and like to eat meat, stop reading this now. Seriously! I don't want to be responsible for ruining your hamburger this evening. You see, Maggie swore to me that I would still be able to eat at McDonald's after I read Fast Food Nation. And I can...err...sort of. The problem is that I'm having a really hard time eating anything at all after reading this book. Or at least having a hard time ENJOYING what I choke down. Why? Because Rachel's mind did a terrible thing. It took a few sentences in the book and extrapolated what was intended to be for just ground beef to ALL foods. Not a good thing. Here were the two sentences in the book that really did me in.
On page 197: "The medical literature on the causes of food poisoning is full of euphemisms and dry scientific terms: coliform levels, aerobic plate counts, sorbitol, MacConkey agar, and so on. Behind them lies a simple explanation for why eating a hamburger can now make you seriously ill: There is shit in the meat."
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!! I didn't particularly enjoy the description of how it takes quite the skilled hand to degut the cow without spilling any intestinal/stomach contents into the meat, either. Anyway, I ate some sausage the other day and I just couldn't get into it. I actually gave most of it to Mr. Trash. Didn't even give it to Shelby. Next:
pg 204 "A single fast food hamburger now contains meat from dozens or even hundreds of differnet cattle."
So essentially when I eat a burger now, in my mind I'm picturing a living cow that is divided up into 1 inch square sections and each section is a different colour or texture or something. And throughout the tiled cow, there are icky disease-laided whelps, warts, etc. that would afflict the skin. Then the cow sort of melts and looks even more mutilated. Yeah, I know this is not a normal reaction to have. Fact is, that sentence is much grossness! Having said all of this, the breakfast burrito at Sonic that contains sausage is pretty darn good. And cheap.

6 comments:

ET said...

Yeah, I made it all the way through a biology degree without getting so disgusted that I won't eat meat. All the microbes, freaky organisms...just chalk it up to protein and bon appetit!

Oh, and if the skin starts to slough off or turn black around your spider bite, THEN worry. Otherwise it should last about a week and be generally annoying. You may know this already.

Rachel said...

I do know this, but dad has had probably 4 fiddleback spider bites of the blackening variety that he needed steroids for (I'm not a big fan due to my illness a few years back) and so I'm always semi-scared when I get one.

decker87 said...

hey, the popemobile IS badass...hope it's not a nasty spider bite...because...that would suck...

Anonymous said...

IF those two lines are the only thing that will bring you to stop eating fast food... More power to you. And dont let the fast food places, with there so called "salads" fool you either. They are loaded with sugar.

Even that size "0" chick that eats everything(junk)and dont gain a pound. She is still hurting herself.

Unfortanitly it goes way beond just Mcdonalds(fast foods)it goes all the way to the supermarket. The meat, fruits, vegetable, can goods, even MILK!

There are countries that will NOT accept any of our food(mostly beef chicken)because of the way we procese our food and the crap that we put in it(preservatives etc).

The FDA whom most people would think are on our(the people)side are not. The FDA is a business. Just like any other business it all about the money.

Here is a great point about the FDA. They now call acid reflux a "disease". Why? so that the only "real cure" can be another pill. You know what the "magic pill" does? It takes all the acid out of your body. In return you body realizes there is none and produces a lot of acid to replace it. If you cant stay away from the food that give you "the burn" take one tablespoon of vinegar. That easy.

Think about all the pills out there. Think of all the mistakes they are making. EVEN tylenol over a long time usage will give you liver problems if not falure. How do you find this stuff out? Our parents where ginipigs as are we. Studies over long periods of time have brough this to light.

Another good demonstration of the FDA at work. Just recently they came out with the NEW health chart. You remember in school the whole triangle of good nutrition? Well MILK has had a BIG jump in the health chart. Saying if I remember corectly 3-6 servings of milk a day.

Most doctors will even tell you that is to much milk. To much fat intake. Granted there is a small percentage of people that could handle this intake because they exercise so much.(body builders etc.) ITS ALL ABOUT THE MONEY. And the milk industry has alot of power and lobbyist in washington along with the whole food industry.

No, im not all into consperacy theories. This information is true and can be found. EVEN the news says "eat less exercise more" People dont want to hear that. They want a "magic pill" and "fast food"

You know, im not even mad at the system. Why should I be? Its not like the FDA and Mcdonalds are the "real" leaders here. They only go where the money is. Thats business. And untill people start to change there own habits the FDA and McD's are not going to change. Why should they? They have two priorities finding out what we want and making the sharholders money.

So how do I fight back? Moderation is the key! Even after everything that I have read and seen. I still eat fast food, but I eat it in moderation.(maybe two three times a month) And I watch my labels on the food I buy at the supermarket.

I bake, steam, boil. I dont fry.

EXERCISE! At least 45 minutes a day. Getting the heart rate up for atleast 45 minutes is great. Sex, a great exercise!

I dont drink my calories. So no soda,(not even dite soda)milkshakes, or fruit drinks. I stay away from sweets. I have been doing this since I was a like 12. Realizing then that I didnt even like all that sweet stuff maybe I ate to much when I was really young. Who knows.

I dont take any medication. If I can help it. I mean for real here. If im going to die and you have a pill that could help me, but may give me diarrhea, sexual side effects, cramping, headaches, vision loss, weight gain, hot flashes, hearing loss, or even Alleviates premenstrual syndrome.

Well, atleast im not DEAD. Utill then ill use my books of home remedies.

Im sure you heard about the guy who ate Mcdonalds for 30 days. If not you should watch this documentary. Or visit this web page.

http://www.supersizeme.com/

Wow, I hope that didnt bore you to death. Just my fingers and brain just keept going... my bad! Okay, so yeah untill tomorrow... I think im going to go eat now. I am kinda hungry.

Anonymous said...

Thanks. I could barely choke down my sausage croissant this morning. In fact, I had to take the sausage off halfway through!

Anonymous said...

well, if yo want to know more,go to farm sanctuary.com , or saerch it on goooogle.