My Reflection Essay

            Sarah Pattisall

October 16, 2010

Human Geography

My Reflection Essay

Based on the knowledge I have inquired in class I think I need to change my diet.  Based on other peoples tries to change the sustainability of the U.S. it could take a while so we have to take another course of action, become healthier.  An issue many people could have with changing their diet is the prices of better foods.  You could buy a Big Mac and Large Fries at McDonalds for a lesser price than a head of lettuce form your local super market.  Is our health worth the money?  I believe it is. 

Something that shocked me was the conditions of places that people believe they are getting health food from!  Billions of chickens were shoved in to tiny cages together and cows were fed corn, something that isn’t part of their natural diet.  People are putting their trust in to people out of their personal belief that their food is nutritious, which leads to the matter of organic foods.

  Food with an official organic seal is legitimate but it’s very easy for people to pretend their food is organic when it could be bad for you.  The food could have little organic ingredients but just enough to qualify.  Many people are resorting to growing their own fruits and vegetables so they know their food is organic and grown in a healthy environment.  Farmer markets can be cheap and healthy and are a good resort for those low on money.  Nowadays there aren’t as many butcher shops as their used to be.  Butcher shops are a lot more healthy then mass production sites.  There is less of a chance that an animal could be infected with disease.  People can make a difference though.

If more butcher shops were to open up all over then it would be easier to obtain healthy meat.  This meat would have lesser a chance of being infected with disease such as e coli.  E coli is a major problem in the economy today.  Many people are dying all over the world because of this disease.  E coli is a harmful bacterium.  It can be transmitted through animals and simply someone not washing their hands.  One woman who is working to shut down mass production sites that continuously distribute meat with e coli had a son who died from e coli found in hamburgers.  Imagine if someone you knew and loved died?  People need to be informed of the harm of e coli and other diseases found in meat so they can make a difference.

I want my family to consider switching to organic food because of the great risk of diseases and also to increase our health.  Ever since we’ve been learning about this I’ve refused to eat McDonald’s meat and other fast food places’ meat.  It’s dangerous and deadly.  Who would have ever thought meat could kill?  I want to start growing fruits and vegetables and maybe go to the farmers market.  Not only is that food better for you but it tastes better too!   

I’m willing to make a change and switch my diet to organic and locally grown foods.  If more people made this change than could there be a possibility that it could boycott mass production businesses and start to shut them down?  Before all of this new technology most of your wheat in your bread was from a local farm.  Imagine all of your meat being carefully handled by a single-hand butcher, it would be so much better than one hamburger possibly containing the meat of thousands of different cows.  We can make a change starting with a healthier diet.

Something that needs to be taken in to consideration is money issues.  Food stamps are available to those struggling.  Growing your own food is also something you can do if you wish to switch to a healthier diet and you are struggling with money.  I’m shocked by the amount of people who chose a non-healthy lifestyle over a healthy one because of money.  It’s unreal how unhealthy today’s economy is because of false advertising, people not being able to afford healthy food, and the enormous amount of food places that are bad for you.

If people knew every single ingredient in the food they eat and the places the food was form, including the conditions of the places, the people would probably be disgusted.  Some of the food I eat comes from all over the world like Australia, Italy, California, and more local places like Pennsylvania.  I would most likely be shocked to see those locations.  They could be awful.  It’s shocking to know that my food in a week all together traveled roughly 20,000 miles!  I’ve never even traveled that far! 

We need to find a way to change the food industry because it’s a mess!  We need to eat sustained food that is nourishing instead of food that comes from places where cows are fed an unnatural diet and all put together!  Your meat in your chicken nugget could come from tons of different chickens.  I don’t know about you but I would be more comfortable knowing I’m eating one chicken in a meal then thousands of chickens.  This would also limit the amount of e coli spread throughout food. 

The things I’ve learned have shocked me and also helped form my views on the food industry.  I believe we need to change our diet and this could help with many different problems because of the food industry.  If we eat more organic foods instead of foods from mass production sites then there would be less of a chance of disease.  I think it would be better if we limited our imported foods too.  I would rather eat a fresh tomato then one that has been on a plane for the past 12 hours.  These things I’ve learned in the past unit I’ve never known before and I most definitely want to change my diet.