thoughts on obesity cont.

Although the situation seems daunting, there are actually many practical solutions to slow down the growth of “diabesity.” One of the most beneficial things we can do is adopt a healthy lifestyle consisting of eating balanced meals and exercising regularly. Obviously, this won’t happen overnight. The International Diabetes Foundation wisely proposes that elementary and middle schools adopt more rigorous physical education programs (the earlier the better), so that children are encouraged to play sports and exercise rather than staying cooped up inside their homes. We should also be aware of false and provocative advertising of foods that are harmful to us, and also pay attention to portion sizes when we dine out. For example, we could eat half of our entrée rather than the entire dish and save the rest to take home and eat for lunch the next day.

It may seem rude to lecture a family member or friend that is chubby or gaining weight on the consequences of obesity and overeating, but in reality it’s actually doing them a favor and showing that you care. I would explain to them the likelihood that they would develop diabetes, and other complications such as higher health costs, heart disease, asthma, and hypertension, to name a few. If they have any trouble being convinced, I would inform them that according to research done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 30% of children born in 2000 will contract Type II Diabetes. That’s an alarmingly high percentage.

Learning and educating myself about diabetes and obesity has made me a lot more aware of my own health choices and daily lifestyle. There are many unhealthy food options on campus, but there are healthy ones as well. It all boils down to making wise decisions and choosing foods that are healthy, even if it means sacrificing a very tempting slice of chocolate cake. If I adopt healthy eating habits now, it is far more likely that I can uphold them for the rest of my life. Also, I realize that I don’t exercise often enough, mostly because I feel like I don’t have the time. This is particularly the case for many college students that struggle with time managemen – how do we have the time to work out when we have so many assignments, homework, and projects due for class? It may not be easy, but for our own sakes we should work out our schedules to include time to exercise. Studies show that exercising makes us feel better and more alert, so it would actually help us to do a better job on our homework!

Yes, diabetes and obesity are terribly common, but there are definite paths of action we can take to reduce the trend of “disabesity.” Eating healthy, exercising, and adopting a hearty lifestyle for LIFE are crucial. These changes won’t happen in the blink of an eye, but it is better to start now than never. The next time I feel the urge to take a nap, I should try taking a jog around campus. By doing so, I would be preventing myself from getting diabetes, feel happier and healthier, and not become just another statistic.

Diabetes

Here's some thoughts/an essay on diabetes I wrote.

Obesity and diabetes have increased significantly in proportion in today’s society. These two diseases are not only very relevant to the average person, but also to me personally, since my grandma has recently been diagnosed with Type II diabetes. Obesity is the closest link to this type of diabetes, and according to the International Diabetes Foundation, there are an astounding 194 million people today living with the disease. At some point, each of us will inevitably come to know someone that is obese or has diabetes. Why, exactly, has diabetes become such an epidemic? How might my grandma have gotten her disease? Most importantly, what can we do to solve this ever-growing dilemma?

The answer to the first question is simple: we are simply not taking enough responsibility for our health. In today’s day and age of fast food and popular restaurant chains, our portion sizes are huge and filled with foods high in fat and cholesterol, thereby promoting obesity. Rather than going outside and playing sports, many kids in today’s modern, technological age opt to play computer games, watch TV, or chat online for recreation. At our own Parkside Café at USC, there is always a huge selection of desserts, and the large buffet-style entrees definitely foster large portion sizes. Is it any wonder, then, that the “freshman fifteen” exists? Adults also often don’t eat healthily or exercise, because their jobs demand a lot of their time. Exercising simply isn’t convenient. Fast food is the easy solution to grabbing a quick bite to eat, and after a long day of work, many people will opt to relax or simply go to sleep rather than working out.

Considering these points, it’s easy to see why my grandma was diagnosed with diabetes. She has always been an unhealthy eater, with foods such as doughnuts and Portuguese sausage being among her favorite things to eat. By consistently eating foods high in fat and sugar, she became overweight and put herself at high risk for diabetes. My grandma was also fairly inactive and didn’t exercise often, which additionally played a role in her getting the disease.

OBAMA!

It was amazing and rewarding for my very first voting experience to have played a part in such a historic election. Watching the election results and seeing Obama win swing state after swing state, followed by a very eloquent victory speech and seeing the thousands of inspired faces in the crowd, was almost surreal. I won't forget the moment where I was surrounded by friends and faculty sitting around the TV screen, when the results came up that Obama had won and the room erupted into cheers, hugging, laughter, and an overall feeling of relief and joy. It's amazing how this fellow Punahou graduate, Hawaii-raised, half black and half white future president has broken so many norms and traditions - I am SO ready for change, and also so grateful that there's finally someone in the White House that fully understands Hawaii's problems and circumstances (since I'm from Hawaii myself). Although Obama has such a huge task ahead of him, and probably will not fulfill all of his promises, simply the fact that a guy like him fought so hard and made it to the White House (or should I say the Black and White House...) is admirable and inspiring in itself - this is a great moment for African Americans as well. I know that people kept saying "this election is not about race -" but those people are ignorant to turn a blind eye to all the hardships that African Americans have had to go through in order to reach equality. Finally, they have come full circle and can feel liberated and inspired. Thank you, America, for voting for such an inspiring person full of promise, and thank you Obama for stepping up to probably the most difficult job in the world right now. I'm not sure what is going to happen to our economy, or if the war in Iraq will end soon, whether I'll be able to find a job when I graduate or whether I will be able to support my kids someday- but I feel assured knowing that there is someone sitting in our country's most coveted position that I can relate to, feel inspired listening to, and perfectly embodies a true American : mixed, brought up in a number of different places, hopeful, and determined to make his country a better place.

Assignment 4: Helpful and Insightful Sources

Here are the articles I found for assignment 4; hope that they help you guys!

Benjamin Amick, Larry Kessler, James Thompson. Factors Influencing the Diagnosis of Mental Disorder Among Primary Care Patients. Medical Care. January 1985, 50-61

Patrick Corrigan, Abigail Wassel. Understanding and Influencing the Stigma of Mental Illness. Journal of Psychosocial Nursing. Vol. 46 2008 43-48

Richard Carpiano, Sara Kuppin. Public Conceptions of Mental Illness and Substance Abuse, Their Causes and treatments: Findings from the 1996 General Social Survey. American Journal of Public health. 2006 96: 1766-1771

Katrien Libbrecht. Mental Health or Mental Healing? Society. Nov/Dec 1997, 20-23

Peter Byrne, Patrick Corrigan, Kristin Davis, Amy Watson. Mental Illness Stigma: Problem of Public Health or Social Justice? Social Work. Oct 2005 

Thoughts on the Water Debate

I thought that the water debate between Steven P. Eerie, Professor of Political Science and Director of Urban Studies at UC San Diego, and Michael George, former VP of Water Development at the American States Water Co. and current water attorney, was much more of a "debate" than the oil debate we attended two weeks ago. The two well qualified men addressed the issue of declining fresh water supply in Southern California, and also talked about possible alternatives to solve the problem.

The main issue that the two men differed on was that Eerie supported giving subsidies to water companies in exchange for conservation and believed in the public sector, while George was opposed to these subsidies because he did not believe it represented a market approach and (he supported the private sector). Eerie added that we needed to figure out how to align political incentives with the right kind of policy, and on this point George agreed with him in that there needs to be a political capability of getting things done within policy framework.  He also posed five major alternatives: improve management of current system, de-salination, conservation, reuse of top water, and reallocation. 

I think that water is definitely an important topic because we rely on it and often take it for granted. It is more important than oil because we can technically survive without oil but we need water for physiological purposes. It was also kind of scary how our water supply is starting to decline already in 2009. One point that struck my curiosity was how Antarctica holds 70% of the world's freshwater; is there a way that we can access/effectively use this water?

I'm not sure whether I support subsidies personally but I did believe that George's 5 major alternatives plan was a strong idea and at least gives us a basis of which to start taking action. Overall, George was a much more effective and clear speaker (perhaps because he is a lawyer?) than Eerie, who kind of put me to sleep.

Oil Debates

I thought that both Ralph Morgan, British Petroleum's Director of Climate Change Issues, and Matt Petersen, president of Global Green USA, had important and interesting arguments to make regarding climate change. Energy is certainly a focal point not only politically but in regards to important issues today - already, controversies and concerns about energy are beginning to really circulate around the popular public sphere. 

Ralph Morgan made some very interesting and attention grabbing points - that the world demand for energy will increase by 2050; that 1/4 of the world's population has no access for modern energy; that our U.S. energy policy is a decades long failure by depending on others for oil. I liked how Morgan used specific facts and statistics to add significance to his argument, which was that we need to lower our carbon alternatives, look to conventional alternative forms of energy, we need to explore for oil and gas production in our own country, expand our low carbon energy sources and build more, etc. He also supported offshore drilling, which raised a lot of controversial issues - I do agree with him, however, that we need to stop depending so much on foreign countries and instead start taking responsibility for producing our own energy. 

Matt Petersen raised similar issues but in a different way - he used appealing and attractive images/powerpoints, and also threw in some familiar celebrity faces to grab our attention. He pinpointed  three main issues: climate change, weapons of mass destruction, and the lack of clean water; however the argument veered much more towards energy/climate issues rather than WMDs and lack of clean water. Petersen refuted Morgan's argument for offshore drilling, saying that it would take 10 years for it to take place efficiently. He advocated a carbon tax, conserving and sacrificing energy, the importance of starting now and adopting a conservation mentality, and the importance of bold thinking. He basically said that it would take humans to get us out of this; he placed his faith in the human race. 

I felt that both of these men raised important points and I agreed with most of what they said. However, what I was slightly troubled about was that they didn't suggest/propose CLEAR PLANS or COURSES OF ACTION to do the acts that they proposed. For example, what specific steps or courses of action need to be taken in order to develop/endorse alternative energy? In what ways, specifically, can the average person contribute? And in question to offshore drilling ten years, wouldn't it still  be wise to start now - it's better late than never? How do we go about initiating a carbon tax? 

Prompt: Planning Thoughts Before Making them Public (Writing vs. Speech)

I believe that no matter if you're writing an important essay or trying to give a persuasive speech, it is definitely essential to plan your thoughts out first. I would probably take a different approach to planning my thoughts in writing a paper vs. giving a speech, but both would require significant planning- may it be outlining your thoughts out on paper, researching your topic, or taking the time to develop a cohesive and convincing argument.

When writing an essay, such as the ones that we've been writing for our Writing 140 class, it would be best to do a lot of prewriting in order to organize thoughts better. Since essays tend to pull from a lot of background information and material, sometimes its hard to see the argument at first or come up with a thesis. In order to get my thoughts straight, it definitely helps to do a lot of random brainstorming and freewriting, then turning to a more structured approach to prewriting such as a TOPOI or Fact/Idea list. From there, then it's okay to construct an argument outline, followed by a rough plan for your paper as well as a thesis. After performing all of this organized prewriting as well as a more free-thought prewriting, tackling the actual writing part of the essay comes much more easily to the writer. I found this to be the case for my Assignment 2. I did about three times as much prewriting for Assignment 2 as Assignment 1, and I had twice as much of an easier time writing that essay as my first essay. I probably only spent a total of three hours writing five pages, which I consider to be a really effective use of time in my standards.

Planning thoughts for a speech would be a lot more different from an essay. While in an essay you have the time to sophisticatedly form your argument and develop the complexity of what you're trying to say, in a speech, the most important thing is that you get your point across immediately to your audience and also are able to support your point with clear, specific, accurate facts. Similarly to writing a paper, for a speech you would also need to do research, but it would be more important to find very to the point, eye-opening facts that grab the attention of the audience. After all, there is nothing worse than boring your audience with mundane information that is not out of the ordinary. Your speech, similarly to your paper, should also have extremely sound logic - the audience will be able to tell if you are flubbing or don't have adequate information, probably even more so than if you were writing an essay. In an essay, I feel that it's easier to make your logical fallacies transparent or mask them with fancy language. In a speech, however, it is MUCH easier to tell if you don't know what you are talking about. Prewriting and organizing your ideas into clearly structured arguments is a great way to plan out your thoughts.

In the end, writing an essay and writing a speech aren't all that different from each other. In both cases, I would approach planning  my thoughts very seriously and allot significant time for research, brainstorming, thinking, considering pros and cons of certain viewpoints - anything to strengthen and perfect my argument. However, what's very different about writing an essay and giving speech is obviously the way they are presented. The strength of a paper is being able to formulate your argument in a more complex and structured way, while in a speech, the specific words you choose and facts you choose to present should be strong, forceful, and persuasive : being to the point is very essential in grabbing and convincing your audience.  A speech's rebuttal would need to be particularly strong, especially in a debate - for in a debate you would need to prepare multiple strong rebuttals in order to make your opponent seem weaker and strengthen your own side of the argument. Rebuttals can also definitely help to strengthen an essay, but you probably would not need as many compared to a speech or debate.