Friday, March 26, 2010

Demo speech

A few weeks ago we had to do demonstration speeches for class. I did a presentation on PIZZA COOKIES!!! I thought it was the best speech I've ever done. I did a thorough job of explaining why pizza cookies are relevant to the average student, and my breakdown and organization of steps couldn't be simpler!
Also, I was full of energy and enthusiasm, and had great volume. I used lots of eye contact, and I used my body language to convey excitement to the class. Also, I think I did well at physically demonstrating the topic. Everyone could clearly see what I was doing, and they had material at their desk to follow along.
My visual aids were some of the most effective in the class, and I think they were visually interesting, at least to some degree.
I would do the same topic again, because I don't have expertise in many other areas. Pizza cookies are so simple, they are hard to mess up or get nervous about. I've learned from past speeches to avoid complicated or controversial subjects. I had a lot of fun doing it, and I hope people enjoyed it, even though pizza cookies are pretty much inedible after they've been plastered with a weeks worth of sugar. In the future I might try to refine it by experimenting with different toppings, like a less sweet frosting, and fruit instead of candy. Also, I might try homemade cookies that are less sweet than the store bought version, or more buttery...
If I could redo the speech I would dress better. I think the rest of it just "is what it is". I try to get these sorts of things over with and not look back.

Pa Nhia- Fresh Spring Rolls

Yum! Yum! Yum! Pa Nhia's fresh spring rolls made my mouth water.
In Pa Nhia Thao's March 25th post, she showed us (her classmates) how to make spring rolls. Then she talked about fake foods and how sometimes as busy students we just don't have the option to eat healthy. However, choosing to eat better is a long term goal for many of us.
Pa Nhia's ideas were very clear, and I agreed with everything she said.

Peanut butter Lovers and trans fats

Growing up, we usually ate the "natural" peanut butter, which was free of additives like partially hydrogenated oil and sugar, but now I just eat the regular kind. The regular kind tastes better, and is sweeter and smoother. Plus, you don't have to refrigerate it so it spreads easier; and it doesn't seperate into an oily mess. I used to enjoy the natural peanut butter, but it would be hard to go back to it now.
The "fake" p.b. provides the same nutrients that natural p.b. does, but has a lot more unhealthy additives. They are not complete nutritional equivalents (the extra junk in "fake" p.b. has a host of associated health problems). The kind of peanut butter I eat (Jif) doesn't have any added vitamins or health claims (except that "choosy moms choose Jif")
In college I developed more of a taste for junk food. Although I had previously been a conscientious eater, I lost a lot of weight my first semester in college and eating healthfully did not seem as big of a priority.
I know that I don't want to harm my son's health by feeding him junk food, so I will most likely improve my eating habits as he eats more and more regular table foods.
Check out the link to Peanutbutterlovers.com in the title of this blog. It talks about the trans fat content in peanut butter is very low, so you don't have to worry about it. I think they're right for people who eat an otherwise healthy diet, and don't eat more than the recommended serving size of peanut butter. But, what about kids that live off of peanut butter???

Monday, March 8, 2010

Response to Louisa Daniels post

In Louisa Daniels (ldanielslsc100s10.blogspot.com) blog, she critiqued the diet product Quicktrim.
She basically stated that Kim and Khloe Kardashian, the sexy sisters who are promoting Quicktrim, have no scientific credibility towards selling this product. Included in her presentation, are two links to Quicktrim websites, as well as a link to a site critiquing Quicktrim. I thought the critique, which basically made the point that Quicktrim is not a real lifestyle change but only a quickfix that may hinder people from making real, positive changes, had the right idea. People should definitely try to focus on correcting poor health habits and see what that does for their body, before turning to quick fixes and diet fads. I thought Louisa did a great job of keeping her post succint and to the point, and her links were pretty good choices. Also, she had a clean, visually appealing format for the post, and the content was informative. Good job, Louisa!

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Prepare a meal

Last night I made a "Hungry-Man" dinner, which I bought last week when I was in the frozen food section of Wal*Mart getting some "Banquet" frozen dinners. I picked up a Hungry-Man for my husband because he eats those a lot. However, I was very hungry last night and decided to have one instead of my normal t.v. dinner (there are more than twice as many calories in a Hungry-Man versus a Banquet t.v. dinner.) All I had to do to prepare it was set the oven to 350 degrees, cut the plastic off the chicken and brownie, and pop the thing in the oven. Then I waited forty minutes for it to cook. Forty minutes later I was enjoying a hearty, trans fat laden meal. I scarfed most of it down, and felt great afterwards. Clean up consisted of just throwing the box away, and washing a couple barely used dishes. Overall, I think the ease of preparation and clean up (and the headache saved from not trying to make something that has 20 ingredients and makes a big mess) made it a very enjoyable meal. Also, I liked that I had to wait forty minutes for it to cook, because the anticipation increased my overall enjoyment of the meal.

As for Michael Pollan's statements in In Defense of Food, I took major offense at some of the things he said. Perhaps Christians in the 19th Century did lead us to eagerly accept low-fat and processed foods. However, a low-fat diet is not the reason most Americans are suffering from an obesity epidemic. It is the brownies, the cookies, the fried chicken, the soda and the pizza. In short, I think Pollan was trying a little too hard in this chapter to make connections that are very loose, at best. The meal I ate did not affect my opinion. To me, it doesn't matter what you eat, but how the food makes you feel. Therefore, having some commonsense rules to keep your diet in check may be beneficial. Check the link to shapefit.com I've included to see the benefits you can reap from a better diet; such as, fewer headaches from drinking an adequate amount of water.