Control and Power Are in Our Hands!

This is the start of the fourth year for the daily form of The Delicious Truth. Since I began writing in 2009, society's attention to issues linked to food, nutrition and health (and their relationship with money and politics) has increased dramatically.

Listing all of the issues we face (inexcusable school lunches, pesticides sprayed on our food and into our soil, unfair marketing by the food companies, etc.) is daunting and not feasible in one day, but—trust me—there will be no shortage of material for me to write about for years to come.

The most important thing I've learned over the past three years is that we must look out for ourselves and our families, because nobody else truly has our best interests in mind. Yes, there are a handful of companies (i.e. Eden, Nature's Path) and elected officials that care, but the moneyed nature of our political system (lobbying, election financing, etc.) allows for the concentration of power. But you know this.

I don't mean to sound fatalistic, but I've given up hope that the system will fix itself. But that doesn't mean I've ceded control of what I eat and drink and what products I use to clean my teeth and toilet. If anything, I am more vigilant than ever and try to help (delicately) others realize how this self-empowerment can make a difference in our lives.

Click here to read Mark Bittman's stinging piece, "Bacteria 1, F.D.A. 0," in The New York Times last week, which should help us all realize that we need to take matters into our own hands.