Final Post

The most interesting or useful thing that I have learned in this course was how we overlook the consequences of the food we eat. The infographic and Tomatoland really opened my eyes to the ethical implications that occur because of the processing food needs in order for us to eat it. It matters because when we eat food, we don't normally think about how it got there or how it came to be. Who would look at a tomato and say "well, actually, it's only red right now because of ethylene gas"? I guess for me it was just the realization that I really do take some things for granted with food that I should be more cognizant about. I plan to employ this knowledge in the future by keeping it in my mind when I am eating and spreading the knowledge that I have to other people. Learning that the chickens that we eat are feed with a lot of growth hormones to the point where they cannot withstand it has made me realize the value of what protestors are fighting for and why they try so hard to spread their pamphlets and make people aware of these injustices. Pollan's piece was especially thought-provoking, with his talk about "speciesism" and how our treatment towards animals appears hypocritical.  

EE2

E2: An Eater’s Manifesto


1,700 words minimum


Write an eater’s manifesto in which you declare your food values and how those values will inform your relationship to food and your food choices. Your manifesto should have a research foundation and should incorporate at least five sources. You may draw from personal experiences as well as any of the writing that you have completed for this course. The best essays will take a position relative food values, integrate research in consideration of that position, and connect that position to personal food practices and eating choices.

A Zen Eater's Manifesto

            To me, there is something attractive about the principle of mindfulness that Buddhists preach for. Mindfulness teaches people the power of being aware of what is going on in the world around them. I bring the teachings of Buddhist tradition because I feel there are some aspects of my life that have been cast aside like food - things that I feel I have grown unmindful of. I realized this after analyzing my own dietary habits through my food journal. What once was free time during vacations has become a divided schedule - full of lectures, labs and other commitments like homework and studying. With that is the sacrifice of time to do other things like eating and sleeping, an example of opportunity cost at its finest. Getting work done has been my priority at school, and so eating has become an additive to my busy life. Right now, I eat simply because I know my stomach is empty but what I desire is balance.  This manifesto serves as my blueprint - to bring clarity to what I value in food and the actions necessary to proceed with my plan. Slow down and savor.

            Keeping up with the tempo of modern society is grueling at times; obligations take over me, and I find myself snacking quickly before resuming work again. This leads to a full stomach, but does it lead to contentment? Not always. As Pollan said in his novel In Defense of Food:An Eater's Manifesto, he would quietly slip a bowl of green beans in front of his son as he was watching television, and "they would disappear without his realizing what he was eating."(Pollan) This is a great image for how we can lose sight of the things in front of us. A certain preoccupation towards our other problems clouds us from remembering the treasure that common day things like food provide. I want to replace this everyday "mindless eating" to something more meaningful and enjoyable for myself. There are a lot of benefits to mindfulness that will enrich your eating experience.

            If we slow down and analyze the food we eat, we would see that a lot of it has evolved into what Pollan calls "edible food-like substances." These foods with their lists of unpronounceable ingredients are signals that a lot of the food in the markets are highly processed and unhealthy for us. The same argument can be made for fast foods, which I frequently opt for when I am on the go. While the convenience is great, fast foods have a negative and accumulative effect on one's health. Even though I am aware of the health effects, I, too, find myself participating in what Pollan refers to as the "devaluing of food" where the convenience trumps the nutritional rationale (Pollan). By choosing to slow down, I am giving my mind a chance to reconsider my dietary options so that I can eat healthier. I have become a more attentive consumer in the process, recognizing the value of local farmer markets where everything is allowed to grow naturally. Seeing these markets has also inspired me to try and grow my own fruits and vegetables with my family and act proactive in my quest in becoming a zen eater.

            Eating slowly stops people from running on autopilot when they eat. While some might argue that these mental heuristics help our brain from processing complex tasks all the time, it has a detrimental effect in food. How can one enjoy the food that they eat if the eating itself is occurring unconsciously or hastily? In a study published by the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, researchers measured hormonal reactions of subjects when they ate ice cream in five minutes and then the same amount in 30 minutes. The results showed that "wolfing down the dessert curbed the hormonal activity" which informs the brain that the stomach is full (Kirkey 1). The reaction rate for the brain was slower when the ice cream was eaten in five minutes. I plan to counteract this by stopping right before I feel full since it takes "20 minutes for your digestive system to tell your brain that you've had enough" (Stoppard 1).

             Just like Pollan's son who ate until there was no more, many others idlely eat without realizing the risk of overindulgence. Typically, people see their plates filled with all this food and think that they are obligated to finish their plate until it is clean, but that is not the case. This mindset in America has lead to the phenomenon of "portion distortion" where regardless if we eat healthy, the surplus of nutrients that we eat becomes unnatural for the body. This is a flaw in the system because most of these excess nutrients are flushed out when we go to the bathroom. The "Journal of American Dietetic Association" conducted a study showing that this overindulgence in nutrients does not even positively impact the body. "Eating 4 ounces of protein produced muscle, but eating an additional 8 ounces had no extra effect" disproving that more nutrients in the body leads to a healthier lifestyle (Journal of American Dietetic Association 2009). By eating slowly, I control my portions such that my body has sufficient nutrients without being wasteful.  Moreover, I decrease the risk of high caloric intake which would "manifest itself as fat" in my body with all the excess nutrients that I would have been taking in (Condor).

            Eating slowly and savoring food becomes more efficient because it forces you to chew your food more. Studies have shown that increased mastication of food leads to better nutrition for the body. Note, it is not the quantity of food that is consumed by the individual but the quality at which the food is processed by the body. Chewing more allows you to fully enjoy every bite, but it is also "beneficial to the stomach" because less work is needed to be done on its part.

            On the other hand, whole chunks of food that are "wolfed" down accumulate in a fast food eater's stomach, with only the salivary enzymes working on digesting the starches in the food. Since the digestion process of the body is compartmentalized, these enzymes are insufficient for removing the workload off the stomach. It puts a lot of stress on the esophagus, too, because of the high energy needed for it to pump the food into the GI tract through peristalsis (Condor). By digesting as many of the nutrients in the food that you eat by chewing more, you will have to eat less to compensate for these deficiencies which will cause you to lose weight and be healthier.

            The second resolution of the Zen Eater's Manifesto is acknowledging the treasures that food provides. When I was a child, my father, who was an architect, instilled on me the idea that art can be found everywhere. Food is no different. It is an outlet for creativity written up as a recipe. I never understood what the deeper meaning behind that phrase meant or how it related to food before, so I always scarfed my food down and focused on cleaning my plate. I then began to see that other people could see the art in food that I was oblivious to. Much like wine testers who enjoy their sips from their glasses, people would slowly savor their food at restaurants. At first, I was jealous that people were capable of having these profound reactions to food that I couldn't, and then I became embarassed. How did people become so attuned to food that they no longer saw it as just a means to satiate hunger?

            In fact, savoring food goes hand in hand with slowing down. If you eat too quickly, you will not have enough time to fully experience the food. The brain has no time to register the different textures, tastes and smells (Collins). By eating at a quick pace, the chemical receptors that control the gustatory and olfactory senses get only a faint glimpse of the food we are eating. This was seen in the survey results, where after the ice cream study, the cohorts recorded lower enjoyment ratings after allotting only five minutes to eating their ice cream as opposed to the thirty minutes in the other condition. (Kirkley 1). This is why I brought up the idea of contentment before. If we do not take the time to savor our food, the eating experience becomes more of a mechanical process and less enjoyable to the individual.

             There is an actual food movement dedicated towards providing an alternative to the fast food dependent lifestyle that is called the Slow Food Movement. They summarize best the deeper meaning of changing one's dietary habits on their website: "may suitable doses of guaranteed sensual pleasure and slow, long-lasting enjoyment preserve us from the contagion of the multitude who mistake frenzy for efficiency" (Slow Food Movement). This "contagion of the multitude" has become endemic, and it is what makes the fast food industries prosper in our society. People do not believe that there is an alternative or have a moment of respite to consider an alternative because of our activity-driven society. In reality, the fast food lifestyle is not efficient nor effective for our society. This is another reason for the zen eater's manifesto. The dependence on fast food is like a band-aid, a quick-fix to a not so temporary problem. It persists because consumers allow it to by supporting the business and buying their food. By writing down what I want to achieve in the manifesto, I have already taken the first step in the right direction to changing my dietary habits.

            Savoring food "would restore the sense of pleasure and community integral to eating" because it allows you to slow down, relax, and gives you power to decide when you are done. (Pollan) You are no longer subjected to the external pressure of the "frenzy" and "the multitude" that the Slow Food Movement mentions before. Furthermore, the quote talks about how the zen eater's perspective provides "guaranteed ... long-lasting enjoyment" and sensual pleasure. The "French paradox" that Pollan discusses in "Unhappy Meals" is an anomaly to Americans because they have achieved contentment from their food despite the obvious unhealthiness of some of the things they eat. The free word association study between American diets and French diets showed that "guilt" was more likely to be associated with cake whereas the French framed desserts in terms of "celebration" (Pollan). The existence of the French paradox proves that it is not just the nutritional value of food the causes us to be unhealthy, but that there is a mind and body component to it. The Zen Eater's Manifesto brings back the fun and happiness in eating by removing the "guilt" in eating and allowing oneself to savor the food.

            I find it liberating how a new perspective towards how we approach food can add a lot of tranquility to life. Through the writing of the manifesto, I hope to remind myself to remain mindful and grateful of the small things. The zen eater's manifesto promotes a change in lifestyle. It contains a powerful message: there is a reason why there is a separate verb "to eat" and another for "to feast." Slow down and savor.

Works Cited

Collins, Karen. "Slow down and savor your meals to avoid overeating" Chicago Sun-         Times. 28 Aug. 1998. Print.

Condor, Bob. "Slow Down and Enjoy The Food." Chicago Tribune. 24 Nov 1994: 3.        Print.

Kirkey, Sharon. "Eat Slowly!" Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. 07 Nov   2009. Web.

Pollan, Michael. In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto. New York: Penguin, 2008.       Print.

Pollan, Michael. "Unhappy Meals" 28 January 2007. Print.

"Protein: A Little Goes a Long Way." Journal of the American Dietetic Association.           Sept. 2009. Print.

"Slow Food Philosophy."  Slow Food Foundation. 10 December 1989. Web.

            <www.slowfood.com>

Stoppard, Miriam. "Reasons to Eat Slowly." The Daily Mirror. 01 Dec 2011: 50. Print.

Unit 2 - P9

P9: Read the essays by Pollan (“Unhappy Meals”) and Dupuis. Write a post in which you connect the essays to one another and to a contemporary food issue. In other words, read the essays alongside one another and use that reading to inform your commentary on an aspect of our food cultures.

            Both authors are concerned with the question of "what to eat?" It's one thing to identify that some dietary habits and foods are bad for you, but it never provides a better alternative: what to eat? Pollan talks about how many people gain from the "Conspiracy of Confusion" such as journalists, "institutional imperatives of the food industry, and nutritional science" which creates the "edible foodlike" substitutes in the markets. Dupuis relates this to how Mormons were manipulated and were told that people received callings from angels of the "healthy living." Pollan details how food has almost lost its meaning, being replaced by "nutrients" and other terms like "macronutrients, cholesterol, fiber, and saturated fat" to complicate things even further.

             A contemporary issue that this relates to is how lobbies really influence government's decisions at the sacrifice of public awareness of health issues. Pollan explains it perfectly with the Senator McGovern example where his recommendations were rewrriten from "reduce consumption of meat" to "choose meats, poultry and fish that will reduce saturated-fat intake." The pull that these lobbies have forces institutions that are responsible for public awareness of these issues to compromise to save face. Pollan refers to the issue of the Western Diet as the "elephant in the room." Pollan talks about how food has become simplified and "fast in another way - predigested." Because of that, we have distorted the ratios that we eat essential fat like omega-3. Our food culture now revolves around fast food, and another aspect of this is proportion distortion. Not only are we eating unhealthily, we are also eating in excess of what we need. Even the essentials for our body are being consumed in the body more than we need, which becomes bad for us. The adage of "everything in moderation" really applies to this problem.

            In both Pollan and Dupuis' article,  they talk a lot about "invisible messengers" which people used as crutches in their arguments in food in gastropolitics. There were fear campaigns towards the germs in food, and there was a separation in working classes because of food and the "right to calories." Since there was no observable proof, namedropping tactics like these were used to confuse the public. Pollan explores how "nutritionism" is in itself fallacious because eating better does not mean that it is good for us as individuals. He brings up the example of the Atkins craze to represent that "framing dietary advice in terms of good and bad nutrients" is avoiding the real issue which is to "eat less of any particular food." The scientists in Dupuis' article even try to use nutritionism to show which is the superior diet: the Chinese or the Western? This is pointless to discuss because as Pollan says in his article, there is a "French paradox - the fact that a population that eats all sorts of unhealthful nutrients is in many ways healthier than we Americans are." Both argue that the treatment of food politics has become entirely reductive. Pollan believes that as scientists continue to break down the complexities of food into "nutrients," they lose sight of the bigger picture. Dupuis thinks the same of how food is a scapegoat for more pressing social problems and how we should not "solve through our stomachs" any longer.

Blog Post Prior to Eater's Manifesto

I decide what I eat based on the convenience of it. Since I am always on the go at school, I try to eat wherever is closest. I also care about the nutritional value of the foods that I eat. I try to limit the amount of red meat that I eat and other things, like drinking soda. The values that I would like to inform my choices are: health (with fitness and longevity). I also want to push for the variety of the foods that I eat. Things can be healthy for you to eat, but it is also very boring for you if you always eat the same thing.

SE5

Keane Lim

WRIT 1133

Professor Eric Leake

13 May 2013

Late Night Eating

            While most people understand the importance of eating three meals a day, the times at which they are eaten are often neglected. Nowadays, society has become increasingly fast-paced, causing eating schedules to be erratic and leading to the development of bad habits. Sometimes, this hyperactivity extends into the night where work hours are long, and parties are held. The habit of late night eating has become more preferential for the nightowl lifestyle, but there are some health implications that people should be aware about.

            First, it is important to define how late is too late for eating. "Exploring the Typology of Night Eating Syndrome" from the International Journal of Eating Disorders defines 7 pm as the beginning cutoff line based off the averages taken by cohort studies from those exhibiting night eating syndrome (Striegel-Moore et al, 411). A group of PhDs at Stockholm University analyzed the link between metabolic diseases and late night eating through a series of correlational studies. "Nocturnal eating causes disturbances of intestinal motility" because the body is programmed to fast and begin the absorption process once it recognizes that it is nighttime (Lowden et al, 150). When we eat late, we confuse our bodies, and the more we do it, the more we decondition our stomach's gestation activity. However, it cannot be completely reprogrammed. Due to the ambiguity of the eating schedule at night, the body maintains a consistent processing in the GI tract because it can no longer anticipate when food will be ingested.

            The most susceptible victims of night eating syndrome are people who work at night, but a more relatable example is student life at DU where all-nighters are pulled and restaurants that are open late at night are nearby. The studies reaffirmed that "the human species is diurnal (i.e. active during the day)," and that there are "circadian biological rhythms" mandated by the hypothalamus (Striegel-Moore et al, 411). "Circadian rhythms" is the term used to define any activity that occurs on a daily cycle like eating and sleeping. By eating late at night, there is a chance of interrupting your biological clock that dictates when you wake up because of the interlink between the circadian rhythms of eating and sleeping. This is why late night eating is associated with "insomnia and sleep disturbance" (Striegel-Moore et al, 417). While once-in-a-while occurences aren't as severe, eating late should not be done consistently because it takes time for the body to adjust itself each time it happens. Due to the reduced amount of sleep, many night eaters develop "morning anorexia" or a lack of appetite upon waking up, which is a precursor to another bad dietary habit, as breakfast remains one of the most important meals of the day (Striegel-Moore et al, 411). Thus, due to the excessive strain on the digestive system, people who eat late at night are at higher risk of metabolic disorders and diseases like "CVD, peptic ulcers, and failure to control blood sugar levels." (Lowden et al).

            Contrary to popular belief, however, the relationship between obesity and night eating is not clearly defined. A study at the University of Québec detailing the role of Circadian genes and obesity in night eaters showed that obesity was more "prevalent in the night eater sample than in the general community" but that there was no definitive relationship due to Circadian genes which make people more or less vulnerable to weight change due to eating at night (Gallant et al, 529). Other studies used to investigate these health implications also agree. While night eating is associated with "high caloric intake, high sodium intake, and low protein intake," Striegel-Moore et al. concluded that both positive and negative correlations with weight change have been recorded in studies, thus far inconclusive.

            The health implications of eating late at night are very relevant to me as a night shift worker for two jobs. If this isn't relevant for you, keep doing what you're doing and eat regularly at reasonable times. If you know someone who could benefit from this knowledge, let them know. It is easy to resolve the problem altogether by eliminating late night eating from your life by managing your time and lifestyle better.

Works Cited

Gallant, A.R., et al. "The night-eating syndrome and obesity." Etiology and            Pathophysiology: Obesity Reviews. June 2012, p. 156-158. Web.

Lowden, Arne, et al. "Eating and shift work - effects on habits, metabolism, and     performance." Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health. Vol. 36,           No. 2. March 2010, p. 150-162. Web.

Striegel-Moore, Ruth, et al. "Exploring the typology of night eating syndrome."     International Journal of Eating Disorders. Vol. 41, No. 5. July 2008, p. 411-418.          Web.