Response to Peter's Blog Post

Peter's blog post compares a "real food" to its "fake food". He compares butter to margarine. Peter and his family eat and use butter, and he said that they do even though margarine claims to be healthier and better for you. In most cases margarine is better for you except for the fact that it contains trans-fats, which is worse then saturated fats. Trans fats, like Peter and his article discuss, raise blood cholesterol and reduce your bodies "good fats". Peter ends by saying that Americans number one problem is that we don't know how to moderate what we eat. I agree with this 100%. Everything becomes unhealthy when when you over eat/use it. Butter may be fattening but it is fine to eat it as long as you don't eat it in large consumptions. Moderation is the key.
Peter does a great job by explaining his argument and by providing great details/evidence to back himself up. It was very easy to follow and understand.

Capital Punishment

Capital Punishment is a huge debate in our country. I found two articles that represent each side of this argument, and they both have compelling arguments. The first article I found discussed why Capital Punishment is wrong and should be banned. It discusses that capital punishment violates the 8th and 14th amendment in that it is a cruel and unusual punishment, and that its strips us of our number one right, the right to live. Lastly, this article talks about the possibility of error. There have been many cases where someone has sat on death roll for years and then been proven innocent. That could have been an innocent life ended, strictly because of false assumption. The other article agrees with the death penalty. This article discusses how crime will decrease in the states that have the death penalty because when a criminal knows he could be sentenced to death, he won't commit the crime. It also talks about how many criminals who get sentenced to life in prison usually get out by being paroled so it defeats the whole purpose of punishment. The death penalty does not allow that and it makes sure that criminals will not be able to commit a crime again.

I thought both of these articles were written poorly because they just stated their view points and that was it. They did not go that far into explanation or detail. If I had to pick one, the article that opposes the death penalty would be the better written one because it was more easy to follow and understand.

My opinion on this topic has not changed after reading these two articles. I still believe that capital punishment is the wrong way to go about things and that it is murder. I agree with everything that the opposing articles discusses, with also adding one argument of my own. The price difference of the death penalty compared to life in prison. It is way cheaper to have someone spend their life in prison then for them to get the death penalty. Hundred of thousands of dollars difference.

Response to Brianna's Meal

Brianna made a meal for her friends and her. She made chicken breasts served on a whole wheat bun and a Caesar salad on the side. Her preparation for this meal consisted of going to the store and buying her ingredients, seasoning the chicken breasts the night before, and then cooking the meal the next day for her friends. She grilled the chicken on the grill, and made a toss salad for the Caesar salad. Brianna's friends thought the meal was delicious and Brianna made the comment it was a job well done. I agree with what Brianna says about how Americans have switched their eating habits to eating more processed foods, and eating out more. We do this because it is quicker and more convenient. We also eat foods that say "low fat" because we assume they are more healthy for us, when really sometimes they aren't. Low in fat foods often times have fake sugars and many other fake ingredients that are not healthy for our bodies. Brianna found an article that comments on how buying raw foods and cooking them yourself is more healthy then buying processed foods. Brianna shared that she agrees with the article that she found and so do I. Another thing I love about this article is that it gives you a description of many healthy foods and how to prepare them so we get the healthiest meal possible.

Celebrity Endorsement

The celebrity endorsement I chose is Drew Barrymore as the 2009 Cover girl. The main product she advertises for cover girl is their new lashblast mascara. Drew Barrymore advertises many other types of make-up for cover girl, but the one that she is known for is the lashblast mascara. Here is a video clip of the commercial that she is in to advertise this mascara. I believe Drew Barrymore is a great endorser for this type of product because she is a great role model. I have never heard or saw Drew Barrymore get in any legal trouble or been on the news for something that she has done. I looked up to Drew Barrymore as a teenager because I thought she always stayed true to herself and that is what I loved about her. Because of her great personality and staying true, Drew Barrymore fits the role of a cover girl perfect. Her audience is teenagers and women and that is why her ad is so successful. She stays true to herself and that is what the consumers like to see. Drew Barrymore is a very successful endorser for cover girl because she is still the cover girl today. If she wasn’t doing a great job, they would have fired her a long time ago. Also, I buy that mascara, so she must be doing something right! This link I have provided agrees with what I say about Drew Barrymore because they too say that she was the perfect person to be the new cover girl. They said, “"We partnered with Drew because she emulates the iconic image of cover girl with her fresh, natural beauty and energetic yet authentic spirit.” I agree with this 100% because as I said earlier, she stays true to herself.

Response to Carrie Edmunds "Fake Foods" Post

Carrie talked about how when she was younger she used to eat real butter, but now that she is in college, she eats the "fake food" of butter, margarine. This is because she buys her own groceries now. Carrie prefers margarine over butter solely because it is less fattening. She makes the assumption right away that then is more healthier because it is less fattening but she needs to be careful. There are no tests out there right now that directly relate real butter to heart disease or chronic illness, just as stated in Michael Pollan book, "In Defense of Food". The article that Carrie founds states the opposite of Pollan in that butter does relate to heart disease, but it shows no evidence or proof with it. This means Carries article is not credible enough to much such statements and I am not convinced. I do agree with the reasons that Carrie has switched to buying the "fake foods" because they are the same reasons that I have switched to eating some "fake foods". The reasons are for less fat and calorie intake, and convience Taste does not have much to do with it.

Apples to Apple Sauce

Through the years that I grew up on my family dairy farm, we had an apple tree in the backyard. On my way walking to the barn and walking back from chores, that is where you found me every summer morning. I would grab an apple to eat. Throughout the day I would also make a trip out there sometime to grab another apple. There was nothing like picking and eating a fresh apple from our apple tree. As I got older and entered high school and college, my consumption of apples became much lower and the consumption of applesauce started to take off. According to Micheal Pollan, apples sauce is the "fake food" of apples. Applesauce is much more convenient to eat and it stores for a much longer period of time. As Brandon Whitney agrees with Pollan, Americans eat for connivance, not for nutrition or leisure. He also explains how we are eating the "fake foods" more then the real foods because it is cheaper to do so. I agree with both Pollan and Whitney because I am a college student so I eat the cheapest foods, which is usually the "fake foods". I also agree because it is much more delicious to eat applesauce because there is sugar added to it and even cinnamon sometimes. It is not just pure sugar though. There are a lot of the same nutrients and vitamins in apple sauce as there is in apples such as Vitamin A, protein, and Vitamin C. I still eat apples, but just not as much as applesauce. When I am home I eat nothing but apples because my family does not but many "fake foods" such as applesauce.

Self- Evaluation on Demonstration Speech

As I watched my demonstration speech over again to critique myself, I noticed a few areas to improve on and I noticed some strong points. First off, my introduction was a little flat but I was interacting with the audience by asking them questions to answer. From the answers to my question I right away knew that they whole audience could related to my topic because they all said that they drank milk. This means I picked a topic relevant to everyone, which is very good. I think I presented my information well despite the fact of the lack of visual aid. One area that I need to improve on is finding more visual aid for my topics. I only had a bottle and picture of a baby calf. I was not able to bring a calf to class, so that is understandable, but I still could have brought more pictures of the process or something to that sort. My delivery was overall pretty good. I did not have to use note cards so that is a plus but I think I should have practiced a couple more times to get it perfect. My closing also could have been a little better because I just stopped abruptly. I could hear myself and understand myself just fine so I don't need anymore improvement in that area. Lastly, I would definitely chose this topic again because I had a lot of fun with it and I love sharing agriculture with others. Next time, however, I would love to try to bring in a real baby calf and then demonstrate it because I think everyone would get a lot more out of it and have a lot more fun with it. (By clicking on the title, it will provide a link to a video of my demonstration speech.)

Response to Ashley Wagner's Blog Post

Ashley Wagner mainly focuses on the “Western Diet” that Pollan discusses in his book, “In Defense of Food.” The western diet is where we eat food that our bodies are not meant to digest. We eat a lot of unusual foods that are much higher in fat. Ashley also brought up the point I wrote about, that we eat foods that are “imitations” of the real food. I agree with Ashley 100% on her entire response because I basically wrote the same thing. Something that she brought up that I didn’t was the fact that we have complete control over what we eat, and fast food is high on our list. We eat what is convenient to us and what is delicious. We forget about getting our daily nutrients or we just don’t have time to get them. The article that Ashley linked too talked about Pollan. It basically discussed that Pollan’s main topics of his 5 books are about the farming world related to what we eat.

Preparing my meal

I decided to make a meal for my friends last night. I am a beginner at cooking so I stuck to easy meals. I wanted to make spaghetti with garlic break and salad. I figured this meal covered a lot of the necessary nutrients in a person’s diet. First I had to go to the store and get what I needed. I couldn’t find any garlic bread that I liked at the market so I bought a loaf of wheat bread instead with garlic salt. This way I can just make toast and sprinkle garlic on it. I also had to buy long spaghetti noodles, tomato sauce, and garden salad with French dressing. When I got back, I immediately started to boil the noodles and mix the tomato sauce. I kept the salad in the bag, so my friends can take out how much they wanted. It took about 30 minutes for the noodles to cook and for the sauce to cook. Eating was the best part because it was a delicious meal and I got many compliments from my friends! Overall, it was a great experience for me to take the responsibility to make a meal for others.
Michael Pollen describes in his book, “In Defense of Food” that we base what we eat solely on taste and not what is in the food. I agree with this statement for the most part because I am an example of it. I only eat what tastes good, but I am lucky that healthy foods taste delicious to me, such as salad. This article also agrees with Pollan and me. It says that we eat what is quick and convenient for us and we have also lost the value behind eating. We used to eat as family and eat with culture and now we forget what that is all about.

Thoughs on "In Defense of Food"

The first section of Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food, Pollan covered many topics. He talked about how we have now switched from eating foods to “nutrients” because nutrients are more scientific and we know what they are. Nutrients include the labels of cholesterol, fiber, and saturated fats, which cause them to sound more scientific. Pollan also talked about the problems with obesity, cancer, and diabetes in the U.S. George McGovern tried to address the problem with his document called “Dietary Goals for U.S.” This document blames obesity and health conditions on the consumption of dairy products and meat. Then after all of that controversy, the ideology of Nutritionism arrived and this proposed that we only look at foods in terms of quantity of nutrients. This means we are saying that processed foods are healthier than whole foods! Pollan explained this by saying it is easier to put a health claim on sugary cereal than a potato or carrot because we know the nutrients in the cereal. This is horrible to think about, but it is sadly true. Just as the “Dietblog” explains, nutritionism is an ideology that puts the value of food in its nutrients and not the food itself. “Dietblog” is also ashamed of the fact that cereals such as Cocoa Puffs have health claims screaming off the box while the vegetables and fruits are sitting there quietly. I think nutritionism is too concerned on what is in the food, which is forcing people to make bad decisions on what to eat. I agree with “Dietblog” when it says we need to stop stressing over the minor details in the diet and start enjoying the food we eat.
(Link to "Dietblog" is on the title.)

Holstein Dairy Cow Blog

Is Genomic Testing of dairy cattle sending the industry down the right path?
There is a lot of controversy out there!!
Is it going to narrow the genetic base even more than it is? I would say yes. The breeds have been narrowed a lot in the past 30-40 years as the genetic pool became a world wide market.
Now the genomic testing will narrow the cow side of the genetic base more than the bulls ever were.

The value of a lot of great cow lines will drop to a value of grade/commercial cows. A few cow lines will have even greater value to the A.I. companies but will they be willing to pay double the price for the young sires they purchase or lease?

By Dr. Ole Meland