HRE #5: Nutrition and Culinary Costs

This project focused on the role of nutrition within our fast-food society. The student researched all aspects of nutrition and below are highlighted excerpts from the project.

When asked to explore how eating habits evolve and how the culture contributes to poor eating patterns - here's what he discovered:
"How I was raised, how I eat or cook for myself now and the information from thisclass all have contributed to my current dietary habits... I think three people have stated that they want to eat healthier. They went to Quiznos one day instead of another fast food place then stopped thinking healthy. None have really made any changes; they probably relapsed back to contemplation stage or just need some other kink of motivation."

Below are some tips to good eating:
"Don’t eat fast food. Watch your portion sizes. Eat more fruits and vegetables. Watch how many calories you eat. Try cooking for yourself."

The student also watched two movies related on fast food industry and was asked to reflect on his thoughts:

Reflections from "Super Size Me":
"In Mexico, the television commercials almost always carry a slogan or phrase on the bottom of the screen which states that fruits and vegetables are good for your health, or other health related comments. Our government can not commit to such a simple task because all of the food industry lobbyists ensure that no legislation or government agency will do any harm to them. In their defense of the lawsuit brought against them by the two girls, McDonalds stated, “… a matter of common knowledge that any processing that its foods undergo serve to make them harmful than unprocessed foods.” Shouldn’t’ this stir everything up, cause uproar and make the headline news, or should we focus our attention to the latest celebrity fashion? The world needs to think and stand up for itself; pay attention to what is going on and sometimes even question the facts. Stop accepting the norm and think outside the Big Mac box."

Reflections from "Fast Food Nation":
"This film made me think about immigration as much as it did about the fast food industry. I can now see that they both go hand in hand as one affects the outcome of the other"

"I thought the scenes in the meat plant were very eye opening because it showed how fast paced the workers were expected to operate, yet, if they made a small mistake, such as spilling the intestines over the meat, the line would just move on and there would be no time to correct the mistake."

"The main problem, as I see it, revolves around money. Mickey’s Burgers bought their cattle from the meat company as opposed to the farmer they used to conduct business with because the factory chard them less money. In order to do so, the plant hired illegal immigrants with no training what so ever at a low pay rate because they would work for a lower amount of money in comparison to American workers. As a result, many injuries and contamination occurs when handling the meat because the workers remain untrained to in order to save the company money. I guess nobody cares about their customers anymore; they’re just out to make a quick buck."

For his expedition project, the student was asked to compare the cost/ingredients of a McDonald's quarter pounder with that of the same burger ingredients bought from Sprouts. Below are his calculations and conclusions:

McDonald’s
Quarter Pounder w/ Cheese

Hamburger Calories- 510
Ketchup Total Fat- 26
Mustard Sodium- 1190
Pickle Carbohydrates- 40
Slivered onions Protein- 29
Two slices of cheese
Bun

Ingredients from Sprouts
Hamburger- $2.99 lb at 1.31 lbs= $0.75
Ketchup- $2.29 bottle with 25 servings= $0.09
Mustard- $1.99 bottle with 43 servings= $0.05
Pickle- $2.29 jar with 24 per container= $0.20
Chopped onion- $0.25 per onion= $0.03
Cheese- $3.69 for 15 slices= $0.25
Bun- $2.39 for 6 buns= $0.40
Total=$2.04

Below is the public service announcement for good nutrition and health eating: