SE5 - Breakfast

Are you feeling sluggish today? Are you stressed, frustrated and depressed? Do your children refuse to eat breakfast? The answer to all your problems may be answered with one simple question: did you eat breakfast this morning. Since we were children our parents, teachers and oatmeal commercials stressed the importance of eating a balanced breakfast every day. If you are like me, you never listened to your parents and breakfast was simply that meal that you skipped on a daily basis. You skip it because you don’t have time or desire to wake up early enough to make something. However, if you knew all the areas that eating breakfast impacted you would never skip breakfast again. You see breakfast isn't simply a conspiracy theory created by oatmeal companies designed to capture a greater profit but a very important meal that not only affects you but those around you in three very specific ways.

Emotional and Mental Health

A study of 126 participants conducted by The University of Bristol found that those who ate breakfast were happier throughout the day. They were less stressed and less depressed than those who chose to skip breakfast. For example people who have irregular breakfasts – meaning it’s not consumed everyday – have a depression level of 10 while those who eat breakfast every day reach only a 6. This study shows strong relationships between choosing to eat breakfast and stable mental health. Do your emotions a favor and eat breakfast every day.

Physical Health

A second study explored how skipping breakfast is related to health compromising behaviors. This study looked at 3065 families and their breakfast eating habits. People who skip breakfast are found to be more tired, exercise less and have a higher Body Mass Index (BMI) than those who eat breakfast. When you skip breakfast you have less energy to do things such as working out. Also skipping breakfast leads to larger, unbalanced meals later in the day causing your BMI to rise. All these things are directly related to the poor emotional and mental health listed above. It’s a vicious cycle: you don’t eat breakfast causing a sluggish feeling and a desire to do nothing which creates depression. So break the cycle and eat breakfast.      

Family Values

Using the same study as above it was found that parental breakfast eating is the most significant factor associated with adolescent breakfast eating. In the families where the parents ate breakfast every day, their children ate breakfast 82% of the time. However children whose parents skipped breakfast only ate breakfast 46% of the time. This shows how important it is to eat breakfast not just for yourself but for your family. The two points above show how not eating breakfast leads to mental distress as well as health problems. If you can save your children from all of those issues simply by letting them watch you eat breakfast and hoping they follow in your footsteps, wouldn't you do it. It is true parents really do impact their children and shape them into adults. You never know when they are or aren't watching and how your actions will impact them. So do them a favor and eat breakfast.

I hope this has shown you all the importance that lies in eating breakfast. It is not just another meal in the day but a meal that sets a tone for your emotional well-being of the day, your physical state, as well as the future of those who look up to you. The two studies are inexplicably linked and demonstrate the various ways in which breakfast is a great meal. Do me a favor and try eating breakfast every day this week and see what it can do for you.  

Works Cited

Keski-Rahkonen, A., et al. "Breakfast Skipping and Health-Compromising Behaviors in Adolescents and Adults." European journal of clinical nutrition 57.7 (2003): 842-53. ProQuest. 13 May 2013.

Smith, Andrew P. "Breakfast and Mental Health." International journal of food sciences and nutrition 49.5 (1998): 397-402.ProQuest. 13 May 2013.

SE5 Link

The following link explores how meal times specifically dinner can affect sleeping habits.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3428308/?tool=pmcentrez&rendertype=abstract

Food Blog Observations

People have weird and very different eating habits. There are those who only eat two meals a day, those who eat small snacks all day long and others who have three solid meals. It is strange to see such differences in each persons eating habits as well as the time between each meal.

P8 - Food Diary

Wednesday

9:30am

Quaker Maple and Brown Sugar Oatmeal

½ Apple

11:15am

Salad – romaine, spinach, cheese, olives, ranch

BBQ chicken pizza

Broccoli

Water

2pm

Red Machine Naked Juice

6pm

Mashed potatoes

Green beans

Flank Steak

Water

Thursday

9:30am

Multigrain Cheerios

½ Banana

2% milk

12pm

Peanut butter sandwich

Apple

Water

4pm

½ banana

Nutella

5:30pm

Spaghetti

Grilled Chicken

Water

9pm

Cherry coke

Movie popcorn

Friday

9:30am

Honey Nut Cheerios

Banana

2% milk

12pm

Turkey sandwich on Oatnut bread

Banana

String cheese

Water

4pm

Apple

7pm

Beef brisket sliders

Strawberries

Cheese & Crackers

Chocolate mousse cup

Water

Pink Lemonade

Saturday

8:30am

Turkey lunch meat

String cheese

12:30pm

Grilled chicken

Quinoa

Salad greens

Blueberry muffin

Blackberries & raspberries

4pm

Moive popcorn

Cherry coke

SE4 - Stevia

After a nine am arrival in Denver International Airport my friend, aka ride back to school, and I stopped by the local IHOP for our morning nourishment. With no wait we were seated right away, once at our table our server asked what we would like to drink. I ordered a glass of water because I usually find myself severely dehydrated after a flight; and my friend ordered a cup of coffee. A few minutes passed and the waiter returned with not only a cup of coffee but also a dish filled with every imaginable kind of sweetener. There was regular sugar, SWEET’N LOW, Splenda and Equal. Most restaurants that serve coffee have the dish full of these sweeteners and I have always wondered what the difference is and why on earth you would need so many different options. About two hours later, full on pancakes, I was back in my dorm, watching TV while getting ready for class. During one of the commercial breaks there was an advertisement for Truvia, a natural no calorie stevia-based sugar substitute. I thought to myself, seriously another type of sugar substitute, why do we need so many? What is it about Truvia that makes the company sure it can break into what is in my opinion an already crowded sugar substitute market? 

                A few days later in my writing and research class, the professor informed us of our next short essay assignment. The assignment was to research a particular food ingredient that was of interest to us. I thought what a perfect time to discover what is it about Truvia that makes it want to become the next great sugar substitute. First, I went to the Truvia website and discovered that the main ingredient in Truvia is a plant called Stevia. I decided that Stevia would be the main focus of my research paper. The following explores where Stevia originated, what it is, how it grows and why it is so special.

                “Stevia is a sweet herb of Paraguay” (Ramesh 138) however it can also be found in Central and South American as well as in the United States. It was first discovered by the Europeans in the 1800s but it wasn't widely used until World War II when it was planted in England and used as a part of their sugar rationing. Before it was brought to England it was used for centuries by the indigenous people of Paraguay as a sweetener for their bitter drinks. The Japanese are also involved in the cultivation of Stevia. In the 1970s they brought Stevia from Brazil back to Japan and started to grow it themselves. Today they are a major producer of the plant. As you can see the Stevia plant is grown all around the world including 15 countries and is of interest as a sweetener to many different cultural groups (Ramesh).

                But the question remains: why all these different people are interested in Stevia? First and foremost Stevia is a no calorie sweetener. The leaves of the Stevia plant are what produce the sweetness. The leaves contain sweet crystalline glycosides called steviosides. These steviosides do not contain calories and are 300 times as sweet as cane sugar (Todd). As we have learned throughout this quarter and our own experience, people are obsessed with no or low calorie food items. No calorie food items mean we don’t get fat, and it seems to be that dieting in order to not get fat is one of America’s favorite pastimes. So for these companies to have found a plant that’s leaves can be dried and pulverized or soaked in water (Ramesh 140) in order to produce a no calorie sweetener that is 300 times as strong as cane sugar is a great advantage.

                Stevia grows best in sub-tropical, semi-humid regions with temperatures between 21-109°F. However it is an extremely versatile plant that can be grown in a variety of places. For example, it can act as a perennial meaning it comes back every year, or an annual plant meaning it needs to be replanted each year depending on surrounding conditions. In the beginning months Stevia has a slow growth. However, after the first few months their growth speeds up. Four months after planting is the ideal time to harvest the leaves. After harvest the leaves can then be used as is, dried and pulverized or soaked in water to retrieve the sweetener from them (Ramesh). The Truvia website has a section that shows how they grow and harvest their Stevia crop. Seeing as Truvia is the reason for my interest in Stevia I thought it should be shared. First Stevia begins as a root in a greenhouse. Once it is three to four inches tall it is moved into a field. When white flowers bloom it is time to harvest the leaves. After harvest the leaves are dried and steeped in water. After steeping the sweet extract is purified to concentrate. Finally the stevia extract is combined with natural flavors to create Truvia.

                As you can see Stevia is an interesting plant. It is 300 times sweeter than can sugar, contains no calories, and can adapt to it changing surroundings. All these things considered I now understand why Truvia is so proud of its latest addition to the sugar substitute world.            

  

Works Cited

"About Truvia® | Truvia® Natural Sweetener - Natural Sweetness From the Stevia Leaf." Truvia. 02 May 2013 <http://truvia.com/about>.

Ramesh, K. "Cultivation of Stevia [Stevia rebaudiana (Bert.) Bertoni]: A comprehensive review." Advances in agronomy 89 (2006): 137-77. Branson Library. 3 May 2013.

Todd, Jim. "The Cultivation of Stevia, "Nature's Sweetener"" The Cultivation of Stevia, "Nature's Sweetener" May 1997. 02 May 2013

P7 - Food Production

             Fowl Trouble by Christopher Cook traces the horrifying production of chicken meat through the eyes of the employees. It lists the different jobs needed to get the chickens from pen to supermarket in a timely manner. The jobs include deboner, offal room attendants, evisc, catchers and hangers. All these positions come with the very real possibility of severe injuries such as carpal tunnel, eye infections, respiratory ailments and the loss of the use of their hands. This article shows the terrifying reality for employees when getting chicken meat to the ever demanding American population.  

            Tomatoland by Barry Eastbrook, paints a similar picture to the one found in Cook’s infographic. It tells of the eye and respiratory ailments, exposure to know carcinogens and horrendous living conditions that the workers are exposed to. In some cases workers are slaves to the tomato fields, held against their will and forced to work or be beaten. Unlike the infographic it also describes the lack of nutritional value that tomatoes have due to commercial farming. “fresh tomato today has 30 percent less vitamin C , 30 percent less thiamin, 1 9 percent less niacin, and 62 percent less calcium than it did in the 1 960s. But the modern tomato does shame its 1960s counterpart in one area: It contains fourteen times as much sodium.” (Eastbrook X) This shows the toll that industrial commercial farming is having on the nutritional value of the tomato. Consumers so desire to have their winter tomatoes that they are lowering their standards. This article parallels the unfair working conditions of the workers with the lack of nutritional value and taste of a tomato to show how badly commercial faming is to the tomato industry.

            An Animal’s Place by Michael Pollan discusses the ethics behind eating animals. It asks us to consider whether the rights of animals are being violated during their confinement and slaughtering. It explores the ethics behind denying animals basic rights solely on the fact that they are not humans. Do animals not feel pain and suffering, shouldn’t they be treated with the same respect as humans?

            An underlying subtly in all of these articles is the capitalistic view that creates these problems. Animals are denied basic right of animals in nature because it is cheaper, easier and space maximizing to keep them in tiny cages. Workers are paid less than minimum wage and forced to endure horrendous working conditions so the companies can turn a larger profit. All of these food and agribusinesses are doing everything they can to turn a larger profit. They cut back on things they don’t have to do, like supplying protective clothing to chicken factory workers, so they can save money and turn a larger profit. These articles all explored the controversial aspects of growing food in slightly different ways and all showed the toll that capitalism is taking on the food industry and all made me lose my appetite.      

SE4 - Food source

For short essay 4 I am thinking about researching the history and production of scallops. The Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch website has good background and basic information on all types of seafood including scallops. It lists all the different types of scallops and where they come from. Its a great starting point.