TED Talks 9/2

The first Ted Talks i watched was 'The Killer American Diet That's Sweeping The Planet' by Dean Ornish. It explained how the American food culture has spread globally and causing many health problems in many countries, not just our own. Ornish showed correlations between the foods people eat and the life long effects of eating habits, such as developing heart disease and diabetes, as well as obesity. It goes to show that people should consider the consequences of eating unhealthy foods and how they impact their life, as well as other people around the world. The second Ted Talks I watched was 'What's Wrong With What We Eat' by Mark Bittman. It shocked me to see how much our food culture has changed in just the past 40 years. We as Americans have become ignorant to how our food is produced and sold. We value convenience over quality, which has dramatically altered the way people now view food in general. Past generations made innovations in canned, processed, frozen, and prepackaged food that has been passed down and further modified to the point that it's barely 'natural' food anymore. Mittman brought up the point that if we continue to produce and consume food in the same ways we are now, it could destroy our planet. Most people, myself included, don't realize how much impact food has on society. The final Ted Talks I watched was 'Why I'm a Weekday Vegetarian' by Graham Hill. Being as how I grew up in a household that had meals centered around meat being the main course, I never really considered the effects meat and it's production had on the environment or even myself. Hill explained that focusing more on other foods can help cut down meat production and also improve our health. After watching these videos, I will definitely look at food from a new perspective. Food is something we take for granted most of the time, and I think it's important now to see just how good (or bad) the food we consume is.