The Truth Behind Junk Food

Salt Sugar Fat written by Michael Moss is a book that definitely opened my eyes. Moss’ book talks about the three main components of unhealthy food products being sold; salt, sugar, and fat. Although I have hardly eaten out or stuffed my face with other unhealthy food, I still crave it once in a while and I can’t help but buy something to satisfy my small craving.

Reading about all the sugar added to make certain products taste the best is kind of shocking because we don’t have a say on how much sugar goes into these products. Plus we don’t know exactly how much other chemicals go into these foods as well. Many consumers that choose to purchase and eat out at fast food restaurants are not really aware of the bad chemicals and other things being put into the food that they intake.  It is sad for the people who don’t really care to read up on the nutritional values of theses products. In the long run it will cause obesity and due to the intense amounts of salt, sugar, and fats it may cause other health problems. For example, Salt can lead to high blood pressure, due to its sodium element in salt.

I found it really interesting on how some companies come together to help each other market their products. Mentioned in the book, you can almost always find a saltshaker on a table. Although some companies don’t use so much sugar they still help advertise it. As mentioned in Salt Sugar Fat, even Coca Cola produces Coca Cola bottle shaped saltshakers.

Like I mentioned before I haven’t always been a junk food or fast food eater, but reading this had definitely reassured me that I should try my hardest to not give in and eat so much of this unhealthy food. Knowing how much salt, sugar, and of course fat is in these food items makes me feel gross knowing that I had once consumed it.

The Gifts of Life

*I am thankful for having God in my life, my faith means so much.

*I am thankful for having a loving and supportive family.

*I am thankful for my true friends.

*I am thankful for having a fun job, and being able to pay for things that I want on my own.

*I am thankful for having great coworkers that are now my second family.

*I am thankful for being healthy.

*I am thankful for always having food to eat and a house.

*I am thankful for being able to continue my education.

*I am thankful for having an extremely comfortable bed to sleep in.

* Last but not least, I am thankful for having an easy assignment this week.

Family is Everything

Family to me, are those who are here for me through all my achievements and my motivators during my tough obstacles. I personally think I have a really big family, both including my immediate family and distant family. For starters my mom has 5 brothers and 5 sisters. My dad only has 1 brother, and I have 2 oldest brothers. I wish I had a sister, so I can have girl talk with, but I don’t, so that is what my mom is for. I am extremely close with my mom, and I am truly thankful for that.

Looking back at my memories, a lot of them have to do with my family.  Since I can remember, my family had always been really close. I saw my cousins more as my siblings. Considering how many aunt and uncles I have, I’m sure you can imagine how many cousins I have, a lot. My aunts, uncles, and mom would plan random days to have a family get together. There wouldn’t be an exact reason; just that it would be to spend time together. Till this day I always look forward to family parties, because my family is fun to be around.  I can never get enough of the all the laughs and memories we share and create together.

Of course, every family has their small problems, and we all have our disagreements, but at the end of the day we know we will be there for one another. My family has been through a lot of rough patches, and as a family we overcame the obstacles. Not only did we get through these tough times, it made us stronger and closer as a family. I honestly don’t know how I would be able to overcome certain obstacles without my family, specifically my parents.

With that said, I am truly blessed with a big loving family. I have had some friends who have said that they aren’t really close to their family, and it makes me think on how I wouldn’t be able to live a happy life without my family. I’m glad that I am able to text or call any family member if I ever need anything. Even if I just want to ask how they are doing. I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have them in my life. Family to some people may not mean a lot, but to me, my family means everything.

Materialism

I agree with both Amel Saleh and Lauren Smith for different reasons. Saleh mentions that some people “expect” presents, I agree with her on this because some people have made Christmas too materialistic and don’t see this holiday season for the true meaning. Then, I agree with Smith’s essay, because she mentions that although there are some rude people that are too into the shopping and presents than the true meaning, they should not be the stereotype of all holiday shoppers.

            I do believe that some people automatically expect to receive many expensive presents and it may have made them greedy, but I believe they see Christmas as a holiday just for receiving gifts, because of the way they were raised. There of course are those who genuinely are grateful for receiving a simple gift from a loved one. I suppose presents are a holiday tradition, but some people do go overboard on the amount and price of presents.

            Christmas is a holiday I really enjoy spending with my family, mainly because they all make extremely good food, but also because it is one of the holidays that a lot of my family members have off from work, so a lot of them are able to join us for family time. My family does a gift exchange every year. On thanksgiving we put the names of those who would like to participate in a hat, whosever name we get that is who we would have to purchase a gift for. Since the names are folded up we don’t know which family member we will pick, and we don’t know who picked us until we give the gifts on Christmas Eve, but of course my immediate family knows considering my mom and I are the ones who go pick out the gifts. Christmas in my family is not at all seen to be for just the presents we receive, and I am so blessed that my family continues to value the true meaning of Christmas and how it all started.

Fuel for the Brain

The fall academic semester of 2014, so far has been good. With only 3 classes including Math, English, and Management Food Preparation, it feels like I am taking a lot more. Although I did experience some obstacles through out this semester I feel like I am still coming a long way on improving them. My classes this semester have been fast paced so it has pushed me to not get lazy and procrastinate as much as I use to, even though I still procrastinate a little.

This semester I am taking 2 out of 3 online classes. My math class is 100% online; in a way I like it because I get to do my assignments at my own pace. Then again, I don’t like taking it fully online because we don’t have a professor showing us step by step on certain things, on the bright side there are many tutors in the library. My English class, as you all know, is a hybrid class. It is half online and the other half in class. I really enjoy this hybrid English class because we are given assignments online and we are still able to ask questions and get feed back face to face. My Management Food Preparation class is probably my most tiring class. This class is for my major, Culinary Arts. It is a 6hour lab day, from 7 or 7:30a.m. -2p.m., and another day is a 2hour lecture class.  Since I live in Santa Paula, I have to wake up at 6 and leave a little after to make it to class on time. Even though I dread waking up this early very Tuesday, I still force myself to, mainly because I have to, but also keeping in mind that this will all be worth it in the end.

One of my biggest motivators is my family. My dream is to eventually open up my own bakery, so they are always giving me ideas of how I should decorate and also the new recipes I should try, because of this it makes me want a bakery so much more and it keeps me focused on what I really want in the future. I do get discouraged thinking of how long it will take me to make my dream bakery come to life, but my family always gives me motivational words and tells me I can do it. With that said, I do feel too tired to deal with school and work, but knowing that my biggest future goal will come true with all my hard work, will make it all worth it in the end.