Sugar + Salt + Fat = Palability

     There was once a time when the obese were the minority in the general population. In spite of all the calories consumed, an adult's average weight remained significantly steady. That is, until about the 1980s when things began to change.
     In a culture that now encourages more eating out and larger portions, Americans are becoming heavier. They eat and eat, unable to satisfy their unquenchable cravings. After watching an episode of the Oprah Winfrey show featuring Dr. Phil discussing obesity, Dr. David A. Kessler authored, The End of Overeating, a book designed to assist Americans to understand why they have, as well as, offer insight as to what we should know in order to curb an insatiable appetite.
     Overeating isn't only the problem of those who are overweight. There is strong evidence that weight gain is primarily due to overeating (6, 7). However, even for those who are thin, there is an inner battle to resist an overpowering need to eat. Many professionals believe that lack of willpower is the reason behind weight gain, but according to Dr. Kessler, we don't understand that certain foods only make us want more.
     It was once proposed that body energy regulation was controlled by homeostasis, along with the brain's command center, including the hypothalmus, which regulates our eating. Conversely, it is the body's reward center that encourages us to search for gratification, as in sex or in food. Through research, scientists found that there are palatable foods such as sugar, salt and fat, that stimulate the brain. Opioids are endorphorphines produced in the brain that arouses the reward center in the same manner as drugs such as heroin and morphine. Palatable foods incite the opioids, which stimulate the appetite and encourages you to keep eating them.
     In addition to eating being motivated by chemicals generated in our bodies, visual cues can be associated with wanting more. The pursuit to secure the incentive becomes more intense when these cues are present - we see it, we want it, we get it, then we want it even more.   

   

From Farm to Fridge

What really goes on behind the closed doors of modern farms? In my blog, with the help of a short video, I will delve into the path of how the food we eat, gets From Farm to Fridge. Whether their throats are cut, they are mutilated or purposely denied fresh air and exercise, animals are being tortured for humans to be provided with meat or dairy products. Treated as though they are incapable to feel, these animals live just a fraction of their lives; stuck in filthy, disease ridden spaces, only to be lead to the slaughterhouse, where they will die in some of the most inhumane ways possible.

Chickens and turkeys are shackled by their legs, and sent through "electrifying vats of water" (Farm to Fridge), meant to paralyze and prepare the chicken to get it's head chopped off. Male chicks are murdered almost immediately due to their inability to produce eggs or eatable meat in an alotted time for profit. Female chicks are de-beaked and shoved into crowded cages, where, "95% of egg laying hens spend their lives in confinement", as stated in From Farm to Fridge. When their services are no longer needed, they will surely face their demise - a snapped neck or suffication. Cows face injury through painful maiming and amputations of their horns and tails. Calves are dragged from their mothers and violently killed, most commonly by being slammed head first, all so that I can drink mother's milk instead (Farm to Fridge). Shortly after birth, piglets' testicles and tails are castrated. Pigs being slaughtered are knocked in the head with a steel rod, the throat is slit (possibly still alert), while the pig hangs upside down to bleed out.

In days of old, farms were considered to be a home for animals. Their owners cared for, properly fed and kept the animals safe. Even if the animal did become part of a meal, it was done in a more civil manner. However, modern farms have subjected animals to captivity and eventually a violent death sentence! Workers are paid low wages to commit the heartless acts to slay the animals in order to quickly produce a large abundance of meat and dairy products for cheap, yielding modern farm owners low costs and high profits. Chickens, cows, pigs and even seafood are tormented and butchered by the hundreds each day to comply with the CAFO system that has taken over the production of our food.

Introducing.....CAFO

The introduction of The CAFO Reader is the topic of my blog. Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations have replaced the tradition of agriculture and animal husbandry that was once good enough for Americans. CAFO creates cheap food in abundance, necessary to feed the growing population of humans, so why should the welfare of the animals being slaughtered, be a topic of concern? While discussing The CAFO Reader, one of the controversial issues has been whether or not animals are lesser beings, beneath us. Are they capable to feel the torture bestowed on them? Perhaps, they should just be considered objects, that are at the humans' disposal. On one hand, French philosopher Rene Descartes argued that animals are here simply for humans to use at their leisure. From this perspective, animals are raised so that we humans can have food to eat and clothes to wear, making them a commodity, another means to make money. However, Jeremy Bentham, an English philosopher, would argue on the other hand, that although animals may not acquire the same ability as a human to rationalize, does that mean they don't feel pain? In the words of Descartes, "Animals are 'soulless automata' : merely complex machines. Because they do not possess consciousness, they cannot feel pain or suffer." According to his view, when the livestock cried while being slaughtered, it was considered just reflexes. Now, on the other end of this issue, Bentham states, "The question is not, Can they reason? Nor, Can they talk? But, Can they suffer?" Bentham predicted  an animal welfare movement in the future, one where all animals would have the same rights as those domesticated. In sum, the issue is whether or not we rank human life higher than we do those of other species. Is the treatment of these animals justified because they are lesser beings or do we consider that the food and by-products of livestock is beneficial to humans, therefore we should value them more. Honestly, I have mixed feelings on the issue. I do not feel that humans and animals are on the same level, per se, however, I don't consider them beneath me either. Though I concede that animals are here to be beneficial to humanity, I still maintain that they should not be subjected to the CAFO system. Although some may object that perhaps most humans have lost sight of the things we depend on for basic substenance - plants and animals, I would reply that whether we eat animals or not, they should be treated with the same dignity as human beings. This issue is important because in order for humanity to live beyond this CAFO era, we must realize the harm being done to our animals, just for a profit.