Even if you are not going to read the rest of this post, please sign this petition to call on our government to mandate GMO labeling. Why is this important? That's what the rest of this post is about, so read on.

Last Tuesday, President Obama signed a bill called the "Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2013." Normally, this wouldn't be a big deal because it's just a bill that provides funding to a bunch of federal agencies. However, within this bill there was a section, Section 733/735, which has been termed by people against Monsanto as the "Monsanto Protection Act" and people in support of Monsanto as the "Farmer's Assurance Provision."

What is the Monsanto Protection Act?
In a few words, this act 1) allows for growers to cultivate and continue to grow bitotech plants that have been previously approved by the USDA, but are now facing legal challenges due to questions about the safety of the GMOs (genetically modified organisms) or GE seeds (genetically engineered seeds) used in their production, and 2) prevents federal courts from banning the sale or cultivation of biotech crops even if studies and research shows that there are negative health, safety, and/or environmental consequences.

Dave Murphy, the founder and executive director of Food Democracy Now stated, "[it] opened a new line of credit when they got this thing passed...It is basically a corporate handout to Monsanto."

What does all of this mean?
1) Corporate Interests Over Public Safety: The evidence to support that GMOs are safe for public consumption in the long run is still inconclusive, but Monsanto, Dow, and other biotech firms can still sell to farmers and farmers can cultivate GMO crops. In essence, corporate profitability has become more of a priority than public safety. In fact, there are a number of sources that point to the potential dangers of GMOs, both in terms of health and environmental sustainability. I won't go into them too much here, but some of the studies are pretty shocking. 

2) Shady Politics: The way this act was signed was pretty shady. First of all, many members of Congress that signed the bill did not know that it contained this section with the biotech rider because it was kind of hidden into the funding bill. Also, the rider was written in collaboration with Monsanto itself, so Monsanto had a lot of input into the language that was used in the rider. Lastly, the bill was passed so quickly that it did not go through review from the Agricultural or Judiciary Committees.

3) Potential for Increased Compromise of Consumer Protection: As stated by the International Business Times, "It set a terrible precedent...the message it sends is that corporations can get around consumer safety protections if they get Congress on their side." Corporations really don't need another avenue for them to manipulate the system.

What can we do now?
So the bill has been passed, and for the next 6 months the Monsanto Protection Act is in place. But that doesn't mean we are totally powerless. The next step, as a consumer, is to ask for all of the information. If our food is genetically modified, we should know -- we should call our government to action and ask that our food be labeled for GMOs. If you haven't already, please please please take a second to sign this petition on Food Democracy Now. 

My favorite thing to do on a weekend afternoon is to wander through the farmer's market. On a lazy Saturday afternoon, I could spend hours looking for the perfect recipe to cook up all of my farmers market finds. Plus, I actually find cooking extremely relaxing, when I can just plug in some tunes and go to town in the kitchen. For me, eating healthy is not hard...when I have time.

Over the past two months, I was totally swamped at work (which is why my last post was in January) and eating healthy was SUCH a struggle. Because I was always stressed and tired, I found myself buying more processed/packaged foods, eating leftover pizza/cookies from lunch meetings, craving chocolate and bread all the fucking time, and cooking was like the last thing on my mind.

About a month in, I was like okay, this is not working. I feel gross, and I just want to eat healthy again. So here are four hacks that I used to stay healthy:

1) Keep it simple: When you are busy, don't try to make magic in the kitchen. Instead, think about the following when you are deciding on what to make: 

• Can I bake this instead? Baking is the best because you can leave it in the oven and then do whatever you need to do while your dinner is literally cooked for you.
• How much prep time does this need? If you have to cut like a pound and a half of veggies before you can cook, forget about it. Opt for the easy ones where you just have to sauté some kale and grill (or bake) up some chicken and be done. You don't need to impress anyone. At this point, it's literally just about getting some sustenance into your body, so you can get back to whatever it is you have to do.
• Can I cook this in bulk and have leftovers for the week? When you don't have time, leftovers are like the food of the gods. I know fresh food tastes better than leftover crap, but when you skipped lunch because of back to back meetings all day, there is no better feeling than microwaving your dinner. So basically, don't make seafood when you know you want leftovers; no one likes eating day old fish.

Today, I knew that I wanted to write a blog post and finish up some work before I went to sleep, so I made a one pan quinoa and veggie stir fry. Was it the most amazing meal that I have ever had? No. But it was half decent, took fifteen minutes, and I only had to wash one pan, a bowl, and a spoon when I was done.

2) Plan your snacks: Okay, so this is clutch. A lot of days, I just needed to grab and go, and the easiest things to grab and go are pre-packaged foods. If you plan your snacks well, you won't have the urge to stick your head into the candy bowl around 2pm. I made sure to bring my snacks for the week with me to work on Monday. The weeks that I didn't have healthy snacks, I really struggled. What do I mean by planning your snacks well? Bring snacks to work that you will actually eat. Don't bring carrots and hummus, if you know you are not going to want to eat carrots and hummus. Here's what I brought to work to keep me from binging on cookies:

• Clementines
• Bananas
• Walnuts/Almonds/Macadamia Nuts
• Dark Chocolate and dried fruit (sparingly)
• Grass-fed Yogurt and honey
• Almond Milk
• Plantain chips

3) Get enough sleep: What does sleep have to do with eating healthy? I noticed that following the nights that I was sleeping five hours or less, all I wanted to do the next day was eat sugar. There is a bunch of literature about this on the internet, so I won't pretend to be a nutritional expert and go into the science behind it (you should do your own research). But my n=1 experiment proved to me that sleep deprivation gives me intense sugar cravings - that I am apparently totally powerless against. 

4) Do small things: I realized that I needed to give myself motivation to want to cook after a long day at work, so I did something really small that made a huge difference. I got my knife sharpened. I know you are like what does that have to do with anything. Well 1) my knife was so dull that it took me forever to cut anything (plus it was also dangerous) and 2) it made cutting veggies kind of fun (i am a self-proclaimed dork, i know). What are small things you can do make cooking fun?

• Get your knife sharpened: It sounds dumb, but trust me it makes such a big difference.
• Invest in a new spice blend: Really like cajun food? Get a cajun spice blend that you can easily put on some meat and bake.
• Get your groceries delivered: I get my produce delivered from Boston Organics, which is on a recurring schedule, so there is nothing that I have to do in the process. There are so many delivery services/food prep startups; you should do a quick google search to find ones in your area. If you are in NYC or SF, here are two really cool startups for busy people who want to eat healthy: Plated and Munchery.

In the coming weeks, I'll be posting the super easy recipes that I made over the last two months. Stay tuned!