Thursday, October 14, 2010

Post regarding Biodiversity

Can humans and the environment flourish together? My answer would be, while we, humans, have to capability to make this possible, we simply won't do it. While there are increasing awareness about the environment around the world, there are still more countries that are willing to sacrifice nature for their economic finances. For example, United States, while being the largest CO2 emitter, doesn't participate in major CO2 limiting committees. Statistics are supporting the notion that major environmental problems are caused by over-consumption and over-exploitation of natural resources. Humans' using up of natural resources is much faster than what the environment can regenerate, and never before has been such an exploiting of such an unprecedented magnitude. From this, we can infer that we can let the natural environment heal itself by exploiting it less.

I've been to an eco-friendly village where people gained resources necessary from nature within a few kilometers around their settlement and still managed to maintain a high standard of living style. Houses were built from wood, mud bricks and some metal. Food was grown in their fields in a natural way (no usage of chemical fertilizers/insecticides was involved). Quite contrary to what many people think, they were having a better life, with more leisure time, regular exercise, organic food and healthy environment. This shows that humans and nature can enter a positive correlation in which there are mutual benefits gained by both sides.

Humans can flourish with environment. However, as long as individuals and government aren't willing to take risks and momentarily experience discomfort, environment will continue to be damaged, and sooner or later the humans will no longer have access to those resources.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Food Label Worksheet

What is your food product?
-Honey Roasted / Honey Bunches of Oats

1. What is the serving size?
-Serving size is about 30g or 3/4 cup

2. How many servings per container?
-Approximately 14 servings per container

3. How many calories per serving?
-Approximately 120 calories per serving (+ 160 calories from milk, since the product is a cereal)

4. How many calories are from fat?
-15g

5. What percentage of each serving’s calories comes from fat?
(Do the math yourself.)
-12.5% of calories are from fat

6. What is the total fat percentage of your food?
-5%

Is this content Low/Moderate/High?
-Low

7. What is the saturated fat percentage in your food?
-0%

Is this content Low/High?
-Low

8. How much of your diet should come from saturated fats?
-0% (recommended)

9. What is the difference between saturated and unsaturated fats?
-Saturated fat is mainly from animal products, and contain Low Density Cholesterol-the type that clogs the veins.
Unsaturated fat is mainly from plants and oils, and contain High Density Cholesterol-the type that doesn't clog the veins.

10. What is the percentage cholesterol in your food?
-0%

11.Is that Low/Moderate/High
-Low

12. How much sodium is in your food?
-150mg is in my food

13.Is this content Low/Moderate/High?
-Low

14. What is the carbohydrate content of your food?
-25g

15. Is this content Low/Moderate/High?
-Moderate

16.What is the sugar content of your food?
-6g

17. Is this content Low/Moderate/High?
-Moderate

18. Why are sugars not good for you?
-Too much sugar can result in high level of blood-sugar, and this can result in obesity or certain types of illness

19. How much fiber is in your food?
-2g

20. Why is fiber good for you?
-Fiber is the agent that cleans out people's intestines. Since fibers aren't digestible, they sweep the dietary system and takes out toxins.

21. How much protein is in your food?
-2g

22. Is this content Low/Moderate/High?
-Low

23. What is the Vitamin A , Vitamin C, Calcium, and Iron content of your food?
Vit. A-15%
Vit. C-0%
Calcium-0%
Iron-60%

24. Are these amounts adequate?
-Vitamin A-moderate
Vitamin C-low
Calcium-low
Iron- High

25. Overall, what would you say is the nutritional value of your food? Is it good for you? Why or why not?
-Eating this food with milk will be a good diet. While the food is high in iron, it has a fine calorie balance and lacks cholesterol and saturated fat. Also, it provides adequate amount of proteins, fibers, carbohydrates and other various nutrients. However, other supplementary foodstuff will be needed to supplement the lack of Vitamin c.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Nutrition Analysis

During the weekdays, I'm usually eating slightly lesser than what is being burned as calories. My food intake gives me an approximate calorie value of 2380, but my activities burn about 2700 calories. This gap between calories consumed and calories burned is compensated during weekends. In order to balance this gap, I can either reduce my physical activities (which I can't), or simply eat more nutritious food. Since option 1 is not viable, I'll have to eat more food in order to balance this ill eating habit.

Also, I'm not taking in enough vitamin A, Vitamin D, Vitamin E, Calcium and other nutrients. While other nutrient-intakes were sufficiently higher than what is required, these three nutrients and several others were in 40%~70% range of what was required. However, I'm taking in more than what is necessary for other nutrients, especially sodium and selenium. This indicates that I'm eating too much salt, and therefore needs to reduce my salt intake. This increases my chance of getting ailments from high blood pressure. For other nutrients, I was taking in 7%~98% more than what's necessary.

The nutrients chart shows that my diet consists of the following: 35% fat, 52% carbohydrates, 13% protein, and 0% alcohol. As for fat, 8% was saturated fat, 13% was polyunsaturated fat and 11% was monounsaturated fat. I was getting the majority of my calories from protein instead of fat, and that is relatively healthy. Large portion of nutrients (carbohydrates) came from vegetables and fruits, reflecting my somewhat healthy diet.

Typical Weekend day:
During the weekends, I'm usually eating much more than what is being burned. I am consuming approximately 3870 calories worth of food, while burning only 3000 calories. Because of such dietary shifts from weekdays to weekends, I have a constantly shifting weight, ranging from 60 to 63. In order to raise this inequality between calories consumed and burned, I'll need to exercise more or do more vigorous physical activities.

I'm still not absorbing enough calcium, vitamin A and vitamin D, but I'm taking excessive amounts of other nutrients. I still consume excessive amount of salt, and all nutrient-intakes are considerably higher. For example, I'm taking in 343% more vitamin C and approximately 150% more iron and copper than what's recommended. There was no visible cholesterol consumption, but I lack calcium by 30% of recommended amount. It is likely that I'll have calcium-deficiency related disease or illness from too much salt.

My diet consists of the following nutrients: 38% fat, 51% carbohydrate, 11% protein and 0% alcohol. 9% of fat was saturated, 16% was polyunsaturated, and 11% was monounsaturated fat. Weekend diet still had large portion of vegetables, fruits and carbohydrate, and they balance the food pyramid.

Looking at the overall food pyramid, I'm taking sufficient amount of meat, vegetable, fruit and wheat, but I'm not consuming much dairy product. Perhaps that is why I have low-consumption of calcium. Another detrimental eating habit I discovered is that I eat too much salt. High level of sodium indicates that I'm taking in excessive amount of salt, and I need to reduce my intake in order to improve my health.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

News Article related to Stress

What drives a mom to kill?
By Elizabeth Landau, CNN
August 18, 2010
www.cnn.com
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/08/18/sc.mother.children.psychology/index.html?iref=allsearch#fbid=AFzda3WLuQm&wom=false

Shaquan Duley, a 29 unemployed Orangeburg (South Carolina) resident, is accused of killing her two children by suffocating them. Duley has admitted to the crimes, stating that she had suffocated her two children, strapped their corpses onto the cars and left the car to plunge into the lake. According to Duley, She and her mother had an argument regarding the state of two children, and Duley has been known to have been put under stress by her mother and the community to support for her children. As the article says, Duley was unemployed, a single mother, and received considerable stress from life.

This article shows that a build-up of stress can eventually lead to horrible outcomes, such as a mother killing her own children. According to the article, many mothers who murder their own children are usually in neglected, low-income classes in which they are easier to get pressured. Duley was living with her mother, and because both were unemployed, they lacked the means to support their family. Constantly being told that she wasn't taking care of her children, Duley was stressed to a level that she wanted to get rid of her children and free herself, and that's when she carried the murder out. Duley is regretting what she has done, but being sad won't bring back her already-dead children.

This article was shocking to me because I personally think that parents prioritize their children first, but this article contradicted me. All parents feel love for their children, and the incidence proved to me that stress is something far more deadly than what I had thought of earlier. Stress and depression can trigger even the most loving parents to make the wrong decision, and despite the fact that I've never been so stressed as to think of killing other people, this article made me feel that I should find effective methods to deal with stress.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Wellness Plan

WELLNESS PLAN
(Goal Setting)

Name: Jong-Yeup, Lee _____/15 points

Look at the area on your Wellness Wheel on which you had the lowest score. Choose one item in that area that you need to change or improve and use the goal setting process below to help you make that adjustment.

Steps for achieving a goal: 1.Select one goal to work toward.
2.List what you will do to reach this goal.
3.Identify others who can help you and support your efforts.
4.Give yourself a specific period of time to reach your goal.
5.Build in checkpoints to evaluate how you are doing.
6.Give yourself a reward once you’ve achieved the goal.

1. The area I would like to change or improve is:
Physical

2. Pick a primary goal in your lifestyle within the abovementioned Wellness Wheel
area that you want to work on achieving. :
workout sessions (approximately 1 hour each) x 3 times a week for 4 months

3. What health benefits would you receive if you made a change in this area?
Enhanced physical abilities, better sports performance, self satisfaction, less vulnerability to diseases

4. What difficulties might make achieving this goal a challenge?
Time limits in week days
Unexpected injuries, illness
Unexpected events such as traveling, school concerts, etc

5. The people you will ask for support and assistance are:
my brother and my mother

How will they help you?
By urging me to push on further if I lose track of what I'm doing

6. Three specific steps involved in making this change/improvement are (be specific)
-do 2 of the following in every session:
a. running machine 200 cal (+30 with every passing month)
b. push-ups and sit-ups x50, x100 respectively (+10/+25 with every passing month)
c. arm workout x30~150 depending on the type of equipment used (+ one level with every passing month)
-check at the end of each month (30~31 day cycle) overall performance & changes regarding my body
-keep track of my schedule

7. How will you record of your progress?
I'll have a chart online to record the date of session and what I did.

8. Date started: Aug 18th, 2010 Date you are going to complete: Dec 18th, 2010

9. Reward for completion: Self Satisfaction

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Interview Assignment

Q: What is his/her relationship to you?
A: Mother & Son

Q: 1. Have you always been as healthy as you are now? Please explain.
A: I wasn’t so healthy when I was in elementary school……Looking back, I used to miss school a couple of times every month. I used to have severe stomachaches every month for an unknown reason. I was also very weak 2 years after I gave birth to your younger brother. Every time I worked physically for about 30 minutes, I would become so tired that I was forced to sleep for 2 hours. So my life was pretty much like, 30 minutes work, 2 hours sleep, 30 minutes work, 2 hours sleep…


Q: 2. What particular health habits in the following areas do you practice, that contribute to your level of health?
A: REGULAR exercise (particularly jogging and stretching) and REGULAR sleep. Several years back, I wasn’t doing exercise regularly and stretching regularly. I was sleeping regularly, of course (chuckles), accompanied by occasional afternoon naps. When I was young, I wasn’t sick any bit even if I didn’t exercise any bit. But now that I’m over 40 years old, I get regular…signals, if you would call it, indicating that my body isn’t functioning well. Still limbs, joints, and occasional pain. After I began stretching and jogging regularly, my body is sending less ‘warning signals’. Another reason why I exercise often is because I really feel refreshed after I do some exercise. You young people usually think that exercising has nothing to do with how you feel, but as you age, you’ll find out that exercise DOES help. A lot.

Nutritional Habits: I don’t eat too much, and I try my best to consume vegetables. I also avoid salty and spicy food.

Fitness Habits: as I’ve mentioned before, I jog and stretch. Regular jogging keeps my weight down and prevents joint pains.

Coping with Stress: I would gather with my friends if I have experienced something upsetting, and I would chat on for hours and hours about that experience. Because my friends consist of Korean mothers, and because they cope with stress in similar way, I and my friends literally have a gathering where we criticize, swear, and gossip about upsetting things. From children’s misdeeds to husbands’ rash actions, we talk on and on until our stress goes away. I also watch movies and dramas to relieve my stress.

Dealing with Conflicts: When I’m dealing with conflicts, especially with fellow mothers, I usually try to talk the problem out. I would say calm, soothing words first, wait for the person to calm down, and then get to the core of the problem. I resort to violence if such methods fail.

Keeping a Positive Attitude: I’m not perfect, so many of the times I DO have very negative attitudes. But since I know that positive attitude is more constructive than negative ones, I try to remind myself again and again to have positive attitudes.

Any Additional Healthy Habits: none.

Q: 3. How did you develop these habits? Please explain.
A: I developed my habits because of my necessities. I played golf some years ago, and sometimes I would get cramps and other aches that would last for weeks. When I didn’t do anything about those problems, my body wouldn’t stop aching for a very long time. Then, I got some recommendation from my friends. They said that they benefited from doing simple stretches and exercises. So I did them. And the results were above my expectations. Cramps and pains that wouldn’t disappear for weeks simply vanished in days. That’s how I started stretching and jogging.

Q: 4. What motivates you to practice a healthy lifestyle?
A: I liked the idea of being free from joint pains, aches, cramps, and so on. I also liked the idea of assuring myself that I could so something to prevent my body from aging quicker. I’m not seeking eternal youth here. I’m just seeking for extended youth.

5. Create a question of your own that you would like to ask regarding this person’s healthy lifestyle. Make sure that the question allows your interviewee to expand on his/her thoughts (not a one word answer).

My own question: What is it that you wish you had done in the past to improve your health? Why? Why didn’t you do it then?
A: I really wish I’d learn how to dance. Seeing as how I’m aging, I really wish I had trained and disciplined my body to my standard. I want to…be healthy at the same time be graceful. I didn’t learn dancing before because I thought…well…I thought it was embarrassing (chuckles).