There are a few interesting things I have learned during this quarter.  I’ve learned a lot about the negative effects on skipping meals.  I was also able to learn a lot about what foods are healthy and why.  For example eggs are much healthier that I had thought they were.  Another thing that I learned was that advertising is much more intricate than I had thought before.  I had assumed that foods used advertisements that appealed to everyone equally but this is not the case.  Foods advertise to specific groups of people.  I plan to employ this knowledge by eating a better diet.  Now that I know more about food I will be able to balance my diet better and eat healthier.  

My Eaters Manifesto

Early classes are the bane of college students.  Waking up early to go to classes is difficult for everyone.  To get some extra shuteye many people will skip breakfast.  In order to get more work done some people opt to skip lunch and dinner.  In a world where you hear about people who are trying to find the perfect healthy diet it is surprising that people would choose this route.  Even if you are eating a healthy balanced diet you need to eat the standard three meals per day.  Eating three meals per day is one of my most important core food vales.  I never really noticed how important this was for me until I began to write this paper.  While trying to come up with a topic for this paper I noticed that a few people were not eating three meals per day.  These meals were being replaced by snacks and meals at irregular times.  This made me ask why people would skip meals if they are trying to eat a healthy diet.   

At first I just wanted to double check that it is true that meals, mainly breakfast, are skipped as much as I had noticed it is.  In a more thorough search of the food journals I found that the majority of people do not eat a full breakfast at least once in the three day period.  To double check that this wasn’t an isolated occurrence here at DU I found a study that supported this.   A study from California State University, Chico on college aged students showed that, “thirty-three percent of the survey population reported that they consumed breakfast ‘never’ or ‘seldom’.”  That means that one of every three people doesn’t eat breakfast.  In a time where people are trying to eat healthy diets that number is alarmingly high. 

After thinking about it for a while I came to the question, could it be that breakfast isn’t needed to have a healthy diet? A simple answer is No.  Breakfast is needed if you want to live a healthy lifestyle.  By skipping breakfast you are exposing yourself to unhealthy conditions.  The time between dinner and breakfast is already long.  If you skip breakfast your, “blood sugar levels remain low in the morning causing tiredness, lethargy, lack of concentration, irritability, poor performance in the workplace and an increased tendency to make mistakes or have an accident.” (Heerden)  This is not the only problem with skipping breakfast.  Without breakfast your scholastic performance can decline, you tend to snack more causing weight gain, and you miss out on obtaining vitamins and minerals that you need from breakfast. (Heerden)  These drawbacks from skipping breakfast aren’t something to scoff at.  One of the drawbacks is a poor academic performance and as college students I feel that this single purpose would encourage people to wake up a little earlier to get breakfast. 

                Seeing that skipping breakfast can have such negative health effects I wonder if the same problems can be found by not eating three meals per day.  A study was done to answer this question.   The study focused on middle aged (40-50 years old) men and women.  The study lasted six months.  In this six month period there was two eight week segments where the participants would either eat three meals a day, as a control, or 1 meal per day.  There was an eleven week period that separated the two eight week segments where the subjects were allowed to resume their normal diets.  The nutritional levels were balanced so that the people eating three meals a day would be eating as much as the people who ate only one meal per day.  Simply put, the people who ate only one meal per day ate enough food in that one meal to equal the three meals that the other subjects ate.

                This study concluded that overall it was unhealthy to eat only one large meal per day.  The subjects eating only one meal per day experienced a, “significant reduction of fat mass and significant increases in levels of total, low-density lipoprotein, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol.” (Carlson, Olga, et al.)  To clarify, high density lipoproteins are good for you.  These proteins act as ball bearings in your blood that break up any clots or blockages in your blood stream.  Low density lipoproteins are the bad type of blood soluble proteins.  Because of the low density they are able to lodge themselves in your bloodstream and possibly cause a blockage.  When you have too much low density lipoproteins in your blood a large blockage can form possibly causing a stroke, fatal blood clots, and other detrimental health problems. 

Furthermore in this study there was also an increased sensitivity to insulin in the one meal per day subjects. This caused the participants to have an, “improved cardiovascular disease and diabetes risk profiles.” (Carlson, Olga, et al.)  This shows that there are major health consequences if you skip meals and do not have a regular eating schedule.  Why is it that the health conscious people will skip meals with health risks as real and dangerous as diabetes and heart problems? 

                A possible explanation for this is the increasing need for people to be efficient with their time.  This need for efficiency is caused by two things; technology and capitalism.  Advanced technology makes it so that right now you can pick up a phone in Denver, dial a number, and in a few seconds be talking to your friend in London.  You can hop on a plane in Denver and be talking face to face with that same friend in a little over nine hours.  The internet allows instant access to the largest database ever created by mankind.  Capitalism is set up where the best and hardest workers will achieve the most.  How does this relate to being efficient with time?  The combination of the speed that everything gets done and the need to outdo competitors means that taking a break to eat a meal could mean that you will miss out on achieving your goals.  This causes everyone to be as efficient with their time as possible so that they aren’t left in the dust.   

Keeping with this need for efficiency, breakfast is the hardest meal to make fiicienct.  Eggs, breakfast meats, pancakes, and other standard breakfast foods take time to cook.  All of the syrups and sauces that can be added to breakfast foods make it difficult to take it to go.  Because of this there are a lot of snacks that can take the spot of breakfast.  These snacks are generally not healthy and only supply your body with the bare minimum to keep you full until lunch.  For example pop tarts, cold cereals with lots of sugar, and other sugar and carbohydrate rich foods are sold to replace breakfast.  The difficulty of taking breakfast to go combined with the multitude of substitutes makes it the most efficient choice to skip breakfast or to grab something that isn’t healthy. 

Colleges have noticed that students are trying to increase their efficiency.  While college administrators cannot do anything to get you to wake up earlier, they are making it more convenient for you to eat.  College cafeterias are adapting their hours to stay open longer.  For example , “at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, residential restaurants at Fox Hall and South Campus have changed to continuous dining, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday.” (Rosenberg, Janice)  This change is allowing students to be as efficient as possible and still not skip meals.  Because food is available all day students no longer need to combine meals and work.  It is as simple as getting the work out of the way whenever you have time and then as long as it is between the hours of 7am and 8pm food is available.  Even here at DU they started the Late Night Pub for students to grab a late night meal.  While this doesn’t counter the original problem of skipping meals it does help to enable students to eat lunch and dinner.

One could argue here that because the cafeterias are starting to have longer hours it is easier to have an irregular meal routine.  Because of the extended hours of operation students can eat many meals per day without needing to go further than their cafeteria.  This would be the case if students didn’t have scholarly or personal obligations that limit their free time.  We all know that most college students don’t have this luxury.  The extended hours of operation is for students that have classes during regular meal time.  If you have class from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. and if the cafeterias are only open for lunch until two you’re out of luck.  With the extra hours you can get lunch whenever you don’t have class as adjust your other meal times to make it easy to eat the healthy three meals per day. 

Another tactic that cafeterias are using to help students eat meals and be efficient is that food to go is becoming more and more popular.  The increase in popularity of food to go has drawn the attention of the cafeteria workers as well.  Proof of this is in the size of the portions.  The food is perfectly portioned to fit into a to-go box.  The size of the portions helps the workers serve more people.  So in a sense, the cafeterias have become as efficient as possible to cater to the students who are trying to be just as efficient.  The quest for efficiency is changing how people choose to eat their meals as well as how the suppliers of the food choose to serve it.

Skipping any meal during the day will have negative consequences.  If you don’t eat breakfast you will run into the problems that are talked about above.  Skipping lunch can seem easy but by the time dinner rolls around you will probably over eat and this can cause weight gain and other eating problems.  Dinner could be the worst meal to skip.  Assuming you eat dinner around 6:30 p.m. and breakfast at 8 a.m. that means that your body is without food for thirteen and a half hours.  That is a long time for your body to be without food.  Any missed meal on occasion is fine but to have a healthy diet you need to eat three balanced meals per day. 

                Eating a balanced healthy diet is only half of the battle to be healthy.  Eating three meals a day is incredibly important.  That goes for eating the correct amount as well.  When trying to figure out what the best diet that you can be on individually just trust your body.  The best advice that I have ever heard in terms of eating right is from Michael Pollan.  He said, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” (Pollan, Michael)  Eating three meals a day makes it so that you have the opportunity to eat enough vegetables and so that you won’t get the urge to eat too much.  Three meals also helps keep you away from eating unhealthy snacks.  By doing this you can stay away from the health problems such as weight gain, diabetes, and heart problems.  

                Waking up and extra twenty minutes early to get breakfast is difficult.  The same goes for any meal when there are more pressing matters that require your immediate attention.  The main thing that I’ve learned from my research is that I need to make time and avoid skipping meals.  Not only will I be healthier but I will also feel better because of it.  This is why I will continue getting up early to get breakfast and making time so that I can get lunch and dinner as well.    

Works Cited:

Silliman, Kathryn, Kathleen Rodas-Fortier, and Michelle Neyman. "A Survey of Dietary and Exercise Habits and Perceived Barriers to Following a Healthy Lifestyle in a College Population." California Journal of Health Promotion 2.2 (2004): 10-19. Web. 20 May 2012. <http://www.hawaii.edu/hivandaids/Survey_of_Diet_and_Exercise_Habits_in_a_College_Population.pdf>.

Heerden. "Breakfast - the Most Frequently Missed Meal." Health24. 9 Feb. 2007. Web. 21 May 2012. <http://www.health24.com/dietnfood/Daily_meals/15-3707-3708,18362.asp>.

Carlson, Olga, Bronwen Martin, Kim S. Stote, Erin Golden, Stuart Maudsley, Samer S. Najjar, Luigi Ferrucci, Donald K. Ingram, Dan L. Longo, William V. Rumpler, David J. Baer, Josephine Egan, and Mark P. Mattson. "Impact of Reduced Meal Frequency without Caloric Restriction on Glucose Regulation in Healthy, Normal-weight Middle-aged Men and WomenImpact of Reduced Meal Frequency without Caloric Restriction on Glucose Regulation in Healthy, Normal-weight Middle-aged Men and Women." Metabolism 56.12 (2007): 1729-734. Web. 14 May 2012. <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0026049507002806>.

Rosenberg, Janice. "A Revolution in College Dining." The Boston Globe. 6 Nov. 2005. Web. <http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2005/11/06/a_revolution_in_college_dining/?page=full>.

Pollan, Michael. Unhappy Meals. 2007. Print.

Post 9

From reading both articles I feel that Pollan gave the best advice at the beginning of his article.  He said, “Eat food.  Not too much.  Mostly plants.”  Both articles talk about how people have been wondering what the perfect diet is.  Studies have been done on food to try to answer this question and popular dietary trends have come and gone.  This is all because people are trying to figure out what to eat.  Could it be that we are looking into this too much? 

                We are looking for an answer that fits our unique life.  Maybe the answer isn’t quantifiable.  If it was then there would be specific amounts of each type of food that we need to eat each day.  Without going much deeper than the beginning of these articles you can understand that the answer to the question is that you need to eat mainly healthy food and not too much.  People are looking for a study that will show that eating their favorite food is healthy. 

                It is funny to me that so many studies have been done trying to tell us what to eat.  There are too many variables to manage to get a straightforward correct answer.  People who are worried about what to eat should talk to someone on an individual basis.  Everyone is different with different metabolisms and dietary needs.  I try to eat what I need.  Not what studies say I should eat.  When I choose what to eat I take into account how I feel and what I’ve been eating recently.  I don’t look at food studies to tell me what to eat.     

SE 5 response

The first fact that I found interesting is about soda.  This fact is that soda can increase how hungry you are.  Going further, soda is a common drink with unhealthy food and fast food.  By drinking soda with this unhealthy food you are inadvertently making yourself more hungry to eat more unhealthy food.  This could be one of the causes to the obesity problem in the united states.  Another food fact that I find interesting is that eggs can help with disease prevention and treatment.  I have always heard that eggs are healthy but I’ve never heard that it can help your fight disease.  

Irregular Eating Habits

            After reading over a few of the food journals I found a trend that most people didn’t have a regular eating schedule.  This made me curious if there were any negative or positive outcomes from not eating consistent meals.  While looking for a medical journal that reported studying in this area I had assumed that eating the routine three meals a day was the most healthy way to eat.  I was very surprised to find that while there were some detrimental effects from having irregular meals some aspects of health were unchanged.

            The study focused on middle aged (40-50 years old) men and women.  The study lasted six months.  In this six month period there was two eight week segments where the participants would either eat three meals a day, as a control, or 1 meal per day.  There was an eleven week period that separated the two eight week segments where the subjects were allowed to resume their normal diets.  The nutritional levels were balanced so that the people eating three meals a day would be eating as much as the people who ate only one meal per day.  Simply put, the people who ate only one meal per day ate enough food in that one meal to equal the three meals that the other subjects ate.

            This study concluded that overall it was unhealthy to eat only one large meal per day.  The subjects experienced a, “significant reduction of fat mass and significant increases in levels of total, low-density lipoprotein, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol.” (Carlson, Olga, et al.)  While high-density lipoproteins are good for you, the low-density lipoprotein is not.  Also a significant increase in both is detrimental to your health.  There was also an increased sensitivity to insulin in the one meal per day subjects. This caused the participants to have an, “improved cardiovascular disease and diabetes risk profiles.” (Carlson, Olga, et al.)

I was taken by surprise by three results of this study.  The first thing that I was surprised by was that, “all subjects maintained their body weight within 2 kg of their initial weight throughout the 6-month period.” (Carlson, Olga et al.)  I would have guessed that the people eating three meals per day would maintain a constant body weight while the individuals eating only one meal per day would gain or lose weight.  The second result that I found surprising was that there were no long lasting ill effects on glucose levels once the subjects returned to a regular 3-meal per day diet.  Also, health benefits do come from eating only one meal per day. This is only applicable when the one meal contains all essential nutrients and enough calories to keep you going but, this diet “can result in health benefits including improved glucose regulation, but only if there is an overall reduction in energy intake.” (Carlson, Olga, et al.)  I am surprised that there is any good in only eating one meal per day. 

            From this study, simply put, it is apparent that eating one large meal per day is bad for your health.  There is an increase in rick for cardiovascular problems as well as an increased risk for diabetes.  While eating a smaller balanced meal once per day can help regulate your glucose I still feel that eating three meals per day is the healthiest way to consume food. 

Works Cited:

Carlson, Olga, Bronwen Martin, Kim S. Stote, Erin Golden, Stuart Maudsley, Samer S. Najjar, Luigi Ferrucci, Donald K. Ingram, Dan L. Longo, William V. Rumpler, David J. Baer, Josephine Egan, and Mark P. Mattson. "Impact of Reduced Meal Frequency without Caloric Restriction on Glucose Regulation in Healthy, Normal-weight Middle-aged Men and WomenImpact of Reduced Meal Frequency without Caloric Restriction on Glucose Regulation in Healthy, Normal-weight Middle-aged Men and Women." Metabolism 56.12 (2007): 1729-734. Web. 14 May 2012. <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0026049507002806>.

P8 response

Bobby went into a lot of detail with his blog.  He described what he was doing and as to why he chose to ate what he did.  Shelby added pictures of most things that she chose to eat.  Quinn’s blog is a lot more Spartan.  It contains the date and time and what he ate.  It lacks any extra detail, but it perfectly meets the assignment of recording when and what he ate.  

Food Log (P8)

Thursday May 10^th:

7:20 a.m. - Omelet with ham, spinach, jalapenos, cheese, and black olives.  Glass of chocolate milk.

11:15 a.m. – Taco with steak, pico de gallo, sour cream, cheese.  Side of beans, rice, and chips.  Dr. Pepper to drink. 

6:00 p.m. – Cheese burger, fries, salad with caesar dressing and a glass of yellow Gatorade.    

Friday May 11^th:

8:30 a.m. – Scrambled eggs with breakfast sausage and hash browns.  Glass of water

11:15 a.m. – Piece of chicken with a side of pasta and fresh pineapple.  Glass of water

7:15 p.m. – Snarf’s French dip sandwich.  In the sandwich there was roast beef, provolone, and lettuce. 

Saturday May 12^th:

8:25 a.m. – Bowl of Cheerios with 2% milk and a glass of orange juice.

12:10 p.m. – Chicken enchilada with a side salad, rice, and beans. 

4:30 p.m. – Chocolate almond Cliff Bar

6:10 p.m. – Meat lasagna, fries, and a Caesar salad.  Yellow Gatorade to drink.      

  

Short Essay #4 "Rice"

                My most recent meal is a Chipotle burrito.  In this burrito there were a lot of different ingredients.  There were rice, beans, steak, lettuce, salsa, and cheese.  Of these ingredients there is one major ingredient that has been a main staple of many people’s diets.  This ingredient is rice.  It can be traced as far back as 2500 B.C. (Rost, Thomas)  Many countries use rice as a major component is most meals.  I am intrigued by this ingredient because it is so common in every culture and it is present in most meals. 

                Rice is found in many different cultures because its seeds are incredibly versatile and durable.  This many it easy to be transported great distances and traded to new cultures.  Rice originated in china. (Kiple, Kenneth F. and Kriemhild C. Ornelas)    From china it made its way to Sri Lanka and India.  There it was traded to areas in the Mediterranean.  Once there it was spread throughout Europe and North Africa.  Rice was brought to North America from England and to South America by Spain and Portugal.  (Rost, Thomas)

                Rice found its way to North America by accident.  The story goes that in 1685 a storm battered ship was forced to make port at the Charleston harbor.  The colonists helped to repair the ship and as a gift of thanks the captain gave the colonists rice seeds.  There were incredibly fertile marshlands close to the colony so growing the rice was relatively easy.  In just 15 years rice became a major crop for the colonists and in one year 300 tons of rice was grown.  It was grown on such a large scale that there were not enough trading ships to send all of the rice back to England.  Just 26 years after the year that 300 tons of rice was grown, Charleston was exporting 4500 tons of rice annually.  (Ehler, James)

                Initially Rice was grown by throwing the seeds into wetlands.  The early Chinese civilizations that did this eventually began to build small berms to keep the water in and contain the fields.  Harvesting the crop is very labor intensive.  It would be common for entire communities to help with the harvest.  It became easier to plant and harvest rice once tools and advanced machines were developed.  In modern day America planes are used to spread the seeds over the targets fields.  With tractors and pumps it is easier for farmers to create ideal irrigation conditions for the seeds to grow.  Only once the tools evolved enough were people able to farm rice without needing a massive amount of labor.   (Kiple, Kenneth F. and Kriemhild C. Ornelas)

                I have learned a lot about rice from doing research and writing this paper.  The most surprising thing that I was able to learn was the difficulty of harvesting rice.  For example, “Even with ox and mule-drawn equipment. . . .rice ‘farms’ or plantations of only a few hundred acres required from 100 to 300 laborers.”  (Ehler, James)  I had always thought that because of the abundance and the low cost of rice that it was easy to harvest.  I was also surprised to learn that rice was brought to America unintentionally.  I would have guessed that rice was brought to the colonies intentionally as a crop that they would try to grow to survive.  Instead it was because a ship needed repairs and the captain thanked the colonists by giving them rice seeds.  I also found the path that rice took to spread around the world was interesting.  I wasn’t that surprised that it started in the east and made its way to the west, but it was interesting to have it mapped out. 

                This knowledge doesn’t affect how I will treat my consumption of rice.  Because plantation and cultivation of rice has been mechanized there is no need to respect rice over other plants.  If rice was still hand cultivated then I would have much more respect for rice.  I would cherish meals that contain rice as much as meals that contain other difficult foods and spices to grow.  An example of something that I do cherish a lot is anything with saffron.  This is a difficult spice to obtain and when I eat dishes I try to savor the flavor much more.  This would make paella, a saffron rice based dish, one of my most respected and savored dishes. 

               

Works Cited

Rost, Thomas. "Rice: History." Rice: History. 1997. Web. 06 May 2012. http://www-plb.ucdavis.edu/labs/rost/Rice/introduction/intro.html

Ehler, James. "RICE: The History of Rice in the U.S." Rice History, Development & Methods. USA Rice Federation. Web. 06 May 2012. <http://www.foodreference.com/html/art-rice-history.html>.

Kiple, Kenneth F., and Kriemhild C. Ornelas. "The Cambridge World History of Food- Rice." The Cambridge World History of Food- Rice. Web. 07 May 2012. <http://www.cambridge.org/us/books/kiple/rice.htm>.

Post #7

                The article “Fowl Trouble” by Cook tracks the history and production of cheap fast chicken products.  The main focus of the article is what the workers go through to work at these facilities.  It talks about how the workers must endure fast repetitive motion and dangerous working conditions while not getting paid enough to warrant these hazards. 

I was troubled by what was presented in Fowl Trouble.  I had never read anything that broke down all the hazards and problems with the working conditions at chicken processing plants.  I had always assumed that it was much safer for the workers and that they got paid more than in some cases $6.50 an hour.  In a country where there are laws and unions that protect workers I am surprised to learn that there are still jobs where the workers are viewed as replaceable. 

                “On the Tomato Trail” uses tomatoes as a focus of study.  This article talks about how tomatoes from Florida are picked while still perfectly green and are ripened artificially by being exposed to gasses.  After this are they sent to the stores perfectly red and shaped but flavorless.  Then on the other hand home grown tomatoes are less than perfect.  They may or may not be perfectly red, usually lumpy, and would burst if dropped from too high up.  While these traits may turn people away, the true tomato consumer knows that the flavor from these tomatoes is unbeatable.  

                 I found it very interesting that the tomatoes in Florida are so hardy.  The example of tomatoes being almost completely unharmed after being thrown from a moving truck was very surprising.  I was expecting the author to say that there was exploded tomato everywhere on the road. 

                An Animal’s Place talks about animals and their rights.  It talks about people are changing their approach as to how their view animals.  Countries are starting to give animals more rights so that they are not abused or that the possibility of abuse is eliminated.  For example England has banned the production of animals solely for their fur.  

Blog post #6

Pollan starts out by talking about “Carbophobia” which is the fear of eating too much carbs.  He talks about how pasta, bread, and other carbohydrate rich foods vanished because they were labeled as unhealthy.  The cause of this fear is that Americans are trying to be overly healthy.  We are not eating to how our body feels but that we are eating only foods that have been deemed healthy by someone who may or may not be credible. 

                I found the most interesting part of this was the comparison to the French.  I was surprised that the main answers from Americans were related to health while the French associated those types of foods with pleasure and more positive connotations.  What is even more surprising is that while we eat food based on health we are not that healthy.  And that the French who choose to eat food depending on pleasure are more health than us.  I would of guessed from just this information that the French would be less healthy than us.

                I choose what I eat depending on my past meals, how I am feeling, and what I have planned until my next meal.  If I have been eating unhealthy or unbalance meals I try to make up for what I was missing in my next meal.  If I am feeling sick I will usually try to get more healthy food in me over eating unhealthy food.  And if I have an activity planned for later in the day that is strenuous I try to eat more carbs and protein to keep my energy up.  If I am planning on having a lazy day I will usually eat healthier food.