Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Week Thirteen: FINAL



I came into English 101 this semester with no expectations and an open mind. I have learned from past life experiences showing up is the hardest part. This semester I learned about the dark side of fast food, I learned how to put my essays in proper format and that being a writer is about conveying a personal coherent message. I truly lucked out with the greatest English teacher I have ever had. His name is Dr. Smith and I am not searching for brownie points or kissing up to him, but I learned more this semester about writing then in any class I have ever been in.

The book we read this semester was called Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser and it was wildly fascinating and in my view a bit depressing. The book talks about the dark side of the fast food industry from the humble beginnings to what it has become today. The reason why I say depressing is because I never actually knew about the dark side of what goes into a McDonalds Happy Meal. Stuff like factory farming, the poorly treated workers, and the harm it is causing to America by way of advertising, obesity, and pollution. The upside about this dark side was we as a class got to write about this in a blog format like I am doing now. This to me was my favorite part of the class because I got to express myself personally and my views the way I see them.

Writing in the blog format turned out to be the biggest learning experience I have ever got in an English class. Here I was expressing my views and writing what I thought was great and coherent works on my blog but was really a jumbled mess of ideas not in order. In the semester we reached mid-way in the class and it was time for the mid-term.  I wrote what I thought was destined for an “A” but turned out to be “Hey! What are you talking about here?”  This is when Dr. Smith said to me “This is like your writing me a letter “I was told that I had good ideas but my organization of them was bad. He pointed out to me where my thesis was and told me to get to it quicker.  My mid-term was about parents are responsible for what their kids eat.  Dr. Smith then asked me” why are parents responsible?” and I are said “because they are the ones in charge” Dr. Smith then said “that is a reason, expand on it.” That opened me up to learning this format and how valuable it is.

I love to express myself and write about stuff I am interested in. To me writing is art and a way to convey a message.  It is a way to share information coherently and in your own way.  I learned a lot this semester with the help of my peers and my teacher. I think expressing yourself through the English language is something we all need to become proficient at. There are so many avenues of writing and to me they are all worthy. If you are writing a biography ,fiction, poetry, or a letter there is a level of coherency you need to have and above everything this is what I learned the most this year. I had to learn how to organize and make what I write about understandable and coherent to the topic at hand. Having an Introduction, thesis, background information, and reasons are major parts of writing a paper and is a part of what makes a paper coherent.

In conclusion I don’t know what type of writer I am or if I have a style flare or an expressive quality for writing. I do know that I learned the basics of putting together an essay and it was the first time I ever wrote a research paper. I now know there is a dark side to the fast food industry and I have learned to put an argumentative essay in a proper format. I overall learned that whatever you write needs to be understood and coherent to the people that read it. Then again what do I know I am just a 38 year old student back in college again.  There are many ways to write and there is a lot I don’t know but I am willing to learn.  I still have a lot of work to do and I am taking Dr. Smith’s 102 class in the fall. We will see what happens next but I do know this much tomorrow is wide open maybe I will write about it one day.

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Blog Entry :11 (Postivley Plant Based)

                                                                                                                    


           Robert Brown
Dr. Smith
English 101
28 May 2014


You are what you eat and your diet says a lot about who you are and in what regard you place on your health and environment. That being said would you be willing to change the way you eat if you knew it would positively change your life? A plant-based diet is better for you than the Standard American diet. A Plant-Based Diet or is a diet based on vegetable, grains, legumes, fruit, with little or no animal products including dairy. This diet has been known to have great benefits on health, environment, and is more humane and ethical. America is suffering from the The Standard American Diet. A standard American diet consists of a high intake of red meats, sugary desserts, high-fat foods, refined grains, high fat dairy products, and processed meats. The Standard American Diet has negative effects on your health, environment, and supports animal cruelty.  They both pose a very real and life changing affect on you as an individual and our society. After reading Fast Food Nation by Eric Shlosser it has opened my eyes to another side of the fast food industry and the origins of the Standard American Diet. I am writing this essay and hope it will expand your awareness, and inform some people that a Plant Based Diet is better then the Standard American Diet because of the many cons it has.

Your health is important in this lifetime of ours and what you eat greatly affects your health. There can be positive effects and negative effects your diet has on you. Both diets possess one of these attributes, and I am going to talk about the negative affects of the Standard American Diet first. In a spectrum Diabetes journal I researched it states the number of people in the world with diabetes is expected to double by 2030. It affects over 26 million people of all ages some one fourth of who are not diagnosed yet. I know and knew plenty of people that are living and lived with Diabetes. Diabetes is a group of metabolic diseases in which a person has high blood sugar. The most common form of Diabetes is type 2 Diabetes. Type 2 Diabetes is a problem with your body and causes blood sugar levels to rise higher then normal. Over time having high levels of sugar can affect your kidneys, eyes, and heart. Having a meaty or high fat diet typical of the Standard American Diet you are more susceptible to getting Diabetes according to pcrm.org article. My own grandmother had diabetes and had to shoot herself with insulin daily. She had to constantly check her blood sugar levels and she ultimately died from a heart failure due to having Diabetes for many years. Her diet was a high meat and sugary intake with little to no vegetables and that diet falls under the Standard American Diet.  It is unfortunate but it is a fact that 2 out of 3people with diabetes will die from stroke or heart disease. On the other hand implementing a Plant Based diet into your life has gains, and that is cutting your risk in half of getting diabetes as well as prevention and management of the disease. Once again the Spectrum Journal reveals that the diabetes in America is lower among vegetarians then non-vegetarians. Type 2 Diabetes is a lifestyle disease because of the choices we make and what we eat. On Diabetes.org it states a Plant Based Diet is naturally higher in fiber, much lower in saturated fat, and cholesterol free when compared to the Standard American Diet. By reducing the intake of a Standard American Diet and replacing it with Plant Based Diet you greatly reduce the risk of getting Diabetes, and it will help people with Diabetes manage it.                                                                                                                               
When it comes down to how these two diets effect our environment there are pros and cons too. The Standard American Diet mostly consists of a high meat intake, so where does all this meat come from and how does eating a lot of meat effect our environment? "Our current factory farming system, with the help of federal subsidizes has allowed every American family the luxury of meat and dairy with every meal. Americas food industries; grocery stores, fast food restaurants and dine in restaurants are structured on meat products. Our nation economically is tied to factory farming" That is a quote from the ethical implications of factory farming on rooterville.org. The Food and Agriculture Organization report by the United Nations in 2006 stated unequivocally that factory farming of animals for meat production has a bigger impact on global warming than all the plains, trains, buses, and cars on the planet combined. Factory Farming has a lot of animals that they tend to and waste massive amounts of natural resources like water each day. A document from Earth Save How Are Food Choices Can Save our Environment and I quote " If I had known for every pound of beef I did not eat I would save anywhere from 2,500 to 5,000 gallons of water, I would have been moved." According to an article from Vegetarian Society typical meat eater's diet requires up to 2.5 times the amount of land compared to a vegetarian diet and 5 times that of a vegan diet. Because a Standard American Diet is such a high meat intake and relies a lot on factory farming you can see just how much you can affect your environment by having this diet. If one were to incorporate a Plant Based Diet you would reduce your meat intake substantially and thus reduce harmful emissions, save land, and natural resources. Overall A 2006 study, examining the impact of a typical week’s eating, showed that plant-based diets are better for the environment than those based on meat.

As I stated earlier a Plant Based Diet diet is a step towards a more humane and ethical life. I for one have greatly reduced my meat intake. I have had a lot of benefits, but the one that sticks out to me a lot is my conscience. It made me upset when I thought of another life being killed against its will to feed a lifestyle choice. I now know I don’t need to eat meat with every meal. I have educated myself and I eat more vegetables now. The physical pros alone are enough to go on. I think it is fair to say all life including human life feel pain and it is very inhumane to support or even follow the Standard American Diet.  The Standard American Diet relies a lot on factory farming. According to the USDA in 2011 the United States exported 2.7 billion pounds of meat of that years total production. This meat is of animals that were once alive.  However when I think of over crowded factory farms and the inhumane conditions these animals endure just so we can eat meat we don’t need all the time is sickening. You can see how it would really make one sad to think about how many animals we kill a day to satisfy the Standard American Diet taste for meat. If one were to take on a Plant Based Diet and according to John Robbins book Diet For New America, The grain used to feed livestock is enough to give every person in the world two loafs of bread. Food For Life Global states a plant based diet is does not support and condemns cruel and inhumane practices of raising animals in abhorrent conditions to satisfy or feed our taste for meat.  Having a Plant Based Diet is more humane. “Compassion for animals is growing, as the harsh realities of factory farming–overcrowding, filth, disease and cruelty–are increasingly exposed. People are realizing it’s not necessary to eat animals any more, and a more compassionate, nonviolent lifestyle benefits all the earth’s creatures.” is a quote from VegMichigan’s online article.

In conclusion I talked a lot about the pros and cons of both these diets. I have made some very clear examples and facts why a Plant Based Diet is better for you and overall better for our world. There was so much information on both of these diets and I could not touch on all of them because it would take to long. There are many variations of a Plant Based Diet and there are only positive results to having this type of diet. The Standard American diet on the other hand has a negative impact on so many facets of our life. Looking closely the overall health in the United States is deteriorating due to diseases like Type 2 Diabetes and our environment is suffering due to factory farming. Our moral compass is way off course and education about these diets for human beings are necessary for us to evolve. I think we need to change the way we eat in America and we need to evolve to a higher level of consciousness. The Standard American Diet is a choice and is a negative one at that. A Plant Based Diet is the undisputed obviously better choice for your health and our environment, so it is clear why this diet is better for you on many levels. Times have changed and I think it is time we realized that in order to make a change in our world sometimes it starts with something as simple as changing the way you eat.


 American Jouurnal of Clinical Nutrition February 2005 vol. 81 no. 2 341-354 Accessed May 28,2014 http://ajcn.nutrition.org/

"A nonprofit organization promoting awareness of the health, environmental and ethical benefits of a plant-based diet. - See more at: http://vegmichigan.org/about/#sthash.OjLmwuwq.1Psa7xkv.dpuf." http://vegmichigan.org/about/#sthash.OjLmwuwq.dpuf. . N.p., n.d. Web. Accessed 28 May 2014

Boyan, Phd, Steven. "EarthSave - Food intervention programs to achieve health independence." EarthSave - Food intervention programs to achieve health independence. N.p., n.d. Web. Accessed 29 May 2014. <http://www.earthsave.org/environment/foodchoices.htm>.

Caroline Trap, MSN, APRN, BC-ADM, CDE and Susan Levin, MS, Preparing to Prescribe Plant-Based Diets for Diabetes Prevention and Treatment Diabetes Spectrum February 2012 vol. 25no. 1 38-44 Accessed May 28, 2014

"Cutting out meat will help save land." https://www.vegsoc.org/saveland. N.p., n.d.
Web. Accessed 28 May 2014.

"Diabetes Myths - American Diabetes Association®." American Diabetes Association. N.p., n.d. Web. Accessed 29 May 2014. <http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/myths/>.

Nutritional Update for Physicians: Plant-Based Diets
Philip J Tuso, Mohamed H Ismail, Benjamin P Ha, Carole Bartolotto
Perm J. 2013 Spring; 17(2): 61–66. doi: 10.7812/TPP/12-085
PMCID: PMC3662288 Accessed May 28, 2014


http://www.pcrm.org/health/diabetes-resources/the-vegan-diet-how-to-guide-for-diabetes. N.p., n.d. Web. Accessed 28 May 2014


http://www.rooterville.org/index.php/kindness/76-dale-west-factory-farming. N.p., n.d. Web. Accessed 28 May 2014

"Statistics and Information." http://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/animal-products/cattle-beef/statistics-information.aspx#.U4aHUmRDt8c. N.p., n.d. Web. Accessed 28 May 2014.
Schlosser, Eric. Fast food nation: the dark side of the all-American meal. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001. Print.


"Why Plant-based | Food for Life Global - Uniting the World Through Pure Food." Food for Life Global Uniting the World Through Pure Food. N.p., n.d. Web. Accessed 29 May 2014. <http://www.ffl.org/food-yoga/why-vegan/>.

World Health Organization: Country and regional data: prevalence of diabetes worldwide [article online]. Available from http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs312/en. Accessed May 28, 2014














                                                                                                                                        

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Sentence Outine

Title: Positively Plant Based

Introduction
  1. Would you be willing to change the way you eat, if you knew it would positively change your life? 
  2.  A plant based diet is one based on vegetable,gains,legumes,fruit, with little or no animal products including dairy. A standard American diet or a Western pattern diet is a diet that consists of a high intake of red meats,sugary desserts,high-fat foods,refined grains,high fat dairy products, and processed meats.
  3. Eating a plant based diet is healthier for you than a Standard American. It can improve your health,better for the environment,and it supports more humane and compassionate lifestyle.
Body Paragraph
  1. Health
  2. Supporting Information:
  3. Supporting Details or Data:

Body Paragraph
  1. Environment
  2. Supporting Information:
  3. Supporting Details or Data:

Body Paragraph
  1. Supports a humane and compassionate lifestyle.
  2. Supporting Information:
  3. Supporting Details or Data:

Body Paragraph
  1. animal cruelty
  2. Supporting Information:
  3. Supporting Details or Data:

Saturday, May 3, 2014

Blog entry 9: Research Proposal

What is your general subject?

The benefits of having a plant based and whole food diet ( plant-based diet is one based on vegetables, grains, legumes and fruit, with little or no animal products (including dairy) ) versus eating  a lot of animal products and processed foods. Basically I am saying A plant-based diet is the best for people, it prevents and can reverse cancer and heart disease, and having a high meat, animal products, refined foods (including sugar and oil), and high levels of protein cause and/or contribute to cancer and heart disease.


What is your focus or narrowed topic?

Plant-based whole food diet for disease prevention.


What do you plan to support/argue for?

Eating a plant based whole food diet is better for you then the traditional western culture diet of meat,dairy,and processed foods


What have you looked at so far

Fork over knives is a movie based on this lifestyle,Colin Campbell, Ph.D., author of The China Study,

How useful do you think they will be and why? Be as specific as possible. Please include links to web sources that you have found and add a brief description of them.

These are some really useful and powerful sources that are backed by medical journals. The foundation for the conclusions presented in Forks Over Knives is built by Cornell University professor T. Colin Campbell, PhD, and Caldwell B. Esselstyn, MD, of the Cleveland Clinic. Campbell conducted several studies and research experiments outlined in the book. Esselstyn treated and continues to treat some of his patients with strict changes in diet.
This is some information about the movie and a trailer link.

http://www.forksoverknives.com/about/synopsis/


What are your next steps if this topic is approved? What would be the next steps in the writing and research project next week?

I am thinking I will start by amassing all the information I can get. Then beginning to write a introduction and a thesis with a coherent argument.

What difficulties do you see at this time in moving forward with the research process?


Making sure my thesis statement is strong and clear and all the information I have gathered is not pieced together out of format.

Blog entry 8: Final mid-term revision

Parents are responsible to control what their kids eat. I believe this because no child including myself has raised, clothed, or fed them self. The parents or guardians are the role models and are the ones that teach the child its eating habits. In general most parents, like mine, are knowledgeable about the negative health effects of eating fast food. In "Chapter 2: Your trusted friends" in Fast Food Nation author Eric Schlosser talks about the marketing and advertising strategies that manipulated children into nagging their parents for products. However the parents have total economic control. If you do not regulate what your child eats there certainly will be consequences down the line.

The parents being a role model in the child's life plays a large part of their eating habits and behaviors. They take care of their child until the age that they can do it themselves. They instill in the child the practices such as eating habits and eating behaviors that the child will use later in life. These behaviors are how much they eat when they eat and the portions they eat. The parents are the ones that promote what foods are healthy and foods are not healthy to eat.

Parents have more knowledge of what is good or bad to eat then their children. For starters they have been alive longer and had more experiences then the child. Through these experiences the parents are wiser and should know what is best for their children. Parents have more information about heart disease, diabetes, and obesity that is directly linked to eating poorly and unhealthy fast foods. A good example is my parents would tell me how bad McDonalds is every time I asked for it and would not let me have it.

  In "Chapter 2: Your trusted Friends" in Fast Food Nation the author Eric Schlosser talks about American companies directing their marketing towards children. Stating the bulk of advertising to children has an immediate goal. It is giving them a specific reason to ask for these products. These companies spend millions each year marketing products to children. However the parents have the economic control over what they buy for their child and the ultimate say at the end of the day. A lot of parents work and sometimes don't have time to cook dinner but there are a lot of healthy alternatives to fast food. They choose how they are going to spend the money, for either a healthy meal or a McDonalds happy meal.


In conclusion when I think about the fast food industry and all their marketing and selling tactics it is really the parents responsibility for what their kids eat. The parents are the role models and show their child its eating habits and behaviors. The parents have more knowledge about the food they eat, and are the ones that have the economic control on what to spend their money on. These fast food companies are not holding a gun to your head saying "eat it, or else!” It is ultimately up to the consumer or for this matter the consumer’s parents.