Time for a good ol' fashioned rant!

BUT I also know - almost with 100% certainty we SHOULD know our farmers we SHOULD eat locally and seasonally, we should be eating pasture raised eggs etc etc etc.

Why?

I just wrote a bunch of stuff - read it over and I sounded like a pretentious hipster so I deleted it...

I'll say this though - what is better for the planet is often better for humans too.

*edited to change hippie to hipster* :flowerforyou:

It drives me CRAZY that people who want/choose to eat organically and locally or want to know their farmers or choose not to eat processed foods are considered pretentious hippies.

I'm not saying I eat like this all the time or even half the time. I DO NOT tell people they need to eat this way. I do not condemn processed foods as cancer causing garbage, I do not avoid that stuff - because it is part of an enjoyable life.

BUT I also know - almost with 100% certainty we SHOULD know our farmers we SHOULD eat locally and seasonally, we should be eating pasture raised eggs etc etc etc. And yet I get eye rolls and scoffs and people think its ridiculous. It has nothing to do with weight loss, I know enough to know that a calorie deficit is all you need. I'm just sick of feeling ashamed of wanting to eat "clean" or whatever the hell you want to call it. It doesn't take a genius to know that it is not ideal to be eating some of the garbage you can get these days.

Like I said, I do not eat perfectly, sometimes I eat cookies and crackers and cake and chips - but it doesn't change the fact that someone who chooses not to eat those things is considered pretentious or elitist or something.

okay. thats all, out come the trolls to argue. Its just my educated opinion...

You seem to know what's best for all. It's not that you're a pretentious hippy it's that you come off as pretentious in general. Having been someone who grew up in agriculture I admire your choices greatly and your enthusiasm. However, simply knowing the names of your farmers is a bit naive.

For example back in the mid-80's I was making $10 an hour on weekends and in the summer doing farmer work, I had more rights as a farm worker in Ontario, Canada back then versus now. I put this same challenge to preachy vegans, vegetarians and paleo's who harass me in the store, are the workers making a living wage who produce this food?

I worked in agriculture out of college due to another recession and can tell you some of these allegedly awful corporations, at least here, pay their people well and have clear standards. One was a supplier of pork to Maple Leaf Foods, they had/have rigid quality standards and we were a closed herd. The salary was comparable to a factory job. Salaries in that sector haven't moved from there and some have dropped back.

So while it's great to know the name of your farmer's people would be well advised to find out if they treat their workers as humanely as you expect their animals to be treated, I guarantee you may be surprised on the answer to that.

Getting tired of this.

Dude, read the above post. It's not SHOULD like she's telling everyone they need to do it or that she knows what's best. It's like her conscience is telling her we all should, like it's good for the environment.

I know everyone should exercise.

I know I should brush my teeth.

I know we should try to feed starving, third-world people who don't have access to food.

She wasn't commanding anyone to do anything. She's saying we should like it's the right or responsible thing to do...

Actually, its not the same as your examples.

How the word "should" is used should be the same for all of them. Should like, I think it's probably the right thing to do, not like a mandate or command.

Okay, seriously gone now...

OH, but next weekend when I finished my 5th Hustle UP the Hancock, I'll have a huge biscotti and not worry about the ingredients.

And, OP, don't fret this. This is a weight loss forum, not a health and nutrition forum. I think that may explain why so many people respond with such hostility or mockery to some posts.

And yet many of us learn and discuss health and nutrition here daily. What this is not is an environmentalist forum.

So are you saying I shouldn't have bothered even bringing it up? Just because I care about soil fertility doesn't make me a "environmentalist" and doesn't make me a pretentious person. Hence my whole frustration.