Author: Samantha Gleich (Page 1 of 2)

Jared Fogle was an obese college student who started what is today known as the Subway diet. Fogle would only consume Subway subs for lunch and dinner every day of every week. Fogle has gone from 425lbs to 200lbs through the Subway chain.

“The Subway diet was his [Fogle’s] own idea — a 6-inch turkey sub for lunch and a full-length veggie sub for dinner, both meals with a bag of baked chips and a diet soda”.

Though I am not sure if I support the concept of the Subway diet, Fogle’s transformation was truly incredible and this article is extremely interesting to read. Let me know what you think about the subway diet!

This video goes into a lot of detail regarding what is wrong with the current, modern-day Farm Bill. Most of the topics mentioned we have already discussed in class, however, there were a few interesting facts that were stated that we did not necessarily read about! For example, the government subsidizes Christmas tree farming relatively heavily. It is so interesting to hear about what the government feels needs to be subsidized and what they feel does not need support. Based on these subsidies, we see certain farmers succeeding, while others struggle to make ends meet.

This article shows eleven different graphs that truly depict the reasons American citizens are more overweight and unhealthy today than in past decades. A lot of these graphs depicted can be related back to the food producers themselves and what chemicals/additives are being incorporated into our food. For example, the large increase in the consumption of soybean oil can undoubtedly be traced back to food processors incorporating this cheap crop into products. The two most shocking graphs in my opinion were the graphs that depicted the huge spike in both butter consumption and in refined sugars. Check it out!

http://authoritynutrition.com/11-graphs-that-show-what-is-wrong-with-modern-diet/

After giving my presentation in class on Monday, I thought you all might be interested in what the Hershey company has to say about the PGPR additive in their chocolate. They claim that the scientific research that has been done by the FDA has concluded that PGPR is safe, however, other scientific studies have concluded otherwise. This may be due to Hershey conducting their own research through the FDA. In addition to the information on PGPR, Hershey has a sidebar (on the left side) stating all of the ingredients they use in their chocolate. With all of those added ingredients, any nutritional value that the original, unprocessed cocoa had is now overridden by the many unnatural and excessive additives that Hershey adds to their chocolate.

http://www.thehersheycompany.com/nutrition-and-wellbeing/what-we-believe/our-ingredients/ingredient-topics/pgpr.aspx

http://www.organicgardening.com/ is a fantastic website that is full of useful information. After taking this class, many of you may want to plant your own garden at home if you do not have one already. This website talks in detail about many of the botanical and environmental related aspects of gardening and farming. The importance and details of crop rotation, as well as information about composting, and even information regarding the safety and usefulness of specific herbicides and chemicals.

This article is rather dense and long, however, it is very interesting to read as it presents two, opposing sides regarding the broad argument : Overall, are America’s modern-day agricultural practices “good” or “bad”? Based on what we have discussed in class, a great deal of modern-day agricultural practices are flawed and could be improved to support a more sustainable and healthy system. Many of the negative impacts of modern-day agriculture that we have discussed in class are mentioned in this article. As I was reading, I found myself trying to rebut the arguments made by those who stated that the American farming model was a “good” model.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101501030#.

After discussing the Green Revolution and Vandana Shiva today in on Friday, I came across this New Yorker article that quotes Shiva many times explaining her opposition to the Green Revolution and how such a movement is detrimental to the world around us.

There article quotes Shiva many times, however, the quote that stuck with me the most was when Shiva stated, “I realized they [people in favor of genetic engineering] want to patent life, and life is not an invention”. It is true, that GMO seeds treat plants as an item that is not living in any sense. Although plants differ from animals in the sense that they do not express emotions or have definite nervous systems, plants are still living beings that deserve to let the course of evolution govern their development as opposed to having human beings play the role of “God”. Read this article! Shiva states her opinions very strongly as a critic of the Green Revolution.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/08/25/seeds-of-doubt

This article provides up-to-date information about the current GMO labeling debate in Oregon and Colorado. As of now, the article states that 42% of Oregonian citizens are for the labeling movement while 48% of citizens are against the labeling. Though this 48% against the movement is not a sweeping majority, the closeness in the poll percentages does not look promising for those who wish to see GMO labels on food item. If states that are considered to be environmentally friendly such as Oregon cannot even agree to initiate GMO labeling, is there any hope for other states such as PA, NJ, and NY?

http://online.wsj.com/articles/gmo-labeling-faces-ballot-test-in-oregon-colorado-1414961328

The author of this article, Edward Batha, was an overweight man with high cholesterol levels. In order to try and lose weight and gain control over his health, Batha decided to go vegan for a month to see how such a diet would affect his health. Batha’s experience was quite interesting as he was forced to investigate every single ingredient of all of the foods he consumed. Through reading this article, I began to realize how many animal products are hidden in foods that we do not even realize. For example, Batha states that most beers contains a fining agent that usually is made of fish bladder (EW?).

Check out Batha’s story and read about all of the shocking foods that are made with animal products!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-471918/Could-lentils-save-life-Meet-man-vegan-month.html

This article discusses some primary concerns Europeans seem to have with American farming. Germany and France stated that agricultural trading with America is important for both economies, however, the European nations were very skeptical about the GMO’s and pesticides that are being used on the American-grown crops. Many of the chemicals that are being used on crops in America are already banned in Europe. Therefore, by importing such chemical-infested crops, theses European nations are still not successfully avoiding the issue at hand.

The author also mentions that he feels the European agricultural system is different than that of America because it is older and therefore more traditional. Do you agree with this statement? Do you feel that this “more traditional” reasoning could contribute to Europe’s disapproval of GMO’s/pesticides?

http://www.farmandranchguide.com/entertainment/country_living/farm_and_ranch_life/is-american-farming-different-than-european-farming/article_33f27e66-1e50-11e4-beda-0019bb2963f4.html