Children and Junk Food Don’t Mix

According to the Childhood Obesity Foundation, “70 million young children will be overweight or obese by 2025 if current trends continue”. Obesity is a growing concern in North America in not only children but adults as well. However, statistics show that an obese school-age child has a 42 to 63% chance of becoming an obese adult. Major health concerns are found in these adults including “heart disease, cancer, strokes and type 2 diabetes”.

This entire epidemic can be prevented if we cut out one simple ingredient: sugar.

Sugar is found in everything nowadays from chocolate bars to candies to soda, even in foods that we didn’t think sugar could exist! That McDonald’s BigMac meal that you just had for lunch? Take a wild guess at how many grams of sugar is in that, I’m sure it’ll blow your mind. I believe that North America’s fast food manufacturers and restaurants are using sugar to keep their customers. We all know it, sugar is like a drug. If the average person were to cut all sugar out of their diet, they would experience a variety of symptoms: headaches, nausea, fatigue (trust me, I’m currently doing it right now and it’s horrible). Now imagine someone who literally thrives off of junk food. Someone like this would literally experience signs of addiction and ‘drug’ withdrawal if taken from them.

Even when we think we’re eating healthy, we’re still taking in hundreds of grams of sugar on a daily basis. According to eater.com, 1 small bottle of Tropicana orange juice contains 42g of sugar; Wish Bone light ranch dressing 32g; a Cliff Bar 32g. These three foods alone would be considered ‘healthier choices’ by the average individual, but are they really?

 

Sources: http://childhoodobesityfoundation.ca/what-is-childhood-obesity/statistics/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8483856

http://www.eater.com/2013/4/9/6453557/heres-how-much-sugar-is-in-a-mcdonalds-sandwich

Harvard vs Inmates

1. I think that if students of the Harvard debate team and inmates of a New York prison were debating, that the students would win. I think this because they have first hand experience on debating and persuading people into thinking they’re opinion is correct. Also, Harvard is a pristine university that is very well known for having very intelligent students and therefore I feel would be most likely to win.
2. However, in terms of which side is more likely to defend the rights of immigrants, I believe that the inmates would defend them because they  have and are currently experiencing what it is like to get your rights taken away for not obeying the law. I think they would feel that it would be unfair for those who are innocent to not be able to have the same rights and privileges of others just because of their ethnicity.

Persuasion

I remember when I was younger, I always persuaded my little sister to do things for me. We’re 6 years apart so it was quite successful for the longest time, even to this day I can still persuade her into doing things for me (pretty rare, but still successful). Since that she is so much younger, it really wasn’t that difficult to make her ask my parents something I was too nervous to ask, share some candy that she had, I’ve even had her give me a massage before lol. Whenever I persuaded her to do these things, I always made sure to make it sound like a deal. “If you give me your gummy bears I’ll do your share of the housework too”. Unfortunately for her, when she tried to tell my parents, they only believed her about a handful of times so I always ended up getting what I wanted because I was great at playing dumb in these situations. However, I’ve recently noticed that she’s also beginning to do this to me, and I’ve actually fallen for it a few times too! I guess she learned from the best.

“True Writing is Rewriting”

I think the most relevant “secret” out of the three mentioned, is that once is not enough. I really enjoyed how Beth Shope described the writing process as “building and furnishing a house”, mentioning that the first draft would be considered as the foundation of a house and quite possibly the beams as well. However, I think it was great that she also made a point that not everyone will write like this. She says that sometimes the “initial draft may even look like a complete house” meaning that some people are talented enough to write maybe 1 or 2 drafts and they are considered completed. This allows anyone from the audience to relate to this area of the document. In all cases though, I feel that this writing process is a very important step to take in order to be a successful writer. I know that I am definitely someone who is always looking to improve their work so this step is very helpful for me.

 

Source: https://fleming.desire2learn.com/content/COMM/1169/offerings/COMM_201-250351P_1169/Readings/True_Writing.pdf

Profile Readings: “The Last Stop”

“Tall and thin, he even had beady eyes and a bony face. A low, slanted forehead gave way to a beaked nose. His skin, scrubbed of all color, contrasted sharply with his jet black hair. He was wearing a starched white shirt, grey pants, and black shoes. Indeed, he looked like death on two legs.”

In the short story “The Last Stop”, I found this passage very vivid. It gave me a graphic representation of how the funeral director, Mr. Deaver, appeared to the author. He kept the mood very dark and dreary, which for me isn’t necessarily appealing however it definitely suits the story.

This passage captured my interest because of how descriptive and detailed it is. While I was reading it, I instantly could picture what the funeral director looked like. Because of his vivid details, I found this passage to be very successful in showing what a successful visual representation of an idea, fact or detail would be.

 

Source:

Cable, B. (n.d.). The Last Stop. Retrieved October 17, 2016, from

          https://fleming.desire2learn.com/content/COMM/1169/offerings/COMM_201-

           250351P_1169/Readings/The_last_stop.pdf

“What The Best Interviewers Get Right”

I think that all of the tips that the best interviews state in this article are all very valid and I can certainly see each of these techniques when I watch interviews online, on tv, read in magazines, etc. The only rule that I find very difficult to wrap my head around is not being afraid to interrupt. I was taught growing up that interrupting was incredibly rude and to wait your turn to speak. After all, patience is a virtue. So when I came across this tip I thought their must’ve been a typo… until I continued reading under the subheading. I find it so strange that interviewers use this tactic, no wonder celebrities don’t like interviews very much, I wouldn’t want to be interrupted all the time either! It’s bad enough when my sister does it to me let alone a stranger. If this was a major expectation as an interviewer, I really don’t think I would be able to do that as a career, and knowing me the habit would carry over into my everyday life and I’d end up getting slapped by my grandmother.

In all honesty, I feel like interviewers probably live the life of Reily because they get to talk to celebrities all day every day and then go back to their cozy office cubicle and write about it. Sure some of the tips may be common courtesy for an interview, or any conversation with a stranger asking  you personal questions, but I think I’ll stick to just answering questions instead.

 

Source: https://fleming.desire2learn.com/content/COMM/1169/offerings/COMM_201-250351P_1169/Readings/Interviews.pdf

“Who would you interview and what would you ask?”

If I could interview one person it would have to be Heidi Somers. She is a huge inspiration for me and many others in the fitness world. Heidi is also known for her line of athletic wear BuffBunny Collection. When she was 20 years old, Heidi decided to make a healthy change to her life. She left her hometown in North Pole, Alaska to pursue her dreams of becoming a happier and healthier person. I have looked up to her from many years because she has battled through many health problems, as have I.

If I got the chance to meet with her and ask her only three questions, my first question would be “are you currently happy with your body?”. I have read many articles on people who make their health into a full time job and almost all say that they will never look at themselves and see the perfect body. Those in the fitness industry are always looking to better themselves physically and mentally.

My next question would be “what ultimately made you decide that you wanted to live healthier and needed to change?”. Some of the most fit people out there have had some sort of experience in their lifetime that made them realize they need to get their shit together and change how they are. I know Heidi hasn’t always been the healthiest person. She has described herself as once being “dangerously skinny, and once overweight. [She has] been on both sides of the health spectrum, so [she] understands how people feel when they [go to her], wanting help losing/gaining weight.” I find this to be incredibly motivation because I have also always struggled with my weight and eating habits.

My last question to ask Heidi would be “did you ever imagine yourself where you are today physically, mentally and career wise?”. I would really love to know how she would answer this question because I feel like a lot of pro bodybuilders and competitors don’t necessarily dream of working out to pay the bills (easier said than done of course). I assume that this career just comes from a love of working out, staying healthy and feeling good about yourself. However, it would be nice to hear what a pro has to say about that.

 

Source: https://www.buffbunny.com/collections/workouts

“Wikipedians do it for love. Really”

Wikipedia is typically my go to site for quick and fairly simple information. I use it at least a few times a week either out of curiosity or to get a more in depth definition of a word (especially for anything school related). In other words, Wikipedia is a very handy tool for just about anything.

However, according to teachers, it is most certainly not a credible source and therefore I don’t take information to cite from this webpage. I do somewhat agree with teachers for not allowing students to use Wikipedia as a valid source because it’s true that anyone can go on the site and edit whatever page they like so you never really know if the information provided with always be correct. Although, I do believe that a good majority of the information (that I have found at least) is much more valuable than teachers give it credit for.

A lot of the time I’ll go to Wikipedia for information first to get an idea of what the topic is about because it can be fairly easy to read especially since that each article also contains subtopics. However, I will find a credible source(s) afterwards to read up on more complex information and use it as my final reference.

At the end of the day, I do believe that Wikipedia is a credible source in most cases but it doesn’t hurt to be cautious when using it for information that could reflect on you future!

 

Source: https://fleming.desire2learn.com/content/COMM/1169/offerings/COMM_201-250351P_1169/Readings/Wikipedians.pdf

“Shitty First Drafts”

When reading this article, I realized that even the greatest of writers struggle the same way I do. For me, I spend a vast majority of my time staring down at a blank piece of paper or at most, a couple of sentences hoping my pen will start scratching about on the page. Unfortunately though, it’s not that easy. It was surprising but quite relieving to discover that “very few writers really know what they are doing until they’ve done it.” I’ve always thought that being an author comes naturally to those who have published great books and series such as J.K Rowling, Stephanie Meyer and Stephen King to name a few. You’ll watch those movies where the man lays in bed at night after a long day at the office and suddenly he has his “aha!” moment and he’s off making millions. I really did think that this happened in real life for those writers believe it or not… But knowing now that writing is just a big thinking process, I’m beginning to warm up to the idea of not making one perfect final draft, but many shitty first drafts.

 

Source: https://fleming.desire2learn.com/content/COMM/1169/offerings/COMM_201-250351P_1169/Readings/Shitty_First_Drafts.pdf

“15 Reasons Why I Think You Should Blog”

I think the most important reasons to blog that stood out to me in this post were leading to healthier life habits but also becoming a better writer. I believe these two factors can go hand in hand in one’s daily life. Blogging can lead to a variety of things because it “requires time, devotion, commitment and discipline.” Although I am not personally familiar with blogging, I do believe that it could certainly help someone in many other aspects of their life. Learning how to communicate and bringing their thoughts and emotions to the page for others to see is something that I find quite fascinating. I hope that throughout this course, blogging will also help me with my communication skills and other healthy habits such as motivation, organization and many other opportunities.

 

Source: https://fleming.desire2learn.com/d2l/le/content/59895/viewContent/651167/View