Even though my "normal diet" day mostly consisted of unprocessed or lightly processed foods, it still opened my eyes to the fact that I am largely unaware of the additives in my food and their function. I found myself reading ingredients and having no idea what they were or what purpose they were serving. Although I do not believe any of the foods I consume on a daily basis are "beaten to death", I am starting to question the additives that I have discovered lurking in some of my personal favorites. I find it interesting how long my descriptions were on my "normal diet" day in comparison to my "avoiding processed foods" day. There wasn't really much I could add to the description of a banana or some eggs. I really thought that that point alone illustrated what this assignment is all about, food should just be food. When more is added it seems like even more is lost. This assignment was fun and interesting, but I do not feel the need to change anything about my diet based on the things that I have learned. Since my diet is already so restricted, I feel that there may be some necessary evils in order to make sure I stay healthy and properly nourished.
Day One - Normal Diet:
Breakfast:
Oats and Honey Blend cereal - MOM'S BEST cereals (the back of the box contains a "Simple Goodness Promise" that states: "Mom's Best cereals contain no artificial flavors or preservatives, high fructose corn syrup, or hydrogenated oil." Some ingredients that concern me are: corn/corn oil (it doesn't say non-GMO anywhere on the box), sugar, 'Natural Flavor', and says 'Color Added'.
Organic, Original (Classic) Rice Drink - Rice Dream (stamped with a USDA Organic seal and labeled gluten free, the back of the carton contains a "Benefits of Rice Dream Classic" section that reads "Made with organic rice, 99% fat free, soy free, a cholesterol free food, lactose and dairy free, 100% vegetarian." The product only contains 4 ingredients and none of them are cause for concern.
Lunch:
Frozen organic blueberries (frozen by me, not in a bag or pre-frozen)
Chik'n Nuggets - Quorn (vegetarian, breaded chicken nuggets made from a mycoprotein that is also soy free) 41% of the product is made up of the mycoprotein, the remaining ingredients include: wheat flour, water, canola oil, wheat starch, potato dextrin, and wheat gluten. It contains some other easily recognizable ingredients that make up less than 2% of the product.
Organic BBQ, Smoky Maple Sauce - Annie's Naturals (certified organic, naturally gluten free, vegan) ingredient list is fairly long, but only lists one recognizable preservative mentioned in Pandora's Lunchbox (xanthan gum). The rest are common ingredients and flavoring.
Dinner:
Munched on some organic pineapple and had two squares of Chocolove's "Almonds and Sea Salt in Dark Chocolate" (VERY DELICIOUS) while making dinner. The chocolate is 55% cocoa and lists only seven ingredients, one of which was mentioned in Pandora's Lunchbox, soy lecithin.
Meatless and Soy Free Naked (nonbreaded) Chik'n Cutlets - Quorn (this is the same company that makes the nuggets I had for lunch) The cutlets are composed of 51% of the mycoprotein and also lists rehydrated egg white, textured wheat protein, and canola oil as main ingredients. Like their other product it contains less than 2% of other additives. I cooked this in organic extra virgin olive oil with some onion salt and ground cayenne red pepper.
Macaroni and Soy Cheeze - Amy's (lactose free and made with organic pasta, stamped with a seal that says "NO GMOs", no added MSG, no preservatives, zero grams of trans fat) Some of the ingredients it contains I'm a little skeptical about such as, caseinate, soy lecithin, and "cheddar style soy product". The rest of the ingredients are common and well known.
Dessert:
Cider from a local cider mill!
Beverages:
Drank water throughout the day
Day 2 - Avoiding Processed Foods:
Breakfast:
Two eggs scrambled (organic, mixed with salt and pepper)
A banana (organic)
Lunch:
Fruit salad (all organic: strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, pineapple, and banana)
Cinnamon Oat Clusters - KIND Healthy Grains (the bag says "ingredients you can see and pronounce", gluten free, all natural non-GMO, low glycemic, 0g trans fat, contains oats, millet, quinoa, amaranth, buckwheat, and flax seeds)
Dinner:
Can of vegetarian kidney beans and brown rice
Beverages:
Drank water throughout the day
Berry Nana, fruit smoothie drink (vegan, non GMO, no additives *only 4 ingredients listed, all are fruit*, organic, advises consumer to drink within 5 days of opening because there are no preservatives)
Twitter Analysis
While browsing the tweets under the heading of "juice/cleanse" I noticed something odd. More than half of the tweets were promotions for certain juice cleanses or cleanses in general. They seemed almost like spam tweets, certainly not composed by the owner of the account, and had links to where you could order these cleanses. It seemed like they were trying to push the fad of cleansing onto their followers with these messages that advertised their benefits. So many of the words included in these messages had health or fitness connotations, as well as references to weight loss. Words that stood out to me were: organic, superfood, diet, weight loss, revitalized, energized, lighter, cleaner, re-balanced, alkalized, and healthy. These words were mixed with other positive and energetic comments. One person said, “Finished my 3 day juice cleanse and so damn proud of myself for it!!!” There were many other similar tweets about feeling a sense of pride or accomplishment in relation to finishing or participating in a juice cleanse. Another satisfied customer writes, “…on day 3 of the 3 day juice cleanse and feel fantastic! Super focused, never hungry and energized. Fantastic product, thank you!”
Most of the tweets mentioning juice/cleanse were positive, but others were confused and just wondering what a juice cleanse is or documenting their failures at completing one. Some mocked cleanses by saying things like, “How many capri suns do I need to drink before it's considered a juice cleanse?” Others apparently were not wowed by the cleansing, “I'm never doing this again". Another person seemed to think that doing a juice cleanse is for no other purpose than to make yourself look intelligent, “A juice cleanse is just a fancy way of saying ‘I hate myself and wish to suffer while pretending I am a health goddess’".
Yet another group of people linked juice cleanses with their own personal self-control, bragging about what they can keep themselves from ingesting during this time, “Self-control is going to a BBQ on juice cleanse day 7.” Quite a few of the tweets that I read equated cleansing with a huge amount of control over diet and self. Although this can be a good thing, this is also a sign of eating disorders. Being proud of and stringently controlling one’s diet for a long amount of time is usually seen as self-destructive and harmful behavior. Some of these tweets gave me cause for concern, especially the ones mentioning weight loss that may not be happening the healthy way. This tweet was particularly concerning, “going on a juice cleanse to get skinny again”.
All in all, it seems that there is a positive feeling about juice cleanses and the wording in tweets conveys this. There also seems to be expressed opinions of confusion about and annoyance with juice cleanses. I also observed some potentially harmful uses of these cleanses as a way to get skinny fast. The wording that I observed in relation to juice cleanses consisted of words associated with a knowledge of health and well-being. The words being used by companies to sell their products on Twitter requires background information about health and attract those who value it.
Refrigerator Photograph Assignment
From the ingredients in my subject’s refrigerator, I can tell that this particular family does a lot of cooking. This is evident from the large jar of minced garlic, the multiple heads of lettuce, the cauliflower, and the large quantities of carrots, peppers, and other vegetables. As we have learned from our readings, it is much healthier to cook meals from scratch, rather than from box mixes or cans. I think it would be safe to assume that this family is somewhat health-conscious and also has the means to afford fresh ingredients. Based on the contents of their refrigerator I would assume that they are members of the middle class.
The refrigerator also contained quite a few highly processed items. In the photo of the door, several types of Kraft salad dressing and a huge container of Miracle Whip are clearly visible. Some cherry flavored Dr. Pepper is also visible in the refrigerator. In one of our readings for class, we learned about the way that soda is flavored to be as addicting and as pleasing to the senses as possible. The box of soda was not yet open and may indicate that it is meant to be a treat for rare occasions, but the other unopened or unused items in the refrigerator indicate that the owner may have just gone grocery shopping recently. The refrigerator also contained many different types of juices, I cannot tell whether or not they are highly processed or bought to be a healthy beverage. There were also a few different types of beer in the main refrigerator and in one of the drawers. All of this information that I gathered from my pictures tells me that this family appreciates healthy food and also believes in indulging with less healthful food at times. A lot of the foods also appear to be convenience items, cups of yogurt, boxes of orange juice, and ingredients to make sandwiches. After this analysis, I believe that this is the refrigerator of an average, middle class family that both cooks and uses processed foods for convenience purposes.