Don't Play With Our Food

Maybe it’s because I’m a Mom and feel there is a certain expectation that I know exactly what my family is ingesting. Honestly, my children would be perfectly happy to be raised on canned Spaghetti O’s, hot dogs and chips, but I just can’t see that kind of diet giving them enough nutrients to get though the next growth spurt.

Then there is trying to make sure my husband and I stave off a heart attack long enough to see them through high school. With four boys and two girls, I am sure the teen age years will give us enough cause for a coronary assault without the aid of high cholesterol.

So I try to stock the healthy stuff. Resort to stealth when it comes to getting them ( husband included) to eat anything made with whole grain. I read the food labels and research what makes for a healthy intake and what to avoid. After all this research I am left with a “heart-burning” question. Why do they keep messing with our food?

They could have stopped with seedless watermelon and grapes, and I wouldn’t have cared. I know there’s something not quite right there, but I can overlook it. The Nectarine, cross between a peach and a plum , although not my favorite, has it’s merits. Personal sized melons, although the taste is a little dull compared to the full size variety, I can see the marketing behind it. (They were developed to appeal to women shoppers who are insecure about their breast size. True stuff.)

Now a really bright idea someone has come up with, growing watermelons in boxes to force them into a square shape. Anyone who has gritted their teeth on the way home from the grocery store as a large round watermelon rolls and thuds in the car trunk can appreciate.

That kind of stuff I can handle. It’s the stuff they add in and change that you don’t know that bugs me. Due to what they consider to be an unfair marketing advantage, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture is stopping dairies from putting “rGBH free” or “hormone free” on its milk labels. Ohio is considering the same. Despite other countries banning it, the FDA has been saying for years now that rGBH( Bovine growth Hormone) is safe , but really are you going to trust them? The FDA is opening a new facility with money donated from pharmaceutical companies. I’ve heard of strange bedfellows before but shouldn’t this be more like “The War of the Roses”?

Quite frankly, I want to know what’s in my food. I want to know where it’s been, who it’s been seeing recently. I know this isn’t dating, but I find ingestion a somewhat intimate act. The additives for instance. Potassium Sorbate, Dipotassium phosphate, and my personal favorite, Monosodium glutamate. Sounds yummy . If you are what you eat, wouldn’t you want it to be something you can pronounce or at least spell? Reading food labels requires a dictionary.

I used to wonder why those prepackaged, individually wrapped “cheese “slices came in a particular shade of orange not commonly found in nature, until I took a closer look at the package. Technically it’s not cheese, it is in fact “process cheese food”. It’s been through the wringer so much that they really can’t call it “cheese” anymore. My breakfast cereal now comes with more vitamin C added. It shows how much we over process our food when we need to add the vitamins back in.

My local grocery store has a whole aisle , six shelves high and 20 ft long, devoted to juice. Start reading the labels and you might find about five brands that contain 100% juice. Even some of the better name brands,( which shall remain shameless- I mean nameless), might have between 5% and 25% actual juice in them. With grocery prices are on the rise I am not paying close to $4 bucks a gallon for 5% juice, water, natural and artificial flavoring and coloring.

Recently, I read an article on how companies are trying to cash in on the “organic” food market and discovered the some of the chicken is being injected with broth and salt water, up to 15%. One company’s excuse is people prefer seasoned chicken. . Last time I knew “chicken of the sea “ wasn’t chicken and came in a can. It’s bad enough they want me to pay for salt water by the pound but then they have the nerve to want to be able to call it “all natural” too.

It’s the genetically altered foods that make me nervous. Is it really necessary to start messing with on the DNA level? I would like to imagine some one in one of those pristine , starched white lab coats. Sweating, hands slightly shaking as they attempt to replace the correct protein in the DNA strand. Not how it’s done.

The initial process has been described as similar to loading a high powered riffle with genetic buckshot and blasting the hell out of the chromosomes. Then you look to see if anything stuck. Where in the chain the DNA is altered is extremely important to what you get for results, so the random “ let the chips fall where the may” experimenting leaves me a little insecure. I can’t help it. I keep thinking of those corny old horror movies , like “Attack of The Killer Tomatoes”.

There are some in the scientific community that are starting to wonder if , despite the FDA seal of approval, some of these altered foods might be responsible for the rise in food allergies and illnesses. Unfortunately there has not been enough data gathered to make that kind of finding yet. Considering that decades ago peanut, wheat and milk allergies where rare compared to today, maybe they’re on to something.

Eating as close to nature as possible is still highly recommended as the healthiest diet no matter what age or stage of life you are at. Besides ,didn’t Mom always say not to play with your food ?

Redefining Privacy

Now they want us to Redefine our definition of privacy to fit with the government's agenda. Here's a link to the CNN article.
Thankyou Debbyski of ClipMarks for bringing this to everyone's attention :)

IF Post - The Many Hats of Mom or Dad

Crow quill pen, india ink, and artist still getting the hang of it .

Tooth-Hurty AM

I actually put this together on Wednesday morning around 2am. I was up with a killer tooth ache and figured I might as well do something.

IF Neighbor - take two

When you live in an apartment building you have a lot of neighbors. This is my second stab at this weeks Illustration Fridays theme neighbors. I submitted my earlier post to the Flickr pool, but it was unfortunately removed. My fault, I didn't tie it in with the theme enough. Should have titled it better . It may not be great but at least it has some humor. Enjoy.

Every now and Zen

Drawing of a little zen garden I picked up at CVS for ten bucks. I thought it would look cool on my desk and maybe help me relax a little.

Sometimes I can’t seem to turn my brain off. I’m always thinking about the next thing to be done. My mother blames it on “Houseitosis”, more commonly known as “Cabin Fever”

My Irish Grandmother always said have a cup of tea you'll feel better. Some days I 'm not sure if there was enough tea dumped in Boston harbor for this.

The Running Gag-Future of Art

If libraries have to restrict material will museums? Just something to ponder. Enjoy.

A Little Trivia

I am starting the trivia section a day early. How this works is every Wednesday I will post a question, riddle, optical illusion, (you get the idea) along with last weeks answer. During the week you'll be able to find the trivia post in the side bar on your right.

Also at the bottom of the trivia post will be a "cheat sheet" note that will either give a hint or lead you to where the answer can be found.

Okay , now for the fun part. This weeks trivia post is a riddle.

"A box without hinges, key or a lid, yet golden treasure inside is hid."What am I?

Cheat Sheet: This is a line from the animated movie"The Hobbit"

IF_Polar-Bear

Okay, not a great stretch of the imagination, but here it is.This is a pencil sketch that I ran through Photoshop to add the background and fur coloration. To make up for the lack of creative thinking, I am adding a comic to go along with.
I am currently in college for my associates degree in Graphic Design and Animation. Apparently the instructor for Human Relations at work choose a real hot button topic for the online forum. I hope The instructor has some objectivity. I did the original in number two pencil, took it for a long ride through Illustrator for the background and then painted it up in photoshop. Here's The original.
I'm still working on it. Have fun everybody.

Story of a Bald Frog- sans illustrations

There once was a green frog named Joe.

Whose hair he just could not grow.

The situation did nothing but vex him,

Each time he saw his reflection

And soft breezes would blow.

Now, along comes a toad named Ned.

Quite ashamed of his shiny bald head.

He had tried every rub,

Every sprinkle and scrub-

Said to make one’s mane grow.

Well Joe saw Ned, and Ned saw Joe.

Then both of them said “Oh”.

They were quick to discover

From seeing each other

They both suffer the same woe.

So they set up a shop in Reeseda.

with a seamstress named Rita.

Now they sell hats and wigs

take custom made gigs.

And business hasn’t been too slow.

green_try2

green_try2
Originally uploaded by LJS Design.

I started this for a pet project I am working on and thought maybe I could try it for a second stab at green.

IF_Snap

About to snap and throw a conniption fit. Done in pencil.I was going to use the mermaids below for this weeks IF, but yesterday , after the third phone call I made was heading nowhere , I started to scratch out this one. Coincidentally, this is an accurate picture of me before I gave up coffee. I hate Mondays

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I'm a Pisces , but I wanted a better symbol. So if it has to be a pair of fish.....Markers and color pencils, background was done in photoshop

A Feverish Dicussion

The school nurse called me today. My daughter was in her office with a possible ear infection and a temperature of “ one hundred and four”. (Reads 104, right?) Motherly panic sets in as I start to envision my daughter’s ear drum about to burst at any second.

What the nurse should of said was one hundred POINT four. (100 point, decimal, period, dot 4) Now a fever is a fever, and when your child is ill you want to seek out prompt medical attention. Accuracy is key however.

That point, as apposed to and, makes the difference of calling the pediatrician to see if she can squeeze the” ‘lil’ pixie” in , or, making yourself look like a hypochondriac parent at the ER.

I wouldn’t complain if this was the first time the school nurse has made this little error in wording. Two month ago she had called to report that my son had a raging fever of one hundred –and- five. (100.5, thank you, thank you very much.)

You know ,I gave up coffee because of these kinds of rises in my anxiety level. Which was very difficult considering I live in New England and you can pretty much depend on a Dunkin' Donuts being within a one mile radius in any given direction. Here all roads lead to a Dunkin' Donuts. ( I miss Fred)

To add insult to being brow beaten by the triage nurse, my daughter’s temperature upon arrival at the ER was a whopping 98.6, and she has an ear wax problem.

Thank you.