Degree In Food Buying

I don't know about you but I am beginning to think I confuse the grocery store with the library.
God knows I spend an awful lot of time reading and studying in both places.
I'm really beginning to envy my parents and grandparents back in their days ignorance was bliss and food shopping was a matter of just walking in,picking out what you wanted then paying for your products.
Their biggest issue at that time was do I have enough cash in my wallet to pay for all these items or does something need to be returned before heading to the register.
Today shopping for food requires a Master Degree in Science and Economics.If you are unable to read and decipher what is written on the labels,the chances are you will be making bad choices.
Going into a grocery store and picking up a can,box or bottle of anything requires date recognition,basic food ingredients understanding,chemical recombination skills,Math in weights and measures and a geographic understanding of the world and their issues with cleanliness,or lack there of.
No longer do we walk into a store and casually pick up a can then walk out.
Now we must date read for freshness and expiration,cost price as it pertains to the other like items on the shelf by weight and size,understand the basic make up of each chemical and ingredient as it effects the health of not only our adult bodies and minds,but also those of our children and elderly population related to their disease factors and allergens.
Buying a can of corn can take you ten minutes as you decipher the label for ingredients like sugar,salt and possible additives to maintain freshness.
My new reading adventure as become trying to remember to make geographical checks of where a product is produced as it pertains to our world wide economy.
No longer can we look on a label of Pennsylvania Dutch mushrooms,with its black silhouette of an Amish horse and buggy on the front and assume it comes from the U.S.A because on closer inspection you will find it is a product of China.
Things like this can make shopping time very frustrating indeed.
It's no wonder most of us walk around with high blood pressure,increased cholesterol and stage 2 diabetes,because lets face it,how much time can we possibly spend reading each and everything on a package and still have time left to go home and make it for supper.
I have gotten into the habit of trying to never buy food unless I can give myself a proper leeway of time to make wise choices,trying to buy when in a rush puts me in the position of buying food items that I would not normally have purchased related to my time constraints.
With modern technology at our finger tips,our search for proper food can become very
overwhelming.
Dealing with things like irradiation or farm raised salmon and scallops only serves to make our healthy choices far more unnatural and difficult to say the least.
I'm not a food yuppie--junkie,but I don't think it should be to much to ask for that we have good food products in this country,maybe under the supervision of a health agency looking out for the well being of the people in this country and not the manufacturers or the world.
Personally I thought that's what the FDA was set up for,but once again I guess I'm wrong.
In all reality you can't trust the government to look out for you,so you must look out for your self.
No I am not telling people what to eat,if you choose Twinkies over an apple that's your choice,but I just want to know when I choose an apple it is fresh and clean of unnecessary chemicals and what country it's grown in.
At present I may not feel like eating an apple from say Libya or Japan.
Here are a few of my issues: 1) print things large and clear,I don't have time to play eye glass tag 2)don't mislead me with labeling that looks American,if Pennsylvania Dutch mushrooms are produced in China put a rickshaw on the front instead of a horse and buggy and 3)Don't call something all natural if I can't pronounce the first three words on the list of ingredients,if your trying to impress me with big words then its probably stuff that I don't want to eat anyways,why else would I be feeling confused?
Spending two hours in a grocery store reading each and every thing printed on the item is very time consuming for me and my day is already crammed with a million and one other things I need to focus on.
This year I have decided to not only make myself a small garden but to also try and go to more of the local farmers markets when possible,true they may not all be chemical free but at least I know its produced in this country.
My dream is to some day walk into a grocery store,as my grandparents did,get my purchase in a short amount of time,return home,put my items away and still have enough time to sit down and read my newly purchased magazine...Now how nice would that be?