I use to believe that cereal is one of the healthiest and filling meal to start the day until reading Pandoras Lunchbox by Melanie Warner. With this concept that cereal was healthy in my mind and no knowledge on how far from the truth this statement is, I went on to have a large bowl of Apple Jacks for breakfast along with a bowl of peaches and strawberry yogurt in hopes to fill me up for the next four to five hours. I personally really enjoyed eating the strawberry yogurt and peaches and found it to be very refreshing, but I am not quite sure if the yogurt may or may not have a lot of other additives. It makes me wonder if the strawberry yogurt I had that morning really have any strawberry or strawberry chunks or if it was all false since many breakfast items tend to have synthetic nutrients added (58) to make them seem more appealing and healthy according to Melanie Warner. At that moment, I had really believed it was a good and healthy breakfast. But now looking back, I'm not so sure.
After breakfast, I noticed my diet increasingly got worse as I began to log all the junk and processed foods I ate from multiple cheese pizzas to multiple desserts. By the end of the day, I found myself feeling sluggish and tired. So sluggish and tired to the point that I feel asleep while working on an assignment and taking a 3 hour nap at night. I think my feeling of sluggishness had to do with the fact that I had a lot more to eat that day than I normally do. It didn't help that a lot of those foods I had eaten that were not healthy either aside from maybe the peaches I had for breakfast and maybe the water. I think it's a lot easier for me to not notice all the junk and processed foods I eat due to the fact that I eat in the dining hall. Because I eat in the dining hall, it's a lot harder to know what exactly is going into me and what's healthy or not for the simple fact that all I see is the finished product. Not how it's created or maybe even packaged.
Saturday came and I slept in until 12 AM, completely skipping breakfast but still aware that I had to make an effort to not eat processed foods. So, for breakfast I decided to have brown rice, chicken, and water. This was the first time I realized that I in fact ate too much processed and salty foods because the brown rice tasted extremely bland to the point that I had trouble eating it. Now thinking back on this, I can't help but recall Micheal Moss' explanation on how people can limit their salt intake by simply eating less salt which would lead to their tastes buds to return to a regular level of salt sensitivity (13). Had I really been eating way too much salty foods previously? So much so that something like brown rice tasted so bland it was almost unbearable? It seemed like that was exactly the case since I have plenty of friends who only eat healthy and can eat the brown rice without a problem. Other than the brown rice (which was the one that stuck out the most to me), the water, chicken, and turkey sandwich tasted just fine, but even then I wasn't so sure if they were healthy. As a college student who relies on the meal plan at the moment and who doesn't have a car on campus, it can be really hard to make sure I am actually eating healthy, whole foods. As I currently sit here and type this, Brody Square does not offer any nutritional information on the food they serve aside if it's vegan or vegetarian. Because of this, I found this assignment to be rather difficult because I couldn't exactly cook for myself since they keys for the community kitchen in my hall right now are missing and also simply because it would be extremely hard to get the ingredients to cook myself a healthy meal to begin with.
Friday's breakfast
Fridge Reflection
Frank McKenzie is an 18-year-old college student and the younger sibling of a friend. The process of collecting a photo of Frank’s fridge was easy since all I had to do was ask my friend to have his younger brother send a photo of his fridge. Based off the snapshot of Frank’s fridge that he sent his brother, I can see that he has about nine water bottles, one milk bottle, an iced tea bottle, a few Fit Crunch bars, and leftovers of some sorts (I later asked my friend to ask his brother what was in the box and was told it was a leftover turkey sandwich). From this photo, I assumed that Frank most likely tries to eat healthy, eats out quite a bit/in the dining hall or eats on a budget, and most likely works out. I assumed that Frank eats healthy since he has a lot of water bottles in his fridge. There are more water bottles in his fridge than any other beverage. I also noted that there are no soda cans or energy drinks. I also think Frank eats out quite a bit to save time since our generation finds preparing food “far too much of a hassle” (88) according to The Financial Diet by Chelsea Faegan. Frank may also shop on a budget because his fridge does not have lots of food aside from his leftover turkey sandwich and a few fitness bars since “healthier food is more expensive” (2) according to The American Way of Eating by Tracie McMillan. The lack of food can possibly mean that he does not have a lot of money or time as a college student to buy groceries and therefore is subjected to eating at his dining hall or to eat take out. Lastly, a lot of fitness bars in a fridge could most likely mean that Frank often likes to work out and eats the fitness bars either before or after his workout sessions.