Friday, June 1, 2012

Chicken eaters manifesto


A Chicken Eater’s Manifesto

All quarter I have been writing about food.  Apart from furthering my appetite, I have learned a lot about food.  There have been both pleasant moments and unpleasant ones, but as an eater, I have evolved.  I have learned to consider more where the food comes from, and what exactly it is, before I shove it into my hungering mouth.  Some of the foods I enjoy the most, the ones that are abundant and easiest to find, are most likely to be obtained through unethical practices.  I need to watch what I eat.  While my knowledge of food has grown I have also learned healthier ways to eat.  Being healthy isn’t solely about what you put into your body, but how you choose to eat it.  As a result of my research and personal experience I believe it would be in my best interest to change the way I eat.  I want to have better knowledge of what exactly I am putting into my body and how I am doing so.
Much of the food I mostly eat is meat.  Although it tastes good, and gives the body proteins that help build muscle, there are other things I should consider before I choose to ingest any meat.  Lots of meat in America today is harvested through what is known as factory farming.  This farming practice subjects animals to inhumane treatment, in order to yield high results that meet demands in our consumer driven economy.  “More than any other institution, the American industrial animal farm offers a nightmarish glimpse of what capitalism can look like in the absence of moral or regulatory constraint.”(Pollan, 7)   Broiler chickens are harvested for their meat.  They live the entirety of their lives in small cages called battery cages(Pollan, 1).  In these cages the birds will lose most of the feathers on their wings due to stress.  They bite out their feathers due to stress.  Their beaks are clipped so they can’t harm themselves too much.  This has to be extremely painful for the birds, as they have to know what their lives are coming down to.  They live inside what is an industrial building with thousands of cages.  Cages upon cages are stacked and the bird’s excrement falls down from one cage into another.  They are born, raised, and killed in one building.  Real ground is never felt by their feet.  Such practices yield high results, results that meet the demands of our economy.  In other countries many of the things that go on here, in factory farms, have been banned.  Why doesn’t America do the same?  Capitalism creates too much greed, and lobbyists in the meat industry would push such that restrictive laws never apply to them.  The companies behind these actions make too much money to want to change their methods.  We, as people who passively support their practices, need to take more of a sound and begin to protest these actions.  We need to let them know that consumers don’t like it.
Thinking about many of the meals I am offered at this school, I realize that many of them include chicken.  Chicken burritos at Nagel, chicken pesto sandwich at the Law School Café, chicken Parmesan at nelson dining hall.  Chicken cubes in the salad bar at Nelson, the list goes on.  Chicken is the most demanded food in the United States.  Three out of four times at school, I will eat chicken at least once during the day.  Sure, it tastes good, but what are the moral implications for eating meat obtained through unethical practices.  It creates weight on one’s conscious, how can a person fully enjoy eating an animal that lived a life of hell?  They probably can’t, or at least it’s too hard for me to.  That being said, why would I not want to enjoy every meal I have to the fullest, would it taste better?  Maybe, that’s hard to judge.  But one thing is for sure; I would feel better about my decision to eat it.  One extremely part of food to me, is knowing where it has came from, what it went through before it was served to me.  Was it obtained through ethical practices?  Knowing where your food comes from, along with having healthy eating practices is hands-down the best way to live a healthy lifestyle.  Who doesn’t want that?
On the note of health, it is always said that breakfast jumpstarts the day.  Does eating this small morning meal really give the eater a head start on their day?  A study from the “Health Reference Center Academic Database” helped me gain information about the effects of eating breakfast.  It turns out that eating breakfast leads to healthier food choices throughout the day.  The study showed that “Eating breakfast with carbs (cereal) proved to result in healthier choices for the rest of the day.  Diets lower in fats, SFAs, and higher in proteins and carbs resulted”(Gibson,1).  Granted, healthier choices can still include chicken or other food farmed in unethical ways, but that is another concern.  So how does breakfast lead to healthier food choices throughout the day? I’d like to use an analogy to explain this.  Food is energy to our bodies as gas is to a car.  When first starting a road trip, say with a quarter tank of gas, it might be smart to fill up to be able to get further without needing more gas.  Even though it might save time to simply drive past the gas station, getting more gas before the car needs it, is crucial.  Lets say that the driver chose not to stop but to keep driving.  Now they are in the middle of a desert with their tank on “E.”  When they need gas the most they don’t have access to it.  Coasting downhill, they spot a gas station.  It is a miracle.  The gas station only has diesel and mid-grade, but the car needs premium.  It will still run on the lesser “mid-grade,” but not as well, as it is clearly worse for the engine.  When a person chooses to eat breakfast, they are giving their body energy it will need later, not immediately, but later.  If they don’t eat it, later they will be much more hungry, needing more energy and will go for a quick-energy food, that is typically high in sugars. 
Eating a breakfast prevents one from crashing, and splurging on unhealthy, quick-energy foods.  At school I am spoiled with what is known as “The Omelet Bar.”  At this breakfast bar, I can order an omelet or eggs of my choosing with any fillers you can imagine.  It ranges from cubed ham, tomatoes, other veggies, to things such as green chili.  The study showed that eating cereal will lead to the healthiest choices, due to the carbs, and their lasting energy.  Despite knowing that, I don’t really like cereal, it is too sugary for me, and I think the eggs taste better.  It has become my morning routine to get an egg scrambler from the omelet bar.  Eating these eggs helps me avoid hunger during my next classes, but where do its ingredients come from?  I never see any packages, only food in metal containers, eggs pre-cracked in a giant bucket for omelets.  Once I considered this more, I decided I should research these eggs more.
It turns out that chickens aren’t only harvested for their meat. “Hen's eggs are the most common source of egg nutrition. In 1989 the three largest egg-producing countries were China (140,900 × 106 eggs), Russia (84,600 × 106 eggs), and the United States (67,042 × 106 eggs)(Kritchevsky, 560).”  The American laying hen is grown for its eggs(Pollan, 6).  The hens are confined to extremely small cages that have been banned in other countries.  But not in America(Farm, 73).  They are forced to lay eggs and eggs until they cant anymore.  Once they no longer have the capability to lay eggs, they are force molted to lay any remaining eggs they might have.  Molting is something a chicken would normally do in cold weather.  To force this molting, the chickens are typically starved.  What about this, only female chickens have the capability of egg laying.  So you ask, what happens to the males?  At birth they are separated and all male chickens are thrown out.  You’re probably wondering what I mean by “thrown out,” well here’s the answer; they are put on a conveyer belt into a massive grinder.  If this approach isn’t taken, they are commonly stuffed into big bags where they will suffocate.  Why should so much life be taken just so Americans can eat cheap eggs?  One thing was very troubling, just because the chickens are maltreated, doesn’t mean they wont taste as good.  If I didn’t know they were mistreated, would I think it tasted worse? Sadly, the answer is probably not.  Taste is the least of my worries.  I care because I couldn’t live with myself knowing I am passively supporting such malpractices.  It isn’t right to cause harm to any animal, despite how small, stupid, or abundant they might be.  These farming practices of chickens aren’t bad for just the animals, but also the workers.  “Boneless chicken breast is by far the most popular chicken product on the market; it is also the most labor-intensive. Workers in "debone" stand shoulder-to-shoulder, slicing and chopping their way through joints, tendons, and tough gristle, a process that re- quires 20 to 30 hard twisting motions per minute.”(Cook, 2)  Injuries commonly arise in groups of factory farm workers.  Along with these injuries also come physiological disorders.  What they are doing in traumatizing.  They are underpaid.  They are overworked.  But who really cares about the workers, it is the animals that we should really be concerned about.  If the animals weren’t being “harvested” for their loom, only to be disposed of when “useless,” no workers would have to work in such factories.  Imagine if humans were grown in huge groups in a factory.  Imagine your brother and sister being taken from you at birth, as you were thrown into a life of slavery.  Would you want to kill yourself?  The animals sure do.
Back to what I eat.  With the dining hall food - I don’t know where it comes from.  There are no labels.  There is no brand.  It is only “Sodexo,” the company that prepares and serves all food at my college.  I have no information on where the food comes from.  It is only presented in a buffet style inside of the dining halls.  Sure, having a plethora of food gives me a lot of freedom, but it takes away information I would receive if I bought the food myself.  For example, if I want a glass of milk it comes out of a giant dispenser.  I have seen inside this metal, refrigerated machine when they change out the milk.  Inside sit 3 enormous plastic bags.  Low-fat, 2%, and chocolate.  There are no labels on these bags.  No brand name, no location of origin.  Sure, it tastes good, and the calcium in milk helps my bones keep strong; but where does it come from?  What did the cows go through to produce this milk?  Were they stuffed with fatty foods inside a cage where they lived solely to produce the milk I would drink?  Maybe the cow was able to walk around in a field and roam.  I like to fantasize that it got time to really enjoy life.  The way a cow should live.  If the cow was, in fact, raised in what is called free range, its milk would undoubtedly be more expensive.  Sodexo would have to spend more money paying for milk where there is little to no taste difference.  That’s part of the problem, people wont think lesser of a food where the animals were mistreated, unless they know.  Why would Sodexo spend money on free-range milk and sacrifice profits to make only a handful of students who care happy?  Simple answer: they wouldn’t.  Eating the right foods is hard to do out here at school.  That is one reason why I want to live off campus next year.  I could get off the meal plan, to buy food I actually know about.  Every summer I buy a lot of food from the farmers market in my town.  This way I support a local business, and will have the opportunity to ask about their practices.  There is a face to the farmer that gives me my food.  He is not a machine.  He is not a warehouse filled with animals.  His practices are smaller, and more ethical.  His farm is smaller, and it’s looms are more expensive.  But the price is worth it.  I owe it to all the mistreated animals.  I enjoy everyday of my life, why shouldn’t they?  Being so close to Wisconsin, I have access to all of their farming and dairy products.  Not to mention, lots of farming comes out of my home state, Illinois.  This makes it incredibly easy for me to pick the right foods.  Foods I know about.
I believe it is necessary to know about what you eat.  Anyone can shove food into their body, but where was it before then?  Other countries have outlawed certain factory farming practices that the United States commonly uses.  We need to change our ways, and it won’t happen unless people voice their opinions, and word is spread about what goes on behind these curtains.  It will be hard, helping smaller practices that aren’t as cost effective costs the consumer a lot more.  Americans need to take action.  One person deciding not to eat food won’t make a difference alone. But one person spreading the word, and the people they told spreading the word would boom exponentially.  I understand that not everyone can afford to eat only organic, free-range food, its too expensive.  But knowing what is going on is enough action on its own.  Change won’t happen without people caring enough to make a difference.  I can’t continue the way I have been naively eating; now knowing what happens to the food before it goes into my mouth.  Humans may be the dominant animals on Earth, but they need to give more to those less powerful, those less smart, because without them, we would be nothing.




Works Cited
Cook, Christopher D. "FOWL TROUBLE." Harper's Magazine 1 Aug. 1999: 1-2. Print.

"Farm Animals." Animal Rights. Kim Masters Evans. 2007 ed. Detroit: Gale, 2008. 57-86. Information Plus Reference Series. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 9 May 2012.

Gibson, S.A., and P. Gunn. "What's for breakfast? Nutritional implications of breakfast habits: insights from the NDNS dietary records." Nutrition Bulletin 36.1 (2011): 78+. Health Reference Center Academic. Web. 15 May 2012.

Kritchevsky, David. "Eggs." Encyclopedia of Food and Culture. Ed. Solomon H. Katz. Vol. 1. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2003. 558-562. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 8 May 2012.


Pollan, Michael. "An Animal's Place." 2004. Web. 30 May 2012.




Wednesday, May 30, 2012

final short post

The most interesting thing I learned about food was the importance of breakfast.  Right now I have a fast metabolism, but later in life I wont.  Eating healthy will only become a bigger and bigger deal, so I should probably start while I'm ahead.  It was also learning about where chickens and eggs come from, although I still am not sure which came first.  I have progressed as a writer in building a more solid argument.  I feel as if I can write a better paper than before I came into this class.  I learned to assemble my thoughts in a clear and concise manner before I started to write.  By doing this, I know what direction my paper is headed.  And I am able to keep it more on track.

Sunday, May 20, 2012

What has the food come to?


After reading these two pieces I have given more thought to how what I eat is dictated by the media.  From when I was a little kid I was influenced by the television, as it decided for me what was good and what wasn’t.  I wanted Frosted Flakes not because I knew they tasted good(they actually do).  I wanted them because the commercials with “Tony the tiger” were sweet.  Now I think about how everyone went through a Vitamin Water craze solely because in the name it says “Vitamin.”  How stupid.  Is the water better for anyone than normal water on a Vitamin Water-less diet is?  Doubt it, it’s just smart marketing that sucks people in because they read vitamins and assume it is good for the body.
Pollan and Dupuis make the point that the media influences what people want to eat.  The media can relay information from scientists who are all-knowing, and can dictate what is good and what isn’t for the body.  If they find out a new type of vitamin, chances are people would go ape shit for whatever food it may be in.  Main point being that people are influenced too much by the media and news, in deciding what they should eat.  That is why I live by this motto, “eat what tastes good.”  Pollan’s piece also gave some advice on ways to avoid this socialization in the way we eat, in order to know what’s going in, and keep healthy.  Dupuis’ piece was less focused on the now, and gave a broader sense of food and why people eat what they do.  There was a slight history of they first instances of a single person convincing others to eat they way “they should.”  It started with religion but has clearly spread.  Most things we eat aren’t actually food, they are just combinations of different chemicals to form some tasty substance. 
That being said, what exactly is food?  Does it have to grow out of the ground?  Vitamin Water surely doesn’t.  Does it have to be all-natural? That’s what organic is for, right?  Food comes in all forms, shapes, and sizes, so it’s what you make of it.  Keep it healthy, or add lots of powerful tastes.  One way you might not know what exactly you’re putting into your body.  Have caution, but try to keep a healthy, free choice diet.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

observations on SE5

I found two topics interesting for these short essays.  Breakfast & Binge Drinking.  Dont think they're related? Guess again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZDv9pgHp8Q

It turns out that eating breakfast helps a person have a healthier diet, with less over eating later in the day.  It also turns out that binge drinking can impair brain function later in life.  This includes memory and speech.  If you haven't seen epic meal time.  You should really watch the video posted above.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Breakfast - A Healthy Start (SE5)


            When looking through my food journal and those of other classmates, one trend stuck out.  What I saw over and over is that not many students eat breakfast during the week.  I’ve always been told that a breakfast helps make your day better, but that is only a claim.  I’ve been told that eating a healthy breakfast will make a student preform better on an exam, but is it true?  Can eating one small meal before starting the day really have such profound effects?  What about health implications?  I know it is bad to eat right before bed, so is it bad to eat when you get up; to eat while the body is still in its drowsy state? 
            To guide my quest for information I decided to revert to the “Health Reference Center Academic Database.”  The article I chose was about the nutritional benefits of eating breakfast.  They surveyed young to middle aged people, “…the National Diet and Nutrition Survey of adults aged 19-to-64-years(Gibson, 1).”  Since college students are typically 18-22 years old, I figured we applied to this age group, despite the missing age of 18.  The participants were surveyed for a week, which yielded to 12068 potential breakfast eating occasions(Gibson, 1). 
            Taking this 12,068 potential opportunities and dividing it by seven days, yields to 1,724 total participants in the survey.  Taking 64-19 gives 45 total different ages.  Now assuming there were an equal number of people for each age, we have 1,724/45=38.31 people per each age.  Knowing that, we can multiply it by the 5 years of college students included in the study giving us 191.5 out of 1,724 total people fitting the category of college-aged students.  To give an easier idea of what I am talking about, that was roughly 11% of the entire study.  Looking back on this I could have set up a proportion with the ages and number of people, but either way I would have arrived at the same conclusion.  Math set aside, we now have an idea of how relevant this information is. 
            The study found that when people ate breakfast, their diet for the rest of the day was drastically improved.  This makes sense to me for one simple reason.  Eating breakfast gives the body energy from food right away, so it has something to run on.  If the body doesn’t get this energy, it will eventually need it later, and probably much more.  Filling your gas tank half way before you run out will let you go a lot longer than running it to empty, then needing a full tank of gas instantaneously, when you really need it bad.  Eating breakfast with carbs (cereal) proved to result in healthier choices for the rest of the day.  Diets lower in fats, SFAs, and higher in proteins and carbs resulted(Gibson,1).  “Compared with skipping breakfast, micronutrient intakes were marginally higher on days when non-cereal breakfast was consumed but 30-90% higher on days where cereal was consumed.(Gibson, 1).” 
            This study shows that a good breakfast can lead to healthier choices throughout the rest of the day.  A good start leads to a good finish.  Breakfast is better had than not, and in the long run, a good breakfast can impact one’s health a lot.  If a person were to eat cereal every morning, then not crave the foods that are quick energy, but unhealthy.  Their body would most likely receive better food throughout their life.  That being said, before when I calculated that 11% of this study was relevant in age to college students, I no longer think that is relevant.  This is because these students will one day become 64 year old men and women, and healthy eating habits aren’t limited to one age group.

Source Citation
Gibson, S.A., and P. Gunn. "What's for breakfast? Nutritional implications of breakfast habits: insights from the NDNS dietary records." Nutrition Bulletin 36.1 (2011): 78+. Health Reference Center Academic. Web. 15 May 2012.

Monday, May 14, 2012

observations on food journals

I noticed a few trends in everyone's food journals from over the weekend.  First, they all range from Friday through Saturday.  Second, there is a lot of chicken consumption.  A LOT.  Third, a few people ate oranges.  Maybe they're healthy? Maybe they're just some of the only good fruit in the dining halls? Who knows.  Fourth, it seems to be a trend that people ate (to generalize) at least one meal out over the weekend.  That is all.

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Food Diary (Top Secret)


Friday May 11, 2012
9:50
Got out of engineering connections headed to Nagel and picked up a
·      breakfast burrito
o   egg
o   chorizo
o   cheese
o   pico de gallo
o   lettuce
·      Starbucks mocha cappuccino
12:45
Nelson Lunch
·      Ham and American cheese melt
·      Bowl of cantaloupe and yogurt
·      Orange
·      Rootbeer
8:41
·      Jimmy johns beach club on wheat
·      Water

Saturday May 12, 2012
11:00
·      sea salt and vinegar chips from JJ’s
3:00
·      pepperoni cheese steak from south philly
7:00
·      alpha phi formal
o   cheese and crackers
§  goat cheese? Cheddar? Swiss?
o   Bread
o   Chips & guac
o   Chicken with orzo and cooked tomatoes
o   Broccoli carrot
o   Cheesecake w/ strawberries and chocolate straw w/ red strawberry sauce

Sunday May 13, 2012
6:31am
·      water
1:30
·      Omelet with green chili, ham, tomatoes, and spinach
·      Biscuit with gravy (containing sausage and peppers)
·      Glass of milk
·      Glass of apple juice
6:08
·      Pepper
·      Mushroom
·      Sweet potato
·      Lettuce
6:30
·      Cheeseburger melt with grilled onions and pickles
·      Sweet potato
·      Nachos
·      Two glasses of milk
6:48
·      Water
7:30
·      Chicken fried rice and orange chicken
·      Apple juice