Post 3 "Real vs. Fake" food

I used to love my mom's homemade beef and vegetable stew. The stew was made from everything Pollan would consider "real" food. We always used fresh vegetables from our garden in our yard like potatoes, carrots, and tomatoes. Fresh Beef tips from the grocery store was another main ingredient. Since I have been here at school I have had to resort to canned soups like Chunky's Beef Stew because I do not have the facilities or the time and know how to make homemade soup myself. I am not sure about the nutritional value but I want to say it is obvious that the soup my parents made was much more healthy than the soup in a can. The taste difference is obvious, Chunky's all tastes the same, the vegetables taste no different than the beef which is very weird. Soup made with real ingredients has a better and fresher taste that I always prefer over processed alternatives. The only reason I eat canned soup is because it is more available and convenient for me but hopefully some day I will have a kitchen and be able to attempt to cook for myself.

Demostration speech self evaluation

After reviewing the clip of my presentation on the skill of making a newspaper hat I was able to see some of the few positives and the list of negatives in my speech. The biggest weakness in my speech was most likely my posture. I've never been a person known for making great eye contact, also I have a bad habit of having my hands in my pockets which is exactly what happened during the end of my speech. Another negative was I might not have prepared as much as I could have, I stumbled through my presentation a few times and forgot what information i was trying to say. I felt I had some positives though, I feel that my topic was fun and easy to involve the class in, I dressed for the occasion as best as I could, and for once during a speech I did not say Um . . . more than fifty times. My visual aid was awesome in theory but I did go through the steps of the demo very fast. If I could do things differently I know I would give myself more time to prepare and practice my presentation. This would allow me to memorize the information I am presenting better so I don't have any awkward pauses and to work out the bad posture habits I have as well.

Post 1: Response to In Defense of Food

After reading up til chapter 4 I believe that the main point Michael Pollan is trying to make is that the western diet needs to change so that, as a society, we can all live healthier lives.

One idea of Pollans is that greener whole foods are better in terms of health than processed. Processed foods contain many additives and trans fats that can have harmful affects on our health like chronic diseases. You see advertising on processed food labels such as high in fiber or low in saturated fat. The healthier foods, according to Michael Pollan, are the foods found in the produce section. They do not need labels highlighting single nutrient values since as a whole they are a more nutritious "natural" product in most cases.

Another is how science has become too involved in our food choices and that the consumption of a food as a whole is more important than obsessing over the reduction of its chemical compounds. A good example of this is how scientists link health benefits, such as prevention of cancer, to a single nutrient like beta-carotene. Pollan's argument is that there are tons of other micro nutrients in broccoli that could aid in caner prevention and that the consumption of the complexities in a vegetable as a whole are much more beneficial.