Food for Thought.

OMGAHHHHHHHHHHH. So I was looking back at my previous post: SM's Ramblings and didn't realize you guys left more comments! Sorry! I finally got around to replying to them. Bad blogger, I know. :( I wish there was some notification system, like facebook! I will try to be better next time, God Willing. BTW: Great layout!!! Totally loving it even though I'm not in the picture. ;)

Anyway, I'm currently reading this book "Skinny Bitch" by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnoiun. The authors are both former models and one's even got an MS in Holistic Nutrition! Holla. I got my BS in Nutrition so that makes me feel kinda super cool. The book is kind of an expose (not really) of the food industry and how different ingredients are harmful to your health and what you should eat/avoid in order to be/remain healthy. I'm only on chapter 4 and I already feel like I'm going to die of a heart attack, brain tumor or something really bad...like die in a car accident because I was eating a fish filet while driving (which btw I would never do because I despise McDonald's). They have a sarcastic sense of humor and it makes me laugh but some of the stuff they've written, I feel, is a bitttttttttttt extreme. I'm not done with the whole book so I dunno what else they've got to say. But it's sort of a reality check and gets you thinking about food and health.

Some might think I'm crazy psycho (redundant, I know but it sounds cool together) because I read the ingredients to spot out haram (unlawful) ingredients/components. Gelatin is something I religiously avoid because it's usually from pig, which is haram to consume if you're a Muslim. And although some gelatin originates from cattle (which is A-OK to eat), it would still be considered unlawful if the cattle it came from was not slaughtered in an Islamic/Kosher way. So why not avoid it in general? I mean I'm not really missing out on life just cuz I can't eat starbursts, marshmallows ( Thanks to Muslims, there's the halal version) poptarts and other unhealthy snacks. I'm still alive and very content indeed. And now, a new ingredient I've been avoiding are enzymes.

In Islam - with regards to food- if something originates from an unlawful source/has an unlawful component, the whole food is considered unlawful. Say if some food was cooked with alcohol, that food would be considered haram, even though supposedly alcohol "evaporates" when used in cooking...which is nooottt true according to the USDA. Their chart can be found here and here. Also The Journal of American Dietetic Association (Volume 102, Issue 4, April 2002 page 536) speaks about it and possibly other sources which I have not had time to search yet cuz USDA's got me convinced. Oh btw: I recently found out shrimp scampi is cooked with wine!! Even at red lobster. Booooooo!

By now you're probably thinking I don't get to enjoy any food if I'm so darn picky and mustonlyeatHalal but actuallllllllly, it's not that hard at all! Unless you live in Kentucky or Iowa or something. And God is always forgiving.

Which brings me to something else (Yes, I'm all over the place), have you ever wondered that although our meat is getting slaughtered in the name of Allah, WHERE is it originally from? HOW are these animals being treated? WHAT are they being fed? Islam strictly forbids cruelty towards animals even when they're being slaughtered!

“Fear God in regards to these animals who can not speak their will. If you ride them, treat them accordingly (by making them strong and fit for that), and if you [plan to] eat them, treat them accordingly (by making them fat and healthy).” Abu Dawud <--- this is a Hadith. Hadith are statements or actions of the Beloved Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessing be upon him.

For instance, take the food industry today. The animals are treated like shi*t, literally:

"...A pig is being raised in a confined pen, packed so tightly with other swine that their curly tails have been chopped off...in concentrated animal feeding operations, large number of animals--1000 or more in the case of cattle and tens of thousands for chicken and pigs -- are kept in close, concentrated conditions and fattened up for slaughter as fast as possible...to stay alive and grow in such conditions, farm animals need pharmaceutical help, which can have further damaging consequences for humans..." Time Magazine, Aug 31, 2009.

Poor pigs! And cows! And chickens! :(

Now I'm not saying become a vegetarian nor am I saying to start "doubting" and become super paranoid Muslim. No. Allah makes Islam easy for us and since Islam is a way of life, finding food to eat should not be hard. We're so blessed that there's halal food available at the tip of our fingers. I think we all just need to do some more research to find out where our food is coming from. If we don't take care of ourselves, who's to blame?

Allah says, "O mankind: Eat of what is lawful and good on earth" Qur'an 2: 168.

We have the lawful part down, now let's search for what's good.