Author Archives: Ipek Miminoska

Oxfam Hunger Banquet

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Last night, I joined my classmates by participating in the Oxfam Hunger Banquet. I had an idea of what it was since I had looked up information about it before the banquet, however I was interested to learn more about it. We were each given a card that gave us a backstory of who we were and informed us of our income level.  I had been given a backstory of someone who was considered to be low-income. The income level determined where we sat and what we ate for the night. Since I was considered to be low income, I was directed to sit on the floor instead of the chairs like those who pic
ked out a card in a medium or high income level. For dinner, my group had been given rice and beans to eat in a paper cup with a spoon, while the group who received the medium income had plain pasta, water, a bread roll, plates and silverware. The few people in the high income group had better silverware and glassware along with better nutritious meal options such as salads, bread rolls, and chicken.

IMG_8598During this banquet, I realized that there was no control over who received what card. It’s the same in real life. You can’t help what you are born into. Those in the lower class had no choice in anything due to circumstances out of their control. This banquet made me realize the amount of difficulty there is simply to acquire food and even then, sometimes it isn’t enough. It made me realize my comfort and the fact that I never had to deal with poverty. Not everyone has that comfort and it has made me appreciate this banquet by bringing to light an issue many of us don’t consider an issue, simply because we aren’t dealing with it ourselves.

Salt Intake in NYC

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salt emblem

The emblem that will soon become common on restaurant menus.

Starting today, New York City has a new rule regarding nutritional warnings in chain restaurants. The article viewed here explained that restaurants “will require a salt-shaker emblem on some sandwiches, salads and other menu items that top the recommended daily limit of 2,300 milligrams — about a teaspoon — of sodium.” Many people disagree, especially “salt producers and restaurateurs.” I personally find this to be a great idea. I used to consume excessive amounts of salt when I was younger and it was only after I was given the warning that I was going to have to deal with hypertension that I stopped completely and now only take a minimum amount of salt with most of my meals. This idea of an emblem being placed on menus is a great way to let me know what foods I should avoid. However, this rule doesn’t mean that it will be effective to everybody. Majority may choose to ignore the warning label and consume that meal. Regardless, I agree with the article when it states that people do need to be informed. As long as people understand that their intake of salt is excessive, it may lead them to be more cautious about their meal choices.

Genetically Modified Salmon

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This morning, I had woken up earlier than usual and turned on the television to watch one of those morning talk shows. The talk show I was viewing mentioned that the FDA had approved genetically modified salmon. I decided to look into it further and visited the FDA site online. It was stated that “FDA has approved a new animal drug application concerning AquAdvantage Salmon, a genetically engineered Atlantic salmon.” I also viewed an article in The New York Times to find out more information about it. The article can be viewed here. Andrew Pollack stated that “The officials said the fish would not have to be labeled as being genetically engineered, a policy consistent with its stance on foods made from genetically engineered crops.” Basically, this means that there would be no way of knowing whether you are buying salmon that has grown normally or salmon that has been modified to grow 2x as fast.

I disagree with this whole situation. In my opinion, fish and meat should not be modified. I feel that letting it grow on its own would be much healthier to consume rather than having it grow quicker by altering DNA. There isn’t a good enough excuse for altering DNA and I personally do not feel comfortable eating salmon that is altered in order for it to grow faster. However, a way to make this situation more efficient would be to label whether the item is considered to be a GMO or if it’s GMO-free. Some people could agree with me and choose not to eat genetically modified salmon. Why should I eat a certain food like salmon without knowing whether it was altered or not?

LCHAD

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This week, I came across an article that talked about an issue I had never heard of which was LCHAD. LCHAD stands for “Long-chain 3-hydroxy acyl-coenzyme A dehydrogenase” which in simple terms refers to a rare metabolic disorder. There are numerous disorders that affect the way eat, but this disorder is extremely specific. Those who have this disorder have to eat every hour in order to stay healthy and it’s not as simple as grabbing a snack like many of us do when we feel ourselves getting lethargic and sluggish. According to the article, this genetic disorder means that the body of whoever has this disorder is unable to break down certain fatty acids into energy.” They must eat all the time, because of they don’t the article states that the body would start breaking down key muscles in its search for more and more energy. “If we had breakfast and skipped lunch [our body] would use up the energy from breakfast … [to] break down stored fats for energy,” Torti explained. “Owen’s body cannot do that. It breaks down his muscles and can cause problems with kidneys or liver or heart.”

Even after reading this article and looking into the disorder itself, I have a ton questions. What makes Owen’s body and others who have that disorder use up energy so fast? What happens to the fatty acids that cannot be broken down into energy? Is there a cure or anyway to outgrow this? Why is this starting from infancy and can it happen to an adolescent or adult? According to the National Institute of Health, 1 infant in every 62,000 births is born with LCHAD. LCHAD also affects the way food is eaten by toddlers. “From feeding Owen so frequently, he has a lot of oral aversion to eating,” Torti explained to ABC News. “Solid foods is so hard for him right now.”  Another question I had was how does weight play into this since those with this disorder eat extremely often.

I wanted to learn more about this disorder so I decided to look it up on the National Library of Medicine website. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much information about treatment on the site. Instead, the article goes on to say that Owen as well as others will lead fairly normal lives once they figure out their restrictions and limitations, which means that this is something many will deal with for the rest of their lives. The article can be viewed here along with the information from the National Library of Medicine.

Societal Norms on Overeating and Supersizing

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On Monday, during our psychology class we watched part 2 of the BBC documentary, The Men Who Made Us Fat. One thing that stuck with me was when the documentary mentioned that chocolate was no longer given on just special occasions. We also tend to overeat nearly everything we are given or have chosen to eat. One of my favorite chocolates are the Ferrero Rocher Hazelnut ones. A few days ago, my parents had come home with a box of them, knowing how much I enjoyed them. It was only after I counted the wrappers that I realized I had eaten about eight of them in one sitting. I overate without even realizing I did. I feel that in our society overeating has become the norm and we don’t realize the consequences until after.

The documentary also mentioned supersizing. This got me thinking about my experience with supersizing. Once in a while, when a movie I’m interested in comes out, I usually want to see it in a theatre. Regardless of whoever I’m with, we always order the same thing. Large popcorn and two drinks. It was after viewing this documentary that I realized how big the drinks really were. Theatre drinks and drinks from any establishment nowadays are huge. I have been so accustomed to seeing those sizes, that when I saw the comparison of how adult sodas used to be only 7 ounces, I was shocked. I immediately thought that it wasn’t enough to sustain me. However, I realized that 7 ounces of soda should be around the amount we should be drinking. One glass of soda is enough. Instead, we choose to drink more than one, when we should be limiting ourselves to live a more nutritious lifestyle.

“The Ironic Effects of Weight Stigma”

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Last week, while I was looking up research for our reflective tutorial paper, I came across an article. While I ended up not using that specific article fin my research, I found it very interesting. The article can be viewed here. The question asked in the article is if stigmatizing obesity leads to weight loss. What got me interested in the article in the first place was the study done on women who were in college, which was relatable to us. In the study, 93 female college students were researched. The participants were asked to read and discuss an article titled “lose weight or lose your job” which was considered weight stigmatizing and act as the experimental condition or they were asked to read a non-weight stigmatizing article called “quit smoking or lose your job.”  This was considered to be the control condition. They were then asked to wait in a room where they can help themselves to a snack.

According to the article, the results of the experiment showed that women who perceived themselves to be above-average weight consumed more calories than those who didn’t believe they weighed more than average. When I read the results, I realized that weight stigma did not lead to obesity. Instead, it made it worse, since those women consumed more calories instead of eating less. Those women who were considered overweight were also recorded to have felt les in control of their diet while the author described the other group to be “those who are not overweight and who have a hard time understanding what it is like to be overweight, stigma feels like it would help strengthen other people’s resolve to eat less because it strengthens their own.” This result leads to weight stigma.

Those who aren’t stigmatized, cannot understood how it feels and instead base their own experience and believe it’s that way for everyone when it isn’t the same at all. In conclusion, weight stigma does not encourage people with above average weight to lose it. Instead, it does the opposite. Those who consider themselves overweight feel much more out of control eating and have an increase in calorie consumption. This led to what my paper was about, which was that both the media and stigmatization can lead to negative effects (health and psychological) on those who consider themselves overweight.

Port Richmond Mentee Visit

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On Friday, I met up with my mentee for the first time since we had first been introduced to one another. We decided to go as a group and meet with out mentees, in order to avoid any awkward pauses and make everyone feel comfortable with one another. While we started off having discussions as a group, we all soon ended up having one on one conversations with our mentees. My mentee and I had a lot to talk about. We discussed everything possible under the time restraint that we had. From where we both lived, to family to different classes we’re both taking and which ones we like or dislike. We even spent a good amount of time even discussing pastries (my mentee wants to become a pastry chef) and which ones were our favorite. She told me how she had taken on the role of making pastries which she would do with her grandmother. We ended up talking about cupcakes and trading ideas on new ways to decorate them now that the holiday season is coming up. This week, the kids were cooking chicken stir fry. I still cannot get over how easy they’re able to make cooking seem, since I’m not much of a cook.  Since it was Friday, we were able to taste what the kids ended up making and it was delicious. Now that my mentee and I are comfortable around one another and enjoying each other’s company I can’t wait to go back!

Port Richmond HS Visit

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Last Thursday, our learning community arrived at Port Richmond High School. This was part of our experiential learning and our task was to mentor the students in the culinary arts program at the high school. At first, I was nervous. I didn’t know what that entailed. How can I mentor someone in the culinary arts when I wasn’t too familiar with the topic? Would my mentee even listen to my advice?

When we first arrived we were given a tour of the program and got a look inside the kitchens and the garden outside. I loved the whole aspect of the program and would have loved to partake in it if it had been available at my high school. When we were introduced to the class we were going to mentor, it was a bit awkward, but I realized they were just as nervous meeting us. I introduced myself to one of the girls at a table in the back. Her name was Maya. She was extremely sweet and I realized that we even had a few things in common. Both of us are picky eaters and we both enjoy baking. It was then I understood the purpose of the mentor-mentee relationship. We were both supposed to learn and grow from our experience together this semester. This Friday, my friends and I coordinated to meet with our mentees together. I can’t wait for the opportunity to get to know my mentee even better.

Food/Social Cues

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These past two weeks we have discussed hunger, satiety, taste and smell in psychology.  We had also briefly discussed certain cues like food cues and social cues. I never realized how much these cues affect my life on a daily basis until I actually started paying attention to them. Food cues usually occur when we spot a familiar logo, scent, or conjure up an image and suddenly have a craving for that food or beverage. This almost always happens to me during the winter. I always had a habit to buy a hot beverage whenever it was a rainy or cold day before class started. So this past week, while the weather has been on and off I’ve had a craving for a hot latte, which I definitely indulged myself in. Social cues are defined to be “verbal or non-verbal indicators that give people an idea of how they are being accepted or rejected in any given situation.” Usually, this includes facial expressions, body language, and tone, but not always. On Wednesday, a group of us were having lunch at the dining hall before class. We had all eaten and were just talking when one of us decided to go and get some dessert. When we all saw her coming back with the dessert, we all got up to get dessert ourselves. I did not have a craving for dessert until she got up and came back with it and I wasn’t the only one. It was not until after we had all finished that I realized this was a social cue. In conclusion, cues are ingrained in our daily lives and most of the time we don’t even realize it.

Port Richmond Tour

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On Thursday, our class visited Port Richmond. Even though, I have lived in New York all my life, I’ve never visited Port Richmond and actually walked around the neighborhood. This class visit introduced me to a neighborhood intertwined with its culture. One of the “challenges” we had received at the start of the tour was to keep track of the number of restaurants we would pass by throughout the avenue. I had officially lost count of the amount once we had20150917_121633-1 completed the tour. It wasn’t until I had physically noticed the number of different restaurants that I realized how rich in food culture this neighborhood really was. It also made me realize how truly diverse it was. There were multiple Peruvian, Mexican, and Chinese restaurants. There was even an Irish pub and a gourmet shop (that had just opened) we first passed through.

One particular store that stood out for me was the local market. It reminded me of the movie we had watched and what we had discussed in our class regarding food deserts. Many neighborhoods across the United States don’t have shops that offer a variety of fruits, vegetables, and other nutritious types of food. It showed me how important food choices really are. I had noticed that this shop was pretty much overflowing with fresh fruits and vegetables. The shop also served different types of fruits that I had never even tried before. Another thing I had noticed was the décor. It represented the culture and gave a welcoming atmosphere. At one point, our guide spoke about the neighborhoods presence and the scents of South America. Although I have not been to South America, it seems welcoming to know that people found something familiar and that it reminded them of home.