Ethical Issue: "What Is Food?"

http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/enlarge/freshfoodsafety.html healthy and nutritious living food

Searching for Fulfillment

About twenty-five years ago I started to notice that the produce at my neighborhood grocery store did not smell like produce anymore. I also noticed that all of the fruits and vegetables looked exactly alike one another. I often felt a bit uneasy pushing my shopping cart through the produce department, looking at the produce bins, not only was the “home grown” aroma missing, but there was also an added unnatural vibrancy to many of the colors I saw as well as a military uniformity to the shapes and sizes of the items. The meat department did not ease my mind in the least bit either. I would walk away from the packaged chicken area wondering how all those perfect little chicken legs in the airtight packages got from the farm to the grocery store looking as if they were produced in a factory instead of raised in the fresh outdoors and in a chicken coup.

I realize now what was happening to me in 1982-83. My past was on a collision course with the present as well as the future. I was wise to be concerned but ignorant as to what it really meant in the bigger scheme of things. Since the early 80’s much has changed agriculturally; many say it has progressed. Today in my “supermarket,”( rarely are they called grocery stores anymore), not only is the farm fresh aroma missing from the fruits and vegetables, but now we even have the man-made sound of a rain shower over the produce bins to alert us to the artificial misting for "longer shelf life" and better curb appeal.
I grew up on a farm in rural Iowa in the late 60’s and 70’s. My family were not typical farmers because my folks worked in the city and they did not farm the fields. We raised and butchered our own animals, we planted a huge garden every year, my Mom canned enough to feed all the people of Polk County, Iowa plus some, we stored vegetables in the root cellar and we harvested fruits from our orchards and robbed honey from the bee hives. We made jellies, wines, saur kraut, home made ketchup, head cheese (boiled pig head), pickles, and gathered our own eggs. We were poor in financial wealth but rich with a full pantry, full freezer, and full bellies.

My parents grew up very poor and in large mid western families. I am sure that they went without more often than not. I remember many times that I would see that pleased look on my Mom’s face as she was wiping down the last of the dozens of full canning jars to be “put up for the winter.” She instilled in me a sense of contentment and joy when it came to preparing, eating, and sharing home made foods. Meals were a gathering time for my family and we would talk and visit during our meals. We typically had meat, potatoes, vegetables, salad and a desert. Left overs were always eaten at the next days lunch meal.

I am so grateful for my farm upbringing today! I am blessed by the values I gained from my parents and also from my childhood experiences. I have been able to carry on some of my family traditions, especially at the holiday season. I love to make cookies and fudge and then put together Christmas plates for friends, co-workers, and neighbors. Every year when I do my ritual, I feel my Mom’s presence with me and it brings me great joy and peace. My Mom passed away 15 years ago and often in the hustle/bustle of my life I forget to “feel” her around me. For me there is a definite Spiritual connection between food, family, love, and Spirit. She gave that connection to me along with many other gifts.

In the world today, I sense an emptiness and an impersonal vacuumed quality about food preparation and manufacturing, its not even really “growing” food anymore. It is difficult to find “real” foods in supermarkets. Companies can create, vitamin fortified, high fibered, natural flavored, 10% natural fruit juiced, products that are meant to replace all the fresh produce items that are not as profitable to the big manufactures any longer.

The fast paced life style of our society has affected how we think about food. Fast food is almost a daily staple item for most people. Convenience, speed, and easy access propel many people to accept “fast food” as real sustenance in their daily lives. I’ve personally known a small boy, about two years old, who actually knew the McDonalds golden arches before he knew big Bird or Barney! The empty calories that are manufactured and sold as food at restaurants are not filling to a persons stomach or their soul.

My final thought is that food production today is immensely different than it was even 20 years ago. We now have at least one entire generation who has only been exposed to this mass production, mass marketing of unnatural food product. I don’t think they realize what food and nutrition have evolved to at this point in time. I think with marketing strategies and advertisements the overall opinion is that food is more nutritious today than its ever been. I for one, am not in agreement with that sentiment.

A Day of Food

My Day of documenting everything I consumed:

From the time I got out of bed at 4:45 am and went to bed at approximatrly 11:00pm that night, I wrote down everything I ate and drank.

I consumed 6 cups of coffee throughout the day-my cups are larger than the 6 oz. choice listed on "Balance Mind Body and Soul."..Mine are closer to 10-12 oz. cups w/ sweet n low packet in each cup which has no nutritional value. 0 calories

Items listed below were not on the list of choices:
I consumed 2 -20 oz. watter bottles mixed with Crystal Light nutritional value on package: 5 calories per pack and no other nutritional value. 10 cal. total

I used 2 tablespoons of Ranch dressing on my salad of 4 oz.romaine, 1 egg, 2 oz. cheese, and 2 crumbled sausage patties. The Ranch dressing per serving has 140 calories, 14 gram fat, carbohydrates 2, saturated fats 2.5 gram, fiber 0, trans fat 0, sugars 1 gram, cholesterol 10 mg., protein 1, sodium 260 mg. 140 cal. total

I follow a low carbohydrate eating lifestyle/approach and on this particular day I kept my carbs at 18 total. I have been eating the low carb way since the middle of 2003 with a few minor time periods where I did not pay attention to my carb count. I have had food and weight issues since I was 11-12 years of age and throughout most of my life I have been what I consider too weight focused and also over weight. Since 2003 when I accidently stumbled upon the Atkins philosophy ( on the HSN channel in the middle of the night eating frozen cookie dough mindlessly), I have been able to de-focus from food somewhat and also to lose weight quickly initially and then take it off fairly easily (with LOTS of exercise!) and mindfulness of what I am consuming when I put some pounds back on over time. I initially dropped about 35 pounds back in 03-04 and then put a few lbs. back on 12-15 lbs. but started walking/running and returning to the Induction phase of Atkins, which is keeping under 10 carbs a day to take the weight gain off. Fifteen months ago I quit smoking (after 32 years of smoking) so I put about 15-18 lbs on after quitting- but in the past 3 months I have been able to lose about 9 of those pounds so I still have 6-9 more to drop. The Atkins works great for me but I think about and worry sometimes because I don't eat fruit. I rarely eat veggies. I eat tons of meat, eggs, pork rinds, and cheese but NOT living food. My medical labs always come back great on my cholesterol and liver functions and also my blood sugar is always right about 80 everytime I've checked it. I have tons of energy, can run half marathons and hike down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon (I did it last weekend and it was soooo amazing!!) My body and system thrives without processed sugar products being a part of my diet. I have occasionally "went on a binge" where I almost compulsively am obsessed with some high sugar food item (like canned frosting) and if I let my mind trick me into thinking/believing I will "just eat one spoonful" then I am done for!!! I will usually eat the entire container, throw away the evidence, and then go through a physical sugar cycle of detox. This doesn't occur very often fortunately. The low-carb idea works well for me because I have some foods that I can eat without limit as long as they do not contain carbs. This is helpful for me. Food tends to control me less today.I think my metabolism works well with very low carbs, much better than with the way I was eating before.

www.medindia.net Atkins nutritional food pyriamid

www.mattscott5000.com Atkins posing with acceptable foods for the eating style he developed

Three Questions:

How healthy a daily diet do you think this is?

A- I think the diet I ate for the day was "healthy" because I focus my attention on carbohydrates, however, I have been recently questioning my choices in respect to my consuption, or lack of, living foods.

Why?

My dietary choices follow the Atkins approach. I feel very healthy and also perform well in activities. My physician has been supportive of my eating style.

What would you change about this days eating, if anything?

A- I would not change anything- this is a typical day for me.

Do you find this kind of nutritional tracking helpful?

A- I think this type of tracking is useful and also helpful.

Why or why not?

A- It is helpful because I was actually surprised at my carb intake, it was more than I had predicted. I think this may be a typical outcome- numbers being more than what a person would think them to be. It is a good system to see various parts of nutritional values broken down.

Lab Write-Up/ Blood Pressure

www.topnews.in/usa/files/Blood%20Pressure.jpg blood pressure Sphygmomanometer photo with explanation and guidelines

On Line Lab/ Blood Pressure Experiment
The virtual Blood Pressure Experiment consisted of five (5) groupings of male subjects and five (5) groupings of female subjects. The groupings were broken down into age brackets of 11-17, 18-24, 25-34, 35-44, and 45-54 years of age.
The purpose behind Oxygen/Circulation/Immunity: Online Lab for Human Biology was to show that I had gained knowledge about taking a persons pulse, blood pressure/hypertension, and also the factors that can lead to and cause hypertension.
From a web site I looked at (listed below)
http://www.disabled-world.com/artman/publish/bloodpressurechart.shtml
I learned a wealth of information about blood pressure. I found out that there are many indicators and factors leading to a person having high blood pressure. Long term (chronic) high blood pressure is called, “hypertension”. Hypertension can damage blood vessels, lead to heart attacks and strokes.

Some of the most common factors are, age, obesity (30%) over ideal weight, alcohol consumption, sodium intake, lack of exercise, too much stress, smoking, heredity, gender, and race. Some of these items are completely out of a persons control, however, the good news is that many of these factors are decided by the persons choices! Things such as exercise, alcohol consumption, smoking, sodium intake, and obesity, are all results of our lifestyle and choices.

This piece of information is especially important because the items we can not change CAN be influenced in a positive direction by the factors we DO have control over. By this I mean that I can not change my family history of high blood pressure or my age of 47, however, I can choose to exercise, and maintain my weight within healthy guidelines, I can choose to NOT smoke, and also watch my sodium intake. The choices that I make, and the steps that I take, (literally) to help my blood pressure stay in the normal range can at least help to stabilize or balance out the “not in my control” factors.

Normal Blood Pressure - Blood pressure reading below 120/80 is considered normal.
High Blood Pressure - Blood pressure of 140/90 or higher is considered high blood pressure. If one or both numbers are usually high, you have high blood pressure.

Below are the journal questions from the lab write-up virtual experiment:

Q#1-State a problem about the relationship of age and gender to blood pressure.

The relationship of age and gender can be problematic to blood pressure in the following way; As a person ages whether they are male or female, on an average, their blood pressure has a natural tendency to increase on both the systolic (top) and the diastolic (lower) numbers of the blood pressure.

Q#2- Use your knowledge about the heart and the circulatory system to make a hypothesis about how the average blood pressure for a group of people would be affected by manipulating the age and gender of the group members.

- My hypothesis is that as a person ages, regardless of their gender, there is a good possibility that blood pressure will increase. Men have a higher risk of hypertension than women, however, as stress factors continue to escalate for females in today’s world, they too have higher health risks regarding blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes. The average blood pressure for a specific group of people will be affected by the natural signs of aging in the body. As men age they generally do not fair as well as females when looking at high blood pressure averages. Men may also make much less healthy choices as far as food/nutrient intake and life style choices, such as alcohol consumption, smoking, and not enough exercise. The choices made throughout the years directly affect the heart and the circulatory system. High cholesterol, plaque build up in the circulation system and sedentary life style influence blood pressure. The key factor I think is obesity, which is heavily influenced by the amount of exercise and food intake (caloric) choices.
Q#3-How will you use the investigation screen to test your hypothesis?

I will pay close attention to the blood pressure increase between both the male and the female subjects as the age brackets increase. I will also pay attention to the “factors” that are common on the individual persons chart to figure out what the commonalities are.
What steps will you follow?

I will look at the health risk factors that can be applied to each of the subjects that have hypertension in my experiment. I also want to look closely at any subjects with high blood pressure who only have, “Family History” as a health risk factors to be listed.

What data will you record?

I will follow age and gender first. I will look for weight within optimal range. I will look for family history and also “life choices” to find any trends.

Q#4- Analyze the result of your experiment.
Explain any patterns you observed.

Men and women both show increases in blood pressure as they age. Women do not show the amount of average increase to the same level that males do in my experiment. Up until 17 years of age males and females are almost identical. Men seem to increase on the average earlier in the life cycle then females do. Women average closer in their systolic number until they reach the 44 year age group when they jump 9 points after that. Men’s systolic steadily increases throughout the five age groups with the biggest jump being to the 18-24 age group.

Q#5-Did the result of your experiment support your hypothesis? Why or why not? Based on your experiment what conclusion can you draw about the relationship of age and gender to group blood pressure averages?

I do think my hypothesis is supported by the outcome because I stated that on the average a person would experience higher blood pressure and that men more so than females. My conclusion is that age and gender do play definite roles in hypertension .

Q#6-During the course of your experiment, did you obtain any blood pressure reading that were outside of the normal range for the group being tested? What did you notice on the medical charts for these individuals that might explain their high reading?

Yes I did get reads that were outside of the normal range starting with males in the 35 + age groups and then in the females group 45+.

Q#7-List risk factors associated with the hypertension. Based al range.on your observation, which risk factor do you think is most closely associated with hypertension?

I got five (5) abnormal reads on males between ages 35-44 and then seven (7) abnormal males age bracket 45-54. I also found two (2) abnormal reads on females between the ages of 45-54. I found 5 of the males to have family history. One of the females as well. I also found obesity to be of medical note on eight (8) of the 12 males and on one of the females. On a total of 9 of 14 subjects that had hypertension, one of their health factors was “obesity”. I think that a person maintaining a healthy weight can be critical to high blood pressure. I found lack of exercise, alcohol consumption, and sodium intake on various subjects. Family history (hereditary) seems to be a strong indicator of hypertension.

Q#8-What effect might obesity have on blood pressure? Does obesity alone cause a person to be at risk for high blood pressure? What other factors, in combination with obesity, might increase a person's risk for high blood pressure?

Obesity affects a persons cardiovascular/heart system because of the over stress that the heart muscle has to tolerate. The circulatory system has to work harder to accomplish the same amount of product (output) which includes oxygen and other gases within the body in an overweight person. The persons entire body must work harder to keep up with the added strain. In one of my females the only warning factor was +41 lb.over optimal weight. In one of my men it appeared one of his factors was ‘race’ and he was also +43 lbs over optimal weight. I think obesity can be the cause of hypertension, but I think it is influenced by other influences such as sodium intake, lack of exercise, high caloric/fatty foods.


Below is of my blood pressure comparison table for male and female/age catagories:

Below is my Graph that shows where male female differences lie when comparing the systolic and diastolic numbers: