Blog #4: Organic food, is it really better for you?

Ever since the introduction to organic food, people have been fighting over what is better. Is it really better to eat organic? Or are you just spending extra money for no real benefits? More importantly, what a food ‘organic?’

Thankfully, being certified as ‘organic’ is not easy. The USDA has established an organic certification program that requires all organically grown foods to meet strict standards. Those standards include not using synthetic pesticides to protect their crops, not using food additives such as preservatives, artificial sweeteners, colorings and flavorings. However there is a catch to eating organic, there is no significant research that suggests that organically grown fruits and vegetables are more nutritious than their conventionally grown counterparts. And there’s a second catch, just because a product is organic doesn’t mean it’s 100 percent healthy for you. It can still contain a lot of fat, salt, or sugar. So while eating organic food, you still need to keep a close eye on the labels of the foods you are consuming.

So in short, unless you truly care about putting pesticides in your body, then it doesn’t really matter if you eat organically or not. And really, if you just wash your fruits and vegetables well before you consume it, you can eliminate most traces of pesticides. So it really depends on if you can afford the extra cost associated with eating mostly organic food.

1. Magkos, Faidon, Fotini Arvaniti, and Antonis Zampelas. "Organic food: nutritious food or food for thought? A review of the evidence." International journal of food sciences and nutrition 54.5 (2003): 357-371.

2. "Nutrition and Healthy Eating." Organic Foods: Are They Safer? More Nutritious? Mayo Clinic, 9 June 2014. Web. 23 Feb. 2016. . Copy & paste citation

Blog #3: Popular Diets, do they actually work?

Ever since the dawn of modern society, people have been looking for that perfect diet. Some specific blend of foods that would just cause the pounds to drop right off with little exercise. Unfortunately, that’s not how diets work. Diets don’t magically cause fat to be burned while you sit around and do nothing. But is there one diet that is better than the rest? One diet, that when used in conjunction with exercise, causes you burn off maybe just a little more fat. To find out, I’m going to examine three popular diets, Atkins, Weight Watchers, and a vegetarian based diet.

The Atkins Diet is simple on the outside, just massively reduce your carb intake. It’s based on the idea of ketosis, the mechanism in our bodies that forces our metabolism to burn fat instead of glucose. However, the problem lies in the fact that ketosis only kicks in when we have low blood sugar. So in order to induce that state, you have to eat only good (unrefined) carbs. Those are broken down much more slowly than refined carbs. But as with any other effective diet, you still have to exercise. And Atkins is not an easy diet to stick too. So, while it works, it’s a lot of effort that most people won’t want to stick with after a while.

Weight Watchers is a very popular diet. Basically, the food’s worth is broken down into ‘points.’ If a food is in high in fiber and low in fat, then it’s assigned less points. The points one gets daily are based on body weight at the start However, it’s much more involved. There is an entire support network for Weight Watchers. Including regular meetings. So that solves one of the problems with Atkins Diet. You have a network of people willing to help you stick with your diet. Which takes out one of the biggest issues in dieting, which is ‘can I stick with this?’

Vegetarian diets are nothing new. It’s a simple idea, no animal based protein sources. Most vegetarians are ovo-lactovegetarians, which means they eat other animal based products like eggs, milk and honey. I would have to see that this is the easiest of the three to stick to. No complex plans, just a simple idea. And the benefits are more documented compared to Atkins and Weight Watchers. Vegetarians generally have a lower body weight, better cholesterol levels, live longer, have a lower risk to developing cancer, and a lower risk of developing heart disease. But it’s not just about eating more vegetables and calling it a day. You still have to watch out for the other pitfalls of food. But overall, I think that this is the easiest diet to follow.

1. Nordqvist, Christian. "The Eight Most Popular Diets Today." Medical News Today. MediLexicon International, 1 Oct. 2015. Web. 23 Feb. 2016. . 

2. https://www.gonzaga.edu/Files/Athletics/Rudolf-Fitness-Center/Flyers/PopularDietIdeas.pdf

#1: Diabetes Trends, new cases

Healthypeople.gov has a wide variety of data aviable on diabetes and its trends The particular one I am focusing on is the annual number of new diagnosed cases of diabetes. I have it broken down by gender, age, family status and ethnicity. The units are per 1000 people.

Population	2007-2009	2008-2010	2009-2011	2010-2012
Total	8.5	8.5	8.1	7.3
Male	9.4	9.3	8.7	7
Female	7.8	7.7	7.6	7.6
Asian Only	11	DSU	DSU	5.9
African American Only	11.6	11.5	13.1	11.3
White Only	8	8	7.4	6.7
Hispanic or Latino	11.7	12.9	11.7	11.9
18-44	4.3	4.3	4	3.4
45-64	14.3	13.9	13.1	12
65 years and over	12	12.5	13	12.3
Single	7.3	6.4	6.6	6.2
Single parent w/ children	6.9	8.4	6.8	6.5
Married Couple	7.8	7.1	6.4	6.9
Two parent family	6	6.5	DSU	DSU
US	8	8	7.7	7.1
Outside US	11.3	11	10.3	8.3

For the most part, the data suggests that the trend is a downward one. So we are seeing fewer and fewer diagnosed cases of diabetes in the United States. But the data is still interesting. It shows that ethnicity and age do play a factor. It might mostly be a matter of diet. Or it could be an issue of families below the poverty line. It's very hard to isolate the exact cause here.

#1: The Obesity Epidemic

After seeing the absolute explosion of overweight and obese people in the United States, there are several conclusions that can be drawn. Every single state, minus one, has at least 20 percent of their population categorized as obese. Obese is defined as having a body mass index of at least 30. Let that sink in. Just giving a rough estimate, close to one third of the United States is obese. And that’s not even touching on the overweight category.

One of the major causes of the obesity epidemic is a simple one. High fructose corn syrup is put into nearly every food item now. And it’s all because of the massive amount of corn that’s being grown in modern farms. So they sell the corn to companies who then process it and shove the syrup into food. So even in foods that aren’t supposed to be sugary, they can be high fructose corn syrup. One prime example is something like cocktail sauce. A single serving of cocktail sauce (2 fluid ounces) contains 16 grams of sugar in the form of high fructose corn syrup.

As a country, we need to make a push, particularly legislatively, to end these sorts of practices. High fructose corn syrup needs to be regulated in regards to its use in certain foods. And if it is used, it needs to be far more clearly labeled. It's not the catch all solution, but it's the first step towards healthier eating. Just make people aware of what is actually in the food they are eating. 

O     "Obesity Epidemic Trends." YouTube. YouTube, 16 Sept. 2008. Web. 22 Feb. 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaAt8gfRF5A>.