Prospectus

Today in society, people of all ages can become trapped in to the sneaky little ways of the fast food industry. Almost every typical American decides to believe that every fast food restaurant is unhealthy, yet they still eat from it whether its because its cheap and/or it taste so delicious. Yes, anything under the terms "fast food" is unhealthy, but since we can't escape, if we can't defeat the fast food industry, I encourage to not join them but to find loop holes. Such loop holes can be to find the fast food restaurant that serves the healthiest food compared to other top restaurants. Eating the healthiest fast food can have many advantages like saving money and not consuming as many calories, sugars, fat, etc.

In the research that I will provide my future essay, I want to find out how does the food in these healthy fast food places have taste like? Is there really a difference in taste and cost when it comes to the healthiest and the worst restaurants? And what is the percentage of the people that actually know about the restaurants that serve the healthy fast food? I will find the answers to all these questions from first hand; questioning my peers, and actually visiting the restaurants myself to study the environment and the people that go.

I will be using internet data bases, books on my topic like:
"Fast Food Restaurants & Nutrition Facts Compared." A Calorie Counter - Count Calories & Food Nutrition Facts FREE. Nov. 2007. Web. 04 Oct. 2010.

Also, I will find books and more internet sites that provide me with specific numbers of calories and other specific information

Healthy Foods, Pizza

 

 I came across a website that compared most fast foods in fast food restaurants. Fries, burgers, buns, pizza, bread sticks, meats were some of the things in the chart. One of the things that really interested me was the pizza. The healthiest restaurant that are known for their pizza is Little Caesar's. I personally love this restaurant because of their amazing prices. Coming across this article makes me like them more because they are not only the cheapest pizza, five dollars for a cheese or pepperoni pie, but it is also the healthiest compared to others.

This weekend I had eaten both Dominoes pizza, pepperoni, and the following day Little Caesar's pizza, cheese. I could obviously taste the difference and found it surprising that Little Caesar's has the better pizza and break sticks than Dominoes, Pizza Hut, Papa Johns, etc. While Dominoes pizza was delicious and mouth watering, as well was the pizza from Little Caesar's. The thing that I noticed was the difference in the pizza sauce. In Little Caesar's the sauce tasted not as good, even though it was good, and it did not have as much flavor as the Dominoes. Little Caesar's is very cheap and delicious, I guess you can say that you pay for a greater value, even though their sauce is not as good, that part can go under the saying "You get what you paid for." Now knowing that they are the healthiest, I will recommend them more.

Many people, surprisingly do not know of Little Caesar's and something tells me that if more people know about it, they will lose their healthy name. Majority of the unhealthy fast food restaurants are popular and they are not healthy because they are looking for a fast and cheap way out, this is unhealthy. Little Caesar's is not as popular as other top pizza restaurants. They are healthy and they are also very cheap and I assume that if they became a top pizza restaurant, they will become more expensive and put more unhealthy ingredients to make more and bigger pizzas in little time and fall into the category as other fast food restaurants.For the next few weeks, I will be researching about the healthiest fast food and comparing it to top fast food restaurants by ingredients, taste, and price.

Problem Processing

Kids are balancing school and work. Its very tough because kids go to school, go to work, come home late to do their work or sometimes are even too tired to do their homework, go to sleep, and wake up to start the routine again. It is a problem because more and more teenagers are dropping out of school at an early age and not working on a future that can provide them permanently.
"They stay at their jobs late into the night, neglect their homework, and come to school exhausted. In Colorado, kids can drop out of school at the age of sixteen."

I can relate to this problem because I have friends who balance school and work, its hard. I was looking for a job myself and looking at how things are going in college, I don't think I will be able to work. My brother dropped out of college to work and has had the same job ever since. He works in a supermarket, has a horrible schedule, and doesn't not have time to spend with his wife.
There wasnt really any solutions to the problem, if they could not keep up with the job, they would just get fired. The solution that I think has been successful helped teenagers and adults who work and to go to school. And that is night school. Its something but it is very tiring. I don't think there could be another solution. People are able to manage school and work and those who can't have tough times.

My Trip to Wendy's Edited Version

I open the door and politely wait for satisfied customers exit

before I enter. I walk in towards the long waiting line that 

curves around four times. I could hear some people ordering their

food and people having conversations about what they are going to 

order. Waiting for the line, look to my left and I notice the logo, 

a red headed girl with two pony tails on each side and freckles on 

her cheeks, and a colorful menu with pictures of food that helps me 

decide what I want to order. More and more steps closer till its my 

turn. "Next" is my cue. I say my order, hand a couple bucks and watch 

the young lady press buttons all over the machine. I hear the  sound 

of coins that falls right infront of me. I look below the cash register 

and my change is ready to be picked up and a hand before me with cash 

and a receipt. Wait for a minute or two and I receive a plastic 

black tray with food and a drink.

I sit down, grab the spongy sandwich, open the wrapper. I could 

smell the spiciness. I take a few bites and feel the sauce drip

on the corner of my mouth, I could taste the onions right off the 

back, I grab my drink and sip a few sips. I'm almost done, feel my 

tummy, know that I'm full. Stand up, pick up the tray and my stuff, 

head over to the garbage can, tilt the tray, watch the food fall 

into the rest of the garbage, stack the tray on the top, and be on 

my way. I feel satified and a little guilty.

Pepsi Throwback

Yesterday, I attended a church event near my house. They had a few activities like bingo and dancing. There was so much free food. I was eating a plate of spaghetti with meatballs, some pork, white rice, and come potato salad and drinking a cup of Pepsi soda. They had the sodas on the table and also Sunny Delight. I was speaking to my friend when she said that she was going to get a better pepsi because the one I was drinking was just a "bottle of fructose and corn syrup". She came back to the table with an unusual two liter Pepsi with a white background, still blue letters and a yellow banner part on the bottom of the Pepsi that wrote "Made with Real Sugar Limited Time Only" I don't know how long exactly this has been out for, but it's the first time I have ever seen this. I was very interesting in how it said "Limited Time Only" because the reason why they don't make this permanent is because real sugar apparently costs more money. I then took a regular pepsi and put them side to side to see the difference on the nutrition facts. If you look at the pictures below, you can see the difference yourselves:

 

 Please notice that the regular Pepsi is from a can and the Throwback is a bottle, but there are still some great differences even if they were both bottles or cans. What you can notice right off the back is the ingredients.

My Trip to Wendy's

I open the door and politely wait for satisfied customers exit

before I enter. I walk in towards the long waiting line that 

curves around four times. Waiting for the line, look to my left 

and I notice the logo, a red headed girl with two pony tails on 

each side and freckles on her cheeks, and a colorful menu with 

pictures of food that helps me decide what I want to order. More 

and more steps closer till its my turn. "Next" is my cue. I say 

my order, hand a couple bucks and watch the young lady press 

buttons all over the machine. I hear the  sound of coins that 

falls right infront of me. I look below the cash register and my 

change is ready to be picked up and a hand before me with cash 

and a receipt. Wait for a minute or two and I receive a plastic 

black tray with food and a drink. I sit down, grab and open the 

wrapped food, take a few bites, sip a few sips, feel my tummy, 

know that I'm full. Stand up, pick up the tray and my stuff, 

head over to the garbage can, tilt the tray, watch the food fall 

into the rest of the garbage, stack the tray on the top, and be on 

my way. I feel satified and a little guilty.

The Hamburger Bed

The History of Fanta

In my Enviromental Ethics class, we did a quick review of the history of Fanta. The only thing really said was that during WWII, Coca Cola wanted to sell their products and send them to Nazi Germany. Because of restrictions and the fact that the US and Germany were enemies, Coca Cola wanted to be sneaky; therefore, they created Fanta. Fanta was then shipped and sold in Germany.
I found this really interesting, how big companies would do almost anything to sell their products no matter the relation. But I guess its always really about the money. If anyone is interested more about the history, I read the information from the link below:
http://funky-facts.blogspot.com/2009/02/history-of-fanta.html

ENJOY!

When Chemicals in Plastic Attack

"The New York Times Log In." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. Web. 20 Sept. 2010. <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/science/07bpa.html?pagewanted=1&_r=3&ref=science>.

This article talks about the chemical, bisphenol-A (BPA) is put into the plastic that are used to make bottles or other things to content foods or liquids. The research to find whether the chemical harms us, humans, has been going on for over 10 years. "It is considered an “endocrine disruptor,” a term applied to chemicals that can act like hormones. But whether it does any harm in people is unclear." Some states are taking action and completely banning BPA from their children, and it is said that people are trying to make a food safety bill to to copy the actions of these states and ban BPA. Some stores have taken action as well; for example, Whole Foods, CVS, Sears, and Wal-mart, say they are "BPA- free". From the looks of it, the food safety bill will not make such an effect since California, recently, rejected the bill.

Welcome to Katherine Pena's You Are What You Eat

My name is Katherine Pena, I am 17-years-old. I go to F.H. LaGuardia Community College and this is my blog. This blog is for my research paper class that covers The Ethics of Food.  

My eating habits are not necessarily healthy but they are not deadly either. I typically eat the food that my mother cooks, which is usually traditional Dominican food; like, chicken and rice. When she does not cook, I eat fast food. I would make my own food but turns out that if my mother did not cook, there are no ingredients at home; therefore, my options are to starve or to buy food ready to eat. But when I do cook, I make simple things for breakfast like omelets, pancakes, mashed potatoes, etc.

My family and I have a couple of different places we do groceries at. Key Food, the first choice, is where we buy the food/ingredients we absolutely need. Milk, cereal, juice, fruits, meats, and bread are on that list. It used to be very disappointed looking, but after the remodeling was done, the place looks expensive even though it really is not. The other option is Costco. My family and I go to Costco when we really need to go grocery shopping. Costco is a huge store that sells just about everything from food to electronics, to cosmetics, to things for the home. Also, Costco is very affordable and reliable. We buy things that are necessary and not so necessary like chips, cookies, breakfast bars, etc.

My favorite types of food would have to be my mother's cooking, I do not know what I would be without her variety. I love lasagna and the traditional white rice with chicken breast with a green salad on the side. Honestly, if I really tried and thought about where my food comes from, for example chicken, I could turn vegetarian. The reason I say this is because I have thought about it for a minute and just the thought disturbed me a little bit. But being vegetarian in my culture is practically insane. Maybe I'll try it for a while.