The obesity rate in America has risen for the past few years. The leading cause of this is because most do not watch they eat. People don’t recognize what foods are necessarily healthy and what type of foods are unhealthy. Also, when people eat their foods, they don’t really pay attention to the taste of it or how it actually got to the table. It’s almost like the video we watched in our class “Our Daily Bread” when the woman who was cutting up the pig had no relationship with it. She was just doing her job, chewing gum and not feeling any disgust while cutting up the different organs of the pig.
I was always told that vegetables are very healthy for you, in which everybody should have at least 2 and a half servings of it every day. I was told that people should cut down more on eating meat to eating none at all and more on vegetables. A person who practices vegans abstains from the consumption or use of meat, fish, daily products, etc. These all come from a variety of different animals. “People become vegans for a variety of reasons, including ethical concerns for animal rights or the environment, as well as more personal reasons such as perceived health benefits and spiritual or religious concerns”( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegan). I believe that a person who undergoes the Vegan diet is in the border line of being healthy and not healthy. According to Bruce Friedrich, he says, “It also occurred to me that animals are made of the same stuff as humans—flesh and blood and that they suffer just as we do. I grew up in Minnesota and Oklahoma, and it always saddened me to see trucks loaded with turkeys, chickens, pigs, or cows driving through the bitter Minnesota winter or the sweltering, arid Oklahoma summer, taking the animals, through all weather extremes, to what I knew would be a gruesome death.” (http://www.goveg.com/veganism.asp). Many reasons why people become vegans are because they think that it is the only way to protect humans and the animals in this environment and/or for religious purposes. Many believe that sticking to vegetables is healthy because of the rich contents it has to offer for the body. They believe that meat is the ones that are making people sick. Bruce Friedrich supports this by saying, “They have absolutely no fiber or complex carbohydrates in them, and they are packed with saturated fat and cholesterol. In the short term, eating meat, dairy products, and eggs is likely to make a person fat and lethargic.” (http://www.goveg.com/veganism_health.asp). The accessibility for purchasing vegetables is very convenient and is everywhere, which makes it so easy to get. The majority of the vegetables that can be found are also very cheap. This essay will help to argue why the vegan diet is a good way to eat.
The vegan diet can be a very healthy diet in many ways. Vegans believe that eating vegetables is healthier than consuming meat which comes from different animals that are given different antibiotics and growth hormones. According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegan, it states that “"well-planned vegan and other types of vegetarian diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including during pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence." This proves that going on a vegan diet is very healthy for people who have health problems, children who are still growing and also, for pregnant ladies. People who undergo the vegan diet have a rare chance of getting heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure, etc. A lot of these health problems are due to a person’s diet. The leading cause of these health problems comes from the consumption of meat. Eating a lot of meat causes a persons arteries to clog. A person who abides by the vegan diet is known to have a mass decrease in their cholesterol compared to a meat- eater. Also, many vegetarians are most likely to be “one-third as likely to be obese as meat-eaters, and vegans are about one-tenth as likely to be obese. You can be a fat vegan, of course, and you can be a skinny meat-eater. But vegans are, on average, 10 to 20 percent lighter than meat-eaters” according to http://www.goveg.com/veganism_health.asp.
A person who is under the vegan diet has many different ways in purchasing their required foods. It’s accessible and can be very cheap. Vegetarian food is a bit new to the American lifestyle. It has not been around for such a long period of time. According to Bruce Friedrich, he explains how when he became a vegetarian, some foods didn’t taste so great. He explains how today, Silk-brand soy milk is in every grocery store in the country. (http://www.goveg.com/veganism_conclusion.asp). There are a lot of local supermarkets that sells organic products for a reasonable price also. Throughout the food course, when you see the word organic in a local Whole Foods Market, it isn’t what it seems to be. When vegans think about their moral part of being a vegan, why do they think that organic food is such a great thing? How do these organic foods really get to the supermarket? Easy to answer question. From a truck that delivers it from a place outside of New York City. This means there is some industrial side. Industrial, as in what Americans are living off of. The variety of foods that are bought in a supermarket is not locally grown. It also deals with fossil fuels, which is definetly not a good thing. A lot of the vegetarian food can come up to be a lot cheaper than buying meat all the time. Also, according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegan, it states that “a person switching from the typical American diet to a vegan diet would, on average, reduce CO2 production significantly more than switching to a hybrid vehicle. They go on to recommend a vegan diet for this reason, as well as the potentially adverse health effects of dietary animal fats and proteins.” This proves how going on a vegan diet is very helpful to our environment, which can also be a very helpful way to have mass production of more vegetables.
Vegans are generally against the violence and cruelty of animals. The meat that a lot of people consume comes from these animals that are being slaughtered. When it comes to the ethical reasons, vegans have a real big say. Vegans believe “that animals have the ability to feel pleasure so killing them is wrong, because it destroys any hope of future pleasure. He claims that it is therefore unethical to treat them as property or a means to an end.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegan). This quote is significant because it is saying that animals are just like humans. They all have the right to live and be treated as if they are human, because we do not really differ from them. It is wrong to kill animals because they are just like one of us. Vegans argue that animals do not deserve to be slaughtered. They have emotions just like humans and are made up of flesh and blood. Therefore, they don’t deserve to be treated the way they do to satisfy a human. Vegans also think about the availability of water. “According to the National Audubon Society, raising animals for food requires about as much water as all other water uses combined, even as many areas are experiencing drought conditions. It requires about 300 gallons of water to feed a vegan for a day. It requires about four times as much to feed a vegetarian, and 14 times as much to feed a meat-eater. Of course, if you have to feed animals, you have to irrigate the crops that you’re feeding them. You have to give them water. The systems that keep animals today use water to hose down both the factory farm and the slaughterhouse. It’s a water-intensive operation,” according to http://www.goveg.com/veganism_environment.asp. Those who work in the factories where animals are being slaughtered has to be one of the most dirty and most cruel jobs ever. They watch the animals have every part of their body ripped apart while they are doing their job. To get a clear vision of what the working issues are like, http://www.goveg.com/veganism_welfare.asp clearly states, “their throats are slit, their limbs hacked off, and their skin torn from their bodies, while they are still conscious. Pigs routinely go into the scalding hot water for hair removal still conscious. Chickens are scalded alive in the feather removal tank.” Any vegan would say that people who eat meat is un-ethical because they don’t think of the procedure it takes to have the meat end up in their local supermarket. They don’t realize the sufferings they go through.
After researching and comprehending the vegan diet, I agree with most of their concepts they follow. I agree that eating a lot of meat will lead to a lot of health problems. And I also agree on their position on the slaughter of these animals. For the most part, I believe that being on the vegan diet is healthy. I still believe that people should still eat meat, but it should be organic. Because if you were to be in a very strict vegan diet, that wouldn’t be considered as being “healthy” because you still are missing out on a lot of nutrients that are needed in the body which comes from animals. You could also take it from vitamins, but I don’t think that would be such a great source of getting the nutrient in your system. Animals are treated very differently when they are sold as organic. Meat carries a variety of different nutritional needs in a human. The sources that I addressed were very accurate and reliable. I can say this because they referenced a lot of surveys and actual experiences. It is important to know what’s good for people to eat because diet is a major cause of the high death rate around the world. A person’s health mainly depends on what they are consuming. Therefore, food plays a very important role in the body.
Saturday, June 2, 2007
IFS PAPER REVISED
Industrial Food Paper
“Can I take your order?” The woman behind the register asked. “Sure can I get a number 2?” I answered. “Would you like the large size?” she questioned. “No, I will be okay. I will take the medium size.” I replied. “And can I get an application aside from that please?” I continued. In order to understand The Industrial Food System (IFS), I had to have my own experience. After I received my order, I went to go sit down. I was expecting the wrapped present to be a surprising gift. It turned out to be that it was not Christmas and the so- called present was what I least expected it to be. Why is it that in the commercials, they make all their burgers look so delicious?
I decided not to take a risk in eating the burger, but I did consume the French fries. It was like going to a perfume store. I couldn’t resist its smell. While eating the French fries, I filled out the McDonald’s application. “Hi, can I please see the manager?” I asked. The woman that was pouring the soda from the fountain paused and went towards the back to call the manager. “Hi, my name is Paulie and I am interested in working with this industry. I filled out an application for you.” I handed the manager my application that seemed perfect to me. “Okay thank you Paulie. As of right now, I do not have time to go over it with you. Although I wish I could, but the restaurant is really busy as of right now. Would it be okay if I just give you a call?” He questioned. “Not a problem.” I shook his hand, smiled and walked away. But that’s enough with my experience.
I have learned a lot that I never realized when I was younger. I used to always look forward to eating McDonalds. The main one that I would like to share is how the person behind the register would always ask the person the same question after taking an order, “Would you like the large meal?” So, what does this tell us about the Fast Food industry and the Industrial Food System? The organization hires people to get them to ask customers if they would like to order more of their “unhealthy food” for a litte bit of more money. To get a deeper sense of what the IFS really is, I would like to say that it is what the majority of the American population is eating today. If you walk around any places in the United States or even drive around, you will always see a fast food restaurant along the way. Questions that don’t seem to come off a consumer’s mind while eating this fast food or even shopping at a supermarket is, how do we get our food and where does it actually come from?
The Industrial Food System is based upon machinery, in which the animals have no connection with the people. Looking back to what Martin Heidegger thinks about our food system today, he claims that “Agriculture is now a motorized food industry, the same thing in its essence as the production of corpses in the gas chambers and the extermination camps, the same thing as blockades and the reduction of countries to famine, the same thing as the manufacture of hydrogen bombs.” My interpretation on this quote was that the way we produce our food today is almost like a natural disaster. When he states “the same thing in its essence as the production…,” my understanding of his word choice of essence is to dwell or to originate. Our way of producing food is causing mass damage to other living things on Earth and to the planet itself. This is why he makes the analogies to many destructive objects, such as the last statement, “manufacture of hydrogen bombs.” After learning more about what the mass production of food does or industrialization itself, I think about “Peak Oil” and how it is really destroying the planet and our lives. Living off industrial life will eventually wipe off a lot of people in the planet. When prices proliferate and the production of food is not the same and if there is no more oil to be found, we can basically interpret that the world is over. According to the Fast Food Nation movie, “machines are taking over this country. When it comes to fast food, profit matters more.” Referring back to Heidegger’s quote, agriculture has changed drastically. Since machines can do its job very easily and quicker, the more profit can be made. And because of the machines, a lot of damage is occurring.
So how does this industrial food system actually work? It all starts from the feedlot. According to Michael Pollan’s, Omnivore’s Dilemma, “The first stage in the production of a hamburger is known as a “cow-calf” operation. This is the stage that least changed the modern industrialization of meat. It takes ten acres per head at a minimum to produce a calf ready for the feedlot.” (Page 68-69) Reading this made me get a clearer insight into Heidegger’s quote. It takes a lot of land to produce a calf that is just about ready to get slaughtered. It was also confirmed from ecologist that the most serious environmental harm today is associated with the cattle industry, which takes place in the feedlot. The animals are brought and herded into a pen where there is minimum space to move around. They stay under this living condition until they are brought into a factory. This is almost like the first day in kindergarten. The children are all together in one place and they are taught many different rules inside the classroom and outside the classroom. They become accustomed to the rules after it being taught to them. So what exactly is a feedlot? According to Michael Pollan, he describes it as “very much like a premodern city, however, teeming and filthy and stinking, with open sewers, unpaved roads, and choking air rendered visible by dust.” (Page 72) This type of environment is really uncomfortable and you can just imagine it to be a very big disaster. But this is the where all of the fast food originates from. And referring back to Heidegger’s quote, the production of food today is similar to the dwelling of blockades and the reduction of countries to famine. Both act as a weapon of mass destruction. As we speak about mass destruction, on page 81, “the speed at which these animals are being slaughtered and processed is at a rate of four hundred an hour at the plant.” If you create a picture in your mind of this occurring in a factory, everything is in a fast pace. Hundreds of animals are being slaughtered in a short amount of time period, which is a health hazard because their can be a lot of different bacteria left on the meat that would not be visible in the human’s eye.
The IFS is the primary source of U.S. nutrition because technology has taken over. With all the machines that are being created, a lot more food is being produced and is being sold at a cheaper price. There are a lot of different problems inherent in the IFS. The majority of deaths in the United States are due to the people’s diets. Eating a lot of meat can lead to heart problems. Consuming a mass amount of meat can clog your arteries, causing damage to the heart. (www.goveg.com) Also, many people who consume fast food on a regular day basis are becoming obese.
Aside from health problems, the Industrial Food System is also causing environmental issues, such as pollution. It’s almost like driving a huge SUV every day of the week. It all starts from growing a large amount of food for the animals, delivering it to the feedlots where the animals are being held, feed it to the animals, truck the animals to the facilities where they will be slaughtered, truck the dead animals to other factories where they will “eventually” speculate the animals and package them and lastly, deliver them to the supermarkets or fast food restaurants. This is a step by step process in creating fossil fuels, leading up to the pollution in the air. Raising the animals also causes pollution in the water. The leftover excrements that the animals produce are put aside to the rivers, which cause a lot of the aquatic life to perish and to damage to the ecological system.
Cruelty in the animals is another problem. People do not realize how the animals are being mistreated. For example, in the Fast Food Nation movie, the cows were trapped in one place that is surrounded by a fence with not enough room to move around. The Teenagers that were against animal cruelty decided to let the animals gain their freedom. As they destroyed the fences, the cows were confused. They become so used to staying in this area where they have been living all their lives. They decide not to move. They actually seemed afraid to even step outside the fence. This is almost like the thinking of an American mind. The majority of the Americans who eat fast food are afraid to admit reality. They decide to run away from the fact that they themselves eat fast food, when they know that it is not good for their health. Being a part of the industrial food system is like pushing a ton of bricks. It almost seems impossible, but there is a way to work through it. The workers are a prime example of trying to push a ton of bricks. The working conditions almost seem as if it can’t be real. The workers pretend like the animals are non living things.
After watching the movies, Fast Food Nation and Our Daily Bread, it is obvious that the workers in the factories experience no connection between the animals they are cutting because they are just doing what they have to do, repetitively. They don’t show any emotions while they are slaughtering the animals.
The IFS is a big issue because it is the food that billions of Americans are consuming. This system can lead to many different issues; health being the most important factor. Diseases are often originated from the factories and carried on to the consumer, in which can never be visible. What this system tells us about our culture, lives and our situation is that we are unaware and careless about what we are actually consuming. We don’t have much education on what is in our foods. This system is strictly only about the profit. I find it disturbing how they get to even sell these types of food that are killing people very quickly. Different organizations sell their food for a cheap price and are also unhealthy. People fall into this trap because it’s either they are unaware on what is in their food, they don’t want to know what is in their food and how they get to their hands or it is probably what they can afford.
“Can I take your order?” The woman behind the register asked. “Sure can I get a number 2?” I answered. “Would you like the large size?” she questioned. “No, I will be okay. I will take the medium size.” I replied. “And can I get an application aside from that please?” I continued. In order to understand The Industrial Food System (IFS), I had to have my own experience. After I received my order, I went to go sit down. I was expecting the wrapped present to be a surprising gift. It turned out to be that it was not Christmas and the so- called present was what I least expected it to be. Why is it that in the commercials, they make all their burgers look so delicious?
I decided not to take a risk in eating the burger, but I did consume the French fries. It was like going to a perfume store. I couldn’t resist its smell. While eating the French fries, I filled out the McDonald’s application. “Hi, can I please see the manager?” I asked. The woman that was pouring the soda from the fountain paused and went towards the back to call the manager. “Hi, my name is Paulie and I am interested in working with this industry. I filled out an application for you.” I handed the manager my application that seemed perfect to me. “Okay thank you Paulie. As of right now, I do not have time to go over it with you. Although I wish I could, but the restaurant is really busy as of right now. Would it be okay if I just give you a call?” He questioned. “Not a problem.” I shook his hand, smiled and walked away. But that’s enough with my experience.
I have learned a lot that I never realized when I was younger. I used to always look forward to eating McDonalds. The main one that I would like to share is how the person behind the register would always ask the person the same question after taking an order, “Would you like the large meal?” So, what does this tell us about the Fast Food industry and the Industrial Food System? The organization hires people to get them to ask customers if they would like to order more of their “unhealthy food” for a litte bit of more money. To get a deeper sense of what the IFS really is, I would like to say that it is what the majority of the American population is eating today. If you walk around any places in the United States or even drive around, you will always see a fast food restaurant along the way. Questions that don’t seem to come off a consumer’s mind while eating this fast food or even shopping at a supermarket is, how do we get our food and where does it actually come from?
The Industrial Food System is based upon machinery, in which the animals have no connection with the people. Looking back to what Martin Heidegger thinks about our food system today, he claims that “Agriculture is now a motorized food industry, the same thing in its essence as the production of corpses in the gas chambers and the extermination camps, the same thing as blockades and the reduction of countries to famine, the same thing as the manufacture of hydrogen bombs.” My interpretation on this quote was that the way we produce our food today is almost like a natural disaster. When he states “the same thing in its essence as the production…,” my understanding of his word choice of essence is to dwell or to originate. Our way of producing food is causing mass damage to other living things on Earth and to the planet itself. This is why he makes the analogies to many destructive objects, such as the last statement, “manufacture of hydrogen bombs.” After learning more about what the mass production of food does or industrialization itself, I think about “Peak Oil” and how it is really destroying the planet and our lives. Living off industrial life will eventually wipe off a lot of people in the planet. When prices proliferate and the production of food is not the same and if there is no more oil to be found, we can basically interpret that the world is over. According to the Fast Food Nation movie, “machines are taking over this country. When it comes to fast food, profit matters more.” Referring back to Heidegger’s quote, agriculture has changed drastically. Since machines can do its job very easily and quicker, the more profit can be made. And because of the machines, a lot of damage is occurring.
So how does this industrial food system actually work? It all starts from the feedlot. According to Michael Pollan’s, Omnivore’s Dilemma, “The first stage in the production of a hamburger is known as a “cow-calf” operation. This is the stage that least changed the modern industrialization of meat. It takes ten acres per head at a minimum to produce a calf ready for the feedlot.” (Page 68-69) Reading this made me get a clearer insight into Heidegger’s quote. It takes a lot of land to produce a calf that is just about ready to get slaughtered. It was also confirmed from ecologist that the most serious environmental harm today is associated with the cattle industry, which takes place in the feedlot. The animals are brought and herded into a pen where there is minimum space to move around. They stay under this living condition until they are brought into a factory. This is almost like the first day in kindergarten. The children are all together in one place and they are taught many different rules inside the classroom and outside the classroom. They become accustomed to the rules after it being taught to them. So what exactly is a feedlot? According to Michael Pollan, he describes it as “very much like a premodern city, however, teeming and filthy and stinking, with open sewers, unpaved roads, and choking air rendered visible by dust.” (Page 72) This type of environment is really uncomfortable and you can just imagine it to be a very big disaster. But this is the where all of the fast food originates from. And referring back to Heidegger’s quote, the production of food today is similar to the dwelling of blockades and the reduction of countries to famine. Both act as a weapon of mass destruction. As we speak about mass destruction, on page 81, “the speed at which these animals are being slaughtered and processed is at a rate of four hundred an hour at the plant.” If you create a picture in your mind of this occurring in a factory, everything is in a fast pace. Hundreds of animals are being slaughtered in a short amount of time period, which is a health hazard because their can be a lot of different bacteria left on the meat that would not be visible in the human’s eye.
The IFS is the primary source of U.S. nutrition because technology has taken over. With all the machines that are being created, a lot more food is being produced and is being sold at a cheaper price. There are a lot of different problems inherent in the IFS. The majority of deaths in the United States are due to the people’s diets. Eating a lot of meat can lead to heart problems. Consuming a mass amount of meat can clog your arteries, causing damage to the heart. (www.goveg.com) Also, many people who consume fast food on a regular day basis are becoming obese.
Aside from health problems, the Industrial Food System is also causing environmental issues, such as pollution. It’s almost like driving a huge SUV every day of the week. It all starts from growing a large amount of food for the animals, delivering it to the feedlots where the animals are being held, feed it to the animals, truck the animals to the facilities where they will be slaughtered, truck the dead animals to other factories where they will “eventually” speculate the animals and package them and lastly, deliver them to the supermarkets or fast food restaurants. This is a step by step process in creating fossil fuels, leading up to the pollution in the air. Raising the animals also causes pollution in the water. The leftover excrements that the animals produce are put aside to the rivers, which cause a lot of the aquatic life to perish and to damage to the ecological system.
Cruelty in the animals is another problem. People do not realize how the animals are being mistreated. For example, in the Fast Food Nation movie, the cows were trapped in one place that is surrounded by a fence with not enough room to move around. The Teenagers that were against animal cruelty decided to let the animals gain their freedom. As they destroyed the fences, the cows were confused. They become so used to staying in this area where they have been living all their lives. They decide not to move. They actually seemed afraid to even step outside the fence. This is almost like the thinking of an American mind. The majority of the Americans who eat fast food are afraid to admit reality. They decide to run away from the fact that they themselves eat fast food, when they know that it is not good for their health. Being a part of the industrial food system is like pushing a ton of bricks. It almost seems impossible, but there is a way to work through it. The workers are a prime example of trying to push a ton of bricks. The working conditions almost seem as if it can’t be real. The workers pretend like the animals are non living things.
After watching the movies, Fast Food Nation and Our Daily Bread, it is obvious that the workers in the factories experience no connection between the animals they are cutting because they are just doing what they have to do, repetitively. They don’t show any emotions while they are slaughtering the animals.
The IFS is a big issue because it is the food that billions of Americans are consuming. This system can lead to many different issues; health being the most important factor. Diseases are often originated from the factories and carried on to the consumer, in which can never be visible. What this system tells us about our culture, lives and our situation is that we are unaware and careless about what we are actually consuming. We don’t have much education on what is in our foods. This system is strictly only about the profit. I find it disturbing how they get to even sell these types of food that are killing people very quickly. Different organizations sell their food for a cheap price and are also unhealthy. People fall into this trap because it’s either they are unaware on what is in their food, they don’t want to know what is in their food and how they get to their hands or it is probably what they can afford.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Response to Eating Fossil Fuels
Eating Fossil Fuels by Dale Allen Pfeiffer
Published on Thursday, October 2, 2003 by From The Wilderness Publications
This article introduced how our main source of food energy came from the sun and through photosynthesis. As the population proliferated and technology became more advanced, our source of food energy no longer derived from the sun. Factories and the whole industrial world became more common. What people didn't realize was that the sun is an abundant resource. As we began to depend on fossil fuels, the amount of energy the world is consuming is hundreds of times more than using the sun. Although oil will not run out, the cheap oil will and this will be a dilemma to the world because prices of food and the prices of a lot of other things that depend on oil will also sky rocket. While reading this article, i took note on a lot of things said. One of the main important ones that stood out to me the most was "The expanding human population is putting increasing pressure on land availability." According to this statement, it is significant because the rate that the population is increasing by is causing everything to change in the world. While people are complaining about what is happening, they don't understand that they are the same ones that are destroying the earth.
Another statement that is important to publicize is "To achieve a sustainable economy and avert disaster, the United States must reduce its population by at least one- third." The more people that are entering this world, the more production there has to be. And all productions require energy. Although in the article it says that one way to protect the earth is to eliminate meat from our diet altogether. I would have to disagree with this statement. I believe that people should just have less of it instead of eliminating it.
Published on Thursday, October 2, 2003 by From The Wilderness Publications
This article introduced how our main source of food energy came from the sun and through photosynthesis. As the population proliferated and technology became more advanced, our source of food energy no longer derived from the sun. Factories and the whole industrial world became more common. What people didn't realize was that the sun is an abundant resource. As we began to depend on fossil fuels, the amount of energy the world is consuming is hundreds of times more than using the sun. Although oil will not run out, the cheap oil will and this will be a dilemma to the world because prices of food and the prices of a lot of other things that depend on oil will also sky rocket. While reading this article, i took note on a lot of things said. One of the main important ones that stood out to me the most was "The expanding human population is putting increasing pressure on land availability." According to this statement, it is significant because the rate that the population is increasing by is causing everything to change in the world. While people are complaining about what is happening, they don't understand that they are the same ones that are destroying the earth.
Another statement that is important to publicize is "To achieve a sustainable economy and avert disaster, the United States must reduce its population by at least one- third." The more people that are entering this world, the more production there has to be. And all productions require energy. Although in the article it says that one way to protect the earth is to eliminate meat from our diet altogether. I would have to disagree with this statement. I believe that people should just have less of it instead of eliminating it.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Peak Oil Assignment
My understanding of peak oil is the moment of when the extraction of oil reaches its max point. After the peak, it flatens out and then begins to fall. What most people don't seem to understand when they hear peak oil is that oil never runs out. As it was stated in http://energybulletin.net/primer.php, it was clearly stated that peak oil is defined as "running out of 'cheap' oil." My concerns while studying peak oil was what can actually be done to prevent this decline. My only thoughts for this question was to decline the birth rate. The growth of the population is what is causing the value of oil to increase. If the percentile of the birth rate decreases, the value of oil will also decrease. The use of cars is also an effect. There should be mass transportation created in different places, so the use of cars can be limited.
Friday, March 30, 2007
More comments on other blogs
Simone,
I really enjoyed reading your essay! I felt like I was reading another version of Omnivore's Dilemma. Your introduction was very catchy. You break down all the information on how the IFS really works for the reader. I truly agreed with your interpretation of Heidegger's quote. it matched up with mine. Like, "In addition to being a production of animal death, the industrial food system is also responsible for the death, suffering and injury of the workers that work in the dangerous mechanical plants and the people eating the meat who are often sickened and killed by the food they eat." Great job!
I really enjoyed reading your essay! I felt like I was reading another version of Omnivore's Dilemma. Your introduction was very catchy. You break down all the information on how the IFS really works for the reader. I truly agreed with your interpretation of Heidegger's quote. it matched up with mine. Like, "In addition to being a production of animal death, the industrial food system is also responsible for the death, suffering and injury of the workers that work in the dangerous mechanical plants and the people eating the meat who are often sickened and killed by the food they eat." Great job!
MY comments on other blogs
Paulie Tuazon said...
Tim,
I enjoyed reading your paper. I liked the quotes you chose and you supported it very well. Your quotes had brought an insight to how the industrial food system really works. Although, you did answer all of the assigned questions for this assignment, I feel like it was not clear to me what your main argument was or your point of view. If you embedded this into the paper, than I aplogize!
March 30, 2007 8:24 AM
Tim,
I enjoyed reading your paper. I liked the quotes you chose and you supported it very well. Your quotes had brought an insight to how the industrial food system really works. Although, you did answer all of the assigned questions for this assignment, I feel like it was not clear to me what your main argument was or your point of view. If you embedded this into the paper, than I aplogize!
March 30, 2007 8:24 AM
Thursday, March 29, 2007
My Industrial Food System Paper
Industrial Food Paper
“Can I take your order?” The woman behind the register asked. “Sure can I get a number 2?” I answered. “Would you like the large size?” she questioned. “No, I will be okay. I will take the medium size.” I replied. “And can I get an application aside from that please?” I continued. In order to understand The Industrial Food System (IFS), I had to have my own experience. After I received my order, I went to go sit down. I was expecting the wrapped present to be a surprising gift. It turned out to be that it was not Christmas and the so- called present was what I least expected it to be. Why is it that in the commercials, they make all their burgers look so delicious?
I decided not to take a risk in eating the burger, but I did consume the French fries. It was like going to a perfume store. I couldn’t resist its’ smell. While eating the French fries, I filled out the McDonald’s application. “Hi, can I please see the manager?” I asked. The woman that was pouring the soda from the fountain paused and went towards the back to call the manager. “Hi, my name is Paulie and I am interested in working with this industry. I filled out an application for you.” I handed the manager my application that seemed perfect to me. “Okay thank you Paulie. As of right now, I do not have time to go over it with you. Although I wish I could, but the restaurant is really busy as of right now. Would it be okay if I just give you a call?” He questioned. “Not a problem.” I shook his hand, smiled and walked away. But that’s enough with my experience.
I have learned a lot that I never realized when I was at a younger age. I was always looking forward to eating McDonalds. The main one that I would like to share is how the person behind the register would always ask the person the same question after taking an order, “Would you like the large meal?” So, what does this tell us about the Fast Food industry and the Industrial Food System? To get a deeper sense of what the IFS really is, I would like to say that it is what the majority of the American population is eating today. If you walk around any places in the United States or even drive around, you will always see a fast food restaurant along the way. Questions that don’t seem to come off a consumer’s mind while eating this fast food or even shopping at a supermarket is, how do we get our food and where does it actually come from?
The Industrial Food System is based upon machinery, in which the animals have no connection with the people. Looking back to what Martin Heidegger thinks about our food system today, he claims that “Agriculture is now a motorized food industry, the same thing in its essence as the production of corpses in the gas chambers and the extermination camps, the same thing as blockades and the reduction of countries to famine, the same thing as the manufacture of hydrogen bombs.” My interpretation on this quote was that the way we produce our food today is almost like a natural disaster. When he states “the same thing in its essence as the production…,” my understanding of his word choice of essence is to dwell or to originate. Our way of producing food is causing mass damage to other living things on Earth and to the planet itself. This is why he makes the analogies to many destructive objects, such as the last statement, “manufacture of hydrogen bombs.” According to the Fast Food Nation movie, “machines are taking over this country. When it comes to fast food, profit matters more.” Referring back to Heidegger’s quote, agriculture has changed drastically. Since machines can do its job very easily and quicker, the more profit can be made. And because of the machines, a lot of damage is occurring.
So how does this industrial food system actually work? It all starts from the feedlot. According to Michael Pollan’s, Omnivore’s Dilemma, “The first stage in the production of a hamburger is known as a “cow-calf” operation. This is the stage that least changed the modern industrialization of meat. It takes ten acres per head at a minimum to produce a calf ready for the feedlot.” (Page 68-69) Reading this made me get a clearer insight into Heidegger’s quote. It takes a lot of land to produce a calf that is just about ready to get slaughtered. It was also confirmed from ecologist that the most serious environmental harm today is associated with the cattle industry, which takes place in the feedlot. The animals are brought and herded into a pen where there is minimum space to move around. They stay under this living condition until they are brought into a factory. This is almost like the first day in kindergarten. The children are all together in one place and they are taught many different rules inside the classroom and outside the classroom. They become accustomed to the rules after it being taught to them. So what exactly is a feedlot? According to Michael Pollan, he describes it as “very much like a premodern city, however, teeming and filthy and stinking, with open sewers, unpaved roads, and choking air rendered visible by dust.” (Page 72) This type of environment is really uncomfortable and you can just imagine it to be a very big disaster. But this is the where all of the fast food originates from. And referring back to Heidegger’s quote, the production of food today is similar to the dwelling of blockades and the reduction of countries to famine. Both act as a weapon of mass destruction. As we speak about mass destruction, on page 81, “the speed at which these animals are being slaughtered and processed is at a rate of four hundred an hour at the plant.” If you create a picture in your mind of this occurring in a factory, everything is in a fast pace. Hundreds of animals are being slaughtered in a short amount of time period, which is a health hazard because their can be a lot of different bacteria left on the meat that would not be visible in the human’s eye.
The IFS is the primary source of U.S. nutrition because technology has taken over. With all the machines that are being created, a lot more food is being produced and is being sold at a cheaper price. There are a lot of different problems inherent in the IFS. The majority of deaths in the United States are due to the people’s diets. Eating a lot of meat can lead to heart problems. Consuming a mass amount of meat can clog your arteries, causing damage to the heart. (www.goveg.com) Also, many people who consume fast food on a regular day basis are becoming obese.
Aside from health problems, the Industrial Food System is also causing environmental issues, such as pollution. It’s almost like driving a huge SUV every day of the week. It all starts from growing a large amount of food for the animals, delivering it to the feedlots where the animals are being held, feed it to the animals, truck the animals to the facilities where they will be slaughtered, truck the dead animals to other factories where they will “eventually” speculate the animals and package them and lastly, deliver them to the supermarkets or fast food restaurants. This is a step by step process in creating fossil fuels, leading up to the pollution in the air. Raising the animals also causes pollution in the water. The leftover excrements that the animals produce are put aside to the rivers, which cause a lot of the aquatic life to perish and to damage to the ecological system.
Cruelty in the animals is another problem. People do not realize how the animals are being mistreated. For example, in the Fast Food Nation movie, the cows were trapped in one place that is surrounded by a fence with not enough room to move around. The Teenagers that were against animal cruelty decided to let the animals gain their freedom. As they destroyed the fences, the cows were confused. They become so used to staying in this area where they have been living all their lives. They decide not to move. They actually seemed afraid to even step outside the fence. This is almost like the thinking of an American mind. The majority of the Americans who eat fast food are afraid to admit reality. They decide to run away from the fact that they themselves eat fast food, when they know that it is not good for their health. Being a part of the industrial food system is like pushing a ton of bricks. It almost seems impossible, but there is a way to work through it. The workers are a prime example of trying to push a ton of bricks. The working conditions almost seem as if it can’t be real. The workers pretend like the animals are non living things.
After watching the movies, Fast Food Nation and Our Daily Bread, it is obvious that the workers in the factories experience no connection between the animals they are cutting because they are just doing what they have to do, repetitively. They don’t show any emotions while they are slaughtering the animals.
The IFS is a big issue because it is the food that billions of Americans are consuming. This system can lead to many different issues; health being the most important factor. Diseases are often originated from the factories and carried on to the consumer, in which can never be visible. What this system tells us about our culture, lives and our situation is that we are unaware and careless about what we are actually consuming. We don’t have much education on what is in our foods. I feel like this system is also telling us that everything is about the profit. Different organizations sell their food for a cheap price and are also unhealthy. People fall into this trap because it is what they can afford.
“Can I take your order?” The woman behind the register asked. “Sure can I get a number 2?” I answered. “Would you like the large size?” she questioned. “No, I will be okay. I will take the medium size.” I replied. “And can I get an application aside from that please?” I continued. In order to understand The Industrial Food System (IFS), I had to have my own experience. After I received my order, I went to go sit down. I was expecting the wrapped present to be a surprising gift. It turned out to be that it was not Christmas and the so- called present was what I least expected it to be. Why is it that in the commercials, they make all their burgers look so delicious?
I decided not to take a risk in eating the burger, but I did consume the French fries. It was like going to a perfume store. I couldn’t resist its’ smell. While eating the French fries, I filled out the McDonald’s application. “Hi, can I please see the manager?” I asked. The woman that was pouring the soda from the fountain paused and went towards the back to call the manager. “Hi, my name is Paulie and I am interested in working with this industry. I filled out an application for you.” I handed the manager my application that seemed perfect to me. “Okay thank you Paulie. As of right now, I do not have time to go over it with you. Although I wish I could, but the restaurant is really busy as of right now. Would it be okay if I just give you a call?” He questioned. “Not a problem.” I shook his hand, smiled and walked away. But that’s enough with my experience.
I have learned a lot that I never realized when I was at a younger age. I was always looking forward to eating McDonalds. The main one that I would like to share is how the person behind the register would always ask the person the same question after taking an order, “Would you like the large meal?” So, what does this tell us about the Fast Food industry and the Industrial Food System? To get a deeper sense of what the IFS really is, I would like to say that it is what the majority of the American population is eating today. If you walk around any places in the United States or even drive around, you will always see a fast food restaurant along the way. Questions that don’t seem to come off a consumer’s mind while eating this fast food or even shopping at a supermarket is, how do we get our food and where does it actually come from?
The Industrial Food System is based upon machinery, in which the animals have no connection with the people. Looking back to what Martin Heidegger thinks about our food system today, he claims that “Agriculture is now a motorized food industry, the same thing in its essence as the production of corpses in the gas chambers and the extermination camps, the same thing as blockades and the reduction of countries to famine, the same thing as the manufacture of hydrogen bombs.” My interpretation on this quote was that the way we produce our food today is almost like a natural disaster. When he states “the same thing in its essence as the production…,” my understanding of his word choice of essence is to dwell or to originate. Our way of producing food is causing mass damage to other living things on Earth and to the planet itself. This is why he makes the analogies to many destructive objects, such as the last statement, “manufacture of hydrogen bombs.” According to the Fast Food Nation movie, “machines are taking over this country. When it comes to fast food, profit matters more.” Referring back to Heidegger’s quote, agriculture has changed drastically. Since machines can do its job very easily and quicker, the more profit can be made. And because of the machines, a lot of damage is occurring.
So how does this industrial food system actually work? It all starts from the feedlot. According to Michael Pollan’s, Omnivore’s Dilemma, “The first stage in the production of a hamburger is known as a “cow-calf” operation. This is the stage that least changed the modern industrialization of meat. It takes ten acres per head at a minimum to produce a calf ready for the feedlot.” (Page 68-69) Reading this made me get a clearer insight into Heidegger’s quote. It takes a lot of land to produce a calf that is just about ready to get slaughtered. It was also confirmed from ecologist that the most serious environmental harm today is associated with the cattle industry, which takes place in the feedlot. The animals are brought and herded into a pen where there is minimum space to move around. They stay under this living condition until they are brought into a factory. This is almost like the first day in kindergarten. The children are all together in one place and they are taught many different rules inside the classroom and outside the classroom. They become accustomed to the rules after it being taught to them. So what exactly is a feedlot? According to Michael Pollan, he describes it as “very much like a premodern city, however, teeming and filthy and stinking, with open sewers, unpaved roads, and choking air rendered visible by dust.” (Page 72) This type of environment is really uncomfortable and you can just imagine it to be a very big disaster. But this is the where all of the fast food originates from. And referring back to Heidegger’s quote, the production of food today is similar to the dwelling of blockades and the reduction of countries to famine. Both act as a weapon of mass destruction. As we speak about mass destruction, on page 81, “the speed at which these animals are being slaughtered and processed is at a rate of four hundred an hour at the plant.” If you create a picture in your mind of this occurring in a factory, everything is in a fast pace. Hundreds of animals are being slaughtered in a short amount of time period, which is a health hazard because their can be a lot of different bacteria left on the meat that would not be visible in the human’s eye.
The IFS is the primary source of U.S. nutrition because technology has taken over. With all the machines that are being created, a lot more food is being produced and is being sold at a cheaper price. There are a lot of different problems inherent in the IFS. The majority of deaths in the United States are due to the people’s diets. Eating a lot of meat can lead to heart problems. Consuming a mass amount of meat can clog your arteries, causing damage to the heart. (www.goveg.com) Also, many people who consume fast food on a regular day basis are becoming obese.
Aside from health problems, the Industrial Food System is also causing environmental issues, such as pollution. It’s almost like driving a huge SUV every day of the week. It all starts from growing a large amount of food for the animals, delivering it to the feedlots where the animals are being held, feed it to the animals, truck the animals to the facilities where they will be slaughtered, truck the dead animals to other factories where they will “eventually” speculate the animals and package them and lastly, deliver them to the supermarkets or fast food restaurants. This is a step by step process in creating fossil fuels, leading up to the pollution in the air. Raising the animals also causes pollution in the water. The leftover excrements that the animals produce are put aside to the rivers, which cause a lot of the aquatic life to perish and to damage to the ecological system.
Cruelty in the animals is another problem. People do not realize how the animals are being mistreated. For example, in the Fast Food Nation movie, the cows were trapped in one place that is surrounded by a fence with not enough room to move around. The Teenagers that were against animal cruelty decided to let the animals gain their freedom. As they destroyed the fences, the cows were confused. They become so used to staying in this area where they have been living all their lives. They decide not to move. They actually seemed afraid to even step outside the fence. This is almost like the thinking of an American mind. The majority of the Americans who eat fast food are afraid to admit reality. They decide to run away from the fact that they themselves eat fast food, when they know that it is not good for their health. Being a part of the industrial food system is like pushing a ton of bricks. It almost seems impossible, but there is a way to work through it. The workers are a prime example of trying to push a ton of bricks. The working conditions almost seem as if it can’t be real. The workers pretend like the animals are non living things.
After watching the movies, Fast Food Nation and Our Daily Bread, it is obvious that the workers in the factories experience no connection between the animals they are cutting because they are just doing what they have to do, repetitively. They don’t show any emotions while they are slaughtering the animals.
The IFS is a big issue because it is the food that billions of Americans are consuming. This system can lead to many different issues; health being the most important factor. Diseases are often originated from the factories and carried on to the consumer, in which can never be visible. What this system tells us about our culture, lives and our situation is that we are unaware and careless about what we are actually consuming. We don’t have much education on what is in our foods. I feel like this system is also telling us that everything is about the profit. Different organizations sell their food for a cheap price and are also unhealthy. People fall into this trap because it is what they can afford.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
My Fast Food Experience
Over the weekend, my family decided to have dinner in The New York Burger and CO. place. I went inside the restaurant with them and I took a look at the meat and how they served their food. I've noticed that the meat was at least triple the size of a regular hamburger you can find in McDonald's or something. I thought to myself about how much antibiotics and steroids do they give this animal that they are now serving in this animal? It seems to me as if the consumer wouldn't be able to fit everything in one bite. I thought about how the meat actually got to this place and I decided not to eat anything from this place. I watched others in the restaurant and it seemed like everybody that was finished with their meal was fully stuffed. I walked out of the restaurant, disgusted.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
What's Good For People to Eat? Rough Draft
Most American’s have become obese the past couple of years. The leading cause of this is because most do not watch they eat. People don’t recognize what foods are necessarily healthy and what type of foods are unhealthy. I was always told that vegetables are very healthy for you, in which everybody should have at least servings of it every day. I was told that people should cut down more on eating meat to eating none at all and more on vegetables. A person who practices vegans abstains from the consumption or use of meat, fish, daily products, etc. These all come from a variety of different animals. “People become vegans for a variety of reasons, including ethical concerns for animal rights or the environment, as well as more personal reasons such as perceived health benefits and spiritual or religious concerns”( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegan). I believe that a person who undergoes the Vegan diet is in the border line of being healthy and not healthy. According to Bruce Friedrich, he says, “It also occurred to me that animals are made of the same stuff as humans—flesh and blood and that they suffer just as we do. I grew up in Minnesota and Oklahoma, and it always saddened me to see trucks loaded with turkeys, chickens, pigs, or cows driving through the bitter Minnesota winter or the sweltering, arid Oklahoma summer, taking the animals, through all weather extremes, to what I knew would be a gruesome death.” (http://www.goveg.com/veganism.asp). Many reasons why people become vegans are because they think that it is the only way to protect humans and the animals in this environment and/or for religious purposes. Many believe that sticking to vegetables is healthy because of the rich contents it has to offer for the body. They believe that meat is the ones that are making people sick. Bruce Friedrich supports this by saying, “They have absolutely no fiber or complex carbohydrates in them, and they are packed with saturated fat and cholesterol. In the short term, eating meat, dairy products, and eggs is likely to make a person fat and lethargic.” (http://www.goveg.com/veganism_health.asp). The accessibility for purchasing vegetables is very convenient and is everywhere, which makes it so easy to get. The majority of the vegetables that can be found are also very cheap. This essay will help to argue why the vegan diet is a good way to eat.
The vegan diet can be a very healthy diet in many ways. Vegans believe that eating vegetables is healthier than consuming meat which comes from different animals that are given different antibiotics and growth hormones. According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegan, it states that “"well-planned vegan and other types of vegetarian diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including during pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence." This proves that going on a vegan diet is very healthy for people who have health problems, children who are still growing and also, for pregnant ladies. People who undergo the vegan diet have a rare chance of getting heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure, etc. A lot of these health problems are due to a person’s diet. The leading cause of these health problems comes from the consumption of meat. Eating a lot of meat causes a persons arteries to clog. A person who abides by the vegan diet is known to have a mass decrease in their cholesterol compared to a meat- eater. Also, many vegetarians are most likely to be “one-third as likely to be obese as meat-eaters, and vegans are about one-tenth as likely to be obese. You can be a fat vegan, of course, and you can be a skinny meat-eater. But vegans are, on average, 10 to 20 percent lighter than meat-eaters” according to http://www.goveg.com/veganism_health.asp.
A person who is under the vegan diet has many different ways in purchasing their required foods. It’s accessible and can be very cheap. Vegetarian food is a bit new to the American lifestyle. It has not been around for such a long period of time. According to Bruce Friedrich, he explains how when he became a vegetarian, some foods didn’t taste so great. He explains how today, Silk-brand soy milk is in every grocery store in the country. (http://www.goveg.com/veganism_conclusion.asp). There are a lot of local supermarkets that sells organic products for a reasonable price also. A lot of the vegetarian food can come up to be a lot cheaper than buying meat all the time. Also, according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegan, it states that “a person switching from the typical American diet to a vegan diet would, on average, reduce CO2 production significantly more than switching to a hybrid vehicle. They go on to recommend a vegan diet for this reason, as well as the potentially adverse health effects of dietary animal fats and proteins.” This proves how going on a vegan diet is very helpful to our environment, which can also be a very helpful way to have mass production of more vegetables.
Vegans are generally against the violence and cruelty of animals. The meat that a lot of people consume comes from these animals that are being slaughtered. When it comes to the ethical reasons, vegans have a real big say. Vegans believe “that animals have the ability to feel pleasure so killing them is wrong, because it destroys any hope of future pleasure. He claims that it is therefore unethical to treat them as property or a means to an end.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegan). This quote is significant because it is saying that animals are just like humans. They all have the right to live and be treated as if they are human, because we do not really differ from them. It is wrong to kill animals because they are just like one of us. Vegans argue that animals do not deserve to be slaughtered. They have emotions just like humans and are made up of flesh and blood. Therefore, they don’t deserve to be treated the way they do to satisfy a human. Vegans also think about the availability of water. “According to the National Audubon Society, raising animals for food requires about as much water as all other water uses combined, even as many areas are experiencing drought conditions. It requires about 300 gallons of water to feed a vegan for a day. It requires about four times as much to feed a vegetarian, and 14 times as much to feed a meat-eater. Of course, if you have to feed animals, you have to irrigate the crops that you’re feeding them. You have to give them water. The systems that keep animals today use water to hose down both the factory farm and the slaughterhouse. It’s a water-intensive operation,” according to http://www.goveg.com/veganism_environment.asp. Those who work in the factories where animals are being slaughtered has to be one of the most dirty and most cruel jobs ever. They watch the animals have every part of their body ripped apart while they are doing their job. To get a clear vision of what the working issues are like, http://www.goveg.com/veganism_welfare.asp clearly states, “their throats are slit, their limbs hacked off, and their skin torn from their bodies, while they are still conscious. Pigs routinely go into the scalding hot water for hair removal still conscious. Chickens are scalded alive in the feather removal tank.” Any vegan would say that people who eat meat is un-ethical because they don’t think of the procedure it takes to have the meat end up in their local supermarket. They don’t realize the sufferings they go through.
After researching and comprehending the vegan diet, I agree with most of their concepts they follow. I agree that eating a lot of meat will lead to a lot of health problems. And I also agree on their position on the slaughter of these animals. For the most part, I believe that being on the vegan diet is healthy. I still believe that people should still eat meat, but it should be organic. Animals are treated very differently when they are sold as organic. Meat carries a variety of different nutritional needs in a human. The sources that I addressed were very accurate and reliable. I can say this because they referenced a lot of surveys and actual experiences. It is important to know what’s good for people to eat because diet is a major cause of the high death rate around the world. A person’s health mainly depends on what they are consuming. Therefore, food plays a very important role in the body.
The vegan diet can be a very healthy diet in many ways. Vegans believe that eating vegetables is healthier than consuming meat which comes from different animals that are given different antibiotics and growth hormones. According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegan, it states that “"well-planned vegan and other types of vegetarian diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including during pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence." This proves that going on a vegan diet is very healthy for people who have health problems, children who are still growing and also, for pregnant ladies. People who undergo the vegan diet have a rare chance of getting heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure, etc. A lot of these health problems are due to a person’s diet. The leading cause of these health problems comes from the consumption of meat. Eating a lot of meat causes a persons arteries to clog. A person who abides by the vegan diet is known to have a mass decrease in their cholesterol compared to a meat- eater. Also, many vegetarians are most likely to be “one-third as likely to be obese as meat-eaters, and vegans are about one-tenth as likely to be obese. You can be a fat vegan, of course, and you can be a skinny meat-eater. But vegans are, on average, 10 to 20 percent lighter than meat-eaters” according to http://www.goveg.com/veganism_health.asp.
A person who is under the vegan diet has many different ways in purchasing their required foods. It’s accessible and can be very cheap. Vegetarian food is a bit new to the American lifestyle. It has not been around for such a long period of time. According to Bruce Friedrich, he explains how when he became a vegetarian, some foods didn’t taste so great. He explains how today, Silk-brand soy milk is in every grocery store in the country. (http://www.goveg.com/veganism_conclusion.asp). There are a lot of local supermarkets that sells organic products for a reasonable price also. A lot of the vegetarian food can come up to be a lot cheaper than buying meat all the time. Also, according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegan, it states that “a person switching from the typical American diet to a vegan diet would, on average, reduce CO2 production significantly more than switching to a hybrid vehicle. They go on to recommend a vegan diet for this reason, as well as the potentially adverse health effects of dietary animal fats and proteins.” This proves how going on a vegan diet is very helpful to our environment, which can also be a very helpful way to have mass production of more vegetables.
Vegans are generally against the violence and cruelty of animals. The meat that a lot of people consume comes from these animals that are being slaughtered. When it comes to the ethical reasons, vegans have a real big say. Vegans believe “that animals have the ability to feel pleasure so killing them is wrong, because it destroys any hope of future pleasure. He claims that it is therefore unethical to treat them as property or a means to an end.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegan). This quote is significant because it is saying that animals are just like humans. They all have the right to live and be treated as if they are human, because we do not really differ from them. It is wrong to kill animals because they are just like one of us. Vegans argue that animals do not deserve to be slaughtered. They have emotions just like humans and are made up of flesh and blood. Therefore, they don’t deserve to be treated the way they do to satisfy a human. Vegans also think about the availability of water. “According to the National Audubon Society, raising animals for food requires about as much water as all other water uses combined, even as many areas are experiencing drought conditions. It requires about 300 gallons of water to feed a vegan for a day. It requires about four times as much to feed a vegetarian, and 14 times as much to feed a meat-eater. Of course, if you have to feed animals, you have to irrigate the crops that you’re feeding them. You have to give them water. The systems that keep animals today use water to hose down both the factory farm and the slaughterhouse. It’s a water-intensive operation,” according to http://www.goveg.com/veganism_environment.asp. Those who work in the factories where animals are being slaughtered has to be one of the most dirty and most cruel jobs ever. They watch the animals have every part of their body ripped apart while they are doing their job. To get a clear vision of what the working issues are like, http://www.goveg.com/veganism_welfare.asp clearly states, “their throats are slit, their limbs hacked off, and their skin torn from their bodies, while they are still conscious. Pigs routinely go into the scalding hot water for hair removal still conscious. Chickens are scalded alive in the feather removal tank.” Any vegan would say that people who eat meat is un-ethical because they don’t think of the procedure it takes to have the meat end up in their local supermarket. They don’t realize the sufferings they go through.
After researching and comprehending the vegan diet, I agree with most of their concepts they follow. I agree that eating a lot of meat will lead to a lot of health problems. And I also agree on their position on the slaughter of these animals. For the most part, I believe that being on the vegan diet is healthy. I still believe that people should still eat meat, but it should be organic. Animals are treated very differently when they are sold as organic. Meat carries a variety of different nutritional needs in a human. The sources that I addressed were very accurate and reliable. I can say this because they referenced a lot of surveys and actual experiences. It is important to know what’s good for people to eat because diet is a major cause of the high death rate around the world. A person’s health mainly depends on what they are consuming. Therefore, food plays a very important role in the body.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
My supermarket experience
As I entered the supermarket, I first noticed the pre made sandwiches. I had to stop to take a look because I was just so hungry. I took a look at their cold cut sandwiches and observed that the prices ranged from $3. 95 to $5.95. I looked on the upper level and there were Panini sandwiches that cost from $5.95 to $7.95. After observing the sandwiches, I walked down the stairs and through the empty aisles of the supermarket. It was just so empty and clear that I felt like running through them myself. I went to the back of the supermarket and the carbohydrates aisle stood out the most to me. I feel like rice, pasta, etc. are the foods that I eat the most and study the most. I observed what kind of rice was on eye level and what type of rice were in the lower and upper level. I observed that the flavored rice such as Garlic and Herbs costs about $1.69. The red beans and rice costs $1.29. And although brown rice was on the eye level row, it was the furthest from the middle. It’s almost as if it was hidden. The retail price for the brown rice was 95 cents. At this moment, I was thinking to myself, Isn’t brown rice the healthiest type of rice to eat? If so, why do they put this type all the way in the end of the row where nobody can see? And if the brown rice was the cheapest of them all and considered as the healthiest, why are a lot of the consumers choosing the other types of rice? While I was observing the rice section, I also noted that the rice that was packaged in the boxes was the ones that are visible to the consumer and the rice that were packaged in bags are left in the bottom. I was wondering what the difference is between the packaged rice in the box and the packaged rice in the bags? After I observed the rice section, I walked back to the front of the supermarket where the pre made sandwiches were. I was in a moment where I did not know what kind of sandwich I should buy for lunch. I finally made a decision to buy the turkey in a French roll sandwich. I ate the sandwich when I returned to the school and I had gotten very full from it. After eating one half of the sandwich, I was already full. It sort of had a little taste of Tabasco’s hot sauce to add more flavor. While eating, I can feel the pieces of the bread with the turkey getting stuck in between my two front teeth. It took a lot of time to consume the bread, the turkey and the lettuce all at once.
Monday, February 12, 2007
FAST FOOD
Ever since my college course, Nutrition and Health at NYU has been completed, I have had a dramatic change in my eating habits. I decided to cut down on my fast food habits. As I was assigned to eat fast food today, I decided to reject the assignment. I entered a McDonnald's restaurant that was close by the school. I walked in and observed what was different or the same on the dollar menu. I realized that everything stayed the same. The small fries, 2 apple pies etc. were all on the dollar menu. I observed it once more and I looked at the different meals they had to offer. It was all the same. I observed the people who were standing right behind the cash registers and realized that after a person was finished ordering a full meal, they would ask if they would like it supersized. Now that reminded me of the Super Size Me Video and how realistic it is. I was next in line (Well, not really in line) and the lady behind the register asked if I needed some help. I told her i was just looking at what they had to offer and I said No Thank You. I walked out the restaurant while others walked inside. I told myself this is disgusting.
Friday, February 9, 2007
In Class Questions
1) When you think of food, what comes to mind?
When I think of food, I think about the flavor. I think about the ingredients in it. Is this good for me? Is it bad for me? I also think about my physical reactions after digesting it. When I think of food, I also think to myself how much I should digest? How much would be too much for me?
2) Which foods create a noticeable physical reation to you?
Pasta and Turkey makes me go to sleep a few minutes later after digesting it. Eating pasta will make me full quicker, as oppose to eating rice.
3) Which foods seem healthiest to you? What would your 3- day menu be?
Fruits, pasta, brown rice, fish, bread and vegetables all seem the healthiest to me. My 3- day menu would consists of:
Breakfast: Eggs and steak with home fries and a bowl of fruits with orange juice.
Lunch: Pasta with Calamari and a root beer
Dinner: Brown rice, vegetables, a little bit of meat and fish. And have a bowl of fruit after the meal.
4) Generalize- What should people eat?
People should eat 2 cups of fruits, 4-5 ounces of meat, 2 cups of vegetables and at least 1 ½ cups of some sort of carbohydrates each day.
When I think of food, I think about the flavor. I think about the ingredients in it. Is this good for me? Is it bad for me? I also think about my physical reactions after digesting it. When I think of food, I also think to myself how much I should digest? How much would be too much for me?
2) Which foods create a noticeable physical reation to you?
Pasta and Turkey makes me go to sleep a few minutes later after digesting it. Eating pasta will make me full quicker, as oppose to eating rice.
3) Which foods seem healthiest to you? What would your 3- day menu be?
Fruits, pasta, brown rice, fish, bread and vegetables all seem the healthiest to me. My 3- day menu would consists of:
Breakfast: Eggs and steak with home fries and a bowl of fruits with orange juice.
Lunch: Pasta with Calamari and a root beer
Dinner: Brown rice, vegetables, a little bit of meat and fish. And have a bowl of fruit after the meal.
4) Generalize- What should people eat?
People should eat 2 cups of fruits, 4-5 ounces of meat, 2 cups of vegetables and at least 1 ½ cups of some sort of carbohydrates each day.
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Cook and Eat
I chose to cook pasta. My procedure in cooking this pasta was to boil 4 cups of water. Before the water reached its boiling point, i added a small amount of salt into the water. As soon as the water started to boil, I added the pasta into the water and began to stir for 12 minutes. As I felt the pasta getting softer, I took a metal strainer and laid it on top of the sink. I dumped the pasta into the strainer, releasing the water. Although the steam that rose after dumping the water and pasta into the strainer was a hazard, I enjoyed cooking pasta because it is easier to complete.
After I made the pasta, I included it with the sauce that my mother had cooked. I started to consume and it tasted great. I felt the tomato sauce touch my lips, leaving very little sauce after I had the pasta inside my mouth. I started to chew and I was able to taste the salt as it roamed around my toungue. The salt is what gave the pasta much more flavor. I began to chew on the long pieces and let it gently slide down my throat into my stomach. I enjoyed eating the pasta.
After I made the pasta, I included it with the sauce that my mother had cooked. I started to consume and it tasted great. I felt the tomato sauce touch my lips, leaving very little sauce after I had the pasta inside my mouth. I started to chew and I was able to taste the salt as it roamed around my toungue. The salt is what gave the pasta much more flavor. I began to chew on the long pieces and let it gently slide down my throat into my stomach. I enjoyed eating the pasta.
Project
Introduction to Locally Available Grass Fed Pastured Organically Raised Ground Beef
Organically raised Ground Beef are Grass fed animals that are raised in grass and not living in barns eating only grains. The difference between the organically raised ground beef and the ground beef that you find in supermarkets is that the organic ground beef lives in an open grass field that has their own freedom to interact with each other. The grass area is its natural habitat and their diet is more rich. Also the animals aren't given any kinds of hormones. The ground beef that you purchase in the supermarkets are animals that are given hormones. This is a risk to human bodies because the hormones that you injest are not tested and can lead to multiple diseases inside the stomach. It is better to eat organically raised ground beef because it is its natural size and it is more healthier and rich. This is found in the Farmer's Market in 14th street Union Square in Manhattan. For more information on organically raised ground beef, you may contact the Hawthorne Valley Farm at 518.672.7500. Ogranically raised ground beef is made by Biodynamic Farming, in which it is self-evident that synthetic inputs, such as fertilizers, pesticides and hormones are strictly avoided in this type of farming.
Other websites to learn more about organically raised ground beef are:
http://www.organicprairie.com/beef.html
http://www.beefitswhatsfordinner.com/askexpert/inthenews.asp#qa2
http://www.alrosas.com/rosas_farms_grass_fed_beef.htm
Organically raised Ground Beef are Grass fed animals that are raised in grass and not living in barns eating only grains. The difference between the organically raised ground beef and the ground beef that you find in supermarkets is that the organic ground beef lives in an open grass field that has their own freedom to interact with each other. The grass area is its natural habitat and their diet is more rich. Also the animals aren't given any kinds of hormones. The ground beef that you purchase in the supermarkets are animals that are given hormones. This is a risk to human bodies because the hormones that you injest are not tested and can lead to multiple diseases inside the stomach. It is better to eat organically raised ground beef because it is its natural size and it is more healthier and rich. This is found in the Farmer's Market in 14th street Union Square in Manhattan. For more information on organically raised ground beef, you may contact the Hawthorne Valley Farm at 518.672.7500. Ogranically raised ground beef is made by Biodynamic Farming, in which it is self-evident that synthetic inputs, such as fertilizers, pesticides and hormones are strictly avoided in this type of farming.
Other websites to learn more about organically raised ground beef are:
http://www.organicprairie.com/beef.html
http://www.beefitswhatsfordinner.com/askexpert/inthenews.asp#qa2
http://www.alrosas.com/rosas_farms_grass_fed_beef.htm
Monday, February 5, 2007
Phenomenological Description
After a big day for all the superbowl fans, my family and I went to my uncle's house in Queens to have dinner and watch the superbowl. Although there were a lot of food that was being served, there were plenty to take home. I decided to finish the left over buffalo wings and the celery and carrots. Let's first start off with the buffalo wings. As i slowly started to consume the buffalo wings, I felt the slight burn rub through my lips from the hot sauce that covered the wings. I took a small bite from one side of the wing and the smoothe skin of the wing rubbed against my toungue, creating its own chemistry. My toungue started to burn after the second bite. It was difficult to let the pieces of the buffalo wings slide down my throat, but i still managed to do so. At this point, I needed some water to get rid of the spice that was left over my toungue. I slowly chewed on the pieces. It took about 4 chews for each bite taken before I was able to swallow. I can feel the little pieces get stuck in between my teeth. I started enjoying the taste of it, so i began to eat more than just one. As I switched my food intakes to eating the carrots and celery, I dipped the celery into the blue cheese before i started to eat it. As I began to consume, the blue cheese rubbed against my lips leaving its white marks behind. As it got into my mouth, I could taste the cheese and celery combining with each other. I wouldn't know how to explain how the mix tastes like but eating the celery was like eating a Polly-O-Cheese with its multiple layers. It's juice bursts throughout my whole toungue leaving its taste behind as it slowly made its way down my throat. I dipped the carrots into the bluecheese and it was the same experience. The only difference was that the carrots didn't have as much layers to chew off of. It was simple and it left little pieces in between my teeth.
Sunday, February 4, 2007
HW #1
What's in my refrigerator?
1)water 2)orange juice 3)milk 4)cream cheese 5)steak 6) hellman's mayonnaise 7)eggs 8)carrots9 )left over meat (Filipino food) 10) left over fish 11)cheez whiz 12)country crock butter 13)lettuce 14)pepto bismol 15)salad dressing (french, and vinaigrette) 16)bbq sauce 17)yellow mustard 18) 2 parmesan cheese 19)hickory smoke bbq sauce 20)pickle relish 21)Heinz home style gravy 22)black bean garlic sauce 23)tomato sauce 24)szechuan sauce 25)konig oyster sauce 26)tomato 27)cabbage 28)lemons 29)rose mary 30)potatoes 31)dried fish and squid
1)water 2)orange juice 3)milk 4)cream cheese 5)steak 6) hellman's mayonnaise 7)eggs 8)carrots9 )left over meat (Filipino food) 10) left over fish 11)cheez whiz 12)country crock butter 13)lettuce 14)pepto bismol 15)salad dressing (french, and vinaigrette) 16)bbq sauce 17)yellow mustard 18) 2 parmesan cheese 19)hickory smoke bbq sauce 20)pickle relish 21)Heinz home style gravy 22)black bean garlic sauce 23)tomato sauce 24)szechuan sauce 25)konig oyster sauce 26)tomato 27)cabbage 28)lemons 29)rose mary 30)potatoes 31)dried fish and squid
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