eng reflections

During the spring semester of 2014 I have learned many things in English 101. This class has widened my view on what an argument really is. It has shown me to pursue my thoughts and beliefs on paper even if the majority of my peers may disagree with me. I have also learned the basics of writing a research paper such as citations, credible websites and sources and much more.

Prior to this class I’ve never written a real research paper. In high school I’ve wrote long essays about one of two specific books that were given out but never a truly independent search where I had I choice on what sources to pick. Also, I was never required to use citations in my paragraphs or cite the references and the end of my paper. In this class I was taught (the hard way 100/200) that each sentence that was not my own prior to writing the paper must have its source cited. This will be a lot of help in the future when I have to take other English or writing courses. Also it will keep me from getting sued.

While reading Eric Schlosser’s book, Fast Food Nation, I learned that there will be times where you as an author will have to argue points which are not pleasing to most audience.  In his book Schlosser was discussing the impact that fast food companies were having on our society such as unhealthy foods, mistreatment of employees, and corporate takeovers of small businesses. In my opinion this is a tough topic to write own due to the fact that many people around the world enjoy fast food. It is hard to argue against something that people have close to their hearts. However after reading his book he showed me that by having credible evidence, a good voice, and issues that a reader can relate to you can argue just about any point. This came to be useful to me while writing my research paper on how people should avoid an all juice diet. It is hard for a lot of people to hear that the diet that they are on is not working. They are looking for a miracle solution in any form. However, I used different points such as treats of cancer to get my reader’s attention.

The most important thing that I learned to do is work with classmates. I usually like to work alone. The main disadvantage to this is that you do not get another person’s point of view on what you are writing about. While rewriting blog #5 (essay 2) my classmates and I took turns reading each other’s work several times looking for any little mistakes. This took many tries to get it down perfect. For some reason it is nearly impossible to catch your own mistakes on paper. Another advantage to having classmates is to have someone to who you can pass an idea by verbally. When I have something on my mind that I want to write but can’t figure out how to write it, I usually talk about it verbally first to the person next to me. This helps get my ideas in order first before writing it down on paper.

Overall I owe everything that I have in this world to C.J (just kidding).  But seriously, I am a much better writing now than when I started months ago. I can argue on paper, write research paper, and I finally read my first book from cover to end. (Seriously)

eng101 # food

Rice, Chicken, and Water(no soda)

In preparing the rice you must wash it prior to cooking.

While the rice is being washed, have some water boiling on the stove. Pour about a 3 second drizzle of olive oil while the water is boiling.

The chicken must be washed and cleaned with viniger for about 20 minutes.
I like to use Adobo seasoning. ONLY!!!
Leave it on a medium flame for 15 minutes then flip each piece over for another 15.
Add water every so often to avoid burning.

NO SODA OR JUICE!!! just water.

eng101 # 11

Dangers of an All Juice Diet

A diet of mostly juices is not healthy. People should avoid an all juice diet and get the bulk of their nutrition from whole solid food. There is several health risk involved with these kinds of diets such as not getting enough fiber in the day. You can accumulate  much more sugar and calories than the recommended amounts. Also, you can suffer from germs and bacteria that can build up in juicing equipment if you’re making fresh juice everyday.

There is a big misconception that a diet of mainly juicing is healthier than eating whole fruits and vegetables. I have seen countless commercials advertising the latest diets. One that sticks to mind are the ones selling juicing machines. They try to sell using the idea that these diets will help you lose fat and often show fitness models drinking juice as if that is how they manage to get their physique. They have also claim health benefits such as getting most of your nutrition from a variety of fruits and vegetables. While all of these benefits might be true, there are still the health risks to put up with.

FIBER:

Fiber is any part of plant foods that your body can’t digest. When eaten it passes through your stomach, small intestine, and colon without being absorbed. Fiber comes in two forms. One is soluble. This type forms a gel substance when mixed with water. It is mostly found in foods like oats, beans, apples, carrots, barley and psyllium. The other type is insoluble. This fiber does not dissolve in water and passes through the body intact. It is mostly found in wheat bran, nuts, beans and vegetables, such as cauliflower, green beans and potatoes.

There are many benefits of having fiber in your diet. Soluble fiber helps lower blood cholesterol and glucose level. It forces bile in the intestine to be excreted instead of being absorbed. The liver then makes more bile and uses the cholesterol in your blood. It can also absorb the sugar in your blood and regulate your glucose level. Insoluble fiber helps with your digestion. Since it passes through as a bulky solid, it helps regulate digestion and reduces problems like constipation and irregular stool. This type of fiber can also lower the risk of developing hemorrhoids and small pouches in your colon. A benefit offered by both types is the ability to make you feel fuller without the extra calories due to the mass that they add to your food. This can help with to manage a healthy weight.

In an diet of only juices it is nearly impossible to get your recommended daily fiber. According to the Institute of Medicine men and women under the age of 50 need 38 and 25 grams of daily fiber respectively. The process in which juice is made at home almost entirely removes the fiber in the food. Fruits and vegetables and chopped and grind until only the juice is filtered out in one end and the bulky fiber is collected in another end. If you go on a all juice diet, you eliminate fiber and run the risk of high cholesterol, high glucose levels, weight gain, constipation, colon cancer and all kinds of health problems.

SUGAR:

One component found in nearly every juice is sugar. Sugar is a simple type of carbohydrate. It comes in several simpler forms such as glucose, lactose, and fructose. According to Medical News Today, every 100 grams of white sugar contains 387 kcal or Calories. Fructose the type of sugar found in the fruits that are used to make juice. Unfortunately these fruits may be loading with tons of sugar. For example, a banana can have 17 grams of sugar while a large apple and a large orange can have 23 grams. While preparing a fresh glass of juice, you can quickly add up a lot of sugar if you use a lot of fruits.

There are several risk to having a lot of sugar in your diet. According to Aglaee Jacob some of the main risks are weight gain, diabetes, and an impaired immune system. The weight gain comes from the fact that sugar can be easily converted to fat whenever your body is not in need of energy. Also sugar beverages leave you feeling hungry and craving for more. The immune system also suffer. According to Aglaee Jacob, sugar has been found in studies to lower immunity down to 50% for about 5 hours. In an all juice diet you are having sugar all day and that leaves you with an impaired immune system for most of the day. Probably the most known effect of too much sugar is diabetes. Diabetes can occur if there is too much sugar in your bloodstream and your body can not absorb it into your cells.

CALORIES:

An all juice diet can have a lot of calories. Since the fiber and solid portions are being stripped off, there is more room in your stomach for more calories. The liquid portion contain most of the nutrients but also all of the calories. An active male on an all juice diet might find himself drinking more than his 3000 caloric need in a day due to a sense of not being full. This might leave him craving for more juice and more calories. He can put on a pound a week by drinking 500 more calories each day.

The main danger associated with too much calories is the weight gain. This is because the weight that is gain is usually fat. Too much body fat can lead to all sorts of problems such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease, and certain cancers. A stroke is nothing to take lightly. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention about 130,000 Americans die from strokes every year. It is the leading cause of death. This can helped be prevented by sticking to solid foods that are bulky and fibrous. It will fill you up more and stop the craving.

Overall, although juices do have their nutritional benefits, an all juice diet is unhealthy. There are too many health risk involved. A person can gain an excess amount of weight/fat. They can develop different kinds of cancer through out the body including the colon. They can also develop diabetes. They can find themselves hanging on to life due to a stroke. They can impair their immune system through out most of the day. Finally they can find themselves eating buildups of germs from the equipment that they use to prepare fresh juice. People who truly want to be healthy should avoid all juice diets and stick to solid food.

References:

http://health.howstuffworks.com/diseases-conditions/cardiovascular/cholesterol/foods-that-lower-cholesterol2.htm
http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/fiber/art-20043983?pg=1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fructose
http://www.sugarstacks.com/fruits.htm
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/196024.php
http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/damaging-effects-much-sugar-diet-1508.html
http://kidshealth.org/teen/diabetes_center/basics/high_blood_sugar.html
http://www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines/dga2005/healthieryou/html/chapter5.html
http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/publications/usdafoodpatterns/estimatedcalorieneedsperdaytable.pdf
http://www.shapeup.org/bfl/risk1.html
http://www.cdc.gov/stroke/faqs.htm

eng101 # 10

Title: Dangers of a Juicing Diet

Introduction:
A diet of mostly juicing is not healthy.
There is a big misconception that a diet of mainly juicing is healthier than eating whole fruits and vegetables.
People should get the bulk of their nutrition from whole solid food.

Body Paragraph
Main Point, Idea, or Issue:                                      Fiber is removed juicing diets.
Supporting Information:
Supporting Details or Data:

Body Paragraph
Main Point, Idea, or Issue:                                    Juicing diets are high in calories. (weight gain)
Supporting Information:                                           (calorically dense)
Supporting Details or Data:

Body Paragraph  
Main Point, Idea, or Issue:                                     Juicing diets are high in sugar. (diabetes) (insulin spike)  
Supporting Information:                                            
Supporting Details or Data:

Body Paragraph
Main Point, Idea, or Issue:                                    Juicing machines contain a lot of germs.
Supporting Information:
Supporting Details or Data:

eng101 # 9

My general subject is on juicing. I am focusing on the unhealthy side of too much juicing. I am trying to argue for people to stop juicing. Most of the sources that I have used came from online.

http://momsagainstcooties.com/kitchen-tools-appliances-hiding-places-for-germs/
http://health.usnews.com/health-news/blogs/eat-run/2013/09/06/9-germiest-kitchen-tools-and-appliances
http://www.livescience.com/38694-keeping-calories-from-juice-in-check.html
https://www.mediweightlossclinics.com/patients/resources/articles/obesity-facts/
http://www.webmd.com/cholesterol-management/obesity-health-risks
http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/longterm-risks-low-fiber-1267.html
http://summertomato.com/6-things-to-consider-before-buying-a-juicer-other-tips-for-fruit-vegetable-juicing-2/

My steps would be to organize each of my points in paragraphs. Each paragraph’s main idea would be one of the dangers of juicing. I follow with the information that I found online. Finally i would end each of those paragraphs with why it is important and how it relates to my thesis.
Some of the problems that i might face it the fact that most people feel that juicing is good for you. This means that most information that i find might argue against my thesis.

eng101 #7

A diet consisting of mostly juicing is unhealthy. Juicing is a new trend in which people take fruits and vegetables and grind them in a juicer. Only the juice is actually ingested leaving the solid portions behind. Some of the problems that come from juicing are dirty juicing machines from too much juicing. These machines can be very difficult to clean which can lead to bacteria build up that can end up in your drink. When you use a lot of fruits, your drink will contain a lot of calories which can lead to weight gain and many health problems related to obesity. Juicing also takes the fiber out of your drink which is needed for a healthy digestion and low cholesterol. It is in the better interest of a person’s health to stop juicing. One is better off eating solid food and keep juicing to a minimum. Another solution is to build a juicer machine which is easier to clean and comes with the right cleaning equipment. Most importantly as a whole we need to alert more people on the health dangers of juicing. Too many companies have advertised juicing as a lifestyle and people fall into that trap. It is up to us to stop this.

eng101 # 8

The fast food industry should allow workers to form unions. Currently workers work long hours with little pay. In the book Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser, the author talks about how workers are easily replaced and how some companies administered polygraph test on their employees. That is a cruel act on a human life. Some workers are also talked into working overtime without getting paid. Without a union are being overworked which affects their performance . This in turn affects the customer service which affects the company. A union is necessary because it allows workers to negotiate for fair working conditions.

The fast food industry at times take advantage of its employees when it come to overtime. Schlosser talks about how management often talk workers into working overtime with little to no pay. They would use tactics like having a worker feel guilty that they are leaving their team behind with a lot of work if they leave home for the day. The worker is likely to stay without being paid overtime. When i used to work in retail, there were many occasions where my manager asked me to stay longer after my shift was over. He would say that the store was in a complete mess and really needs my help. The only problem was that overtime had to be approved by a higher manager. I would have to work off the clock. I felt guilty about leaving my coworkers behind so I stayed. If we had a union i would have been paid all those overtime hours.

Workers are being easily replaced. Schlosser mentions all of the technological advancements companies make so that anyone one can be hired to work. This gives no value to the employee and they can be fired at any moment. He also mentions how some companies have administered polygraph test to their employees to see how loyal they are to the company. This puts employees in a position to be easily fired. With a union workers can negotiate to remove polygraph test and give more value to the employees to ensure longer employment duration.

In conclusion, a union in the fast food industry is necessary. It is the only tool that workers have to fight for fair treatment at work. Without it workers are subjected to harsh treatment like overtime without pay and constant fear of being fired and replaced. This is why the fast food industry should allow its employees to form unions.

eng101 #6

One brand that I find myself buying over and over again is Calvin Klein. I buy their coats, jackets, jeans, sweaters, tee shirts, belts, socks and even their business collection. I find their clothes to be very well made and represent a mature person. I first brought Calvin Klein when I was around 17 years old. Prior to this I used to wear a lot of baggy clothing. It was during the whole NYC hip hop era so I wore clothes like Sean John, Rocawear, Enyce and so on. It was fine because I was still a teenager and those brands were popular at that time. However, when I turned 17 I felt a bit too mature to wear baggy hip hop clothes. That’s when I went out shopping for new brands. I came across Calvin Klein and liked the style and how it fits your body. It was not baggy or too tight. I also liked that it didn’t have outrageous colors like teenage clothing. Another thing I liked about it was that it wasn’t too expensive. Most hip hop clothing cost too much money for what they are offering. Other clothing brands that sold mature clothes, like Armani, Burberry and Ralph Lauren, were also really expensive. Calvin Klein was just right in price. I found that Calvin Klein goes on sale a lot and can be found in many stores around the city. When I put it on I feel like a new person, like I’m in the next stage of my life. I feel that I could take on any challenges that come my way in a clear calm manner unlike the rash and impulsive way that I used to before. For the moment this brand fits my life but I know in the future it will be time to switch up again and progressive to the next stage.

eng101 #5 (draft)

In the book, “Fast Food Nation” by Eric Schlosser, the author brings up the issue of how quickly fast food companies have risen over the years. He talks about the exponential growth from small humble beginnings to huge empires that are beyond the control of many including the U.S. government. The way he describes them is like a small virus that replicates itself quickly throughout the host. He also talks about how this out of control growth has had negative effect on our society.

Eric begins with the story of how Carl Karcher began his business, Carl’s Jr, with just one hot dog cart. It followed with another cart and soon a restaurant which multiplied into many restaurants across the country. The company became a huge corporation that went out of the control of even the founder. During a vote on a future path of the company, many of the board members were against Carl’s plans on forming a joint venture with a chained called Green Burrito. After the deal fell through, the broad members voted him out of the company as stated by the author. He wrote, “When the board rejected the plan, Carl tried to oust its members. Instead, they ousted him. On March 1, 1993, CKE’s board voted five to two to fire Carl N. Karcher.” The entity that was CKE became much bigger than its founder. Another fast food company talked about in the book was McDonald’s. Started by two brothers in southern California McDonald’s restaurants quickly spread across the country after after the brothers were approached by Ray Kroc. Kroc expanded it from a local business to a worldwide company as stated by the author. He wrote,” Ray Kroc took the McDonald’s Speedee Service System and spread it nationwide, creating a fast food empire.” The company was spreading into all parts of the country and taking over as the lead fast food company. It had also spread into the entertaining and advertisement business. Soon many other brands were being promoted with McDonald’s as stated by the author. He wrote,” The competition for young consumers has led the fast food chains to form marketing alliances not just with toy companies, but with sport leagues and Hollywood studios. McDonald’s has staged promotions with the National Basketball Association and the Olympics.” From my own experience, every where that I go I always can count on finding a McDonald’s if I’m hungry. It does not take too long to find one. I have seen many local businesses that have shut down, but i have never seen a McDonald’s close down. If there is fire of flood it closes down for repairs and reopens as soon as possible. They don’t seem to ever be in the negative when it comes to finance and don’t seem to be going anywhere. One could say everywhere you see a McDonald’s, that land is lost forever like a limb that has been infected and must be amputated.