Favorite Blog Post

3rd quarter: http://alanamwimer.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-problem-with-service-trips.html

4th quarter: http://alanamwimer.blogspot.com/2013/05/poor-quality-food-in-high-quality.html

Friday

Poor Quality Food in a HIgh Quality Society


In America the consumption of mass produced food is at an all time high; the production of this food is highly dependent on technology.  Processed foods are "commercially prepared food designed for ease of consumption". Commercially prepared meaning, products of a factory: an unnatural operation of attaining food.   These foods are becoming dominant in the average American's diet: 

As seen in the bright yellow Americans today spend the greatest amount of money on processed foods and sweets.  This is a great shift from 1982, showing a rapid spike in consumption of these foods.  Processed foods contain colourants, emulsifiers, preservatives, artificial sweeteners, stabilizers, texturizers and bleach products.  All of which have potentially devastating effects on humans.  For example "a seven year study done by the University of Hawaii revealed that people who consume processed meat products had a 67% higher risk of falling prey to pancreatic cancer than those who ate few to no processed meat products".  Other factors such pesticides and genetic modification of fruits and vegetables as well as a high number of fast food restaurants in the United States contribute to the poor quality of the American diet. 
These man made problems are non existent 8149.83 miles away in the lush environment of Papa New Guinea, home to one of the last uncontacted tribes.  As 'uncontacted' implies, the tribe is self-sufficient, and lives purely off the land.  Pictures taken by National Geographic depict individuals who are described as "well and strong".  None of the individuals pictured are overweight, nor do any look underweight.  Although we know very little about the uncontacted tribe we are aware that they are in existence and that they appear healthy.  Therefore we can conclude that these individuals are attaining adequate amounts of food; on top of that the food attained in this Primitive society is high quality, for the food comes directly from nature. Their diet greatly differs from the American diet.  
Source 

American society is highly advanced and dependent on technology and research, yet the diet of Americans is creating health problems.  On the other hand the uncontacted tribe of New Guinea is a society where technology and education is non-existent, but they benefit from a healthy diet.  I believe this demonstrates how far Americans, in pursuit of technology, have strayed from nature.  The technology that was intended to improve our quality of life has had the opposite effect.  How is it possible for technology to return us to the Garden of Eden?  

1 comment:

  1. Alana,

    I like the American-themed angle that you touched upon in the last paragraph -- need a bit more of that throughout. And your analysis of the included chart was a welcome idea.

    There are a multitude of factors that create "health problems", as you say. I think you needed to mention the sheer complexity of this; otherwise your reader might think that the difference you observe are primarily due to diet.

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