Sodium Intake

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As many of you know, my family has a very healthy lifestyle. We enjoy organic meals with low salt, low-fat, and a source of protein. Edamame spaghetti with a pesto sauce and grilled chicken is a meal I had this week. Like most of you, dining hall is not my first choice of food. MIMG_5916ost of the food there is processed and over-salted. Living at college, it’s very difficult to make your own meals, so my mom brings me meals every Sunday after my soccer games. This Sunday, she made Edamame spaghetti with a pesto sauce and grilled chicken. In order to make the sauce, she combined butter, almond milk, parmesan cheese and garlic. The organic Edamame spaghetti is gluten-free, making it a better food choice. The chicken was made on a grill with oil and lemon drizzled on top. The chicken is a source of protein and contains plenty of phosphorus that the body needs. Not only is this an enjoyable home-cooked meal, but it’s also a meal that contains the ingredients to make up a meal that I believe is healthy and nutritious.

According to New York Times article “F.D.A is Urged to Set Limits for Levels of Salt in Food” high levels of salt are unsafe and should be prohibited. The effects of high salt levels can lead to long term issues such as high blood pressure. Salt is currently overused in products and a limit is not set on how much can be used. People put salt on foods before even trying it; So, why even bother over-salting products when people are just going to do it anyways? The sodium-intake is extremely high in many people’s diets causing obesity and heart problems. Gradually reducing the amount of sodium in products can give people the opportunity to reach healthier levels of sodium and help resolve long term issues in diets.

The Sugar Film

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Soda, cakes, cookies, candy, ice cream, etc. are the most consumed high sugar processed foods in America.  But some “healthy” foods like yogurt and energy bars and whole-grain bread are also high in sugar. Obesity is not just a problem in America. A lot of people think that most of the causes of obesity come from eating the bad high sugar foods like soda or cakes and cookies but how could that be a big effect on obesity if healthy foods like yogurt and whole-grain bread have a high level of sugar? A film called “That Sugar Film” a man stopped eating healthy food and started to eat 40 teaspoons of sugar a day that is the amount consumed by the average Australian. In America, the average teen consumes 28 teaspoons of sugar a day. What Mr. Gameau does in his study is that he does not consume candy, soda, ice cream or other clear sources of high sugar foods but only ate foods that people think are healthy but are loaded with sugars, like low-fat yogurt, fruit juice, cereals and health bars. After one month of his experiment, he found out that his health and weight became out of control.After 18 days, he found that he had developed fatty liver.

He decided to do this experiment because how many problems everyone had with sugar. Everyone knows that by drinking a lot of soda, eating donuts and cookies would make you gain weight but what people do not know that by following a ‘”low-fat”, diet with healthier foods or snack that you think you will not gain weight but those things contain almost the same amount of sugars added to it just like the candy and ice cream. Another thing he found most surprising was that with everything he ate he never felt full and it was affecting his moods and was trapping fats in his body.

A study also was done in Australia that 55 percent of people get their nutritional facts from food labels and only 25 percent of people get their advice from outside sources. The government had tried many different things to change the food labels to make people stay away from the bad foods. However, the  nutritional facts on the back of packaged foods is trying to convince people to stay away from high sugar foods only but not exactly every high sugar foods. There’s no risk of lowering sugar intake, but it was found that sugar is not just the only factor of obesity. Like the other film “Super Size Me” when Morgan only ate at McDonalds for 30 days and gained almost 30 pounds in almost 2 weeks.

 

Obesity

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When reading the Callahan article on weight stigmas, it really left me thinking about people and their everyday lives. This article opened my eyes up to see how obesity is very prevalent in America. People need to start realizing this and changing the way they live. They need to understand that being overweight is not okay and isn’t the norm in America. By looking at all the problems Callahan showed in his article, I feel it is necessary and important that doctors, parents, and teachers educate children on what obesity is, how it can affect their lives and ways they can avoid becoming obese.

People should be aware of the physical effects that obesity can have on ones body. Callahan said that 65% of people who lose weight don’t keep it off. When these people lose the weight, they should he motivated to keep it off. Exercising and working out should be a main part of their day. These people should want to become healthy, not only for themselves, but for their family and friends. They should want to be able to to go out and do things and not be ashamed of what they look like.

 

What is Beauty?

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Watching the video  “Women’s Ideal Body Types Throughout History” on my own because I could not attend class led me to be greatly intrigued. Throughout the years, women’s ideal body type has changed in many ways. From plump, full-bodied, light skin Ancient Greek women to flat stomach, “healthy” skinny, large breast post-modern beauty. After watching the video, I was struck with a question of “Who determines in each of these eras what body type is beautiful?”. After reflecting on this question, I came to the conclusion that society bases beauty on physical features. For example women in 2015 want Kim Kardashians butt and Beyonce’s curves because that is what society considers beautiful. People began to go out of their way to buy waist trainers and get butt implants to look like these celebrities. I believe this is absolutely absurd. Beauty should not be based on what other people think of you. Beauty should be based on your inner beauty.

Unintentional Eating and Food Cues

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Food cues can either be a good thing or a dangerous thing in reference to our eating habits, but as long as we are able to identify the negative cues, it is easier for us to substitute it with positive cues. Some cues include seeing/smelling food, specific food labels, time of day, seeing a person we usually eat meals with, and being in places related to food. After discussing in class what a food cue was, I realized how these cues influence my daily life, without even thinking about it.

First of all, a very common food cue for not only myself I’m sure, is the time of day you eat. On Mondays and Wednesdays right after my 11:10 class and Tuesdays and Thursdays after my 12:50 class  it is a must to stop in the cafeteria for lunch. On some days I am not even hungry but because of this food cue, my body tells me the second class is over it is time for lunch. It is amazing how our bodies are programmed to signal that it is time to eat. Moreover, whenever I see the usual people I eat meals with here in college, my body alerts me to make my way over to the cafeteria. Lastly, a very common food cue for me is that of being in places related to food. Sometimes a friend will ask me to sit with them in Hawks Nest just so they don’t have to be alone and even though I am not hungry I start to munch on some of their food and even proceed to buy my own meal.

These are all common food cues that each one of us experience every day. Due to the fact that we are now in college and we do not have our parents putting dinner on the table for us and told to eat at a certain time, we often eat because we are bored and in times when we are not even hungry. All of these food cues are caused by Pavlovian Association because we become conditioned to these food cues.

San Gennaro

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Two weekends ago I visited the San-Gennaro feast in Little Italy, New York. This experience made me see a whole different culture by just walking through a street in the city. The feast is originally from Naples, Italy and was brought here by the immigrants in the 1920s. This tradition has stayed with the city ever since and is held every year and will continue to be celebrated for many more. Those immigrants had made a tradition that has stuck for almost a hundred years and that is a powerful thing to me. Tradition is the key to every culture and is the key to keeping the culture alive.

Walking through the feast with all the food stands lined up and all the restaurants packed made me hungry beyond belief. The aromas that came from the restaurants filled the air and may have been what attracted the thousands of people that attended. Once i sat down and took that first bite of my pollo de marsala i could not be happier. Next to the chicken came fried mash potatoes which i will never forget the taste of. This dish is a nineteenth century Italian American dish that is famous in the United States. I recommend that all attend the San Gennaro feast if possible!

Entering the madness of the festival Entering the madness of the festival

Friendly Food Cue

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Food cues are all around us at all times and they usually make us want to eat more. I thought I would post about one of my favorite dishes to make as well as examine the food cues associated with this dish in my life since I always make it when my whole group of friends get together. This dish would be my brownies!

My Brownies are made from scratch; no Betty Crocker boxes are allowed here! They are extremely time consuming and are a lot of hard work, but they are definitely worth it. Having to melt the chocolate just right and even deciding what kind of chocolate I want to use can take up a lot of time. I’m not going to post my whole recipe because I did make it myself, but I will always make them upon request.

This brings me to the food cue portion of this post. Am I the food cue? Are my friends the food cues? Are we all the food cues? When they come back from school, I want to do something for them to make them happy. A lot of them are having trouble adjusting to school and a nice treat always lifts everyone’s spirits! So perhaps they are a food cue for me to make and eat this dish. I had already planned on making the brownies for them since I always do when our whole group gathers (there are about 20 of us, so it’s rare when we can all come together). This would mean that they are a food cue for me. However, some of them asked me to make them as well. So not only are they food cues for me, but I’m also a food cue for some of them. The fact that the thought of hanging out with me makes them think of brownies means I am a definite food cue to them.

Another element of these brownies is commensality. The brownies aren’t just delicious treats and evidence of food cues, they are a method of sharing between my group of friends. The brownies will be on the table and around them will be all of us talking, sharing stories, and reliving memories. Perhaps these brownies will even be the reason we recall some memories, like the time I made them for the cast party after a lot of us were in our school’s drama production of Our Town. Not only are we being brought together with the brownies, but we are being brought together because of brownies. I guess you could say food does a lot more than satisfy hunger.

(The link in the beginning is a short explanation of food cues and how you can try to avoid some of the more common ones!)

Colonial Bread

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In Dr. Smith’s class, my classmates and I were placed into groups and we made presentations on different colonial foods. The foods that were researched were bacon, bread, beer and cider, sauerkraut, eggs (cakes and cookies), plum pudding, rum, butter and cheese. Every group did a great job explaining how their food impacted colonial America. My group discussed bread and its effect on America.

The ingredients for colonial bread consisted of flour, yellow corn meal, rye flour, yeast, brown sugar, scalded milk and water. The ingredients were mixed and placed in pans over night and were left to rise over night. The dough is baked at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for about one hour. In colonial America, the women had the jurisdictions of collecting the dairy products, kneading the dough and baking them in the oven. During this time, bread did not indicate social status because it was consumed by everyone however, the food such as meat, fish, etc., indicated social class. Due to the fact that wheat was growing abundantly in New York City, bread was able to be made by many people in society. Bread was a food that accompanied every meal throughout the day.

This research project helped me realize how bread influenced America. Over the years, bread has always remained a prominent food throughout time. During history, the recipes for bread have evolved. The tools to make the bread have changed. Yet, bread has never disappeared from American culture. I always thought that bread was a unimportant food that is loosely served with every meal. After learning about colonial bread, I have gained respect for it’s importance.

A Shocking Reality

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Prior to watching A Place at the Table, participating in class discussions and visiting the neighborhood of Port Richmond, I didn’t realize the magnitude of the struggles faced by residents of food deserts. A food desert is defined as an area that lacks adequate access to affordable and quality fresh food items. These areas lack supermarkets and places where fresh fruits, vegetables and meats can be purchased. Instead, these neighborhoods are filled with fast food restaurants and bodegas, where a bag of chips or cookies can be easily bought in volume for an inexpensive price.

After watching A Place at the Table, I was left speechless. It is heart-wrenching to see what these families go through on a daily basis. I find it unfathomable that people in this country could possible go hungry, considering the over-production of food and amount of waste. A common problem that many families in the film face is known as “food insecure.” When you are food insecure, you do not know where your next meal will come from, if there even is a next meal. That is extremely frightening! When food is easily accessible, it is typically of poor quality. As stated in the documentary, the price of fresh fruits and vegetables has risen by 40% since 1980, while the price of processed foods has declined by 40%. The significant shift in price levels undoubtedly affected food choice. Low income families are forced to choose quantity over quality. Expensive produce and meats are sacrificed for chips, canned foods, cookies and anything else that will give more for less. Unfortunately, the end result is a higher incidence of obesity, diabetes, and lifelong health struggles.

As we took a tour of Port Richmond, I couldn’t help but notice the lack of supermarkets as compared to my own neighborhood, which seems to have too many. I did observe one, but it was destroyed in a fire and there is no immediate intention to rebuild it. That leaves the residents in this neighborhood without easy access. In order to shop in a large supermarket, the residents will have to find a means to travel outside of their neighborhood. There is a market located on Port Richmond Avenue that sells fresh produce, but sadly that was the only one that I saw. Fast food restaurants, however, are plentiful.

Watching the documentary and visiting Port Richmond afforded me the opportunity to see, first-hand, the problems facing our local communities. I didn’t realize these very real struggles existed so close to home.

We Are All Going to Die (and Take the Earth Along With Us)

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This past week I stumbled up on an article on the New York Times written by Jim Windolf, titled ‘Why Everything Is Bad for You.’ The author discusses how freaked out America (and even the whole world) is in regards to food. It feels like everyday there’s a new article about the danger of a specific food, especially ones that are popular or essential to our diets. The author points out the ridiculousness of how much emphasis Americans put on the negative things in their diets. But in my opinion, maybe we should.

Windolf talks about how he just wants to eat his bologna, American cheese, Wonder Bread, and margarine, but those darn American writers keep complaining about how much bad stuff is in our food, especially processed food. And they are right; our food is terrible for us. It’s not just a psychological problem; those darn American writers are definitely correct. We have a right to complain; Windolf insinuates that it is our problem and we are worrying too much, but something is definitely wrong with our food.

There are so many articles about what’s wrong with our food, which Windolf links, but nothing is happening to fix our food. It’s very expensive to eat food that isn’t all processed, sugary, fatty foods. Windolf also brings up the environmental impact of our foods (e.g. a single almond might use over a gallon of water to produce), which makes the selection available in our grocery stores even smaller. Last year I watched a documentary called Food Inc, which exposed the many problems of the food industry, particularly its treatment of animals. I never buy from Purdue or Tyson now. It’s almost impossible to eat food that is good for not only a human but the earth, too.

The question I ask Windolf and the food companies that run the American government is this: why do you want ME to stop complaining? This isn’t a psychological problem (for the most part), this is a problem with how America produces our food. There are ups and downs of the government controlling our economy and the food industry, but big business is currently controlling our government. One of the facts of Food Inc stood out to me: In the 1970s, the top five beef packers controlled about 25% of the market. Now, the top four control more than 80%.

The facts are there, but people like Windolf and the food industry are just acting like we’re complaining. We have a right to complain, but why aren’t they doing anything?