cakes galore

        I've been watching cake boss recently on TLC and every time I watch it I am just wowed by the fact that they made extraordinary cakes.  That's probably why they have they their own T.V show because they are just that good.  They are seriously amazing at making their cupcakes and if you have ever seen the show, you probably know that they could make any kind of cupcake imaginable.  I always wondered how long it took the group to make the cakes, probably a very long time.  I wished that the shows show the long rigorous process of making them.  Instead they show the troubles they have and not the process that it takes to make them.  

          Cake boss was on my top list of favorite T.V shows because it's really interesting seeing them make nothing out of something extraordinary.  I kind of want to go on the show for a day and experience all the baking and the preparing for the cake.  I bet it's super stressful and yet fun.  Since the cakes are probably one of the best in the nation it's probably has to look good and taste good.  Theirs one episode in which the bakers had to prepare a cake that could split open in the middle and a person made out of cake popped out.  It was really cool seeing the expressions on the children's faces when they saw what the cake did. I was really fascinated by how they did it.  Of course there were problems and obstacles that they had to overcome.  But eventually they did it and it was impressive. Not was the cake that they made were impressive but the tools they used.  They used simple tools to decorate the cake, they didn't use fancy tools.  

                Sometimes I wonder if the show is 100% real because it almost seems impossible to make such a magnificent cake in that short amount of time.  I bet that there were behind the scenes of making the cake or more people are involved than shown. I really want to see the behind the scenes footage.  Usually the behind the scenes or special delete scenes are more interesting and shows more. 

                We see the people on the show helping in events and fundraisers so the show does host events to raise money for certain fundraisers.  It’s really nice seeing them take their skill to do something beneficial for society.  

Genetically Engineered Foods

We as human beings could almost make anything now, from digital technology to foods.  We have the power to make foods more nutritious, better tasting, bigger, and better.  Instead of having natural crops, humans are controlling the foods.  There are pros and cons to it.  Of course we are living in a world where the population is increasing every day, so by genetically engineering the foods we can produce more in a short amount of time to feed the rest of the world.  But to everything there is a tradeoff, do we know that it's good for us?

        There is a reason why we genetically modify foods.  Foods that are genetically modified last longer, stay fresh longer and are more nutritious.  That's why researchers choose the good traits and modify the food.  On the other hand not all the genetically engineered foods are good for your health.  According to responsible technology theirs been incidents from rats that when they were fed GMO's for a month they found pre-cancerous cells in the rat's body.  There has been many studies shown the effects of genetically modified foods on one's health.

         Not only are genetically modified foods causes health problems, it also effects the environment.  They are harmful to the environment and the organisms.  With the plants resistant to herbicides and birds eating them really will kill the bird.

         GMO’s won’t affect us now but in the near future when we ingest more and more of it, there will be serious problems attached to it.  The disadvantages of genetically modified foods outweigh the advantages and we need to keep that in mind.  We need to find an alternative to genetically modified foods.  If researchers tested these GMOs on animals they had major problems, just imagine what they will do to humans.  We need to take into consideration of what we are eating and how they are affecting us. 

       

Is the world producing enough food for everyone?

We are living in a millennium where cities occupy more land than farmland itself.  Where farmers are less than 40% of the population and people have higher occupations.  It almost seems like we are in food crisis.  If the proportion of the land is less than the cities, we will not be able to feed the billions of people around the world.  We are beginning to see these food crisis everywhere, it has already begun. 
         Many third world countries are malnourished while others are still lavishly wasting food.  Malnourishment is a global epidemic.  There are more less developed countries in the world than the more developed countries.  According to global issues, the world’s lowest income countries consist of 2.4 billion people.  That's more than half of the population in this world.  Many times those countries are farming and meeting our needs of food, clothing etc.  Since our demands are high they have to work extra hard to provide for us, this often means that they don't have enough necessities to satisfy their needs.  This problem includes food.  More people are living in third world countries than more developed countries, with so many people that could not afford food or have access to the shortages, it has become a problem.  Even if we have enough food for everyone in the world, we must cut back on the foods we need and want.  Not everyone needs to eat so much till they are upset to their stomach.  If we lower our demands on food, maybe those individuals in third world countries can have an opportunity to get some food.  
            Another problem that we've encountered is that even though we make a surplus of food, it won’t be enough to catch up to the growing population everywhere.  Nowadays you see people living younger, healthier because of the increase in medical advances.  If people are living longer as well as people that are born into the world at the same time, you have double the proportion.  As Thomas Malthus’s theory states that the populations of the world would increase in geometric proportions while the food resources available for them would increase only in arithmetic proportions.  The increase in medical advances are keeping people alive longer and babies being born into the world will increase the population.
            We are living in a world where there are better medical advances, better foods, and better living.  With those factors in mind overpopulation is a big cause and it will cause food shortages in the near future, making it a global problem. 

Horse meat in Europe

         
While skimming through the news, there was a hot topic on selling and eating horse meat in Europe.  Europe has always been the country well known for their fancy unusual modern delicacies, now horse meat is the new delicacy now.  I really don't know how to feel about that.  As I was searching online, apparently supermarkets in Europe are selling horsemeat, like how we are selling beef in America. 

          It's been a controversy because eating horse meat is like eating your own pet.  To some people, they consider horses as a type of pet, and eating them is controversial.  You would never eat your pet would you?  The scandal was how news media called it, researchers found horse DNA in most of the foods that were being sold in stores, such as Lasagna, and meatballs.  The U.K said that it was a fraud, and spent millions of euros to shush the media.  If researchers found that theirs proof of horse DNA, then it's not a fraud but real.  Just because horse meat is cheaper than beef, it doesn't give them right to replace or lie to the consumers that they are buying beef.  Most consumers don't know the difference.  Horse meat and beef look similar but it might taste the same since most consumers have no idea that they are eating horse meat. 

            It’s not right to label something that isn’t what it actually is.  After the scandal, the government tried to take down all the foods that have horse in them.  This controversy has lost many of the consumers trust in their foods.  It was a scare that most people didn’t know about until it was cracked down and publicized. 

            I think that it would be less shocking if they just let the world know that it was horse meat instead of hiding the horse meat in the beef.  Many citizens are upset because they don’t know about what they are buying, it’s basically a fraud.  As I was researching, what was more shocking was the fact that some meat contained not only horse meat but pork and other pig parts.  Talk about clueless consumers that are buying these types of meat.  This controversy was one of the top controversies of 2013.  Last year every news was talking about the fraud meat.  No wonder why some consumers begin losing confidence in their food.  Now we know the reason why. 

fruits fruits and fruits

             Recently I have been obsessed with eating fruits, I love eating them they are sweet and delicious.  Many of you are probably wondering why I am blogging about something so random like fruits.  Well here's the answer, I am trying to encourage those of you out there who don't like to eat fruits.  Because I was someone who hated eating fruits, I did not like them at all, and also part of it was that I was too lazy to go get some fruits.  The health benefits of fruits are endless, I know you have probably heard all your life that fruits are good, eat your fruits they are good for you but seriously they are really good for you.  And here are the reasons why:

            Many fruits are high in antioxidants which help stimulate the immune system.  Many of you heard the phrase, an apple a day keeps the doctors away.  Well there is some truth in it, apples are high in antioxidants which help make your immune system stronger, with a strong immune system you don't get sick easily or recover faster and as a result you won't have to go the doctor's office.

          Fruits make everything sweeter.  Fruits are natural sugars, they are already sweet, and so if you are craving something refreshing and sweet go and grab a strawberry, you won't regret it.  You can also replace the unhealthy alternative sweeteners with natural fruits to sweeten up your pancakes, cakes or muffins. Fruits are alternatives to artificial sweeteners.

          Fruits are refreshing, sweet and it acts like refreshment.  If you are ever thirsty you can eat fruits to satisfy your thirst, the natural juice in fruits make you less thirsty. 

          If you ever find yourself hungry and want something that’s healthy and fulfilling, fruits can help you out.  Grab an apple or blueberries to satisfy your hunger.  It really helps; some fruits have less than 100 calories so they are a natural healthy snack to munch on. 

          It’s hard to dislike fruits, I mean after all they are healthy, juicy and delicious, there are many fruit flavored drinks or snacks.  But of course they are not as healthy as the natural fruit itself.  There are so many different types of fruits to choose from, each fruit has its own benefit for your body.  Try and eat a cup of fruit a day, you will be happy and your body will also too. 

           

Foods that are not what they seem

I’ve been hearing a lot from my grandma lately about being careful of what I am eating or choosing to eat, to always read the labels carefully because some foods are fake.  I always wondered how that could possibly be true, I mean I look around the aisle in the supermarket and the peanut butter looks like peanut butter, chocolate looks like chocolate.  How can they be fake? Even if it was fake, how would they make it so much like what we think we it is? So I began searching what kinds of foods that could possibly be fake and it was quite surprising.

          What I found was that sometimes chocolate can be fooling. Some chocolates aren’t naturally made from cocoa beans but a bunch of chemicals combined together with lots of sugar.  It’s basically eating a spoonful of sugar.

          The delicious cold tasting ice cream you think would be made of milk is actually not real ice cream at all.  It contains less than 10% of milk, so what does it contain? Loads of corn syrup sugar and whey.  Appetizing huh?

          Peanut butter is also not what it seems to be.  The thick creamy tan looking butter with peanuts? It actually contains lots of trans fat, hydrogenated oil. 

          Many times we get confuse of what’s healthy and what’s not healthy when we’re shopping for food.  What seems to be healthy actually isn’t all that healthy.  Everything is like an illusion, signs that are being advertised as healthy less fat chips, healthy less fat that.  Most of the time we are fooled to see that what we think is healthy.  Let’s take trail mix for example, contains a variety of nuts, raisins, and dark chocolate.  But do we actually know that it’s healthy and nonfattening just from reading the label?  The truth is it’s not, trail mix contains over 600 calories, the deep fried banana chips, the chocolate, and even the nuts.  We are all masked in this illusion of what we are eating, the food labels and everything.  It’s important to read all the labels to actually understand what is in the food we are buying. 

Obesity

      Different countries have different thoughts on nutrition, some countries take nutrition more seriously than others.  I would have to say in America since the majority of the population is more overweight than any other country in the world, that Americans are not taking nutrition seriously.  Of course there are people in America that do care about nutrition, but what I'm saying is that overall the majority of the people just doesn't seem to care about what they are eating.  Let's take America for example and compare it to some of the other countries around the world to see how the public thinks about nutrition. 

          Statistics show that more than 60% of Americans are obese, which is the leading cause of deaths besides smoking.  Japan's obesity level is only 3% according to statistics of health.  Only 3% of the population is obese! So that means that obesity is not even a problem in Japan.  America is taking the lead ahead of others in being obese.  So why is it that only America seems to be the country with the highest obesity level and not all the other countries?  The answer is simple, it's their diet.  When you look around the world, many people around the world are concern about nutrition and what they are putting into their body.  Take Japan for example, the overall diet in Japan is mainly rice and seafood since Japan is an island and they get most of their food from the ocean.  They eat in small portions and their meals don't consist of lots of sugar, high in fat, but mostly a soy diet.  The problem in America is that we rely heavily on convenient foods, or fast foods.  We also rely heavily on our cars for transportation, we are the biggest car consumers than any other country in the world.  With the bad diet and decrease in physical activity, as a result the obesity levels will increase.  You see that everything has gotten bigger just in the last decade. Cars have gotten bigger to fit those people, cup holders in cars have gotten bigger because of Americans choosing super-sized drinks.  You go to McDonalds or any other fast food joints and you see even the meals have gotten bigger.  Everything in America is getting bigger!

          This is an issue that needs to be resolved or the obesity level will continue to rise and rise.  We need to understand and watch what we eat. 

         

Are Bottled Water a Health Hazard?

           This question has been brought up several times by people.  I never believed that bottled water gives you cancer because I drink it everyday.  I also don't believe that it's a really big health hazard for us to be concerned about, because I mean how does refreshing water could possibly give you cancer?  I am writing about this to prove if bottled water is as harmful as many claimed it is.  Out of my curiosity I did some research on this topic.  After looking up information online, here's what I've found:

         Tap water might be better for you, instead of paying thousands of dollars a year on bottled water, tap water may be safer.  In Mother Nature, the article talks about the reasons to not drink bottled water because studies have shown that the FDA doesn't have as of a stricter rules on bottled water since tap water has to be filtered out for contaminants.  It also shows that tap water and bottled water are regulated by two different administrations, so if one company has certain regulations on tap water the same company can't enforce the rules on bottled water.  So why do we buy bottle water instead of drinking regular tap water?  Many people don't know about the issue with bottled water, they assume that it's a better option and that the water has been treated better than tap water.  How much do you know about bottled water?  The average bottle water is not made locally but being shipped for other states.  Tap water on the other hand is treated locally, so you know more about what's going on with your water.  The CDC reported a couple of outbreaks of contamination from bottled water.  In 2004, they found that the contamination was caused the gasoline byproducts.  What's even worst was the fact that in 2000 one of the reported contaminants was salmonella.  This really shows that we in fact don't know the origin of our water and how it's being treated.  

           

            The fact that I was wrong about bottled water being safer and treated better was shocking.  I am a regular bottled water drinker, and I haven’t had any problems yet.  After doing some research online to learn more about what kind of water I have been drinking, it’s really baffling.  All this time I had no idea of what I have been drinking.  There are no reported deaths from people drinking bottled water but there studies that shows that bottled water are contaminated with just about anything you could think of.  That's still dangerous to think that water could have these harmful contaminants in them.

Childhood Obesity

        

The United States has the highest childhood obesity in the world.  Studies show that more than 50% of kids in America are obese! That's half of the nation!  With restaurants and fast food franchises super sizing their meals, it's having a lasting impact on the children, super-sizing them too!  Childhood obesity is probably one of the biggest problems that need to be solved in America.

         One of the biggest causes of childhood obesity is the food the children choose to eat.    Bad, junkie foods that contain high in Trans fats, saturated fats, bad oils taste good but aren't good for the body.  Without regulation of diet kids choose these kinds of food over healthy bland food. The bad junkie foods are being advertised all over magazines, and TV.  With kids surrounded by these influences they begin to fall into them, eating the bad calories. 
            Parents are also an influence on the child’s diet.  By restricting the bad calories and regulating the child’s diets.  Children are less likely to be obese. Sometimes parents are bad role models for their kids.  The parents choose to replace the good calories with bad one, thus the child follows their parents. 
           
            Some families are financially incapable of always buying healthy foods.  The bad calories are cheaper than the good calories so if there are a lot of kids to feed you would want to buy the cheap affordable ones. 
            Often it’s not only the kid’s diet that makes them obese, being active and staying active is another reason for obesity.  Kids are just not getting enough exercise every day, with that and on top of it a bad diet, results in obesity. 
            Kids also have access to sugary drinks in vending machines at school.  With some school lunches that aren’t very healthy kids still eat them because of hunger.  Recently, the school lunches has gotten better.  With the regulation passed by Michelle Obama trying to lower the obesity level, schools are serving healthier lunches.  Since kids are in school more than they are at home, regulating school lunches does help lower the levels of obesity. 
            America has the biggest problem of obesity.  Not only the adults are obese but we see a high amount of children that are also obese.  The government has pitched in to lower the levels of obesity in kids.  Parents also have to pitch in and be aware of childhood obesity and control it before they start getting all these diseases like type 2 diabetes.