What Makes Us Label (Almost) Everything?

As I do every morning, today I got up, got my coffee and settled down on the sofa to ingest the life-liquid as quickly as I possibly could. Matt usually gets up a couple hours before I do so the television is already on when I “shuffle my slipperless toes to the kitchen” most days.

Most mornings he goes for the Today Show. It’s easy and always there. Reliable.

Before I go on here I’d just like to say that I have nothing specific against the Today Show. I’ve watched that show on and off for years. I was even a little sad when Katie Couric left. The way I feel about the story I saw this morning isn’t specifically attacking the show.

Instead, my baffled head shake comes from the fact that people must want to hear about stuff like this, otherwise they wouldn’t report the story. The people out there in news program land enjoy hearing stories like this one, it isn’t about placing blame on “news” anchors or the writers.

Now I know a bunch of you probably think I’m talking about the Amy Schumer v. Glamour Magazine debacle that took place a couple days ago. They have a Plus Size women issue, Amy gets named in the issue, they don’t label her as plus size but she freaks anyway and takes to twitter to release her frustration.

No. I mean, that story is an interesting experiment in political correctness but it isn’t the labeling issue I’m referring to this morning.

What got me all riled up this morning has to do with food.

Before you say the “ugh” that’s dying to escape from your throat give me a minute.

You know I’m pretty environmentally focused, and that goes for the planet as a whole as well as the tiny speck of space I inhabit on the blue and green rock. I like my home to be clean and try for a chemical-free existence. I prefer to make a lot of my own stuff like laundry detergent and lotion. And I try to buy organic options whenever possible.

So, with all that said, you might be thinking I’m talking about labeling food with GMOs. And in a way, I guess I am, but that still isn’t the issue at hand. It raises a whole bunch of questions though and here’s why:

The story I saw this morning was about labeling our junk food with recommended exercise time in order to work it off.

Now, I’m not sure you had the same reaction as I did. Mine went something like this:

I’m sorry, but, what the actual fuck?

Once that went through my mind, the next three things I thought about, in this exact order, were:

• We can’t get GMO labeling but this stupid shit is okay?
• Who in the hell thought of this and how did it end up as a story on a morning talk show?
• Idiocracy

I really can’t understand this world we live in sometimes. Big huge corporations are creating seeds resistant to pesticide and pests – and they all tell us those seeds are perfectly safe to consume – but the fight to have packages marked with that information is like asking the CEO of that huge company to pull his teeth out with a pair of rusty pliers.

Who wants to place bets that we get big bold stickers next to all the nutrition information on our bags of chips that tell us to shove in 5 of those chips then go do 100 sit ups before the fight is even over on GMO labeling?

Like I said, it makes me sad for our society. Watching people watching segments like that and knowing there are tons of people sitting at home and nodding along at just how great an idea that is makes me mental.

I mean, come on.

And I don’t mean to offend anyone here, because I’m basically talking about myself, but if you’re a person who sits around shoving snack foods, junk food, fast food down your gullet, is it safe to assume you don’t really give a shit about the nutrition label that says you need to go jog around the block?

Because, and answer me honestly here, what’s the first thing you want to do after ingesting a few (hundred) handfuls of cheddar and sour cream chips? I may not know you but, using myself as the example again, I feel pretty secure in saying it isn’t 'go to the gym'. At least not for the majority of the world.

The good news, if for nobody other than Mike Judge, is that at least we’ll all know how much we have to exercise while drinking our butter. It's just unfortunate, that butter is probably going to kill us with chemicals before we ever get off our ass to go workout.

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In addition to this drivel I also write books, both fiction and non-fiction.
Learn more on my author page.

Its Blast Off Time

Since I started writing Green Leaf Reviewer about two weeks ago I have been questioning a lot of the things I do and how focused I really am on the environment. Not to say that the planet as a whole is not a priority for me because it definitely is -- I recycle, upcycle, drive a fuel efficient car, barely drive anywhere, turn lights and electronics off, yada, yada, yada -- but when it comes to taking care of me, I question if I have lost complete focus. One of the things I said in the welcome message over there is that the environment is everything around us so truthfully, that means my own body as well.

I have been inspired lately with all these great healthy recipes I have been reading about and this past week Matt had to have a tooth pulled.

How do those things relate some of you may wonder? Well fear not for in my ability to weave seemingly random and unrelated topics into one roller coaster ride of a blog post I would love to share it with you.

A couple weeks ago Matt had such a bad toothache that he actually sat in his chair one Friday night and cried from the pain. He had already made an appointment for the following Tuesday but I suggested to just go there in the morning instead and explain the situation so perhaps they could squeeze him in as an emergency appointment. Luckily they did and he came home with a temporary filling. He was feeling much better and booked an appointment for this past Thursday to have the wisdom tooth extracted.

He went in for a three o’clock appointment on Thursday and while he was having an impacted tooth yanked out I was briskly walking the bike path with my friend S, the twins and her Mom. We have decided to try to walk together at least once a week and knowing that I will finally be doing even a little exercise is a great feeling. Matt called to say he was done and drooling so I picked him up and we headed home where he could nap off his pint of blood loss and I could get some sewing done.

For the following few days he was allowed to eat only soft foods and since he was feeling a bit more energy, and a need for a walk himself, he headed down to the supermarket to pick up something edible that would help fill him up. Just as a quick reference point here my Grampa used to tell me I must have a hollow leg with the amount of food I could pack away without gaining any weight. Well if I had one hollow leg Matt surely has two so eating broth for three days was not going to cut it. I gave him a small list and he came home with blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, apples, vanilla flavored Carnation Instant Breakfast, milk and Cream of Wheat.

After making the pesto last week I had some leftover cilantro and was no longer nervous that my (very underutilized) blender was going to explode so I pulled it back out and decided to try my hand at some smoothies that might fill up Matt. I am a lover of fruits and veggies but have frequently said it would be beneficial to own a juicer because I am never going to be the person who just grabs for fruit to snack on but if I were to blend them all together and have a yummy drink well that I could do all day!

I took a handful of blueberries, raspberries, four strawberries, a third of a Macintosh apple, a few chopped sprigs of the cilantro, two packets of the vanilla Carnation instant breakfast and eight ounces of milk and blended it until it was pancake batter consistency. I hesitantly handed it over to him waiting to hear “blech!” but to my surprise he loved it! I loved it too but what we both really loved most was the way we felt about an hour after drinking it.

Those of you who know me are fully aware that I am a proponent of marijuana, but I will tell you something, never in all the years I smoked did I ever feel a high like that. It was like my brain and body were on this complete cloud of clarity; like a sugar high without the jitters. I had energy I could not burn off no matter how I tried and instantly began looking for the permanent placement for the blender on the counter because this was definitely going to happen again.

Today we had another for breakfast but this time I also added a bit of carrot, more apple and reduced the cilantro and strawberry (too many seeds). I can not even express how great I feel and how much I am looking forward to experimenting with alternate fruits and veggies to make this even healthier. Although I made this with cow milk it could easily be exchanged with soy and I am sure there are vegetarian/vegan alternative protein powders to add instead of the vanilla Carnation Instant Breakfast so I will begin my search for those.

Even though some situations may seem bad at the time they are happening, they can certainly prove to be great in the end. If it were not for Matt’s toothache and subsequent extraction I do not think that either of us would have gone walking or started eating healthier just yet. Timing is a wondrous thing.

Oh What A Night

When I went to bed last night I felt that I had done something to make a difference in the world for the entire day. Yesterday was filled with blogging, sewing, creating from new recipes, community activism and great conversation. I felt as if I took a giant leap forward toward a happier and healthier life and want to keep that train a-rolling for sure!

Working from home has become a more regular occurrence as I gear up for the craft fair in November. I have been running the sewing machine (not my car) pretty much non stop. I have a feeling that running the machine is definitely less of an energy sucker than my car would be though. So some of the adorableness of this week includes:





Have I mentioned that the pattern for the clutches is one I created myself a handful of years ago? I have been improving on the design and making changes over the past couple years like adding the Velcro instead of a button, making sure my company tag is sewn in there and generally just lining up the seams and notions better. Everything gets easier with time I guess!

Because Murphy’s Law is something all of us Irish folk are fully in touch with, I know this purse will sell at the fair. So far it is the one I love the most and would keep in a New York minute if given the opportunity (like it not selling at the fair and I get to just take it home for example).

So for Ginger and Karen I would just like to let you know that I did finally create the recipes you both shared that I have been dying to try all month. I combined the two together for a yummy feast last night for mom, Matt and myself before we headed out to the town meeting. On this plate are the salmon patties Karen suggested trying and the ribbon zucchini with pesto Ginger posted. Y-U-M!!

Good. Now that takes care of our minds and bodies, but we should do something good for mankind or the planet for a couple of hours. -- Cher, Clueless

After also devouring some of my mom’s delicious oatmeal chip cookies we took off to hear about all the awesomeness our town is doing in the way of sustainable efforts. There were two guest speakers, one from the Chamber of Commerce, the other from the Committee for Secure Green Future. Both were excellent speakers with quite a wealth of knowledge to share. There were eleven of us in total including the three of us newbies. Everyone was so welcoming and excited to have new members attend! One of the members is also the webmaster and when he found out that I write an environmental blog he asked if I would be interested to let them grab my RSS feed as well as possibly write articles for the soon to be newly revamped website. How could I ever say no?! I am really looking forward to getting more involved with these folks because their reach in the community is so positive.

With that said, today I begin research on my town and the efforts already in place for a better environment here such as waste removal, recycling, energy savings, litter clean up and a slew of other topics that will become extremely fun topics to do a write up on for the website. Of course I plan to finish up this little baby tonight.