Markets: Then and Now

When I was a girl, you got food from the grocery store, and then got your medicine from the drug store. Today, there are drug stores inside grocery stores. This is not a coincidence. If you eat just anything off the shelves without doing your homework, you will need medicine.

Caldwell County apparently uses a lot of medicine, with 14,159 of the 36,523 residents having asthma, emphysema, bronchitis, heart disease, and diabetes.[1] That’s a whopping 39% sick people in this county!

This blog will expose the food fraud and venomous vittles that are sabotaging our health and stealing our future.

Consider the differences between today’s market and the one your mother or grandmother shopped at. First of all, yesterday’s market was small, not like today’s that are practically cities under one roof. One of the oldest grocery stores in Lockhart was the Montoya Family Market on Neches St. You could probably fit four of those in a Pac ‘n Sac, yet they met the needs of this community. How was this possible? Simple—they sold real food that had minimum ingredients and maximum nutrition.

Let‘s look at breakfast. The Montoyas did not have to make room for dozens of boxes of colored, puffed, extruded, sugary – but ah, yes, enriched – breakfast cereal. They sold Quaker oatmeal, maybe some Alber’s grits, and possibly Kellogg’s or Post Corn Flakes. Aisles full of ready-made tea, bottled coffee, fruit juice in frozen or powdered or bottled forms were yet a twinkle in the chemist’s eye. The shopper had the choice of Lipton or Maxwell House and of course, brewed it fresh at home. Fruit juice meant that someone got up early and squeezed the oranges. Pop Tarts were called toast, and eggs were sold in the shell, not separated in little cartons to get rid of the evil yolk.

Thirsty? Add up the square footage required for the dozens of brands, flavors, and varieties of the humble cola. It was Coke, Pepsi, 7-Up, or maybe Bubble-Up. The closest to a Red Bull or Monster was the aforementioned coffee/tea/soda. Kiddies, this may shock you, but water came from the faucet or hose, was not medicated per government mandate with waste offal from the fertilizer or aluminum industries, and certainly was not bought from the grocery store!

This blog will open your eyes to see how far we have strayed from real food, and how we have been brainwashed by slick marketers and yes, enticed by our own laziness, to surrender our health to chemicals and convenience. Mother, no child has a Ritalin deficiency! Doctor, you know that there is no medical test for bipolar disorder! Young Lady, stop using that microwave and learn to cook! Young Man, pack your lunch, don’t buy that 99-cent heart attack!

I promise that I will step on toes, make someone mad, and go from preachin’ to meddlin.’ Change is painful, but not as hard as living with debilitating illness or without our loved ones.

[1] American Lung Association, http://lungaction.org/reports/sota07_county.html?fcc=48055