Safe use of Health Information Technology Research Paper

Safe use of Health Information Technology - Research Paper Example Poor workflow and inefficient communication inevitably create more health IT sentinel events. Although communication and workflow are vital, the clinical content must also be well-structured to enable effective communication (The Joint Commission, 2015). For example, health records managers must be supplied with relevant and cogent information because they enter clinical data into systems on an as-is basis. Wrong or illegible data creates problems during retrieval. The success of any health IT framework also depends on internal organizational policies, procedures and cultures. These three aspects should be congruent with the overall objectives of the health IT system. Some cultures, policies and procedures hinder the efficient operation of the system, leading to health sentinel IT situations (Johnson, 2014). The level of training received by health staff determines their effectiveness in their duties. However, training is merely a means to an end. Employees should be taught to follow set policies and procedures or their training will be futile. The type of hardware and software used in a specific health IT framework determines the frequency with which sentinel events occur. To this effect, hardware and software must be relevant, usable, and adaptable (The Joint Commission, 2015). External factors, including vendor and other issues occurring in the external environment can also cause a health sentinel IT event. In some cases, legal and social challenges (e.g., culture) can increase the number of health sentinel IT situations (Balgrosky, 2014). Research shows that regular system appraisal and monitoring significantly reduces the probability of critical situations

The Ruthless 2010 Winter in America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Ruthless 2010 Winter in America - Essay Example Being a resident of New York, I personally hold the opinion that â€Å"this storm brought with itself the most horrific casualties compared to the many other previous hurricanes met by America.† Though every winter, snowstorms manage in creating scenes that require endurance but this year, the drastic havoc created by the cold and bitter winter was actually above the threshold of suffering. The storm caused many deaths and historic snowfall totals were created by the extensive landslides. It competes with the other epic storms that previously slammed the States. â€Å"In snowfall, the Blizzard of 2010 now rivals the Knickerbocker Storm of 1922 for its impact on the Eastern Seaboard of the United States.† (Anon. 2010). Thousands of flights were canceled owing to the strong winds. Rail and road service was suspended bringing the public to a halt at many stations in severe cold and deaths were caused by the bitter winter. â€Å"The storm also dampened enthusiasm on Wall Street where trading on Friday was light. U.S. Treasury and bond trading was also dull.† (Nichols, 2010). I myself was tired of shoveling for many hours when I was supposed to hurry for the airport because I had to see my father who was in the hospital, but I was poorly exhausted by the snowstorm just like many other helpless people. The bad effects of the storm did not leave the economy safe since it had to struggle a deal once the winter got over, trying to emerge from the collapse. Over a million businesses suffered blackouts. Relentless winter rains following the storms across the region sent the rivers flooding over their banks and left many people dead.

Improvement Of Dual Axis Tracker Using Arduino Uno Engineering Essay

Improvement Of Dual Axis Tracker Using Arduino Uno Engineering Essay Solar power generation had been used as a renewable energy since years ago.This type of energy is very clean, environmentally friendly and reliability as secondary choice for source energy.This paper present the design and improvement of dual axis tracker using Arduino Uno kit.Futhermore,the main objective is the dual axis tracker system which will actuate solar module will keep aligned with the sunlight in order to maximize in harvesting solar power.In this project,its divided by two categories;hardware and software.In hardware part,4 light dependent resistor(LDR) has been used to trace the coordinate of sunlight by detecting brightness level of sunlight.For rotation part, two standard servo motor has been selected.In software part,the code is constructed in C programming and inserted in Arduino Uno.This project is designed for low power and portable application.Therefore, its suitable for rural area usage.Moreover,the efficiency of output power which collected by sunlight are incre ased. Keywords Dual Axis,LDR,Servo Motor,Arduino I. INTRODUCTION Renewable energy is energy which comes from natural source such as sunlight, wind rain ,tides ,wave and etc. Renewable energy provide 19% of electricity generation worldwide.Malaysia,with population of about 28 million, is one of fastest-growing economies in Asia. During the last decade, Malaysia has seen almost 20% increase in energy generating capacity from 13,000MW in 2000 to 15,500MW in 2009.Under the 8th Malaysia plan (2001-2005),the government of Malaysia changed the Four Fuel Policy(based on oil, gas, coal and hydropower) to the Five-Fuel Policy with the addition of renewable energy as fifth source of fuel. Malaysia is well endowed with abundant non-renewable and renewable source of energy, especially biomass and solar. In the last ten year,many residentals around the world used electric solar system as a sub power at their houses.this is because solar energy is an unlimited energy resource,set to become increasingly important in longer term, for providing electricity and heat energy to user[1].Solar energy is the energy derived from the sun through the form of solar radiation.The sun is most is most inexhaustible,renewable source energy known to man.The is no price and also no air pollution created by solar energy ,environmentally friendly and solar energy are interminable supplies[3].It is related with aspects as deforestation control,protection of ozone layer,reduction of CO2 emission and others[4]. The main objective of this paper is to develop solar tracker.The solar tracker can be used for several application such as solar cells,solar day-lighting system and solar thermal arrays[1].Nowadays,the highest efficiency of solar panel is 19%.So,the efficiency can be enhance by using solar tracker.Albeit,the price of various solar tracker are still expensive because solar tracker is still new and only a few countries use it as South Korean and USA[1].Futhermore,this project is designed for rural area which far from main supply and absolutely low cost. Previous researchers [1],[3] and [6] used LDR as sensor respectively.Other that,[1] ,[6]used dc motor and [3] used servo motor as the mover of their solar tracker. II. DEVELOPMENT OF SOLAR TRACKER Finding energy source to satisfy the worlds growing demand is one of society foremost challenges for next half century.The challenge in converting sunlight into electricity via photovoltaic solar cell is dramatically reducing $/Watt of delivered solar electricity.In this context the solar tracker are such devices for efficiency improvement.Solar tracker is the devices which designed automated for detect the sunlight movement from east to west.However,this automated system will stay its operational even if weather is cloudy and there is no sun visible totrack,thus spending stored energy without any gain[6]. Nowadays,many researcher from various education institution likely contribute in this topic. Based on experimental and actual result,the solar tracking can enhance by 30 to 60 percent compared to static solar array.Other that, power generated annually increase up to 40 percent.There are numbers types of solar tracker depends on cost,performance and technology[3]. This paper continues development on two axis tracking system consists Light Dependent Resistor(LDR),standard servo motor,solar module and Arduino programmer. III METHODOLOGY This project is divided into two parts,hardware development and programming development.Figure 1 show the block diagram of the project. C:UsersAlberto_TaminoDesktopDrawing1.jpg Figure 1:Block diagram of the project 2 Project Design 2.1 Hardware The main components of hardware used in this project are Arduino Board,Light Dependent Resistor,Servo Motor,Solar Panel and solar tracker stand,variable resistor. 2.1.1 Arduino Board In this project,Arduino was used as main controller.Arduino is an open-source electronic prototyping platform based on flexible,easy to use software and hardware.Arduino can sense environment by receiving input from a variety of sensors and can effect it surrounding by controlling light,motor and other actuator.The microcontroller on the board is programmed using Arduino programming language and Arduino development environment.Arduino can be stand alone or they can communicate with software running on a computer. 2.1.2 Light Dependent Resistor Light Dependent Resistor is semiconductor which sensitive with light.The main purpose is to change the brightness of light in different weather condition.Becauce of these reason,this paper choosed LDR which suitable to track the sunlight. 2.1.3 Servo Motor Servo motor is one type of various motor in electronic application.This type motor required supply 4.8V or 6V.This motor consists three wire namely signal,positive and ground wire.The motor consists several part,the motor and gearbox,a position sensor,an error amplifier and motor driver and circuit to decode the requested position.Servo motor only rotate in 180 degree. http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQmkuTWaXtVnqH1pvD1XfCAoz4L-eOvUpgzLpaZTOGhzP16cFze Figure 2:Servo Motor 2.1.4 Solar Panel Solar panel is a device to receive sunlight and convert it into electricity.Nowadays,many type solar panel in the market but the efficiency still low.Other that,the price still expensive.That reason makes this type renewable energy still second choice energy generation after fuel generation.This paper used monocrystalline solar panel for solar tracker and static mode. C:UsersCIPOXS~1AppDataLocalTempWPDNSE{ABEA16F1-1E2E-5557-6656-659DC8B5A9B6}191120121132.jpg Figure 3: 2W Solar Panel 2.1.5 Solar Tracker Stand This project designed the cheap and innovative stand.This stand also stable because the big base area makes the servo motor and solar operate as usual at the top. C:UsersCipOx StarzDesktopsolar tracker(FYP 2)181120121127.jpg Figure 4: Prototype of Solar Stand Material Unit Quantity PVC Tee  ¾ inch 3 PVC Elbow  ¾ inch 4 PVC Reducing Socket 1  ½ to  ¾ inch 1 PVC Pipe 2 meter 2 TOA Spray Light Green 1 Table 1:Prototype Material 2.1.6 Variable Resistor A variable resistor is a potentiometer with only two wires instead of three.The pots allows to control yhe potential across through the circuit.The long handle on the potentiometer/variable resistor can be turned clockwise or anti-clockwise,altering the value of resistance.The range of resistance varies,for example 0 to 1000 ohms.This paper used variable resistor for speed and tolerance for each motor;vertical and horixontal axis. C:UsersCipOx StarzDesktopdownload.jpgC:UsersCipOx StarzDesktopdownload (1).jpg C:UsersCipOx StarzDesktopimages.jpgC:UsersCipOx StarzDesktop220px-Faders.jpg Figure 5: Several of Variable Resistors 2.2 Software This paper using the C programming as programming language.The simple code constructed and inserted into Arduino Board.The Figure 6 show the flowchart of the software procedure. C:UsersAlberto_TaminoDesktopDrawing1.jpg Figure 6: Flowchart of software procedure. IV. RESULT AND DICUSSION From the result,the author selected the suitable location for solar panel placement.The best location where is not shade from building or trees shadow.The sun moves from east to west.Therefore,the author choosed for placing the solar tracker toward south east.So,the solar panel will get more sunlight in order to harvest output power.The best reading time is between 10am till 12.00pm. The data collected from 9am till 5.00pm for 5day.The highest ouput voltage for solar tracker is 3.7V and for the static is 3.4V.The data shown the reading are upward from 9.00am till 12.00pm and start downward from 1.00pm till 5.00pm.According from data,the author choosed two condition of solar panel: Static Solar Panel which face north east in 45 degree tilt. Solar Tracker which face east. From the data from figure 9,the largest output power is 587.6mW at 12.00pm for the tracker mode and the the lowest is 4.1mW. Figure 7:Output Voltage Versus Output Current Figure 8:Output Voltage Versus Time Figure 7:Ouput Power Versus Time The sunlight irradiation depends on many factor.The weather in Malaysia is hot and humid throught the year.This factor makes Malaysia receive the rain most the year.Therefore,Malaysias atmosphere covered by variety of cloud. The author research how effect the variety of cloud to solar panel reading.The data from figure 10 shown the highest ouput power harvested when no cloud in the atmosphere.Other that,the lowest reading is when the sky covered by cumulonimbus cloud.This type of cloud are bulky and associated with thunderstorm.Therefore,the sunlight irradiation not fully emitted to the solar panel. Figure 8:Output Power Versus Day V. CONCLUSSION In conclusion,the objective of solar tracker has been archieved.Based on all result,the output voltage and output power are increased compared to the the static solar panel.The solar tracker is able to track the sun movement from west to east.The cost and reability of this tracker makes it suitable for the rural usage. This paper also conclude that the clouds also the main factor for harversting more power.The purpose on renewable energy from this paper gave new and innovative idea to continue the bright future in this field . VI. RECOMMENDATION For further research on this field,the data collection can be improved by long distance monitoring especially when user far from the site or when the rain.The high quality camera can be installed for capturing the type of cloud for futher research.Other that,this paper recommend that this innovative prototype can be enhance by increased it is scale.The solar panel can be replaced by larger scale in order to capturing more solar irradiation.Other that,the selection of solar panel should be also considered.Solar panel should high in efficiency for produce more output power which can used more low power appliances. For the location of solar tracker,the best location is the higher place where is in the top building.Other that,the further user should considered the clouds.Before the installation,the user should research and identify the most area which not covered by cloud.Lastly,the user should be managed to restore the ouput power as secondary supply in an effort to preserve the invironment and ozone.Save our earth. ACKNOWLEDMENT The author would like to acknowledge University Technology Mara (UiTM) for providing the component for this project.The author also tribute to Mdm. Aida Sulinda Kusim,all the lecturer,the staff and students of UiTM who have been involved in this project for the tremendous support and enormous guide. REFRENCES [1] Asmarashid Ponniran,Ammar Hashim,Ariffuddin Joret. A Design of Low Power Single Axis Solar Tracking System Regardless of Motor Speed.Internal Journal Of Intergrated Engineering,Vol.3 No.2(2011) p 5-9. [2] Ashok Kumar Saxena,V.Dutta. A Versatile Microprocessor Based Controller For Solar Tracking.Proc.IEEE,1990,pp.1105-1109 [3] Mohd Zulkifli,M.A.;Zolkapli.M.;Al-Junid,S.A.M. High-Efficency Dual Axis Solar Tracking Developtment Using Arduino. [4] J.Beltran A.,J.L Gonzalez Rubio S.y C.D.Garcia-Beltran. Design,Manufacturing and Performance Test of a Solar Tracker Made By a Embedded Control.Fourth Congress of Electronic,Robotic and Automotive Mechanics [5] Norhazwani Abd Malek,Hasril Hasini,Adlansyah Abd Rahman,Mohd Nasharuddin Mohd Jaafar. An Improved Solar PV System for Malaysian Rural Electrification.Proceeding of 2010 IEEE Student Confrence on Research and Development(SCOREeD 2010). [6] Prabodh Bajpai,Subhash Kumar.Design,Development and Performance Test of An Automatic Two Axis Solar Tracker System.Electrical Engineering Department,IIT Kharagpur,West Bengal,India [7] Gamal M.Dousoky,Abou-Hashema M.EL-SAYED,Masahito Shoyama. Maximizing Energy-Efficency In Single Axis Solar Tracker Photovoltaic Panels.8th International Conference on Power Electronic-ECCE Asia -May 30 June ,2011,The Shila Jeju,Korea. [8] Han Wan Siew, Solar tTrackerSIM University,2008 [9] Jyotirmay Gadewadikar, Microprocessor Based Soalr tracking System Using Stepper Motor S.G.S Institute of Tech Science,Indore

Sparta: Uncultured Discipline Essay -- essays research papers

Sparta: Uncultured Discipline The Spartans were the most formidable warriors in all of history. They dedicated their entire lives to warfare. They were taught to endure cold, hunger, pain, their courage on the battlefield was second to none. The Spartan code was to fight hard, follow orders without question and to die rather then retreat or surrender. To achieve all this, Sparta sacrificed everything; the arts, culture, and other things that make life worth while. I believe the price was to high they went to far and shut off all that was creative and human in Sparta. A culture that can't change or adapt doesn't survive. This is exactly what happened , after a single major defeat in 360 B.C Sparta was no longer a significant factor in the region (Isaac Asimov, 1965, p. 178). The original founders of "modern" Sparta were the Dorians. At around 1100 B.C these savages came from the north into what is today Greece. They attacked the Mycenean civilization thriving there and quickly defeated them. The secret behind the remarkable victories against the Myceneans was iron, the Dorians knew how to forge iron weapons which completely outclassed the bronze weaponry of the Myceneans (Carl Roebuck, 1966, p. 119). In Mycenean times Sparta had been a important city, but after Dorian conquest it sank to insignificance. Over the next three hundred years it recovered and began to prosper. By 800 B.C it ruled over the region called Lacedonia. Up to about 650 B.C Sparta was pretty much like every other Greek state. They had music, art and poetry. During the seventh century, a musician named Terpander came to Sparta and established himself their. He is called the "father of Greek music," he's also supposed to off improved the lyre (a harp like instrument). The most widely known Spartan musician was Tyrtaeus. He lived during the Second Messenian War and his music inspired many Spartan soldiers to new heights of bravery (Isaac Asimov, 1965, p. 53). But then something happened, a war with the Messinians. The First Messenian War broke out in 730 B.C, when the Spartans marched into Messenia eager for more land. After 20 long years of war the Messenians were forced to surrender. They were made into helots (slave... ...sp; In order to achieve military glory the Spartans gave up nearly everything. Later on Greeks from other city states admired the Spartan way of life because it seemed so noble. They were wrong to think this way, to art, music, literature and other such pursuits they donated nothing. She only had a cruel, inhuman way of life to offer, dependent on a barbaric slavery of most of her population, with only a kind of blind animal courage as a virtue. Before long the Spartan way of life was more show then substance, Sparta seemed strong as long she was victorious, but other states could survive defeat and rise again. After a single major defeat (against Thebes) Sparta lost her domination of Greece. This catastrophic loss exposed the Spartan fraud and disposed of her. Reference List - Asimov, Issac. (1965). The Greeks A Great Adventure. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company - Hillyer V.M, E.G Huey. (1966). Ancient World 500 BC - 500 AD. New York: Meredith Press - National Georgraphic Society. (1968). Greece and Rome Builders of Our World. Washington D.C: Author - Roebuck, Carl. (1966). The World of Ancient Times. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons

What Was the American Diet Like 50 Years Ago

at was the I. What was the American diet like 50 years ago? a) Over the past 50 years, American diets have changed from leisurely family meals that were usually prepared at home using natural ingredients to today’s prepackaged, processed and convenience foods that are often eaten on the run with little thought towards nutrition or content. b) American diets have evolved in the last 50 years from natural ingredients to processed, high fat ingredients and will continue in the future to include convenience foods but with a greater emphasis on healthier choices. ) This wasn’t always the case. â€Å"Fifty years ago, people sitting down to a meal were simply looking for something hot, filling and, in most cases, inexpensive† (Heymsfield 142). c) Throughout the century, Americans experimented with various diets. d) In the 1950s, Adele Davis published a cookbook exploring a healthy approach to food. e) In the 1960s, there was a movement to use unprocessed food, natural i ngredients and macrobiotic cooking (Klem 439). f) The notion of a balanced diet was still quite abstract. ii) People weren’t as well informed about nutrition as they are today. ) While nutritional research was revealing new information about everyday foods, the American household underwent an important structural shift (Klem 438). h) In the 1940s and 1950s women began to enter the workplace in large numbers, it was then that the country became caught up in an explosion of convenience items. iii) Time for food preparation became more limited, and the industry responded with a wide variety of pre-packaged foods. iv) Products like Bisquick, Spam, instant oatmeal, canned tomato sauce and pre-sliced American cheese began to appear (Klem 438). ) By the 1950s, the refrigerator had replaced the old-fashioned icebox and the cold cellar as a place to store food. v) Refrigeration, because it allowed food to last longer, made the American kitchen a convenient place to maintain readily av ailable food stocks (Heymsfield 144). vi) This also allowed for pre-prepared foods such as TV dinners, which became very popular. j) Swanson’s was one of the first TV dinners, which came out during this time. k) Frozen dinners and fast food chains arose and became a growing trend. vii) Meals became quick and simple. viii) People started eating things for taste and popularity, not for ealth reasons. l) In the 1960s and 1970s, when nutritional research really began to gain the nation's attention, food manufacturers started to offer options that were both quick and health- conscious. ix) Instant orange juice and vitamin-fortified cereals appeared (Klem 440). m) Cereals came out to make people eat more grains, but over the years, large companies have decided that to make their cereal sell, they have to make it taste better. x) They added things like sugar, candy pieces, chocolate flavors, and numerous other things which are high in calories and high in fat in order to make their product taste better. i) This has made the idea of something healthy turn in to something less healthy over the years. n) The movement toward convenience finally caught up with movement toward healthy eating. o) This represents a drastic change from the 1950s, when people ate far more of their meals at home, with their families, and at a leisurely pace. p) â€Å"A hundred years ago there was no such thing as a snack food—nothing you could pop open and overeat,† says Mollie Katzen, author of The Moosewood Cookbook and many others, and a consultant to Harvard Dining Services. ii) â€Å"There were stew pots. Things took a long time to cook, and a meal was the result of someone’s labor. † q) The 1950s were also an era in which the kitchen—not the television room—was the heart of the home. r) In 1941, the federal government established the first Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs), and the concept of basic food groups was introduced. xiii) This period was also the â€Å"golden age for food chemicals† with hundreds of additives and preservatives brought to market for the first time. ) Convenience was most important, and by the 1950s, a large variety of convenience foods made meal preparation easier than ever before. t) Advancements in technology also led to faster meal preparation. u) During the late 50s and 1960s, American’s attitudes towards nutrition changed as scientific research and other factors combined to heighten awareness. v) In 1959 came the discovery that eating polyunsaturated fats might lower serum cholesterol. xiv) This was followed in 1961 by further evidence linking cholesterol with arteriosclerosis. ) By 1962, nearly 25% of American families said they had made dietary changes that included less cholesterol. x) That same year, Rachel Carson’s book, Silent Spring, provided fodder for the debate concerning the possibility of synthetic chemicals reaching humans through the food chain. xv) There was controversy about food chemicals in general, and the modern consumer movement was launched in 1965 following publication of Ralph Nader’s book Unsafe At Any Speed. y) 50 years ago women still managed to burn up many more calories than their counterparts today. vi) Research suggests the housework and general exercise that stay-at-home housewives did in 1953 were more successful at shedding the pounds. z) The mothers and grandmothers of today's generation burnt well in excess of 1,000 calories a day through their domesticated lifestyle, according to the study by the woman's magazine Prima. xvii) But females today get through only 556, even though seven in ten think they are healthier than the post-war generation. {) Modern women also consume a lot more calories, 2,178 a day now as opposed to 1,818 then. viii) This could be down to eating more junk food, the study suggested, as women in 1953 were more likely to cook meals from scratch with a mixture of ingredients. |) Not everything in ‘the old days' appears to have been healthier, according to Prima, which compared the lifestyles of women in 1953 and those of today. xix) They would often eat twice as many eggs and used almost twice as much cooking fat and oil as women today. xx) They also ate more sugar and less chicken. }) Most meals were served with vegetables, although it was more likely to be swede, turnips and sprouts rather than the aubergines, mange- tout or rocket favored today. ) Appliances such as washing machines and dishwashers have also played their part in reducing the amount of calories burned, the research showed. xxi) Women in 1953 would spend three hours a day doing the housework, an hour walking to and from the shops in the town center, an hour on the shopping itself and another hour making dinner. ) Many had lunch to prepare, too, as many husbands came home to eat in the middle of the day. ) More calories would have been burned, of course, walking the children to and from school, since the family car was still a rarity. Today, women drive, rather than walk, have freezers, which mean fewer shopping trips, and use supermarkets, which provide everything under one roof. xxii) It is all a far cry from 50 years ago when they would have to traipse between the butcher's, to the baker's, the greengrocer's and other specialist stores. ) Women 50 years ago didn't, however, have the benefit of 45 minutes on the treadmill or an evening class in Pilates. xxiii) In 1953, their idea of relaxation was listening to Housewives' Choice while they washed up the breakfast things or Mrs.Dale's Diary when they stopped to enjoy tea and a biscuit for elevenses. ) The children needed playing with, too, as few families had a TV set to keep them quiet. xxiv) Evening entertainment involved listening to the radio again, curling up with a book or playing board games. xxv) And in a less disposable age there was always plenty of darning and mending to do by the fire. ) Prima edi tor Maire Fahey said the magazine decided to study the contrasting lifestyles following an earlier survey, which revealed how today's women were neglecting their health. xvi) ‘It is telling that modern technology has made us two-thirds less active than we were. It goes to show the importance of exercise in the battle to maintain a healthy balance. ‘ ) Exercise and diet are not the only things to radically change over the last half-century. xxvii) Fitness and nutrition in the United States have changed tremendously in the past five decades. ) Cutting calories and exercise was the most popular method of weight loss 50 years ago. xxviii) Some fad diets such as the Mayo Clinic diet–created in the 1930's–were existent, but not the most common option in weight loss.II. Where do most of our foods come from other than America? a) Here in the US, we have several key issues. b) Specifically, every year we produce less and less of the food that our ever-growing popula tion needs. c) There’s one word that sums up nearly everything we need to know about the food industry in the United States: conglomeration. d) According to the USDA, only about 1/3 of our fruit and nuts and 1/8 of our vegetables are imported. i) About two-thirds of those imports occur during the months of December to April, showing a strong seasonal component to it. ) Mexico is far and away our biggest supplier of fruits and vegetables, taking the top spot in both categories by about a 2-to-1 margin over 2nd place. f) Canada takes 2nd place in vegetables with China a distant third. (Note that these are in dollar figures, not volume, but the relationships should hold when converted. ) g) In the fruit category, most of it comes from Central and South America, with only China (4th) to break up the Top 6 of Mexico, Chile, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Ecuador. ) The US actually does produce most of its own red meat. i) As of 2008, only about 10% of our red meat was imported, predom inantly from Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. j) Fish and shellfish are our major protein imports, with nearly 80% of those being imported. k) Most of that comes from China, Canada, and Thailand. l) There is one bright spot here: most of the food Americans consume is still produced here. i. Currently, between 10 and 15 percent of all food consumed by U. S. households is imported. m) According to the U. S.Food and Drug Administration (FDA), nearly two-thirds of the fruits and vegetables and 80 percent of seafood consumed domestically come from outside the United States. n) On the other hand, we are seeing a marked increase in imports over time. o) According to USDA data, from 1999 to 2010, there was a 43. 25% increase in import volume (111% increase on a dollar basis). ii. Population growth is a partial contributor, but in that same time period, the US population only increased about 10%. p) The top three countries that we import from are Canada, Mexico, and China. iii.We are actu ally Mexico’s largest trading partners, buying 77% of their exports. q) From 1995 to 2006, imports from China grew five-fold: r) According to the U. S. Department of Agriculture, the United States imported $4. 1 billion worth of seafood and agricultural products from China in 2006. iv. In 1995, it was $800 million. v. From 2006 to 2008, it went up another 25%. s) In 2008, Chinese imports reached $5. 2 billion, making China the third-largest source of U. S. food imports. About 41 percent of this import value was from fish and seafood, most of it farm-raised.Juices and pickled, dried, and canned vegetables, and fruit accounted for the other 25 percent. vi. According to the USDA, about 60 percent of all American apple juice, 50 percent of garlic, 10 percent of shrimp and 2 percent of catfish are imported from China. III. How has the typical American diet changed our health and affected rates of disease in this country? a) The sedentary 20th-century lifestyle and work habits brou ght its own unpleasant consequences, which were overeating and excess weight. a) The number of overweight Americans increased from 1970 to 1990 (Klem 440). ) By the 1990s, Americans had become more conscious of their diets, eating more poultry, fish, and fresh fruits and vegetables and fewer eggs and less beef. ii) They also began appreciating fresh ingredients. c) As Americans became more concerned about their diets, they also became more ecologically conscious. iii) Some Americans turned to vegan or vegetarian diets, or only started eating organic foods, which are foods grown without chemical fertilizers or pesticides. d) At the end of the 20th century, American eating habits and food production were increasingly taking place outside the home. v) Many people relied on restaurants and on new types of fully prepared meals to help busy families in which both adults worked full-time. e) Another sign of the public’s changing food habits was the microwave oven, probably the most widely used new kitchen appliance, since it can quickly reheat or cook food and leftovers. v) Since Americans are generally cooking less of their own food, they are more aware than at any time since the early 20th century of the quality and health standards applied to food (Heymsfield 147). ) Two-thirds of American adults are overweight, and half of these are obese. (Overweight means having a body mass index, or BMI, of 25 or greater, obese, 30 or greater: to calculate BMI, a widely used measure, take the square of your height in inches and then divide your weight, in pounds, by that number; then multiply the result by 703. g) Even adults in the upper end of the â€Å"normal† range, who have BMIs of 22 to 24, would generally live longer if they lost some fat; add in these people and it appears that â€Å"up to 80 percent of American adults should weigh less than they do,† says Walter C.Willett, M. D. , D. P. H. ’80, Stare professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the School of Public Health. h) The epidemic of obesity is a vast and growing public health problem. i) He notes that three aspects of weight—BMI, waist size, and weight gained after one’s early twenties—are linked to chances of having or dying from heart disease, strokes and other cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and several types of cancer, plus suffering from arthritis, infertility, gallstones, asthma, and even snoring. i) â€Å"Weight is much more important than serum cholesterol,† Willett asserts; as a cause of premature, preventable deaths, he adds, excess weight and obesity rank a very close second to smoking, partly because there are twice as many fat people as smokers. vii) In fact, since smokers tend to be leaner, the decrease in smoking prevalence has actually swelled the ranks of the fat. j) The obesity epidemic arrived with astonishing speed. k) In 1980, 46 percent of U. S. adults were overweight; by 2000, the figure was 64. 5 percent: n early a 1 percent annual increases in the ranks of the fat. iii) At this rate, by 2040, 100 percent of American adults will be overweight and â€Å"it may happen more quickly,† says John Foreyt of Baylor College of Medicine, who spoke at a conference organized by Gifford’s Oldways group in 2003. l) Foreyt noted that, 20 years ago, he rarely saw 300-pound patients; now they are common. m) Childhood obesity, also once rare, has mushroomed: 15 percent of children between ages six and 19 are now overweight, and even 10 percent of those between two and five. ix) â€Å"This may be the first generation of children who will die before their parents,† Foreyt says. ) Today, Americans eat 200 calories more food energy per day than they did 10 years ago; that alone would add 20 pounds annually to one’s bulk. o) A recent paper in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition argued that the poor tend toward greater obesity because eating energy-dense, highly palatable, r efined foods is cheaper per calorie consumed than buying fish and fresh fruits and vegetables. x) One explanation for our slide into overconsumption is that â€Å"the character of modern Americans is somehow inherently weak and we are incapable of discipline,† says Ludwig. i) â€Å"The food industry would love to explain obesity as a problem of personal responsibility, since it takes the onus off them for marketing fast food, soft drinks, and other high-calorie, low-quality products. † p) Never in human experience has food been available in the staggering profusion seen in North America today. xii) We are awash in edibles shipped in from around the planet; seasonality has largely disappeared. q) Food obtrudes itself constantly, seductively, into our lives—on sidewalks, in airplanes, at gas stations and movie theaters. iii) â€Å"Caloric intake is directly related to gross national product per capita,† says Moore professor of biological anthropology Richar d Wrangham. xiv) â€Å"It’s very difficult to resist the temptation to take in more calories if they are available. r) People keep regarding it as an American problem, but it’s a global problem as countries get richer. † s) Still, the lavish banquet’s first seating is right here in the United States of America. t) â€Å"The French explanation for why Americans are so big is simple,† said Jody Adams, chef/partner of Rialto, a restaurant in Harvard Square, speaking at the Oldways conference. v) â€Å"We eat lots of sugar, and we eat between meals. u) Indeed, the national response to our glut of comestibles is apparently to eat only one meal a day—all day long. xvi) We eat everywhere and at all times: at work, at play, and in transit. v) But the most powerful technology driving the obesity epidemic is television. xvii) â€Å"The best single behavioral predictor of obesity in children and adults is the amount of television viewing,† says the School of Public Health’s Gortmaker. w) â€Å"The relationship is nearly as strong as what you see between smoking and lung cancer. viii) Everybody thinks it’s because TV watching is sedentary, you’re just sitting there for hours—but that’s only about one-third of the effect. xix) Our guesstimate is that two-thirds is the effect of advertising in changing what you eat. † x) Furthermore, in some future year when the Internet merges with broadband cable TV, advertisers will be able to target their messages far more precisely. â€Å"It won’t be just to kids,† Gortmaker says. â€Å"It’ll be to your kid. † y) Since the Industrial Revolution, and particularly in the last half-century, technology has enabled us to conduct an increasingly immobile daily life. ) Even a century later, before the invention of the automobile, many farmed or at least used their bodies vigorously every day. xx) â€Å"At higher levels of a ctivity, people seem to balance their caloric intake and expenditure extremely well,† he says. xxi) â€Å"If our grandparents were farmers, they were moving all day long—not jogging for an hour, but staying active eight to 12 hours a day. {) The way we do our work has changed, and so has the way we spend our leisure time,† he continues. xxii) â€Å"The average number of television hours watched per week is close to a full-time job! ) People used to go for walks and visit their neighbors. Much of that is gone as well. † xxiii) Not only do many adults spend their work lives in front of computer screens, but also the design of public spaces outside their offices eliminates physical activity. xxiv) In skyscrapers, it’s often hard to find the stairs; electronic sensors in public restrooms are eliminating even the most minimal actions of flushing toilets or turning faucets on and off. }) Furthermore, modern children â€Å"don’t have to forage or w alk long distances,† says Lieberman. xv) â€Å"Kids today sit in front of a TV or computer. xxvi) They ride to school on a school bus. xxvii) We even have them rolling their school backpacks on wheels because we are afraid of them overloading their backbones. † ~) In sum, we no longer live like hunter-gatherers, but we still have hunter-gatherer genes. xxviii) Humans evolved in a state of ceaseless physical activity; they ate seasonally, since there was no other choice; and frequently there was nothing to eat at all. ) To get through hard winters and famines, the human body evolved a brilliant mechanism of storing energy in fat cells. The problem, for most of humanity’s time on Earth, has been a scarcity of calories, not a surfeit. ) Our fat-storage mechanism worked beautifully until 50 to 100 years ago. xxix) But since then, â€Å"The speed of environmental change has far surpassed our ability to adapt,† says Dun Gifford of Oldways. xxx) Our bodies were not designed to handle so much caloric input and so little energy outflow. ) Different scholars and popular writers have argued that human beings have â€Å"evolved† to be carnivores, herbivores, frugivores, or omnivores, but anthropologist Richard Wrangham says we are â€Å"cookivores,† grinning at the neologism. xxi) â€Å"We evolved to eat cooked foods,† he declares. â€Å"Raw food eating is never practiced systematically anywhere in the world. † ) Cooking might be considered the first food-processing technology, and like its successors, it has had profound effects on the human body, as in the growth of bones. ) Various signals influence human growth; some come from genes, and others come from the environment, particularly for the musculo-skeletal system, whose job is engaging with the environment. xxxii) Less chewing of cooked food, for example, has altered the anatomy of our skulls, jaws, faces, and teeth. xxiii) â€Å"Chewing is a major activity th at involves muscular forces,† says skeletal biologist Daniel Lieberman. â€Å"It has incredible effects on how the skull grows. † xxxiv) Chewing can transform anatomy rather quickly; in one study, in which Lieberman fed pigs a diet of softened food, in a matter of months their skulls developed shorter and narrower dimensions and their snouts developed thinner bones than those of pigs eating a hard-food diet. ) The same thing happens with human beings. xxxv) â€Å"Since the beginning of the fossil record, humans have become much more gracile,† Lieberman says. xxvi) â€Å"Our bones have become thinner, our faces smaller, and our teeth smaller—especially permanent teeth—although we have the same number of teeth. ) More recently, with the Industrial Revolution, people have become more sedentary; they interact with their environment in a less forceful way. xxxvii) We load our bones less and the bones become thinner. Osteoporosis is a disease of industri alism. † ) In today’s world, where we not only cook but eat a great deal of processed food that has been ground up before it reaches our mouths, we don’t generate as much force when chewing.In fact, for millennia human food has been growing less tough, fibrous, and hard. ) â€Å"The size of the human face has gotten about 12 percent smaller since the Paleolithic,† Lieberman says, â€Å"particularly around the oral cavity, due to the effects of mechanical loading on the size of the face. Fourteen thousand years ago, a much larger proportion of the face was between the bottom of the jaw and the nostrils. † xxxviii) The size of teeth has not decreased as fast (genetic factors control more of their variation); hence, modern teeth are actually too big for our mouths—wisdom teeth become impacted and require extraction. The health hazards of sedentary life seem like an adult problem, but actually, the skeletal system is most responsive to loading wh en it is immature. xxxix) There is only one window for accumulating bone mass—during the first two decades of life. xl) â€Å"Peak bone mass occurs at the end of adolescence,† Lieberman explains, â€Å"and we lose bone steadily thereafter. Kids who are active grow more robust bones. ) If you’re sedentary as a juvenile, you don’t grow as much bone mass—so as you get older and lose bone mass, you drop below the threshold for osteoporosis. ) Furthermore, females get osteoporosis more readily than men because they start with less adult bone mass; as life spans lengthen, says research fellow in cell biology Jennifer Sacheck, of Harvard Medical School, older men will also begin showing symptoms of osteoporosis. ) Weight-bearing exercise only slows the rate of bone loss for adults; pre-adolescent bone growth is far more important to long-term skeletal strength. Hence, the sedentary lifestyles of today’s youngsters—and the cutbacks on school physical-education programs—may be sowing the seeds of widespread skeletal breakdown as their cohort matures. The dramatic upsurge in consumption of carbonated soft drinks, paired with the simultaneous decline in milk drinking, may also weaken future bones. xli) Both milk (lactose) and soda (sucrose, fructose) are sweet, but soda is sweeter, and today’s consumers are hooked on sugar. xlii) â€Å"We probably evolved our sense of sweetness to detect subtle amounts of carbohydrates in foods, because they provide energy,† says Walter Willett. ) â€Å"But now the expectations of sweetness have been ratcheted up. xliii) A product is not deemed attractive if it is not as sweet as its competitor. ) Sugars added to foods made up 11 percent of the calories in American diets in the late 1970s; today they are 16 percent. With agriculture, human health declined, says Lieberman, partly because farming is such hard work, and partly because it allows higher population densiti es, in which infection spreads more easily. ) â€Å"There was more disease, a decrease in body size, higher mortality rates among juveniles, and more stress lines in bones and teeth,† Lieberman says. ) Cultivating grain also allowed farmers to space their children more closely. liv) Hunter-gatherers have long intervals between births, because they do not wean children until age four or five, when teeth are ready to chew hard foods. (â€Å"You can’t feed babies beef jerky,† jokes Lieberman. ) xlv) Farmers, however, can make gruel—a high-calorie mush of roots or grains like millet, taro, or oats that doesn’t require chewing—and wean children much sooner. ) Grains, the source of products such as bread, baked goods, and corn syrup, did not become plentiful in the human diet until the establishment of agriculture. xlvi) So grain farming allowed bigger families and has changed the human situation in endless ways. But while people have eaten grains for a hundred centuries, until the last half-century, most grains consumed were not heavily processed. † ) In the last 50 years, the extent of processing has increased so much that prepared breakfast cereals—even without added sugar—act exactly like sugar itself,† says pediatrics specialist David Ludwig. ) In 1981, David Jenkins, a professor of nutrition at the University of Toronto, led a team that tested various foods to determine which were best for diabetics. xlvii) They developed a â€Å"glycemic index† that ranked foods from 0 to 100, depending on how rapidly the body turned them into glucose. This work overturned some established bromides, such as the distinction between â€Å"simple† and â€Å"complex† carbohydrates: a baked russet potato, for example, traditionally defined as a complex carbohydrate, has a glycemic rating of 85 (ffl12; studies vary) whereas a 12-ounce can of Coca-Cola appears on some glycemic indices at 63. xlv iii) Eating high-glycemic foods dumps large amounts of glucose suddenly into the bloodstream, triggering the pancreas to secrete insulin, the hormone that allows glucose to enter the body’s cells for metabolism or storage. lix) The pancreas over-responds to the spike in glucose—a more rapid rise than a hunter-gatherer’s bloodstream was likely to encounter—and secretes lots of insulin. ) But while high-glycemic foods raise blood sugar quickly, â€Å"they also leave the gastrointestinal tract quickly,† Ludwig explains. â€Å"The plug gets pulled. l) † With so much insulin circulating, blood sugar plummets. This triggers a second wave of hormones, including stress hormones like epinephrine. li) â€Å"The body puts on the emergency brakes,† says Ludwig. lii) â€Å"It releases any stored fuels—the liver starts releasing glucose. iii) This raises blood sugar back into the normal range, but at a cost to the body. † ) One cost, documented by studies at the School of Public Health, is that going through this kind of physiologic stress three to five times per day doubles the risk of heart attacks. ) Another cost is excess hunger. ) The precipitous drop in blood sugar triggers primal mechanisms in the brain: â€Å"The brain thinks the body is starving,† Ludwig explains. liv) â€Å"It doesn’t care about the 30 pounds of fat socked away, so it sends you to the refrigerator to get a quick fix, like a can of soda. ) Glycemic spikes may underlie Ludwig and Gortmaker’s finding, published in the Lancet two years ago, that each additional daily serving of a sugar-sweetened beverage multiplies the risk of obesity by 1. 6. ) Some argue that people compensate for such sugary intake by eating less later on, to balance it out, but Ludwig asserts, â€Å"We don’t compensate well when calories come in liquid form. lv) The meal has to go through your gut, where the brain gets satiety signals that slow you down. On the other hand, you could drink a 64-ounce soft drink before you knew what hit you. ) Since humans can take in large amounts of food in a short time, â€Å"we are adapted to receiving much higher glycemic loads than other primates,† says Richard Wrangham, speculating that nonhuman primates may be poor models for research on human diabetes because they have a different insulin system. lvi) The only component of the hunter-gatherer diet likely to cause extreme insulin spikes is honey, which Wrangham feels â€Å"is likely to have been very important, at least seasonally, for our ancestors. What is certain is that hunter-gatherers never experienced anything like the routine daily glucose-insulin cycles that characterize a modern diet loaded with refined sugars and starches. lvii) Constantly buffeted by these insulin surges, over time the body’s cells develop insulin resistance, a decreased response to insulin’s signal to take in glucose. lviii) W hen the cells slam their doors shut, high levels of glucose keep circulating in the bloodstream, prompting the pancreas to secrete even more insulin. This syndrome can turn into an endocrine disorder called hyperinsulinemia that sets the stage for Type II, or adult-onset, diabetes, which has become epidemic in recent years. ) Ironically, U. S. government agencies’ attempts to deal with obesity during the last three decades—encouraging people to eat less fat and more carbohydrates, for example—actually may have exacerbated the problem. ) Take the Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Guide Pyramid, first promulgated in 1992. ix) The pyramid’s diagram of dietary recommendations is a familiar sight on cereal boxes—hardly a coincidence, since the guidelines suggest six to 11 servings daily from the â€Å"bread, cereal, rice, and pasta† group. ) The USDA recommends eating more of these starches than any other category of food. lx) Unfort unately, such starches are nearly all high-glycemic carbohydrates, which drive obesity, hyperinsulinemia, and Type II diabetes. ) â€Å"At best, the USDA pyramid offers wishy-washy, scientifically unfounded advice on an absolutely vital topic—what to eat,† writes Willett in Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy. â€Å"At worst, the misinformation contributes to overweight, poor health, and unnecessary early deaths. ) â€Å"Clearly, some food industries have for many years successfully influenced the government in ways that keep the prices of certain foods artificially low. lxi) David Ludwig questions farm subsidies of â€Å"billions to the lowest-quality foods†Ã¢â‚¬â€for example, grains like corn (â€Å"for corn sweeteners and animal feed to make Big Macs†) and wheat (â€Å"refined carbohydrates. â€Å") ) Meanwhile, the government does not subsidize far healthier items like fruits, vegetables, beans, and nuts. xii) â€Å"It’s a perverse situation,† he says. â€Å"The foods that are the worst for us have an artificially low price, and the best foods cost more. lxiii) This is worse than a free market: we are creating a mirror-world here. † ) Governmental policies like cutting school budgets by dropping physical education programs may also prove to be a false economy. ) â€Å"There’s fast food sold in school cafeterias, soft drinks and candies in school vending machines, and advertising in classrooms on Channel One. ) Meanwhile there are cutbacks in physical education, as if it were a luxury.What was once daily and mandatory is now infrequent and optional. † ) Consider the flap that arose after the United Nations’ World Health Organization (WHO) and Food and Agriculture Organization issued a report in 2003 recommending guidelines for eating to improve world nutrition and prevent chronic diseases. lxiv) Instead of applauding the report, the DHHS issued a 28-page, line-by-line critique and tried to ge t WHO to quash it. lxv) WHO recommended that people limit their intake of added sugars to no more than 10 percent of alories eaten, a guideline poorly received by the Sugar Association, a trade group that has threatened to pressure Congress to challenge the United States’ $406 million contribution to WHO. ) By the last decade of the 20th Century, Americans had become much more adventuresome eaters. lxvi) Variety of choice is nearly unbelievable. lxvii) Ethnic cuisine, once shunned, enjoys increasing popularity and the new foods introduced via that route add greatly to the variety of food choices. ) The trend toward eating out of the home continues to grow; in 1998, 47% of the food dollar was spent away from home. xviii) However, the concern for nutrition was higher than ever and that fact probably contributed to keeping some meals at home. ) Today’s families seem busier than ever. lxix) Rushing between work and school often leaves parents scrambling for time to prepare nutritious, good-tasting meals for their children. ) In fact, 44 percent of U. S. weekday meals are prepared in 30 minutes or less. ) As the quality of our diets has deteriorated over the last 50 years, certain diseases have become rampant. â€Å"Directly related to food, you hear a lot of talk about obesity-related problems in terms of diabetes, coronary artery disease and high blood pressure, and those happen in both men and women,† lxx) â€Å"Those are the general categories of ailments; there are also many specific diet-related disorders. † ) A majority of individuals are making less healthy food choices for better time management. ) Whether for good or bad, changes in diet and fitness have morphed the way people live. ) In the 1960s, it was still common to plant a garden or a fruit tree for food. xxi) Nowadays, this is not the case; in fact it is less common to grow a garden in the U. S than it was 50 years ago. ) Even quick, pop in the microwave or oven meals ha ve become more popular, despite the fact that the invention of the TV dinner occurred in 1944. lxxii) Between working and conflicting schedules, there are not as many home-cooked, healthy meals on the plates of children today. ) Obesity has reached epidemic proportions. lxxiii) In 2007 and 2008, 34 percent of Americans were obese and another 34 percent were overweight, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. xxiv) In 1960 and 1962, only about 14 percent of Americans were obese and 31. 5 percent were overweight. lxxv) Since 1976, the number of obese children from ages 2 to 5 has nearly doubled. ) In 2011, people are looking for weight loss at a quick pace with diet pills, diet shakes, surgery and different diets such as the cabbage soup diet. lxxvi) There are more fad diets and methods of weight loss than ever before. IV. Are food allergies on the rise? If so, why? a) The number of kids with food allergies went up 18 percent from 1997 to 2007, according to the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ) About 3 million children younger than 18 had a food or digestive allergy in 2007, the CDC said. c) A recent study in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology found that visits to the emergency room at Children's Hospital Boston for allergic reactions more than doubled from 2001 to 2006. i) Although this is just one hospital, the findings reflect a rise in food allergies seen in national reports, said Dr. Susan Rudders, lead author and pediatric allergist-immunologist in Providence, Rhode Island. d) One theory is that the Western diet has made people more susceptible to developing allergies and other illnesses. i) The children in the African village live in a community that produces its own food. iii) The study authors say this is closer to how humans ate 10,000 years ago. iv) Their diet is mostly vegetarian. e) By contrast, the local diet of European children contains more sugar, animal fat and calorie-dense foods. v) The study authors posit that these factors result in less biodiversity in the organisms found inside the gut of European children. f) The decrease in richness of gut bacteria in Westerners may have something to do with the rise in allergies in industrialized countries, said Dr.Paolo Lionetti of the department of pediatrics at Meyer Children Hospital at the University of Florence. vi) Sanitation measures and vaccines in the West may have controlled infectious disease, but they decreased exposure to a variety of bacteria may have opened the door to these other ailments. g) Another theory is that children need to get exposed to common allergens, such as nuts and shellfish, from a much earlier age, to avoid developing allergies. vii) Some doctors have been recommending waiting until 2 or 3, but Ferdman at Children's Hospital Los Angeles is a proponent of giving kids nuts very early. iii) This could occur through breastfeeding or an unintended exposure to highly processed foods in the Western diet that may contain hidden sources of the allergens. h) Cooking practices can also affect the development of food allergies. ix) For example, roasting a peanut enhances its allergenic potential compared to other forms of preparing peanut. x) Peanut allergy is more common in the U. S. where peanuts are roasted, as compared to China where peanuts are boiled. V. Is the fast food industry hurting our waistlines and our health? How? ) American emphasis on convenience and rapid consumption is best represented in fast foods such as hamburgers, French fries, and soft drinks, which almost all Americans have eaten. b) By the 1960s and 1970s fast foods became one of America's strongest exports as franchises for McDonalds and Burger Kings spread through the world (Klem 443). c) The effect of fast food chains was infectious; they had become accepted in American society. d) Traditional meals cooked at home and consumed at a leisurely pace gave way to quick lunches and dinners eaten on the run as ot her countries mimicked American cultural patterns. ) In some ways, American food developments are contradictory. f) Americans are more aware of food quality, yet are still eating unhealthy foods due to their increasing dependence on convenience, and are also regularly eating fast foods (Heymsfield 148). i) â€Å"It’s hard for people to give up traditions,† states nutrition expert, Kathy Johnson. g) Spurlock’s total immersion in fast food was a one-subject research study, and his body’s response a warning about the way we eat now. h) â€Å"Super Size Me† could be a credo for the United States, where people, like their automobiles, have become gargantuan. i) â€Å"SUVs, big homes, penis enlargement, breast enlargement, bulking up with steroids—it’s a context of everything getting bigger,† says K. Dun Gifford ’60, LL. B. ’66, president of the Oldways Preservation and Exchange Trust, a nonprofit organization specializ ing in food, diet, and nutrition education. i) Steven Gortmaker, professor of society, human development, and health at the School of Public Health, observes that the convenience-food culture is so ubiquitous that even conscientious parents have trouble steering their children away from junk food. ii) â€Å"You let your kids go on a ‘play date,’† says the father of two, â€Å"and they come home and say, ‘We went to Burger King for lunch. ’† j) He notes that on any given day, 30 percent of American children aged four to 19 eat fast food, and older and wealthier ones eat even more. k) Overall, 7 percent of the U. S. population visits McDonald’s each day, and 20 to 25 percent eat in some kind of fast-food restaurant. v) But taking the family to McDonald’s for, say, Chicken McNuggets, French fries, and a sugar-sweetened beverage—a meal loaded with calories, salt, trans fats (the most unhealthy, artery-clogging fats of all, typ ified in â€Å"partially hydrogenated† oils), fried foods, starch, and sugar—makes Gortmaker shake his head. â€Å"I can’t imagine a worse meal for kids,† he says. â€Å"They call this a ‘Happy Meal’? † l) Humans can eat convenient, refined, highly processed food with great speed, enabling them to consume an astonishing caloric load—literally thousands of calories—in minutes. ) Gortmaker, Ludwig, and colleagues did research comparing caloric intake on days when children ate in a fast-food restaurant to days when they did not; they soaked up 126 calories more on fast-food days, which could translate into a weight gain of 13 pounds per year on fast food alone. m) Pumping up portion size makes good business sense, because the cost of ingredients like sugar and water for a carbonated soda is trivial, and customers perceive the larger amount as delivering greater value. vi) â€Å"When you have calories that are incredibly che ap, in a culture where ‘bigger is better,’ that’s a dangerous combination,† says Walter Willett. ) Furthermore, â€Å"Portion sizes have increased dramatically since the 1950s,† says Beatrice Lorge Rogers ’68, professor of economics and food policy at Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. vii) For proof, consider a 1950s advertising jingle: â€Å"Pepsi-Cola hits the spot/12 full ounces, that’s a lot. † Well, it’s not a lot any more. o) For decades, 12 ounces (itself a move up from earlier 6. 5- and 10-ounce bottles) was the standard serving size for soft drinks. viii) But since the 1970s, soft drink bottles have grown to 20 and 24 ounces; today, even one-liter (33. 8 ounce) bottles are marketed as â€Å"single servings. ix) It doesn’t stop there. The 7-11 convenience store chain offers a Double Gulp cup filled with 64 ounces of ice and soda: a half-gallon â€Å"serving. † Surely, the 128-ounce Gallon Guzzle is on the horizon. p) Soft drinks are becoming America’s favorite breakfast beverage, and specialty sandwiches and burritos for breakfast are fast-growing items, part of the trend toward eating out for all meals. q) The restaurant industry—which employs 12 million workers (second only to government) and has projected sales of $440. 1 billion this year, according to its national association—ranks among the nation’s largest businesses. ) Today, Americans spend 49 cents of every food dollar on food eaten outside the home, where, according to Rogers, they consume 30 percent of their calories. x) That includes take-out food (which some parts of the restaurant industry now style as â€Å"home meal replacement†). s) â€Å"In some ways, you can see obesity as the tip of the iceberg, sitting on top of huge societal issues,† says Willett. xi) â€Å"There are enormous pressures on homes with both the husband and wi fe in the work force. t) One reason things need to be fast is that Mom is not at home preparing meals and waiting for the kids to come home from school any more. ii) She is out there in the office all day, commuting home, and maybe working extra hours at night. xiii) This means heating something in the microwave or hitting the drive-through at McDonald’s. u) There really is a time issue—people do have less time. v) Technology may have entrenched that passivity, while making food preparation easier and faster. w) Three Harvard economists, professors of economics Edward Glaeser and David Cutler, and graduate student Jesse Shapiro, argued in a recent paper that improved technology has cut the time needed to prepare food, allowing us to eat more conveniently. iv) For example, in 1978, they note, only 8 percent of homes had microwave ovens, but 83 percent do today. Food that once took hours to prepare is now â€Å"nuked† in minutes. x) Technology can also change what we eat. xv) Potatoes used to be baked, boiled, or mashed; the labor involved in peeling, cutting, and cooking French fries meant that few home cooks served them, the economists point out. xvi) But now factories prepare potatoes for frying and ship them to fast-food outlets or freeze them for microwave cooking at home. ) Americans ate 30 percent more potatoes between 1977 and 1995, most of that increase coming in the form of French fries and potato chips. z) In general, technology has enabled the food industry to do more of the work of preparing and cooking what we eat, increasing the proportion of processed victuals in the nation’s diet. xvii) Frequently, processing also folds in more ingredients; russet potatoes, for example, contain no added salt or oil, though most potato chips do. {) Within our laissez-faire system of food supply, the food vendors’ actions aren’t illegal, or even inherently immoral. viii) â€Å"The food industry’s major objective is to get us to intake more food,† says Gortmaker. xix) â€Å"And the TV industry’s objective is to get us to watch more television, to be sedentary. |) Advertising is the action that keeps them both successful. xx) So you’ve got two huge industries being successful at what they are supposed to do: creating more intake and less activity. xxi) And since larger people require more food energy just to sustain themselves, the food industry is growing a larger market for itself. † }) That industry spends billions of dollars on research, says Willett. xii) â€Å"They have carefully researched the exact levels of sweetness and saltiness that will make every food as attractive as possible,† he explains. xxiii) â€Å"Each company is putting out its bait, trying to make it more attractive than its competitors. ~) Food industry science is getting better, more refined, and more powerful as we go along. xxiv) They do good science—they don’t throw th eir money down the drain. ) What we spend on nutrition education is only in the tens of millions of dollars annually. xxv) There’s a huge imbalance, and it tips more and more in favor of the food industry every year. Food executives like to say, ‘Just educate the consumer—when they create the demand for healthier food, we’ll supply it! ’ xxvi) That’s a bit disingenuous when you consider that they are already spending billions to ‘educate’ consumers. † ) The food industry itself has begun to make certain investments in the direction of healthier eating. xxvii) â€Å"In the future, I see a convergence between food and health,† says Goldberg. xxviii) â€Å"The food industry has been warned of the backlash that could hit them, like it did tobacco. ) He suggests that the food industry will become more responsive to consumers’ health concerns regarding issues like bioengineered ingredients in foodstuffs. ) People â€Å"want a diversity of sources for their food, and traceability of sources,† he says. ) â€Å"The bar code will become a vehicle not just for pricing, but for describing and listing ingredients. † ) Even fast-food chains are changing; in the past year, they reported a 16 percent growth in servings of main-dish salads. ) Willet sees no reason why healthy eating should not be as delicious and attractive as junk food, and the franchisers may be headed that way as well. xix) McDonald’s is currently testing an adult meal that includes a pedometer and â€Å"Step With It† booklet along with any entree salad. In its kids’ meals, Wendy’s is trying out fruit cups with melon slices instead of French fries. xxx) Yogurt manufacturer Stonyfield Farm has launched a chain of healthful fast-food restaurants called O’Naturals. ) Doritos themselves are getting healthier. xxxi) Fitness expert Kenneth Cooper, M. P. H. ’62, founder of the Cooper Aerobics Center in Dallas, has been working with PepsiCo’s CEO, Steven S. Reinemund, to develop new products and modify existing items in a healthier direction. The company’s Frito-Lay unit last year eliminated trans fats from its salty offerings. xxxii) Frito-Lay introduced organic, healthier versions of Doritos and Cheetos under the Natural sub-brand. † xxxiii) As a result, 55 million pounds of trans fats will be removed from the American diet over the next 12 months,† Cooper says. ) PepsiCo is in 150 countries, and many of their healthier products will soon be promoted throughout the world. ) Physical fitness is good business for the individual and for the corporation. † ) PepsiCo sells plenty of food and beverages from vending machines, many of them in schools. xxiv) â€Å"You don’t resolve the obesity problem in children by taking the vending machines out of schools,† Cooper declares. â€Å"Kids will still get what they want. xxxv) Put better products in the machines and get physical education back in the schools. † ) Accordingly, PepsiCo is stocking some school machines with fruit juices from its Tropicana and Dole brands, Gatorade, and Aquafina bottled water; others offer Frito-Lay products that meet Cooper’s â€Å"Class I† standard: no trans fats and restricted amounts of calories, fat, saturated fat, and sodium. Fast food has become a staple for many individuals. xxxvi) Though fast food was developed in the 1930s, it has peaked in popularity during the past two decades. ) According to CBS HealthWatch, at least a quarter of all Americans eat at McDonald's once per day. 1) How have your own dietary practices changed over the years? 2) How have your dietary practices changed since taking a course in nutrition?

The Failed Vision

If I were consulting with the HTE Board of Directors regarding Harold's Leadership, from a transformational perspective, I would have advised them that Harold wasn't a good leader and that his leadership style was damaging to HTE. Harold tried to bring about many changes to the company without recognizing the effects of the changes, which made him seems to look like he didn't know what he was doing, though his intention was good. His past records were great, but the results from HTE didn't demonstrate what was said about him. His style of leadership was in line with the Pseudo-transformational leadership. Pseudo-transformational leadership refers to leaders who are self-consumed, exploitive, and power oriented, with warped moral values (Bass & Riggio,2006). Pseudo-transformational leadership is considered personalized leadership, which focuses on the leader's own interest rather than on the interest of others (Northouse, 20016, pg. 163). Harold was more worried about how he looks in position than what is good for the company. Harold should have focused more on the people and inspire them to make the change he wanted a success, but he didn't involve them at all in the change process. This was damaging, which finally cause a major failure and serious loss in revenue to the company.Did Harold have a clear vision for HTE? Was he able to implement?Yes. Harold did have a clear vision for the company but didn't have the correct method of leadership to make his vision to transform HTE. Harold wanted to prove that new technologies and advance management could make the company one of the best manufacturing companies in the nation. Harold created a vision, but it conflicted with his values and management style. It became very difficult for him to convey his vision to the employees in that they saw his vision as being against himself. The employees didn't believe in the vision and were confused with all the changes. They were not involved in the change process and never had the voice when it came to feedback.Was he able to implement?No, he couldn't implement anything because his leadership style was the Pseudo-transformational leadership which is an inspired leadership that is self-serving, unwilling to encourage independent ideas from followers and exhibits little care for others. This type of leadership has strong inspirational talent and appeal but is manipulative and dominates and directs followers towards his or her own values (Christie, Barling, et., al.,2011). This leadership also threaten the welfare of followers because it ignores the common good.How effective was Harold as a change agent and social arc hitect for HTE?Harold at the beginning was very determined, but as time went by his vision seems to be uncertain. A blur vision which causes an overall effect of the reorganization was a precipitous drop in the worker morale and production. Harold wasn't effective as a change agent because, in my opinion, I realize that Harold could not stand strong with his vision and mission. He could not influence the workers to follow his method. This made the employees feel instability, as they also started to find it very difficult to support the company's vision. He faced a failure of having gained the employee's trust. There wasn't a good relationship between Harold and the employees. Their words were neglected by him, resulting in a huge gap between the leader and the employees. Harold couldn't be considered as a social architect for HTE, because he did nothing that brought positive change to the company. Instead, he destroys the valued organizational history of the company, its revenues and lost the morale amongst the employees. What Would you advise Harold to do differently if he had the chance to return as president of HTE? I would advise him to humble himself and ask for consideration from all his senior and lower managers and begin developing a new relationship by communicating effectively with everyone and focusing on workers affairs and calming bad feelings, lifting spirits, and providing updates and progress reports as activities come. Then a new vision should be created that incorporates the needs of the company as well as feedback from the leadership. From a Bible standpoint and perspective, I will like to be a kind of leader that is unselfish, and not only concerned about my interest rather the interest of others as well and to lead my organization for the common good of all. In our quest for the marks of mature spirituality and leadership ability, we must not bypass that quality which so completely characterized the life of Jesus Christ, the quality of unselfish servanthood. Jesus said, â€Å"For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many† (Mark 10:45) The apostle Paul added to this focus when he wrote, â€Å"Each of you should be concerned not only about your own interests, but the interests of others as well† (Phil. 1:4). But then pointing to the Savior as our great example, he quickly added, â€Å"You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had.† In conclusion, our leadership style as a believer in God Almighty should be model after our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Seeking not only our interest as leaders but for others as well and to also practice transformational leadership which is used in improving team development, (Bass ; Avolio,1994). Decision-making groups, quality initiative, and reorganizations. ReferencesBass. M., ; Avolio, B. J. (1994). Improving organizational effectiveness through transformational leadership. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.Bass, B. M., ; Riggio, R. E. (2006). Transformational leadership (2nd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Christie, A., Barling., ; Turner, N. (2011). Pseudo-transformational leadership: Model specification and outcomes. Journal of Applied Social Psychology,44(12), 2943- 2984Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice (7th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publication