Hello America

So I’ve changed the title and purpose of my blog to match my current mission…making a funny variety show about living fresh.  How did I get to this point?  I’m so glad you asked…

I used to work for a company called Evolution, which makes delicious vegetable juices among other things, and my job was to stand around in supermarkets and give people samples.  At first I was bored out of my mind.  Standing in a supermarket for five hours is dreadful.  But the more people I talked to, especially in Whole Foods, the more I became interested in what is unofficially called the Fresh Food Movement.

As a side note about talking to people in supermarkets, I was forced to have conversations with some of the strangest and most interesting people I’d ever met.  And because I was stuck at this little table with tiny cups of juice, I was the perfect captive audience for the sick, the lonely, the old, the smelly, the craaaazy, and of course the thirsty.  One gentleman drank my juice samples for 45 minutes while telling me how his mom just died the night before, sweating and just pounding dixie cup after dixie cup.  Then we talked about the Vietnam war.  Two different ladies tried converting me to their religions.  One old man in a motorized wheelchair spit out my juice, called me an asshole, then zipped away…leaving his companion standing there apologetically holding a 3 oz cup filled with watermelon juice.  One old man with three teeth, crutches, and a cast on his left leg (who was also named Barry) talked to me for an hour about movies from the 80s and then asked me to join him to the cinema sometime.     There was always a nine-year-old boy who would politely ask for juice, leave, then come back ten times in a row politely asking for more juice.  One girl talked to me about how she just had a successful operation for skin cancer, and is now on a very raw and extremely healthy diet to prevent future cancers.  She loves the food, but the shopping and preparation take up so much of her time, although a part of that has been good for her because she’s finally slowing down.  She used to work herself to death, just to make money so she could keep working herself to death.  The beginning of a life change like that must be rough, especially when it’s dropped on you out of nowhere.  But like a lot of the people I talked to, those who changed their diets to back to eating REAL FOOD are now living much better lives inside and out.  Oh, and one time I found a loaded handgun in a Vons bathroom.  That was awesome.

Ok, back to the Fresh Food Movement.  The more health-minded people that I talked to, the more I learned about how messed-up our current food system is.  The amount of money spent on food vs. health care is upside-down.  Farm animals are treated so poorly that beyond just being an ethical nightmare, this situation creates food that is unhealthy.  The FDA is swayed too easily by the millions of dollars spent on “Big Food” lobbyists.  Processed food is very bad for us.

Then I saw Food, Inc., read Omnivore’s Dilemma and saw Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution and my life changed.   I’ve always been interested in healthy eating and living…but I never realized how simple it all is.  Give yourself some exceptions, but for the most part just eat REAL FOOD:  Apples, nuts, vegetable juice, real chocolate, grass-fed beef, thousands of delicious things…fresh and energizing and incredible.  Selling food is BIG BUSINESS…and for most big business all that matters is money.  Not our health. That goes for the companies selling processed junk food, the ones marketing it, the scientists and nutritionists creating new food-like substances full of health claims but barely resembling actual food, and the health care industry that makes millions of dollars on all of the surgeries and pills for people who have eaten themselves into heart disease, diabetes, and obesity.  Why is hospital food so unhealthy?  A friend of mine was in the hospital for 5 days and the only green vegetable he was given was iceberg lettuce a couple times.  I’m not saying it’s all a conspiracy, we just happen to live in a society that is ruled by money.  But we can take personal control of how we eat.  As I (very) slowly become more and more conscious of what I put in my body, I’m focusing more, I’m happier, I’m healthier, I have lots of energy…it’s amazing.  

I want to help change laws about food.  I want to turn people on to the wonders of eating a diet of mostly fruits and vegetables.  I want to expose companies that are hurting our health, our animals, and our land, and I want to celebrate those who are doing the exact opposite.  I want to make a How To guide for living fresh, and I want it to be funny and entertaining.

I would love your help on this journey.  Maybe you’ve got questions that would be good blog or episode topics.  Perhaps you have a friend doing something amazing who I should talk to.  Maybe you need me to babysit your kids for a few hours while you and your loved one go see a Pink Floyd laser show at the Planetarium.  In any case, let’s do this together…because the more people that get involved, the better chance we have of making a difference.  Like Michael Jackson said in Man in the Mirror, “It’s gonna feel real good, shamon!”

(This is my submission for Maximum Freshness to an Oprah contest.)