Magic Man

My demonstrative speech had many flaws throughout the speech. The most important flaw in my speech is the fact that I am nervous to speak in front of people. My voice along with tone was not consistent and showed this nervousness. A way to improve this down fall would be to practice my speech in front of an audience instead of practicing it alone. My introduction was alright, it was just a little short and i could have improved on making a more intense and attracting statement. My visual aid was a deck of cards which I needed to do my entire speech. The content of my speech was good. I shared all necessary information to the audience. It is difficult to teach the audience how to perform a trick without showing them personally. Physical contact would be required to more effectively show the individual how to use the proper technique. My poise was not the best, but it was one of my stronger areas. I shifted from side to side and moved my arms a lot. But i don't think that was all bad. the hand motions were helpful to get points across. I had good eye contact which is surprising giving the level of nervousness. All in all though, i thought my topic was entertaining. I believe the class enjoyed learning how to do a card trick that seems like magic. If I were to do this speech again I would bring a deck of cards for each person so that they could do it at the same time that I was teaching them.

Fast paced food

I don't have much time in my day. Finding time to eat is an everyday struggle. The most recent struggle resulted in me ordering food to my dorm. I had no part in preparing this meal. All I did was provide payment, consume it, and throw away the garbage when i was finished. This method of eating is convenient. I doesn't require me to go out of my way at all. It also is the most time efficient. While my order is being made, I am free to do whatever I please. This allows me extra time to do homework, or just relax. I agree completely with Pollan's ideas discussed in part 7. He blames American culture for the shift to fake quick food. Our ancestors ate all natural food and enjoyed doing it and stayed healthy. Meals were not only for nutrition but it was a time to bring family and friends together to sit down, relax, and enjoy the food being eaten. Looking back at that meal, I believe that i have become like all other Americans. I used to enjoy hearty home made food as a family, but now have opted for the more convenient, unhealthy, and easy food. I eat simply because of hunger, instead of enjoying and actually tasting my food.

To-mate-o To-mat-o

Fake food versus real food. According to Mr Pollack, we are living in a day and age where companies are going away from the "all natural" to the technologically advanced foods. Growing up, my family did not have a lot of money, so we had a garden that provided most of our vegetables. I still remember planting, watering, and weeding the tomato plants. We used nothing but natural gardening techniques. No pesticides or "special" growth serums. I remember using tomatoes regularly in dishes when the were ripe. We ate blts, chili, used them on cold cut sandwiches, everything. When my brother and sister and i began sports it became difficult to keep a garden, so the family switched to store bought veggies. These veggies are considered fake food. Many of these tomatoes are grown with synthetic fertilizers which cause soil to become infertile and can runoff into water supplies, contaminating them. Many vital nutrients are not in these synthetic fertilizers. Also many tomatoes are canned and preservatives are added. This is unhealthy practice. The adding of sugars and salts during the canning process causes this. Also the heating process cooks some nutrients out of the vegetables. My family switched due to convenience and cost. It was becoming too much of a time cost to produce our own tomatoes. It also became to costly to have tomatoes in bulk. My family eats a lot and needs a large supply of food to support us. I believe that the convenience and cost will force me to use fake veggies more often but on occasion i will most likely find a farmers market and go back to the real deal one more time.

Blog 1 Michael Pollen

Michael Pollan does an adequate job depicting his views on nutrition and the past and current views of the American diet. He makes clear the shift from Americans focusing on nutrients instead of the "food" they are eating. He states that nutrients take turns being the popular nutrient of the time. For example, he says protein was known as the "super" nutrient. This led to America’s dramatic increase in size and had a major effect on health. I don't completely agree with this statement. He puts a lot of blame on eating too much red meat to the cause of health disease. Looking at this issue from an athletic standpoint, protein makes up the majority of my diet. It is necessary for muscle growth and without proteins lifting has a dramatically decreased affect on muscle growth and development. He later touches on the amount of power the food industry has. He uses the example of Senator McGovern and how he stated to eat less red meat. This caused a major stir among the meat industry and eventually led to him not being reelected. Even after he retracted the statement and instead said eat less saturated fat. This led to a shift from foods to nutrients. Many companies began inserting "healthy" vitamins and other supplements into their products to advertise there quantative supremacy of these healthy products. People have been fooled into believing that added vitamin a or omega 3's increase health instead of focusing on the product themselves. Many of these products are processed and provide a small amount of natural nutrition. I personally am not fooled by these advertisers. I eat what I eat and focus on the major food groups necessary for my ultimate health level and what benefits my personal goals. I put the blame on individuals that are so easily persuaded to these false advertisements and their belief that they are becoming more healthy. I do think its a good sign that many Americans are trying to focus on better health. I believe that they need to do a little research of their own instead of listening to what so called experts or what the product itself claims.