For this weeks blog assignment Julie and I would like you play around more with "The Meaning of Food" website. Interact with TWO of the three sections (maybe the Food and Literature or the Edible School Yard) and in addition read the following article on the Western Diet (http://www.npr.org/2011/03/24/132745785/how-western-diets-are-making-the-world-sick?sc=fb&cc=fp).
Please make some comments on it for the "class blog" discussion!
See you on Thursday :)
The article about Kevin Patterson and his experiences working with Afgan soldiers compared to Canadians did not really shock me in any way. I have always been aware of the problem with the increase in the number of people in North America who have type 2 diabetes. The increase in diabetes is caused by the unhealthy food choices people are making. The article talked about the lack of fresh food being eaten here and the increase in fast food and high calorie foods that are cheap. I found it interesting that Kevin Patterson noticed the differences in his patients as he operated on organs and such. In Canadian people, it was normal to have the organs encased in a layer of fat but when he was in Afganistan, it was a shock to see that on any patient. I found it surprising that the average adult weighed only 140 pounds in Afganistan. That is less then most high schoolers here in the United States.
ReplyDeleteIn the "Meaning of Food" website, I looked at the Food and Family section and read the Picky Pooches section. I found it ironic that people are willing to treat their dogs with fancy treats and food and yet they still put terrible things into their very own mouths. Some humans feed their pets better than they feed themselves. That says a lot about America and the standard of food.
Another part of the website I looked at was in the Food and Life section. I took the quiz on Food for Thought. I learned about pork, salt, oranges, and oregano. To my surprise, I got three out of four questions correct.
When I read Patterson's article, I remembered when I dissected cats for A & P in high school. Once we open the intestine, all I could see was fat and adipose tissue woven, tangled, and implanted into the small intestine. Let's just say I was on a strict fruits and veggies diet for at least a week! Anyway, it is ridiculous that we are seeing steep increases in diabetes and other severe health issues simply because of a processed food diet. It is also unbelieveable that most of these diseases virtually did not exist years ago. I always think it is interesting to learn people who live according to an ethnic order usually are healthier than Americans. For example, I assumed ethnic foods were always unhealthy compared to low fat, reduced fat, zero calorie, sugar free, etc foods that we consider healthier options. This also makes me think about why we consume fast food and chemically altered foods. The only reason I can come up with is it's easier and faster. We are always told we need to work hard to succeed, what happened to working hard for our food?
ReplyDeleteI read through the edible schoolyard. Wow! I was impressed. If we could afford to have gardens and kitchens in all schools, I feel a there would be a reform for the food industry. Not only would the food industry see a change, but I believe if students daily work together for a common goal (especially one each person benefits from) we would see less behavior problems.
I also read through the food and literature. It is shocking to realize how much food in involved in such a wide variety of fields. I enjoyed reading the excerpts and recognizing more common ones. I definitely notice food in the media more often now.
I think the Edible Schoolyard is a really good idea. Gardening is a very unique experience, one that I have been able to benefit from in the last 5 years of my family having a garden in our back yard. We don’t have a big yard, and live in town but there is enough room for a garden. Showing students that it is possible to have gardens in town will be greatly beneficial to their health. Not only are they showing the students gardens, but letting them work in them. There is such a sense of self-satisfaction when you finally get to pick the tomato you have been watching ripen for days. Even better is the fact that after growing and picking these vegetables, they get to learn how to cook with them. A lot of people do not know how to cook, and especially not with fresh foods. Many people can open a jar of spaghetti sauce, but to actually pick the tomatoes, and chop everything that goes into the sauce- many people cannot do this. The kids involved in this are getting a lifelong lesson on how to be healthier people…and they are enjoying it! I wish my school would have had a program like this. I also read about people’s comfort food. Being away from home I can truly identify with that feeling of wanting a home cooked meal, like my mom’s pork roast with sauerkraut or potato soup. I would agree with Marcus Samuelsson for me comfort food depends on where I am or what I am doing. During the summer I enjoy grilled foods, and crave them all winter long and in the winter I enjoy hearty slow cooked meals. The article about western diets is very eye opening. I think it is very interesting how little fat Afghan people have on them. But, I think that the Edible schoolyard and other initiatives to get kids eating better will help with the current unhealthy diets. Fresh foods even if they are somewhat high in fat are still better then fatty processed foods.
ReplyDeleteThe first section I looked at on the website was Food & Culture. Here is looked at the topic “Gonna Eat That? This topic was about different foods that were eaten in parts of the world that we Americans would rather not associate with. All of the foods presented were rather unappetizing, but I found three that were exceptionally distasteful. The first, Fugu, a Japanese food that when some people eat it they die. The reason: it’s a blow fish which has a powerful toxin that will kill humans if it’s not prepared correctly. Only a specialized chef can spare your life from this tragedy. The second was Haggis. A Scottish favorite where they eat chopped up heart, lungs, and live of lamb or beef with vegetables and encase it in a sheep’s stomach. The third was live octopus from South Korea. I have had calamari before, but live octopus versus dead squid… I’d rather go with the less mobile choice.
ReplyDeleteThe second section I checked out was Food & Family. I looked at the topic of “Picky Pooches”. This is where they had examples of dogs that probably ate better than their owners did. Some were dressed up for holidays while others had the life of eating peanut butter cookies and carob truffles. One owners were obsessed with seeking out the best products for their dogs and in this case the owners knew more about the dogs nutrition than the owners did about human nutrition.
Patterson’s article hit the food problem right on the head. He discussed how not until 70-80 years ago there wasn’t type 2 diabetes whereas now it’s a huge medical problem for the western world. He also has noticed that the same patterns of unhealthiness are happening in “undeveloped regions that have adapted Western eating patterns”. And the reason behind this is because it's much cheaper to ship. Well, go figure, processed, imitation foods will be much cheaper than real food.
As I read through Patterson's article I was shocked to see the amount of diabetes that has risen in the last few years. One of my best friends from high school has had diabetes since she was born; it was not brought on because of her size or eating habits, rather, it was genetically passed on to her. When I see the growing amount of diabetes due to poor eating habits in people, it is very disheartening. After watching the daily struggles my friend has to deal with every day it amazes me to see people obtaining this disease by eating. These people need to get on a healthier path and change their life around in order to stop the rise of diabetes.
ReplyDeleteI liked looking through the meaning of food website, it offers a lot of information and ideas for people to look at. I though the edible schoolyard article was really interesting and a cool idea. I think this website is a great source for people to find new ideas about their food.
I looked at the Edible Schoolyard portion of the website. I think it is an excellent idea to help teach children where their food comes from and all the work that goes into raising it at a younger age. I liked something that Esther Cook said, “We want to empower the students to take care of themselves”. By allowing the students to participate in a garden it educates them where food comes from which would be very similar to our class, just at a younger age. Like they said, many children don’t know that a carrot grows out of the ground which is very sad. Many people seemed concerned that we are losing our culture. Another point this brought up was starting at a younger age. Someone said it needs to start in kindergarten and continue on through high school. I think that is a very valid point. By starting early it will make these acts habits, just like riding a bike or buckling your seat belt. Although this curriculum isn’t in place at many schools I think it is helpful at the one it is at. “Every little seed that’s planted is a good thing.”
ReplyDeleteAnother part of the website I looked at was the Food and Literature section. I read through all the quotes about food found in books although I didn’t recognize many of the books the quotes were found in. One of my favorites was the soup quote. I think it is true that our culture sees soup as a healing food. We eat it when we’re sick or if someone has passed away. Another quote I liked was the lemon quote because of how descriptive it was. I could picture the big lemon slices in my head.
The things discussed in Kevin Patterson’s article I was aware of before, but reading it made it even clearer. I knew many people’s eating habits had lead them to have diabetes type 2. I find it very sad and almost a little angering that people care this little about their bodies that they could eat and eat until their bodies just can’t take it anymore. The thing I thought was the most shocking was that the average ADULT weighed only 140 pounds in Afghanistan. In America that is what many hgihschoolers weigh and that is before they have even gone to college and added on the freshman fifteen. Overall, this article I think just furthers the argument that North America has an eating problem and if we don’t do something about it, we will run out of resources to help cure the people that have diabetes.
I really enjoyed reading the Edible schoolyard article. I really wish that I had a program like that when I was in elementary and junior high. We had one class that I took in middle school that was about food but it only taught you how to make certain foods which weren’t very healthy. It said in the article that it would be really expensive to have a successful lunch-based curriculum from kindergarten and through high school. I think it would be a lot more expensive to not include this in the curriculum. Obesity in children and as well as adults is increasing and as mentioned in the article “How Western Diets are Making the World Sick,” Type 2 Diabetes is driven by the increase in Obesity because of our lifestyle of eating the Western Diet. Men in Afghanistan are very healthy and don’t have any extra fat whereas the organs of Americans and Canadians organs are surrounded by layers of fat. It may cost more now to include a lunch-based curriculum in education but if we pay for this education now, it will cost us less in the future. We won’t have the funds or the resources to treat diabetics the way that they're being treated now because of the way high rate in which obesity is increasing.
ReplyDeleteIn the Edible Schoolyard article it stated, “We want them to experience the simple act of working together and eating together, which is something a lot of them don’t do at home.” I feel like this is a true statement about Western society today because when I was little I would always eat with my family but as I got older we wouldn’t be able to eat meals together because we would all have different schedules and be busy. I feel like our society doesn’t realize the impact of not eating as a family. It allows families to communicate and learn from each other as well as how to eat together. If children aren’t getting the proper education on how to eat healthy at home, I think that it should be emphasized more in school education.
I also read the Food and Literature Article and the quote that stood out the most to me was by Ernest Hemingway. He described the oysters so vividly. He stated, “As I drank their cold liquid from each shell and washed it down with the crisp taste of the wine, I lost the empty feeling and began to be happy and to make plans.” This is such a great statement. I feel like we as a society can learn many things about food from reading literature from the past instead of reading about food in present times because most writings about food today involves dieting or how to lose weight fast instead of enjoying foods or how they make us feel.
As I read the article from Kevin Patterson's experiences working with Afghan soldiers compared to Canadians, I was shocked to know that urbanization is increasing diabetes, making people everywhere both fatter and sicker. It shocked me to know that the absence of any fat or any adipose tissue underneath the skin is an effect of diabetes increasing. Also, because of the unreliability of transportation of goods, healthy and substantial food is not able to be provided to western areas making people unhealthy and develop unhealthy eating habits. I wish there was something that people could do to help make healthier foods more readily available, which would help decrease the chances of obesity throughout the whole world.
ReplyDeleteI looked through the Meaning of Food website at the Food and Literature section. I liked this section because as each person, author, food expert whoever wrote about a specific food they were eating, each one resulted in some kind of happiness. I think that can say a lot about the effect food has on some people, and how it can alter an attitude so quickly. The food people write about gives them strength and courage, and some say they would die for it. Next I looked at the Edible School Yard, which was the coolest thing I've heard of! I love the idea that student’s plant, harvest, then create meals with food they have grown themselves. It was all tied in to their curriculum, which I think it very smart considering childhood obesity is growing rapidly.
While on the Meaning of Food website I read the Edible Schoolyard. I think it's really neat that the kids tend to their own gardens, it's a fun way for them to learn about where their food comes from and it also gets their butts up off the couch and out doing something good for them. I wish my school would have done this when I was little, it would have been a really good experience for us. This article reminded me of a show I saw last year about a guy that visited elementary schools across the US, teaching them good eating habits. One thing he did was hold up fruits and vegetables and asked the kids what they were. He held up a potato, and not one single kid knew that it was a potato. That was insanely surprising to me, I knew what a potato was when I was little. I guess that says a lot about how uneducated Americans are becoming about their food.
ReplyDeleteI also read Keeping Kosher. I've always heared the word "kosher" but I never really knew what it meant. I learned that if you want to keep kosher, it's actually a lot of hard work! People have to pay attention to which cooking utensils are used where because meat and diary are never supposed to mix. It took a dozen people and a day and a half of cleaning to turn a non-kosher bakery into kosher one. I never realized how many rules needed to be followed in order to be kosher.
I've heard many times how awful the Western diets are, and therefore I was not surprised to read about it's influence on nearby countries. It's not surprising to me that people rely on fast food because it's quick, easy and cheap. With that said, it's not surprising that the number of people with type to diabetes has increased, that's a given. I did find it interesting, though, that the medical staff preforming surgeries on Afghans could tell the difference in diets simply by noticing that their internal organs were not encased in fat, as are American's. On the anatomical level, it's a very interesting topic.
The first part of the website I went to was the Edible School yard. I thought it was one of the coolest things a school has ever done. It is amazing how our culture is becoming so much more based off fast food and when young children can learn healthy organ ways to plant and cook there food it is really great. The edible school yard is also teaching the students how to cook healthy good meals that they can continue to make throughout their life and for their children. If all school began to build in a curriculum of planting and cooking healthy food that is fed to many the obesity rates will begin to gradually decline over time. I think the edible is a fun and wonderful way for children to get outside and have a great time working learning about food.
ReplyDeleteThe second part of the website I looked at was in the food and family section. I decided to look more into the Obento meals that Japanese mothers made for their children. I think it is amazing that each mother would spend an hour or longer everyday on the child’s lunch to make it completely appetizing and very fun for the child. There were two pictures of Obento made that I thought were especially creative looking. I really liked the panda that was made of rice, seaweed, radish, carrots, corn, and sesame seeds. Along with the cute watermelons that were made of rice, sesame seed, tuna, seaweed, and cucumber.
It really is sad for me to hear how type 2 diabetes is increasing throughout the nation every minute. My sister was born with type 1 diabetes this was no choice of hers, her pancreas just decided to shut down. But when people are giving themselves this terrible disease because they decided it doesn’t matter to eat right it is ridiculous. How can someone eat so much sugar that it starts to over load there pancreas and send it completely out of whack. The article was quite an eye opener; more and more countries are deciding to join the western food choices. Instead we should all start to eat like the eastern culture. Respect our food and eat food that is good for our bodies without fat that covers are organs or sugars that will give people diseases.
When I read the article by Patterson I found it sad how type 2 diabetes has been increasing in not only western cultures but other cultures around the world as well. For example when the article talked about how the Inuit culture has pulled away from its traditional diet to a more western diet. This is because process food is cheaper to ship then fresh food. I think that it should be the other way around. I also found it interesting when the article was talking about how that in the next 20 to 30 years the whole population of Saipan will either be a dialysis patient or a dialysis nurse. It is really sad how much more common it is to see most of the population get type two diabetes because of how bad we eat.
ReplyDeleteOne of the sections that I looked at on the food web site was the editable school yard. I found this very interesting. I think that it is so cool how some schools are actually growing gardens and having the students participate in this. It not only provides a way for the students to have good food available to them but it also helps them appreciate their meal more because they are the ones that help plant it.
Another one of the sections that I looked at was picky pooch. I found this section really cool, I thought that some of the treats in the pictures looked like treats that I would eat, if they were not for dogs.
It was actually frightening to read this article and learn that the western culture has changed and influenced so many other cultures. I was revolted to read that it is almost always most likely expected for western cultured individuals to have fat built up around their organs where as in other cultures like Afghanistan Patterson says that underneath the skin there were very little amounts of fat. It was also scary to read about the large increase in type 2 diabetes. Individuals don’t have to have type 2 diabetes but their diets have become so bad and their pancreas is already secreting as much insulin as possible, however, it isn’t enough insulin anymore if someone develops type 2 diabetes. People need to relearn about portion control and having a healthy diet otherwise dialysis patients or dialysis nurses will be all too common.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was reading though Edible Schoolyard I liked that statement made that the education of lunch and eating be incorporated into the curriculum just as much as physical fitness is. I like this because being healthy doesn’t end with just working out. Knowing how to eat healthy is a key to being physically fit. I also really liked the fact that a garden was put into a school where the children did all of the planting, care taking, and cooking of the food as part of the curriculum. They really enjoy the task and it is teaching them early in life to have healthy eating habits and the seasonal foods taste much better.
Another part of The Meaning of Food that I looked through was kosher symbols. I though this was interesting because there are so many different symbols for something being kosher. I saw many that I didn’t know what they were at all and some that I had seen on labels before but didn’t know that meant it was kosher. It was cool to see that even throughout the states there is so many different symbols for kosher food.
I thought the pbs meaning of food webiste was quite interesting. I really enjoyed reading the article about comfort foods. All the different chefs had very different means. It ranged form meat balls, chicken, pasta, burgers... and many others. Then I began to think what my favorite comfort food was and it was for either a thanksgiving or christmas meal. All the food is so fulling and delicious. Plus, you are surrounded by the people you love and feel comfortable with.
ReplyDeleteI also really enjoyed the article on chop suey, I thought it was really cool. I never knew what it was and how the restaurant even started! All the pictures were quite interesting too :)
After reading Kevin Patterson's article I was really shocked, I never knew about different culture or the type two diabetes. It is crazy to think a different cultures diet can have such an impact and effect on ones body!
I can totally believe that are diets as americans aren't very healthy. Its sad that we don't know that we need to eat better. We have all the technology and research to know what we need to maintain a healthy diet. I found it interesting that he could tell by operating on his different patients. It grosses me out to think of what he may find if he were to operate on me. I went to the website and read through the Edible school yard part. This idea is way cool! Why wasn't this around when i was in school? Its important to teach the new generation of kids how to eat right seeing as they are growing up in a fast food based world. They are growing up with the values faster is better. A lot of people know how to cook basic things like noodles. There isn't any vegetables with that, so its cool that they are teaching kids the importance of eating right, because when i was younger i don't think they really focused on that and it was never REALLY ingrained in my head.
ReplyDeleteI really thought that the PBS meaning of food website was very interactive and very interesting. I particularly liked the Food and Literature section. I really liked that this section showed the people eating the food had a positive outlook. By showing that having food play such a large role in one’s life can have positive and negative effects on a person’s life.
ReplyDeleteAnother part of the website I looked at was in the Food and Life section. I took the quiz on Food for Thought. I learned about pork, salt, oranges, and oregano. To my surprise, I got four out of four questions correct.
After reading Kevin Patterson’s article I was really shocked to see the amount of diabetes that has risen in the past few years. Seeing the growth of diabetes is due to poor eating habits in poor people it really discouraged me. After seeing diabetes in some my close friends from church people need to get on a healthier path so they can change their life to a healthier one.
Its sad that a disease like diabetes is spreading even to the remote areas. It use to be that these areas, the people that lived their would have to hunt and gather their own food. But now that cheap processed food can be shipped in, the people in these remote areas now feel they no longer need to go out in the wild and hunt for their food. With the lack of activity and the fating processed food. It seems that we might be unable to stop the spread of diabetes.
ReplyDeleteThe edible schoolyard was food to read through, but I like the Gonna eat that? under the food and culture tab.It was really cool to see some of the dishes from around the world. I could eat most of them, there were a couple that I wouldn't be able to handle. Like the one where the have a duck egg and let grow to the point where it is almost ready to hatch. Then they hard boil it like normal egg, then eat the baby duckling.
I chose to dive into "Picky Pooches" under Food & Family and also "Gonna Eat That?!" under Food and Culture further on the "Meaning of Food" website.
ReplyDeleteI chose the "Picky Pooches" as my family and I are dog lovers! It is so true....there are numerous food brands and treats available for pets today. Animals are really becoming more and more part of the family. We have a 3 year old Border Collie/Chocolate Lab mix that is an "inside" dog. She is always around us and even if we aren't playing with her or focusing on her she simply loves to be near us. She is given "people food" occasionally, but she also has her own shelf in the pantry of just her treats! It's kind of different to actually think about it, I've always known where her treats are, but I never fully thought that she has a shelf to herself in the pantry where our food, as the owners, are actually kept! My relatives always talk of how animals were outside all the time and RARELY if the weather was HORRIBLE enough the dogs were allowed to sleep on the rug at the front door...well looking at my relatives now, I'm pretty sure they've all softened up a bit! I have one relative whose dog is trained to use a litter box!!! That's a bit much! But as I sit here, I am enjoying a couple frosted animal crackers and thinking they could really be dog treats! I was in a large Pet Store the other day and walked down the "candy" aisle for dogs...some of those treats looked pretty close to my animal crackers!!
Secondly, I chose "Gonna Eat That?!" being that it sounds so much like our class. I read through some of the commonly cherished foods of other countries and cultures, and truthfully, I cringed at the majority of them! There was a poll at the end that I took as to which of the previously mentioned food would I choose to eat if I was stranded on an island, I selected "Fu-fu" a smashed yam dish--42% of others did as well. I chose Fu-fu as it was the closest thing to an American dish, I just couldn't fully comprehend what the taste, smell, and texture of the other dishes would be like. In this process I was reminded that what we consider good here is disgusting to others over there. I liked the food rule one individual posted: "Don't Yuck someone else's Yum!" I thought it was creative and also allowed others to keep an open mind to trying new dishes as well as respect others' cultural traditions in food.
The article done on Kevin Patterson really fit the purpose of our class I thought. When he spoke of the inexpensiveness to produce, ship, and sell unhealthy, over-processed, crappy food all across the globe, it sounded familiar as it was a key topic in our class. I found it sad that people were losing their cultural traditions of food due to the price they would have to pay to receive them. He said it was less expensive for the Inuit to eat KFC than for them to enjoy the real food of their culture. This problem is allowing for culture to slip through our hands, because as the generations continue they are becoming more and more acquainted with the processed food of society today rather than what contributed to the rich history of their culture...they're simply not experiencing it all the way they should be!
It is so amazing that there can be a complete shift in a culture health when it adapts the processed western diet. The fact that the food that most Americans eat regularly can increase the chance of diabetes and obesity makes me never want to drink Mountain Dew again (although I still will). The lone about all of our organs being encompassed in fat made me feel disgusting and you better believe you will see me in the wellness center later today!
ReplyDeleteI also read the article about comfort food. I agree completely with Marcus, the type of comfort food that I enjoy is completely related on the climate and the occasion. In the summer time I would love anything grilled and I would wash it down with iced tea. In the winter I want the warm fried food with a mountain of mashed potatoes. I feel like my two responses work against each other. I find the western diet so disgusting yet when i want comfort food I go right to it!