Welcome to our blog!
This is the forum we will use to share our reflections and insights with the class.
Write about the readings and the class discussions.
Also, please write about the food you are eating, new awareness and connections you are making.
My diet changes quite frequently throughout the course of a year. I go through phases of good and bad nutrition, and unfortunately my diet correlates with my schedule. For example, during May Term the stresses of school and work are lessened, allowing me to focus and spend more time on things that I want, like good food. But during hectic times like final exams, my diet suffers and nutrition falls under the radar. What is more unfortunate than eating crap during stressful times is that the habits and behaviors of choosing bad foods stick around even after stress levels fall.
ReplyDeleteI would like to make a life-time goal, and that is to put good nutrition at the forefront of my consciousness each and everyday. I want to be able to break the habit of going back to awfully good tasting and awfully bad for you foods. My goal is to not identify myself with a specific label, for that I do not want to limit myself and palate (although if I ate Nina’s food everyday, I’d be completely contempt with absolutely no meat), but instead, my goal is to take care of myself and my body by making the right choices of what I put into my body.
In our reading, Vegan Roots, the author outlined reasons why individuals choose a vegan lifestyle. There are a myriad of reasons why people make such decisions, and I myself have justified a reason to eat healthier. In class, we discussed nutrition as a life long process and as the wise saying goes, “You are what you eat.” But what does nutrition as a life-long process mean? It is different for everyone, and for me, it means a few different things.
The first thing that comes to mind when I think of nutrition as a life process is temptation. We are surrounded with bad nutritional choices and cannot control what others eat around us. Deliciously tasting but bad for you foods are addictions: we eat them (even when we are aware of the consequences) because they make us feel good; they foster a very short lasting euphoria (high) which we constantly seek. Much like drug addicts, we justify reasons to conduct bad behaviors: “I’m too busy to cook”; “I haven’t eaten much today, so this ice cream bar is fine.” It will be a life process to look past constant temptations; saying “no” to backyard BBQ snacks and allotting more time towards food planning and preparation.
It is true when they say you are what you eat. I can feel how my body reacts to certain foods, and now I’m officially addicted to the way good foods make me feel. Reversing the addiction from bad to good foods is a challenge, but life is full of challenges and a healthy life-style should be the easiest challenge to overcome. The clock keeps ticking--I’m getting older and my eating habits now are not sustainable, both for me and for the environment. The more knowledge I can acquire for a healthy life, the better my life will be.
All beings tremble before danger, all fear death. When a man considers this, he does not kill or cause to kill. All beings fear before danger, life is dear to all. When a man considers this, he does not kill or cause to kill. Whosoever tries to find happiness through hurting other beings, will not find happiness. -Buddha
ReplyDeleteI find my thoughts still wandering in circles to this thought. What is that, inherently we define less special about plants? Is it merely the fact that, as mammals, we cannot relate to their type of life? An old Native American proverb that, as a climber, I hold dear to heart goes along such as this: "Although we can understand the spirit of animals, for they are like us, we can understand the the spirit of plants, for they too, are like our spirit. But perhaps the rocks too, have a spirit. One so different from ours we cannot understand it."
The answer is not clear in this case, of whether or not eating plants incurs less suffering. and the fact is, of course, that the circle of life is present on our planet and death incurs life. Death, as they say, is the great equalizer. One day the grass will come for our bodies and use our energy as have used theirs. Although we hold a great position at the top of the food chain, we are not exempt from this great circle. Trying to define our role in it, in such a subjective position as our human one, is no easy task, and I find myself struggling with it.
It seems we have a varied and open minded group in our class. Many of the students, unlike those that were in eco eating are already well on the way to becoming totally vegan. I myself am not, and at this point do not really plan on it, but the first readings did a very good job of outlining what each of our roles are. We are here to have a progressive conversation about what we consume and how it effects our bodies, the environment, and those around us. And as Americans it is becoming more and more common to not consider these issues while we eat. These issues are innate human worries and food is directly connected to them.
ReplyDeleteWhen we choose to eat factory farmed, abused animal products we are choosing to put ourselves in a place where that bad energy is become part of our being. This kind of consumption breeds a lifestyle that matchest that unnatural process. We dont even see the meat that we eat as an animal, its just a product in cellophane packaging that we can pick up at the store and eat. We have lost all connection to the actual animal and in turn we consume the unnatural, disgusting, and unhealthy byproduct.
As I said before, I'm not a vegan. But my consciousness around food is constantly being expanded. With the issues of human and animal justice as well as building a sustainable future for our human race all at play, I feel that making educated decisions about what we eat is one of the most political choices we can make. and I am excited to continue my education around it, and seeing how this knowledge effects my personal choices on food I consume.