Have you ever wondered why eating healthy foods is so much more expensive then the not-so-healthy counter choices that are available? Sure food in general is cheaper now than it has ever been, but with getting lower prices we are also giving up lots of the foods’ nutritional value. In today’s society, scientists have done amazing things through the development of synthetic vitamins and nutrients that can only be found naturally in fruits and vegetables. Nowadays these synthetic vitamins are commonly found in GMO products, specifically corn. The US government has had such a high influence in the production of corn and in extremely large quantities. Everyone has heard of high fructose corn syrup (hfcs), which is in basically every processed food. The reason for this huge increase in the production of hfcs is because of how drastic the population in America has increased. Because of this population increase and the continually decreasing number of farmers in America, those that are still farming need to be much more efficient then years past to keep up with the high demands. In order to be more efficient, farmers need to genetically modify the foods to be resistant to pesticides and herbicides to keep labor costs down (spraying fields for weeds rather than picking the weeds out). Because of the modifying to the foods genetic structure scientists take the opportunity to add in additional synthetic nutrients to make the food more abundant in nutrition. The reason to all this isn’t the farmers or the governments fault. Granted they are still the ones producing and controlling the production of these foods, it is up to the consumer whether or not they will continue to buy and demand these foods that are full of GMO’s and synthetic nutrients. Yes they are cheaper, but is it really worth it?
by David Alsept (9AM) Have you ever wondered why eating healthy foods is so much more expensive then the not-so-healthy counter choices that are available? Sure food in general is cheaper now than it has ever been, but with getting lower prices we are also giving up lots of the foods’ nutritional value. In today’s society, scientists have done amazing things through the development of synthetic vitamins and nutrients that can only be found naturally in fruits and vegetables. Nowadays these synthetic vitamins are commonly found in GMO products, specifically corn. The US government has had such a high influence in the production of corn and in extremely large quantities. Everyone has heard of high fructose corn syrup (hfcs), which is in basically every processed food. The reason for this huge increase in the production of hfcs is because of how drastic the population in America has increased. Because of this population increase and the continually decreasing number of farmers in America, those that are still farming need to be much more efficient then years past to keep up with the high demands. In order to be more efficient, farmers need to genetically modify the foods to be resistant to pesticides and herbicides to keep labor costs down (spraying fields for weeds rather than picking the weeds out). Because of the modifying to the foods genetic structure scientists take the opportunity to add in additional synthetic nutrients to make the food more abundant in nutrition. The reason to all this isn’t the farmers or the governments fault. Granted they are still the ones producing and controlling the production of these foods, it is up to the consumer whether or not they will continue to buy and demand these foods that are full of GMO’s and synthetic nutrients. Yes they are cheaper, but is it really worth it?
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Caffeine is a stimulant that is present in many energy drinks, coffees, teas, and soda. Those that are on the run and are feeling groggy tend to lean towards a caffeinated drink rather than natural energy from food and sleep. 5-hour Energy shots are becoming a more popular way for Americans to get their extra afternoon burst and keep them functioning at work and throughout the rest of their day. But what happens when the five hours are up? Does the consumer then feel groggy and irritated again? After watching the 5-hour Energy commercial and reading part of the attached article, what would be your preferred method of getting an energy boost? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu9pmHIMdOM article citation: Crane, Cody. "Energy Shot Or Not?." Scholastic Choices 27.4 (2012): 21. Academic Search Complete. Web. 26 Mar. 2014. Student from 11AM class Food allergies in children are on the rise. Today it is estimated that 6-8% of children have at least one food allergy. That means that the condition is affecting up to 1 in 13 children (1 Noimark, Cox). That is quite a large number and the effects of this has been studied little but it is definitely something that needs to be researched.
The most common practice for dealing with food allergies is to eliminate the food that causes the reaction from the diet. This isn't so bad when it is just one food that the child has an adverse reaction to, but what happens when it is whole groups of food. There are eight foods that cause around 90% of all food allergies; The main culprits are eggs, milk, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, soy, and wheat (1 Groetch). All of these foods are seen as nutritionally high value foods. That being said it is hard to find equivalents to replace the needed nutrients. Making this and even larger problem is the perceived prevalence of food allergies. That number is said to be as high as 20% of the population. Adolescence is no time be eliminating foods from the diet without consequence. Any nutritional deficiencies as a child will have lifelong effects. What is your experience with food allergies? This may be with yourself, your family or even your friends and classmates. Was there trouble figuring out what you/they can eat to support a developing body? Do you think child food allergies are actually a problem or is there enough knowledge about nutrition to find ways around it? Noimark, Lee, and Helen E. Cox. "Nutritional Problems Related To Food Allergy In Childhood." Pediatric Allergy & Immunology 19.2 (2008): 188-195. Academic Search Complete. Web. 25 Mar. 2014. Groetch, Marion. "Food Allergies: Dietary Management." Practical GastroenteroloGy (2013): 47. Think of your neighborhood or the neighborhood around your school, how many grocery stores, convenience stores, restaurants, or fast food chains can you think of. If you are like many people, your list goes on and on. Now imagine that all of those restaurants and grocery stores disappear. All you are left with are fast food and convenience stores. On top of the shortage of healthy food options, you don't have a car, are in a lower socioeconomic group, and have a family to feed. What do you do? Do you take public transit to a store and have a limit on what you can carry? Do you try to take a cab?
This is a problem that many Americans are facing. With a lack of accessible food and a low income, many Americans must resort to either shopping at the local corner store or trying to get creative to feed their families. How do you think building a grocery store or implementing a farmers market would change people's lives? How would it change a community? Student from 11AM class “More than 9.3 million cows were used to produce milk in the United States in 2008, and more than 2.5 million dairy cows were slaughtered for meat” (farmsanctuary.org). Dairy cows do not live the happy and carefree lives mainstream labeling would like you to believe. Cows, like humans only produce milk to feed their young, so cows on factory farms are artificially impregnated around once a year. Calves are separated from their mothers almost as soon as they are born, so the milk is available for collection. Male calves are usually raised as veal, while females are raised to suffer same fate as mother. Dairy cows often are injected with the bovine growth hormone, which increases the milk production tenfold. However, this hormone often has nasty side effects, which include mastitis, which is a painful swelling of udders. Some cows are also kept indoors on concrete, which their hooves are not made for, causing foot swelling, which can make it hard for them to walk. Due to all the added pressures, dairy cows only live for a few years, around five, before they are considered worn out and killed, when cows usually can live for twenty or more years.
These cows are from factory farms, and provide dairy for mainstream companies. Organic farms raise their cows with access to pasture, do not use hormones, and feed their cows a diet that contains no GMO products, as regulated by the USDA National Organic Program. Knowing this, does knowing where your food products come from, and how they are raised change your opinion on purchasing mainstream versus organic? Student from Noon Class Watch this short video on GMOs and consider the following questions: Do you feel the video is biased? Why or why not? What point stuck with you the most/least? What is your opinion on GMOs and did the video change your opinions? Agree/disagree to my responses, or your peers responses
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_ztZGbLEJ0 After watching this the point that sticks out most to me is that we have enough food in the world to end poverty, it's the allocation of resources that is the problem. Since this is the case I don't see any need for GMOs at all. We can create enough food as it is already. GMOs have had very little long term research done on them, and we don't know what they do inside our body. Instead of focusing on researching GMOs, we should be spending money to actually end poverty by creating an infrastructure to move food to places where it's needed most. Our biggest failure as a nation is allowing companies that produce GMOs to conduct their own research. A company wants to sell its' product, so they will take the data, or parts of the data that make them look the best and use it as their findings. Seed company Monsanto has conducted its own studies on their GMO corn, and came to the conclusion that it was safe. If you are interested in finding out more about GMOs and their health risks, this is a video presenting the findings of independent researchers on Monsanto's corn GMO. You may write responses to this video as well if you would like. (The term "Roundup" or "Roundup Ready" in the video refers to a type of GMO that is resistant to glyphosate, an herbicide, allowing farmers to drench their crop with glyphosates killing all the weeds but not the crop. This GMO does not stop the plant from absorbing the herbicide however.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Njd0RugGjAg When we think about our future we think about a number of things including the children. We are told from a very young age that we need to go to school, so we can get a good education. The problem that arises now for low socioeconomic schools is that their kids are coming to school without breakfast and in some cases without having eaten since lunch at school the day before. In these schools teachers are finding it extremely difficult to capture the attention of kids who come to school hungry. When kids are hungry they have a hard time focusing on anything but feeding that hunger. Many of these children’s only meal comes from the schools. Now the schools are debating on spending more government money on food programs. Such as adding a breakfast program to jump start kids and give them the energy they need to make it through the morning until lunch.
What do you think, should the government spend more money on another food program in these low socioeconomic schools? Many people think that the parents are not making sure their kids eat before school but at what point does the school have to help by providing food for these families that send their kids to school without food because they just don’t have any food at home. What is your opinion of the situation? Should schools provide food for these kids? Where should the money for these programs come from? Student from Noon Class The basic idea behind cloning genes is taking a specific gene set, then inserting it into the receiver to produce a genetically identical clone of the gene donor. This is the same process as asexual reproduction and binary fission. With the exception of egg and sperm reproduction, cloning genes is a natural process in nature. So why are people so opposed to genetically modified food? In 1995, no farmland known to man was genetically modified. As of 2010, approximately 10% of the worlds farmland were genetically modified. As a result, the use of pesticides has been reduced by 70% in the farmland, crop yields were recorded to increase as much as 5-80%, and therefore earnings went up over 36%. While the plants are bred to yield more product and resist pesticides, bugs, bacteria, viruses, and many other dangers are mutating into "superbugs." Some believe that the imminent threat will be superbugs that are immune to pesticides, insecticides, and repellents. While this is a somewhat distant danger, it is a potential threat and brings human health into question.
Though there are some potentially negative effects of cloning and genetically modifying products, there are many great benefits that have and will grow out of this technology. Focusing on the medical aspect, there is and will continue to be potential for cheaper and safer vaccines, as well as blocking diseases within the bugs themselves. This would ultimately have a huge impact on the world and market that we know and live in today. Here are some question ideas for your comments: What could be the economic impact if we do/don't persist in researching cloning technology? Is it ethical to design something to benefit us now when it could potentially hinder us in the future? Do the medical benefits outweigh the medical risks, known as "superbugs"? Student from 11AM class When students arrive at college it is a whole new lifestyle. You are on your own and have to make personal choices about school, social life, and especially eating. People usually have trouble trying to maintain their old or healthy eating habits and this is a serious issue. Eating on campus is a social event that many people attend with their friends. This can cause problems for students who do not pay attention to what or how much they are eating. People tend to conform to what their friends are eating and not stick to their normal eating habits. Take a look at this article:
http://www.dailytexanonline.com/opinion/2013/09/29/social-eating-poses-serious-problems-for-college-students Please answer these questions in your response: 1. Do you agree with what this article has to say about social eating? If so why or why not? 2. What do you think is the biggest factor in how you choose what to eat? (length of lines, what your friends are eating, health factors, ect.) 3. Do you ever find yourself making food choices based of what your friends or whom you are with are eating? 4. Has college changed the way you eat and the food you consume? Student from 9AM class Blog Post
First off, have you ever been a vegetarian or have you ever known anyone who is a vegetarian? If yes, what was your reasoning or the other persons reasoning? One of the top five reasons vegetarians list for forgoing meat is the environmental argument. A general assumption among those not educated on the true implications of vegetarianism is that forgoing meat must be more environmentally friendly, as the lives and potential services that livestock can provide are being conserved. Along with this, conserving the amount of meat produced reduces the amount of domestic livestock such as cattle, which contribute to global warming simply by being alive. They produce a gaseous compound called methane during fermentation to break down plant cellulose that contributes 2% to the total carbon in the environment and thus depletes the ozone layer. The assumption is that by removing this meat source, the environment is being spared; however, the elimination of this major food group puts unnecessary strain on other food sources. This removal of meat as a food source presents a problem for those who are not educated on how to “do vegetarianism” properly. Most people that jump into vegetarianism without doing proper research lean too heavily on grains as a food source because they are filling. This promotes over production of grains and in an effort to produce mass amounts of the food group as efficiently as possible, things like GMO’s as main food sources is becoming more prevalent. This in turn leads to mass fertilization and run off of pollutants such as nitrogen and phosphorus. This run off is damaging to the environment in many ways, the most prevalent and well known being algal blooms in nearby water collections. This can cause mass amounts of dead zones and in turn, add to the total carbon emission in the environment as well. What is your take on vegetarianism being environmentally friendly? What types of alternative diets would you recommend? What other issues do you see with vegetarianism? Christina Winters, Noon Clas |
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