Have you taken your GMOs today?

Its a hard reality to face, but 70% of the food on grocery shelves is contaminated with GMOs. Or genetically modified food. There is a difference between selective breeding for desirable traits, which farmer's have been doing since the beginning of agriculture, to altering the genetic make-up of food in a laboratory, using DNA from other organisms. While there is an incredible amount of research that suggests GMOs are harmful to our health and to the environment, the USDA and FDA don't care because it is big business. The monster company behind the GMO take-over of agriculture world-wide is called Monsanto. An example of how insane GMO food is, Monsanto "created" a corn in the laboratory that has a pesticide in it that kills a crop eating worm. When you eat this corn you are eating a product that is considered itself an insecticide. 

Two great documentaries reveal how Monsanto has ruined the lives of thousands of farmers worldwide and severely threatens the health of everyone on this planet:

The World According to Monsanto directed by Marie-Monique Robin, 2008 which I watched on Sundance Channel and The Future of Food, produced, written and directed by Deborah Koons Garcia which I watched on Netflix. 

How to avoid GMOs? Its not that easy but there is a PDF you can download from Real Food Media that is really helpful. There are a few things to remember: anything organic is not supposed to have GMOs in it, but considering that the USDA's "organic" division has like 12 people on it, organic is not always trustworthy. Avoid processed food unless they are labeled GMO-free and definitely buy GMO-free bulk items, like flour, rice, corn, sugar and soy. These are some of the biggest offenders, since they are produced in such large quantity, not only for human consumption, but also for processed foods and for animal feed. And, if there are GMOs in the food, you won't know it because there is no mandatory labeling for it. Safe-food.org has a more complete list of "the primary suspects" and a list of companies that produce GMO-FREE food, brands that I have found in Whole-Foods and Trader Joe's. Let's talk about animal feed; the animals you eat, eat feed, which is usually very low quality high GMO food, so try to make sure the meat you consume is organic, meaning the animals were fed vegetarian organic feed.  Protect your health and try to avoid GMOs.

Here is another good shopping list to avoid GMOs and buy non-GMO.