The Truth About Your Food: A Review of Food, Inc.

by Tommy Dyer

I can remember it like it was yesterday.  On a cold winter day in December, I was nine years old walking out of P.E. class when my best friend Ricky decided to clue me in on a dirty little secret – “Santa Claus isn’t real.” Immediately my heart sank.  I felt the reality of my world sucked away in a single moment.  Hours of baking the perfect chocolate cookies and the excitement of just maybe catching a glimpse of the big fat guy in a red suit…gone.  Christmas would never be the same.  My mind swirled with questions of, “Why? How could I have been so fooled?”

After watching the movie, Food, Inc., those feelings came rushing back.  “How could I have been so fooled?  You think you know the truth about what you’re eating…”

Food, Inc. provides viewers with an inside look into what is really going on behind the scenes of the food industry in America.  The movie expands upon topics such as local and organic food, diabetes and obesity, factory farming, environmental impact, and farm worker protection – and the truth we don’t often get to see.  Viewers are taken on a journey from the time an animal is born, until the time it is to be packaged and sold.  Elise Pearlstein, producer of Food, Inc., captures the unimaginable realities of what the animals are fed, how they are treated, killed, and what is injected into them.  The documentary reveals the harmful pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides that invade our produce – and how corn is used in products you never would have imagined, causing a multitude of health problems. Food, Inc. investigates the corporate giants who control what YOU are consuming. The information provides the public with the shameful realities that exist among the things we consume and brings to light the struggle of local farmers fighting to provide you real food free of hormones and chemicals.

In the film, Michael Pollan, author of the groundbreaking book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, provides useful details into the way your chickens are killed and cows are processed.  After an hour-and-a-half, I was angry, sad, and questioning.   How we are supposed to fight against something so big, so controlling?  Why would the FDA allow the ill treatment of animals?  Why are the chickens we are consuming allowed to be injected with growth hormones?  Why are cows fed anything but the grass put here for them to graze on?  What is really on that tomato in your salad? Why are food workers in conditions that you would never dream of stepping into? Where did it go wrong, and how do we fight back and take control of our health?

Being a part of The Movement Dallas gives me hope!  Our studio provides you with all the tools necessary to take back control of your health from an organic, natural perspective that supports and respects local farmers.  The Movement Dallas Organic Co-Op works closely with local farms to provide you with the opportunity to eat 100% organic grass-fed beef, pastured chicken, farm fresh eggs, raw cheese – food that will definitely put a smile on your face and cause your body to thank you.

Understanding what goes into your food and how food affects your body can be tiring.  The Movement Dallas was created to change the way you Move, Eat, Think, and Live. Become a part of the Organic Co-op and begin to experience food for what it is supposed to be.  Oh, and if you haven’t yet seen Food, Inc. – grab a friend, family member, or just mosey to the theatre yourself and catch a glimpse into the reality of our food industry.

To your good health!