Over the weekend, I watched this very empowering & inspirational lecture that was given at Tedx Austin by Robyn O’Brien. Robyn is a crusader for cleaning up our food supply & the author of The Unhealthy Truth. I think this is a must watch video for everyone! Robyn shares her personal story and how it inspired her path to become an agent of change in our food system.
I think those that are already conscious of the issues surrounding our food system can learn some interesting facts. More so, this video is a great tool in educating those that are not already aware of the harmful effects of conventional food. Since, Robyn does not have a background in health or nutrition & she was just a regular mom that trusted what the FDA approved & put on the grocery store shelves, (until one of her kids had an allergic reaction) many people will be able to relate to her past & learn from her path.
I hope that many of you share this video with your parents, your friends, your co-workers, etc. As consumers we have a lot of power in changing our food system. As we make more responsible & healthy choices, the corporations will be coerced into also making more responsible & healthy choices to meet our demand.
Here are a few highlights from the lecture that stood out to me:
- In the last 20 years the quality of food in the US has greatly declined.
- There are foreign substances in our food that weren’t there before – new proteins were engineered into our food supply.
- There has been a 265% increase in hospitalizations related to food allergies.
- Milk allergy has become the most common allergy in the US. My question is, are kids/people allergic to milk or the synthetic crap we put in it?
- In 1994, in order to increase profitability, scientists created a new genetically engineered protein & a synthetic growth hormone that was used to help cows increase milk production, which made the animals sick & increased antibiotic usage.
- Governments around the world refused to allow this synthetic hormone as it wasn’t deemed safe – Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand & all 27 European countries did not allow it. But, we said Yes.
- This hormone has been linked to breast, protsate, & colon cancer.
- The US has the highest rate of cancer amongst any other country on the planet!
- Those that migrate here from other countries, increase their risk of developing cancer four fold.
- In America, 1 out of 2 men, & 1 our of 3 women are expected to develop cancer in their lifetime.
- 1 out of 8 women will develop breast cancer & only 1 out of 10 of those is genetic. 9 out of 10 are environmentally triggered.
- The US spends more on health care than any other country ~16% of our GDP.
Although, organic, sustainable food is more costly, the cost is worth our health. As you will learn in this video, the government subsidizes synthetic crops, while charging organic farms all kinds of fees causing their overhead to increase, hence their prices to be higher. This is truly so sad. This type of bureaucracy keeps so many Americans from having access to healthy food.
www.youtube.com/embed/rixyrCNVVGA
good post arsy – super interesting!