Chapter 4 Omnivores Dillema

In chapter 4 of The Omnivores Dilemma, the main topic is how meat is processed and even before the meat is made, what raising the cattle is like. Even though this is already a known fact, Pollan confirmed for us that the cattle which is made into meat are kept in unsanitary conditions and are fed cheap corn so that the herders don't need to spend as much money for good corn for the animals. Pollan noted that the feedlot owners care a little bit about bacteria and do attempt to keep bacteria away but it just costs too much money to do that.

Chapter 2 Omnivores Dilemma

In chapter 2 of The Omnivores Dilemma, The author was saying how he went to a corn field with a farmer named George Naylor and he got to see what went on and how the corn husking industry works. Pollan noted that it was almost hypnotic in the motion of plowing the corn and gathering it up day in and day out. He also said that very good corn has to be fertilized by the sun and for that to happen, farmers need to wait a long time because the weather in the Midwest usually is not all that great so to speed up the process, farmers use artificial fertilizers that act as sun so that the corn could give off the impression of being fertile by the real sun. According to Pollan, this is why there is hardly any "ecological" process of farming crops these days-it takes too long and crops aren't sold. On another subject, Pollan talked about the economic toll on farmers of growing crops. For example, the price of vegetables are dropping and corn, for instance, used to be $3 and now its $2 therefore, farmers make less money than they produce the food. Also, there is competition between farmers in areas mainly occupied by farmers. The farmers see who can get most of the profit and sell the most corn. I agree that these results are interesting and it stresses for me even more why it is so difficult to be a farmer in today's world.

Groceries

I noticed that in grocery stores, the first thing you see usually is the fresh fruit and vegetable area. Then the dairy and juice area. And then there are rows and rows of frozen food aisles and the sweets and unhealthy things are towards the back. My guess is that supermarkets want to appeal to consumers in showing that you should buy healthy an then work your way to the back where sweets are. I read somewhere that stores arrange their food strategically to appeal to customers. For example, things that are used a lot go in the back and things in front are the less needed items. In my household, my mom tries to cook healthy because she has cholestrol problems but she also cooks things that aren't always healthy such as steak. But when my mom buys things such as meat, she only buys the organic kind. She might buy food that is generally unhealthy but she always buys the "healthier" version so that it could at least help a little bit.

food eaten in a week

in a typical week, I eat alot of each category of food which are grains/beans, vegetables, fruits, and maybe meat? My meals are mostly out of pastas and potatoes which are grains and I eat alot of vegetables such as lettuce and string beans. But one of my favorite things to eat are fruits. During the summer, I'll eat a lot of peaches, cherries, and plums. I also enjoy mangoes, strawberries, pineapple, apples, oranges, and there are more. I think it's good to eat in moderation from all these categories because too much of one can be unhealthy. For example, If I only ate fruit I wouldn't be healthy because even though fruit is very healthy, there is still sugars in there that aren't healthy for you in large quantities.

May Day

I do not think that understanding May Day is the key to understanding a good life. I think it is hard for me to understand it because I am not a worker and I do not know a worker. Also, in the U.S. we do not celebrate or recognize May Day-we recognize Labor Day and even then, it isn't a big celebration like May Day is. Labor Day is just BBQs, going to the beach, and kind of partying it up. It does not really have many intellectual events going on and Labor Day is just a day to relax. It is a more low-key then May Day. May Day there are actually protests and big parades. It is a bigger affair and it has more meaning than Labor Day, in my opinion. The principal is important because it is celebrating workers rights. My dad is in Paris and he was there on May Day and he said the streets were packed and there were parades and protests going on. He told me he watched a protest. It is interesting to learn how different places celebrate different holidays. This holiday is obviously more significant for the union workers and workers than for average people.

My Eating Habits

Over the past 24 hours I've eaten:
-Turkey burgers, green salad with mom's dressing, and potato salad for last night's dinner.
-Candy from Tasti-D-Lite (gummies mostly)
-Chocolate chip ice cream
-Corn flakes with milk for my pre-bed snack.
-Today for breakfast, I had 2 cookies.

I usually eat a light/medium breakfast, a medium lunch, and then a heavy dinner. I eat more when I am at home than I do outside. I sometimes eat a lot of food during dinner and on the occasion that I am still hungry afterwards, I eat a lot of sweets. I have to have dessert after dinner even if I'm stuffed. At home, i eat food much faster than when I am outside and that is probably because I usually eat out with friends and I like talking to them so that slows my eating down, but with my parents, I want to leave the table so I eat pretty fast. If I like the meal I'm eating at home, I eat faster. If I eat something heavy right before dinner time, I stay in the living room and watch TV while everyone else eats. I usually eat weird things for breakfast such as leftover Chinese and I'm not a huge fan of bagels but there are times when I have cravings for breakfast foods at night and in the morning, I don't like them. Sometimes, I have cereal and milk at night before bed or I might have a toasted bagel with butter. There are also times when I'll be craving a certain food for a whole week and I eat it every day but the things I crave aren't healthy. For example, there was 1 week recently when I only wanted to eat Cheetos for a snack and then another week where all I wanted to eat was a chocolate glazed donut from Dunkin Donuts.Of course, I like to eat unhealthy foods but I also eat healthy foods such as salad. I love salads, vegetables, and fruit especially. My parents never gave me fast food when I was younger, so I guess I'm "catching up" on it now. I have a fast metabolism so I can eat a lot and it's hard for me to gain weight. I can't tolerate heavy foods for long periods of time, though. For example, when i went to Serbia in 2005 for a month, most of their food is extremely rich and I gained a lot of weight and my eating habits were thrown out of whack when i got back to the States and I only wanted to eat light foods for a while. I didn't feel good at all. I think most of the time, I have good eating habits.

Eating Dinner

In my house, my mom cooks the meals and once in a blue moon, we order in. We eat a lot of dishes with meat and/or potatoes in them because my mom is Serbian and that is what most Serbian dishes contain or we eat a lot of pasta. We eat these foods because it is easiest to make. Usually, though, my mom makes food in advance so when we do eat the dinner, all she has to do is heat it up. My family usually eats our dinner at 8-ish and we always sit at the kitchen table. My mom, my dad, my sister, and I always sit in the same place. At the table, we have to tell things about our day and how it went, things like that. My parents, especially my dad, get mad if I don't tell them what goes on with me. We also aren't allowed to drink sweet drinks with dinner. My sister and I also aren't allowed to watch TV during dinner but there are exceptions when I watch a show on Monday or if it is some awards show like the Oscars or if we are sick. Eating dinner is pretty rigid in my house.