To Smoke or Not to Smoke...

Recently, there has been much talk about a widespread smoking ban in public areas. While there may be a large amount of benefits to this decision, there are still some who oppose the movement. MSNBC’s article entitled, “Report: Ban smoking in public places,” comprehensively addresses several reason as to why the movement is needed, for all our benefit. The article uses much research and fact to back up why smoking in public areas is not only a health risk to those who smoke, but nonsmokers, especially children, as well. The article opposing this, entitled “SMOKE, SMOKE, SMOKE THAT CIGARETTE...” describes why banning smoking from public areas would be detrimental to us all. While the first article uses researched facts and figures to back what is being said, the second article seems to be more about opinion on the topic than substantial evidence that the ban would have a negative effect.

Personally, I believe the first article does a better job to convince the reader. This is because it uses well researched information to actually prove why the ban is a good thing. It comprehensively goes through the risks of smoking in public areas and the effects of what may happen if it continues. The second article merely seems to preach why the author thinks this is unfair, using personal stories without facts to back anything being said.

After reading these articles, my opinion has not changes on the topic. I still feel that smoking, for the most part, should be banned in public areas, although I do understand how this can be considered unfair. I believe it would be easiest to have small sectioned off areas for smokers, or just ask smokers to please exit the building and smoke outside if they need to do so. It is not fair to make the majority suffer so that a minority can be happy.

Response to Alanna Reeves' Blog

Alanna’s recent blog post, entitled “Slow Food: a great idea, in theory…” describes how she uses the much needed break in her busy schedule to make dinner and catch up with a friend. She discusses how she chose an easily modifiable recipe to allow whatever was around the house to be used for ingredients. Alanna states that whole experience was a nice way to catch up, made better by the fact that preparation, eating, and clean-up was a relatively quick and easy process. The blog continues by addressing how it is easy to understand how processed foods can multiply in one’s household when schedules get busy. After all, many of these products were made to be eaten fast or on the go, which can be convenient when there is not a lot of time to be spent on cooking. Alanna describes the recent backlash on this frenzied way of dining called the Slow Food movement, and that while she agrees with sitting down and enjoying her food, she is not quite sure how well it actually works in practice.

I would have to agree with what Alanna is saying here. It is always a great experience to sit down with friends and family and actually enjoy our meals. The accompanied fun stories to catch you up on how everyone’s life is going make things even better. But let’s face it, the lifestyle most people keep these days is the go, go, go kind. There is not a lot of time to sit down and enjoy food, despite how much we may want to. So while this may be a great idea in theory, it may be difficult to apply it to real life.

*image courtesy of google images

Preparing a Meal

Recently, a group of my friends and I got together and decided to have a homemade meal night. The first step was deciding what we all wanted to make. We figured spaghetti would be easy enough, and everyone would each make a different part of the meal, in order to split costs. I got the part of making our sauce, and after remembering how good my mom makes it back home, decided to give her a call to get the proper ingredients. Making this meal was a lot of fun because all of my friends were working towards a common goal: eating really good food. We all got to work in the kitchen together, using the time to relax and not worry about school. Each step was important because we wanted to make sure all the food worked together. You did not want too much sauce, or too many noodles, we had to figure out who was making what, where we were eating, and other little details. It really took some thinking ahead on our parts.

After reading the section in In Defense of Food, I agree with what Pollan has to say. For the most part, we as Americans do not east food to relax and enjoy the food and the company along with it, but merely eat quickly as possible without concerning ourselves with whether or not it actually tastes good, but with the fact that it is low fat and had needed nutrients in it. The blog Blisstree describes how actually taking the time to eat and enjoy our food can overall help us to become healthier.

I think that the meal my friends and I created does not affect my opinion. For the most part we were doing exactly as Pollan describes we should be. We were not concerned about whether or not what we were making was every definition of healthy, but more concerned about whether or not we were having fun together while we made it.

*image taken from google images

Respomse to Chris Tonellato's Blog

In his post, Chris describes how food is important because it helps to sustain us and provides nutrients to help our bodies perform everyday tasks. He continues on to describe how he likes to eat fresh fruit, especially apples, but it is a bit hard to do this when living in a dorm. This is due to the fact that fresh apples can be a bit expensive, and that they do not keep for very long. So instead, Chris has resorted to drinking apple juice more often. Even though Chris now gets a supplement for the apples he enjoys, he still tries to eat fresh ones whenever possible because they hold more nutrients and less sugar then the juice form. Chris even provides a link to a website providing information on how the overall nutrient levels of different foods decrease the more processed they become.

I agree with what Chris is written. Overall, apples are a nutritious and delicious food, but it makes more sense to keep them in juice form when living in a dorm due to expenses, space, and the fact that apple juice lasts longer than fresh apples. Unfortunately, for our convenience this also means having to take in more sugar and less nutrients.

Chris makes a compelling argument by describing exactly why he made the switch and backs up why the fresh apple would be better for him overall by using examples from Pollan’s book and from his web link. Both help to reinforce what Chris is saying and help to make the reader agree more easily. Overall, I would say that this blog is well written and convincing.

*image taken from google images