Thursday, November 5, 2009

Availability of fresh food, exercise linked to healthy living

I guess the saying “you are what you eat” really is true because if you do eat unhealthy foods like fast food all the time it will effect your health. The article stated that neighborhoods consisting of black people had twice the amount of fast food restaurants than in white neighborhoods. It also said that since there were more fast food restaurants that the people in the black neighborhoods were more likely to become obese or develop serious health problems, such as heart disease or cancers. Another issue was location, if there isn’t grocery store or farmer’s markets nearby then the people in that neighborhood just eat what is the most accessible to them. Sometimes the most accessible foods aren’t the healthiest choice out there. If you grew up next to a vendor of fruits and vegetables then you are probably more likely to eat healthier as an adult. Some people also don’t like to buy sustainable foods because of the cost of the foods. Why would someone want to buy expensive but healthy fruits and vegetables when they can get unhealthy foods cheaper from fast food restaurants and other unhealthy foods from grocery stores? I also believe that what you eat growing up as a kid influences what you eat as an adult. If you grew up eating healthy meals together with your family, chances are that you are going to keep eating these types of foods as an adult. On the other hand, if you grew up eating at fast food restaurants and not eating lots of fruits and vegetables then you aren’t going to start eating healthy when you are an adult on your own. If every neighborhood had access to fresh produce that was reasonably priced, I think that our society as a whole would be better off, and then it wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing if “you are what you eat.”

Desiree's Demonstration Speech

Although I had an introduction, a clear organization of steps, and a conclusion, my speech lacked a little background information on origami. My speech contained the visual aid of the origami paper and walked through step by step how to fold the piece of paper into a decorative origami box. The demonstration had a good tone of enthusiasm and held a good volume throughout the speech. While showing the folding steps, I maintained good eye contact with the audience members and for the most part held a good body language stance. A few times I broke the stance by shifting from foot to foot or tucking my hair behind my ears, but overall my body language and eye contact with the audience was good. I could have tried to pick up the pace a little bit by not waiting so long for the audience members to fold their paper, because the speech was over the time limit by about a minute. My speech was very conducive with the assignment at hand, because it was definitely a step by step process, which is what a demonstration is based on. Origami was a different direction than most of the class and that is why I chose it because I figured most of the class wouldn’t know how to do origami. So I thought origami would be conducive to the class because it’s something not a lot of people are knowledgeable about. Overall the speech was pretty good except for the timing and the pace of the speech. However, I did have a good visual presentation with the origami paper, and the audience was paying attention by folding the paper at the same time as I was giving the demonstration. My speech had it’s weaknesses but all in all it was a decent demonstration speech.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Cheerios Acclaimed Health Benefits

Cheerios, the breakfast cereal, makes health claims that it lowers cholesterol and makes your heart healthier. The FDA has since stated that the claims made on the box of Cheerios are not appropriate because the health claims can only be true if it is an FDA approved drug. The FDA also states that since Cheerios is a whole grain food it can mention its ability to lower heart disease, but it isn’t allowed to say it lowers cholesterol. The General Mills Corporation is currently working with the FDA to have the allegations that their claims are not false. There is no substitution for Cheerios; however, there are other types of oat cereals. So no there is no healthier substitution for Cheerios. Even if Cheerios has no health benefits, it is still the number the best selling cereal. So if it didn’t help people lower their cholesterol, I still think Cheerios would be a high selling product because people just like the taste of Cheerios. I would still recommend Cheerios as a product even if it doesn’t lower cholesterol. Cheerios still has lots of fiber and is a good source of whole grain according to the FDA. Cheerios are also made out of oats, and oats are healthy for you because they are a form of soluble fiber. So although the FDA may claim that Cheerios can’t lower cholesterol because it isn’t an FDA approved drug it still has true health claims as being high in fiber and since it is a whole grain it can help lower heart disease. So some of Cheerios health claims are not proven true yet, but it does have some proven benefits according to the FDA.