Read 'n' Seed 6: Final Review of "The Food Revolution"

Overview
"The Food Revolution" was a great book with a lot of interesting information. The author, John Robbins, was raised in a wealthy environment and could have easily taken over his families ice cream company, Basken Robbins which would have lead him to a successful life. It is very inspiring to see that he chose his own path, moved to British Columbia, and lived financially unstable. He did this to stand up for what he believed in, which was to grow most of their food, learn the truth about food, and the process it goes though to get to our plates and teach the world about his findings. The book talks about diets, genetically modified foods and health effects.

Three Most Significant things I Learned
I learned about vegetarians. I learned that statistics show that blod cholesterol  levels of vegetarians compaired to non vegetarians are 14% lower.  Soy proteins hae been found to lower cholesterol levels and eating healthy reduces your risks of many diseases. It also lets you experience many levels of passion in your life.

The average U.S. kid sees 1,000 ads each week that promotes eating unhealthy. This includes retaurants such as McDonalds and Taco Bell. Most kids sgtart eating unhealthy at an early age which puts them on the path to bad habbits and obesity. More than 5,000 schools in the United States have contracts with fast food companies and suppl vending machines, this only supports unhealthy eating.

Lastly, I learned about slaughter houses and how farmers have been economically advantagous to raise their animals in conditions that are unnatural and unhealthy. Animals are stuck in cages, some cages are so small they cannot take a single step in their entire lifetime. 70% of U.S. pigs have pneumonia at the time of slaughter. Also, 90,000 cows and calves are slaughtered every 24 hours in the U.S. and 14,000 chickens are slaughtered every minute.

What Does it Mean to Me and Why is it Important?
This book was very beneficial for me to read. It completely changed the way I vew my foods, especially meats. Learing how the animals were tortured and what chemicals they put into our foods is making me re-think the foods I buy at the grocery store. I have also learned about certain diets and how most of them provide completely untrue information. Lastly, a shocking thing I read was that advertisement such as the milk mustache commercial provides false information. They say that drinking milk will decrease your risk of osteoporosis, when all they really wanted was to get their advertisement out so they could sell more of their product. It makes you think twice about what you buy and what is actually true.

Recommend?
I would definitely recommend this book. The author, John Robbins, is very passionate and "real" about what he is talking about. He is puts things into perspective so that everyone can understand the statistics. This book is very eye opening and provides a lot of benefical/shocking information! I suggest everyone read "The Food Revolution'!!!

Read 'n' Seed 5: fourth quarter of "The Food Revolution"

Chapters and Pages Covered:

For the fourth quarter of the book, "The Food Revolution" by John Robbins,I read pages 252 to 360 (Chapters 14 through 19) which finished the excellent/informative book.

Main Topics

Robbins covered a lot of important topics that I am really glad I have been informed of. Robbins did an excellent job at going into details about each of these topics. First of all, I read about tropical rainforests and how the vast majority are bring destroyed in order for hamburgers and other meats to be produced.

Another main topic is how 1.2 billion people are over-mal nourished and another 1.2 billion people are over mal-nourished. There are 6 billion people on this planet and 1 billion of these people do not have enough to eat which can lead to physical impairments.

I learned about grain and where it is all going.

It was interesting to read about the lack of fish in the ocean and how some fish are on their way to extinction.

Lastly, I learned about genetic engineering and how many products it affects.

Significant things I Learned

Tropical rain forests contain 80 percent of the worlds species of land vegetation and account for oxygen supply. They have so much beauty to them but unfortunately they are being destroyed at a very fast rate.  I fount it very heartbreaking  to read that every second an area,the size of a football field, is destroyed. In central America 55 square feet of the tropical rain forest is destroyed for every fast food hamburger made from rain forest beef. Not only are they slaughtering cows, they are destroying beautiful land. The truth is, we need our forests. They give off oxygen, purify our water, and they are home to our plants, trees, and animals.

Moving toward  a more plant based-diet seems more out of the question these days because they are getting rid of a lot of our resources. Eating vegetables are helping our environment and even helping out the atmosphere because there would be less green house gasses filling the air.

Today, there are 6 billion people on our planet. Sadly, more than 1 billion of these people do not have enough to eat. 1/3 of our children do not get enough to eat and certainly not a all the nutrients needed  which makes them more susceptible to infectious diseases  which can cause physical impairments in their future.

40% of our worlds grain is fed to livestock. In reality, all of our grain is going hand in hand with out meat. Underfed people and overfed people have pretty much the same qualities because they are both malnourished. Over fed people are getting too much fatty foods and underfed people are not getting enough food to begin with. According to John Robbin's,"human  beings who could be fed by the grain and soybeans eaten by U.S. livestock is 1,400,000,000. However, they are being fed to animals in order for them to produce meat.

 

It is believed by any that it takes 12-16 pounds of grain to produce one pound of beef. This, according to USDA is false. It actually takes 17 pounds for each pound of beef.  Cows are kept in feedlots for 100  where they are fed about about 20 pounds of grain per day. During the 100 days the animals gain about 300 pounds so that they can produce more meat. Think of all the gain going to waste that billions of starving people could have and become more nourished. 

Another interesting topic I read about was the lack of fish in the ocean. I learned that 34% of all fish species were in danger to extinction. Fishing ships have had to drop their nets deeper into the ocean in hopes of catching. Restaurants have been told to take sword fish off their menu in hopes of recovery. Some fishing ships take out 80,000 pounds of fish in a single netting. No wonder some fish are on their way to extinction.

I learned that genetic engineering involves, "the permanent alteration of the genetic blueprint of a seed". by doing this scientists hope the plant grown form the seed will have certain characteristics such as lasting longer in stores so the certain food does not go bad right away. However, there has been controversy about genetic engineering and whether it is safe or not. The same gene can produce different effects depending on the  soil and chemicals/ I learned that two-thirds of the foods sold in the United States grocery stores contain genetically modified substances.

Implications of What I Read

I finished this book  with a whole new perspective on meat, including fish. I cannot believe all the beautiful, perfectly good rain forests are being destroyed in order to slaughter animals to produce meat. I have found myself cutting back on eating meats while I have  been reading,"The Food Revolution". If I can help save a perfectly good rain forest and help animals it would definitely be worth it. I was shocked when I fould out that 1.2 billion people on this plant are mal nourished. If we did not focus all of our attention on meat, we would have a lot more plant based meals, healhier land, not as many chemicals floating around in the air, and more grain to feed people. 

Read 'n' Seed 4: Third quarter of "The Food Revolution"

Chapters and Pages Covered:
For the third quarter of the book, "The Food Revolution" by John Robbins, I read pages 168 to 252 which covered chapters 10 to 14. These chapters covered a lot of shocking information that I was glad to read about.

Main Topics

The main topics covered in chapters 10-14 are: how animals are being raised and the terrible conditions they are put through. Robbin talks about the slaughter houses and how some animals dont even see day light until they are taken to them. These chapters also cover how many animals are slaughtered each day/minute which is very shocking.

Significant Things I learned

Farmers have been economically advantagous to raise their animals in conditions that are completely unnatural and unhealthy. With the antibiotics mixed into each meal, the use of hormones, drugs, and biocides the animals can be kept a live so that the overcrowding becomes cost effective. The crazy thing is that the extreme crowding of animals incrases the rates of animal illnesses but their profits increase.

Many farm animals are chained in individual cages so small they cannot take a signle step ih their entire lifetime. There are non profit organizatinos such as PETA and HFA that educate the public of the realistics of factory farming.  McDonalds was nominated for the prestigious Business Ethics award but the business Ethics magagzine decided not to give the award to McDonalds becacut they were concerned about the cruelty of McDonalds slaughter houses. PETA tried helping them out and offerered them other alternatives such as putting vegie burgers and more healthy choices on their menue. To date McDonalds has not attempted to require slaughterhouses to meet humane standards. 

When most people think about chicken and hens they think of them as "stupid birds". Typically 7 or 8 are crammed into 18 inch by 20 inch cages. They cannot simply lie down or spread their wings. For pigs,million are raised for meat in the U.S. and 65 million are raised in total confinement factories where they never see the light until they are being brought to the slaughter houses. An eye opener is British pigs are not raised in total confinement factories. Also, 70% of U.S. pigs have pneumonia at the time of slaughter, which, to me does not sound healthy for humans one bit. Some very interesting information I read was every 24 hours in the U.S. 90,000 cows and calves are slaughtered and 14,000 of chickens are slaughtered every minute. 

 Implications of What I Read

 John Robbins brought up some great points and had a lot of eye opening information. I now see why some people become vegetarians. It was very sad to read about animal cruelty and how they are confined to such little spaces. It broke my heart to read that some animals have never been able to take a step in their lifetime and some don't see light until they are being taken to the slaughterhouse. I was shocked at the numbers of how many animals were killed each day and each minute. I almost feel guilty for eating meat because those animals go through so much. I am glad I now know the facts about animal cruelty and it makes me re evaluate how much I should eat, if any at all.

Read 'n' Seed 3: First quarter of "The Food Revolution"

I read pages 84 to 168 of, "The Food Revolution by John Robbin's and learned a lot of interesting information.

Main Topics
The main topics I learned about was: children eating unhealthy and contracts in schools with fast food companies/vending machines, the dairy industry making false advertises and making people believe milk cuts down the risk of osteoporosis. The book also talked about what is being most advertised in our economy is not necessarily healthy food choices, and lastly I learned about E coli.

Significant Things I learned/New Terminology

The average U.S. kid sees 1,000 ads each week that promotes eating unhealthy such as restaurants such as McDonald's and Taco Bell. Most kids that start eating unhealthy at an early age will eat unhealthy for the rest of their lives. More than 5,000 schools in the U.S. have contracts with fast food companies and supply vending machines. This only helps support bad habits and is not sending the right message about health to children. An interesting fact I read was that the amount spent annually by the dairy industry on milk ads is $190 million where as the amount spent on McDonald's advertising its products is $800 million. The amount spend annually by the National Cancer Institute promoting fruits and vegetables is $1 million. If the U.S. shifted more toward a plant based diet the majority of people would lead healthier lives, feel more energetic, and live longer.

I learned that the milk mustache commercials that promote milk to put the risk of osteoporosis is creating false information. There is no evidence according to the FDA that increased calcium intake from milk will lower the risk of osteoporosis. The Media called John Robbins, "the dairy industries public enemy number one" which is ironic because his father owned the largest ice cream company. John criticizes the dairy industry because they put ads out that are untrue and trick people into believing dairy products are necessary for a healthy diet. There was a study of more than 75,000 American nurses that found that women with the highest calcium consumption from dairy products actually had substantially more fractures than women who drank less milk.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 200 people in the United States officially become sick every day from E coli and several die. Ironically, undercooked meat is more likely to result in cancer. Ecol i bacteria can be found in up to 50% of the US cattle carcasses.

Implications of What I Read

What I read has a huge impact on Americans. People are not getting properly educated on certain foods such as dairy products and E coli. Also, there are way too many ads on T.V. promoting unhealthy eating. People need to get educated on foods and realize what is actually healthy for them opposed to what is not.

Read 'n' Seed 2: First quarter of "The Food Revolution"

         

 Chapters Covered and Main Topics
 I am reading "The Food Revolution" by John Robbins. For the first quarter I read 80 pages of this book, which covered chapters 1-4.

   I found these chapters to be very inspirational. So far "The Food Revolution" has brought up some great points that I was unaware of. John Robbins, son of Irv Robbins from the world’s largest ice cream company, Baskin Robbins had a lot of wealth in his family and could have easily taken over his father’s successful company. Instead, he chose his own path which was to move to a small island off the coast of British Columbia with his wife and live financially poor and grow most of their own food.  Robbins wrote this book to provide solid information about our food choices and to get people aware of greater health choices in order to live a lifestyle you value. These chapters talked about how to lower your blood pressure, how to treat heart disease and which diets to look out for. For an example he brings up the Atkins Diet and talks about how we are told that is an amazing weight-loss plan and how you can enjoy a cheeseburger when you are hungry and you will be on your path to weight loss seeing amazing results in "14 days".  Robbin's does a great job of explaining why these diets do not work. He calls them a "classic profile of a fad diet scam". Robbin's quotes, " leaving behind the standard American Meat is like breaking free from chains, to become, perhaps for the first time, truly free".

   Significant Things I learned
 "The Food Revolution" has made me learn many significant things thus far. Statistics show that blood cholesterol levels of vegetarians compared to non-vegetarians are 14% lower. Many people grew up believing animal protein is superior to plant protein and believe that we are risking our health if we do not eat animal protein. Soy proteins have actually been found to lower cholesterol levels. Although you cannot guarantee you will not become ill, eating healthy reduces your risk of many diseases and it opens the door to experiencing new levels of passion in your life. I learned about ketosis. The primary mechanisms by which the Atkins diet causes weight loss are caloric restriction and ketosis. According to Robbins "Ketosis occurs when there is an imbalance in fat metabolism which occurs in starvation.  People eat fewer carbohydrates because that’s what diets such as the Atkins diet tell them to do. In reality, when people eat fewer carbohydrates, their bodies turn to fat for energy. 

      Implications of What I Read 
 This book has already taught me a lot of great information I was unaware of. I really liked how the author, John Robbins, displayed his information and I really respect him for doing what he loves instead of taking over his family’s business. I learned there are other ways to get protein instead of meat. Meat can cause health problems and raise blood pressure. I liked how Robbin's stated a lot of facts and never said people have to give up meat. Ending with a quote from John Robbins I found to be very inspirational, "This life we lead may be hard, may be downright agonizing at times, but it’s not about finding fault. It's about finding a way of life that honors your living spirit. It's not about blame. It's about coming to a deeper understanding of who you are, and of the love and power that lie within you. It's not about pointing fingers. It's about pointing the way, whenever possible, to a thriving, healthy, and compassionate life.”

The Food Revolution

The book I chose is called, "The Food Revolution" by John Robbins. This book is about acknowledging there is a problem with global warming, people with little to eat, and innocent animals being killed. Robbin's wants to inform people there are solutions and we can help. He has disturbing, however, true facts about slaughtering animals. After reading Robbins book, he wants people to be more aware of real situations we may have never thought of and he hopes people will change their ways so we can help save our planet.

I chose this book because it had topics I have been wanting to learn about. I have been wanting to eat more healthy and learn about organic foods.

About The Author, John Robbins
Book Review
Book Review #2
"The Food Revolution" book has 340 pages. I  plan to divide it into 4 parts so I will read 85 pages for each assignment.

This book seems very interesting and I am excited to start reading! :)

Welcome to Carrie's Environment

                                                       Welcome to Carrie's Environment!

My name is Carrie Jones. I am a Junior at UMD with a Community Health major and a Psychology minor. I love to work out, hang out with family and friends, travel, and cruise around the lake. This is the second blog I have ever made, so I am still new to blogs. I have already learned a lot of new and exciting things. My blog is going to be about tdifferent things we can do to help the environment such as recycling everything that needs to be recycled, car pool, and use the reusable bags for the grocery store. My main goal is to start drinking a lot more water so I am going to buy a reusable water bottle instead of throwing the plastic ones away every day. :)



There are 6 possible types of posts on my blog. They include:

1. Advocacy Project
2. Eye Openers
3. Reflections
4. Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change
5. Read 'n' Seed
6. Share and Voice

If you notice at the bottom of this post, the categories will be listed as labels. This post is has been labeled with all five kinds of posts.


       1.Carrie  http://carriesenviornment.blogspot.com/
       2. Kayla http://kaylasgreenland.blogspot.com/
       3. Danielle S http://daniellesdandyenvironment.blogspot.com/
       4. Rita  http://ritasrealm.blogspot.com/

You can subscribe to my blog by clicking the subscribe gadget in the gadget column. You can also follow my blog by clicking "Follow this Blog" in the gadget column. I am subscribed to all the blogs in my blog list gadget. You can see my complete profile and all the blogs I am following by clicking on "See Complete


I plan on learning a lot in Environmental Studies and I Know that my "bad habbits" will start to change very quickly and I will try to educate my friends, family, and other peers on what I can to help change the environment.

Blogged for the Welcome Linky Party hosted by Amy@Eco-Chic with Amy



Made with My Cool Signs.Net