Hello everyone! As you probably know, Justin Trudeau unveiled his cabinet today. I have so much hope for the future of Canada.

The top news story on CBC today was regarding smoked herring that Canada trades with Haiti, and the benefits of that. It talks about Haitians incorporate this into their diet with other food sources: rice, beans, vegetables, etc. It also mentions how many Haitians do not own a fridge and smoked herring does not have to be refrigerated so it is helpful to them to buy this. It is interesting how it mentions that the smoked herring is just one part of their meal, versus here where meat is central to our diet and rarely is accompanied with a substantial amount of vegetables or whole grains. Why is it that our Western diet is so wrapped up in meat? It seems that only if someone is dieting that they eat less meat, otherwise eating a large amount of meat is often praised in our Western culture.

This really connected to the main Tumblr post, which featured a meal with chicken being very prominent on the dish. Of course, chicken is seen as one the lightest, leanest sources of animal meat, so it still is signalling to the viewer that the poster is healthy and dieting, as the hashtags pronounce. Meat is central to our diet and rarely do we consider the economics, or the environmental impact of meat. We just view it for nutrition and health, without taking a larger picture of it, as the article of Haiti suggests that Haitians do: they value their food for the ways they create a meal with it, not having to put ingredients with it.

The top New York Times article was on children who are picky eaters. The article does a case study of a family that wanted to incorporate more vegetables and diverse meals to the family’s menu; even though their children were originally picky eaters. They found that the more they exposed their children to cooking and new ingredients, the more the children were willing to explore. The family found that now they eat much healthier and have new recipes that are diverse and healthier and the kids even like it. They provide a checklist of tips to the reader on how to deal with picky eaters. This article was really informative and interesting, as we continue to have very bland food in convenience stores and rising obesity rates.

The top Instagram post was also about making children happy with food as well. It pictures a boy drinking a hot chocolate from Starbucks, and presumably the Mom is saying that he is finally happy. This photo raised a lot of questions for me. Why do we teach children that junk food is such a treat? We do not teach our kids to look at the colours of vegetables, or teach them to grow herbs. We only make them eat healthy and then give them treats as a reward. Children should feel rewarded with healthy fresh food, kids can be excited about anything so we should try making them excited about the food they are eating.

Although these are not directly linked to the news stories, the social media posts are echoed through the new stories. It is interesting to see the most popular posts shift from day to day and how media reflects that. We absorb much of what we believe through the media so clearly the news is affecting how people think about food and post about food after absorbing that.

-A

Hello again! We had this class today and the seminar was on nutrition, very fitting for the media that I will be exploring for today.

Regarding CBC, the top news story is on the effects of chain restaurants listing the amount of calories in each item on the menus. Starting at the end of 2016, restaurants will be required to post the amount of calories for their menu items, this is a practice already done in some areas of the United States. However, there is no significant link between someone seeing the calories in something they might eat and what they actually do eat. A comparison study in the states showed no difference between a town that displayed calorie levels and a town that did not not. The article does not give any explanations to why peoples food intake does not change if they view calories however, and does not delve into how health could be properly managed other than watching your calories.

The top news story on New York Times was regarding an education convention in Orlanda, Florida. The article talks about how revisions of many social systems in the United States need to happen. It talks about how different health issues in the states are viewed, including a lot of mistrust in the industry. It discusses how there is a disconnect between the food industry and public opinion. One the areas in which the policy makers whom will be at the convention have talked about is getting more healthy food onto the retail scale, such as in grocery stores. This article was really fascinating as it talks about how to change diets and attitudes about food on a macro policy level.

The top post for Instagram was about ‘healthy’ candy, and how this treat does not have flour, sugar, or fake chemicals and favours. However, this likely is still not healthy for you and this truly shows how marketing can influence what someone thinks if healthy or good for them to eat.

The top Tumblr post was about the Atkins diet, which is a low carb diet. It is hash tagged with #lowcarb, #diet, #fitness, #atkins, and #avocado, all of which are very foodie/trendy words.

As both of the news stories cover different food trends, it is reflected as well in the social media posts that were posted for today. Between calorie intake boards, healthy treats, or the Atkins diet, it all works back to the New York Times article. The disconnect between what the public believes and what the health industry is working towards has a growing gap.

Growing up, I believed everything health wise from what I heard from magazines, and copied what celebrities ate. With the ever-increasing focus on social media and Instagram celebrities, there is even more misinformation on what is health and what food you should eat out there for people to see. We may not know exactly the intentions behind the health industry but most of us do not have a basic concept between what is presented to us and what is really true.

Till tomorrow.

-A

Works Cited

Bornstein, D. “The Art of Getting Opponents to “We””, New York Times, November 3 2015. http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/11/03/the-art-of-getting-opponents-to-we/

The Associated Press. “Menus with Calorie Info may not Change long-term habits,” CBC News, November 3 2015. http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/menu-calorie-counts-1.3301442

Hello, welcome to day 2 of the media review for the diet trends, linking diet news on traditional news sites with prevalence of it on social media. It seems that the trend for today is all about sugar. Sugar has traditionally been an ingredient of debate, as sugar is in almost everything we eat. Sugar is something that is so common in our food today, and refined sugars are common causes of different diseases in our modern Western culture.

The top story on CBC was on how replacing sugar can give the dieter results much faster than someone who counts calories or controls their portion sizes. The article covers how in the past, doctors have told patients to lose weight by improving their diet in general and exercising more. Apparently, according to new studies, you will lose weight faster if you simply your sugar intake down and consume less sugar.

The top story on New York Times was concerning a federal case in the United States where sugar companies and corn companies are battling it out, concerning the labelling of fructose syrup and cane sugar and how much sides misrepresent the other. The battle and conflicts have a historical past, as it used to be that before, sugar was the bad guy and people switched off of it. Now, high-fructose corn syrup is getting the worse rap. Some scientists are arguing that both are relatively the same in terms of how the body metabolizes it.

The top post on Instagram was a recipe for a sugar free (minus natural sugars in the fruit) smoothie/milkshake that uses a fake sugar Stevia instead of regular sugar. Most of the comments on the post are expressing happiness over the fact that it does not continue refined sugars.

The top post on Tumblr was concerning a “fit girl shopping list” which includes no refined sugar or unhealthy things. The list was hash tagged with some telling key words: fitspo, weightless, diet, healthy, amongst others.  This focus on a healthy grocery list suggests to others a ‘right’ way of doing a healthy diet.

Sugar has been advertised in many different ways, and those advertisements have impacts on how we eat. In a study by  Ferguson, C. J., Contreras, S., & Kilburn, M., they demonstrate how the more advertisements for unhealthy food that children are shown, the more they want to consume those foods. However, with the news in the media today about the dangers and controversy surrounding sugar, it is indicted that people will consume less sugar. This is shown and demonstrated in the Instagram and Tumblr posts.

So far, my monitoring has noticed that is a strong link between what the media is telling us, and what our peers are then portraying to us online.

Till tomorrow!

-Alyssa

Works Cited

CBC News. “Replacing sugar can yield benefits in just days, study finds,” CBC. Oct 29, 2015, http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/toxic-sugar-dr-lin-1.3292169

Ferguson, C. J., Contreras, S., & Kilburn, M. (2014). Advertising and fictional media effects on healthy eating choices in early and later childhood. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 3(3), 164-173. doi:10.1037/ppm0000016

Leith, William. “The bitter truth about sugar,” The Telegraph. March 23, 2014, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/wellbeing/diet/9160114/The-bitter-truth-about-sugar.html

Happy November 1st everyone! I welcomed the start of the new month by drinking a large cup of coffee and eating a delicious glory bowl with some friends. I figured that starting these two weeks of monitoring the web for diet news and trends, it would be beneficial for me to eat healthy and pay attention to the health of my own diet.

The only news article from CBC for today was on the new developments about processed meats and the dangers of it. It talks about the new developments from the World Health Organizations show evidence that the consumption of eating processed meats can cause cancer in humans; it does not show levels of risk. Therefore there is no guidance of how much is safe or at what level of consumption does risk factors come into play. It also explains how processed meats also has other health effects, not just cancer, so the danger of eating it has more than one reason.

The news article from New York Times was covering how our culture does not eat or value real bread anymore. There is a trend to go gluten-free and we do not include whole-grain, healthy bread anymore. The value of bread has also gone down because we as a culture switched to an industrial production method, which lowered the nutritional content of bread and created white flour, so we do not know what we are missing when it comes to healthy bread.

This idea of clean-eating and how it can benefit our culture is reflected in the posts on social media. The top 2 most popular posts on Instagram for #diet were:

Each of these photos have the hashtag diet, but also every single one has the hashtag #eatclean or #cleaneating.

The top 2 most popular posts on Tumblr were   which not have any clean-eating hashtags.

As our world becomes increasingly connected to the media, and we engage with it on an ever-increasing frequency, there is a world of information to learn about the links between media and social media. What we are exposed to shapes our view of who we are, and that includes our diet and our body image. In an article by D.M. Boyd and Elad Yom-Tov, it explores the links between coverage of anorexia and increased eating disorders. Although this is focused on anorexia, it does give some insight on other diet issues that the media brings up. The article mentions how the more than someone views content of anorexia, the more likely they are to experience body dissatisfaction (Yom-Tov, E. & Boyd, D.M., 2014). This can correlate to issues of eating clean, if someone is more likely to change their diet after viewing these images, these images have a much more powerful effect than previously thought.

It appears that thus far, there is a link between what news sites are writing about and what people are posting online. There is a high focus of pictures of bodies on Instagram and Tumblr, and this could contribute to body dissatisfaction as the article suggests. It is likely that this will be explored more in the coming two weeks.

Enjoy the last few minutes of fall…

Alyssa.

Sources

• Yom‐Tov, E., & Boyd, D. M. (2014). On the link between media coverage of anorexia and pro‐anorexic practices on the web.International Journal of Eating Disorders, 47(2), 196-202. doi:10.1002/eat.22195

This will be my blog for my Geography 421 class at UBC Okanagan, a project connecting food, the media, and eating disorders.

I will be monitoring the news sites CBC and BBC and the social media sites Instagram and Tumblr daily for two weeks. Through a personal blog, I will be sharing a daily story/image that arise from the search food on all sites. I hypothesize that the two different types of sites will have contrasting images and different themes depending on the site it is coming from. Every day for the two weeks, I will be providing research into how the media, eating disorders, and food are connected through peer-reviewed journal articles, opinion pieces, and other forms dialogue such as videos.

 versus 

Until next time,

Alyss

Hello!

The question prompt for this blog is question 3: What are the major differences or similarities between the ethos of the creation story  and the story that King tells us in the Truth About Stories?

I was not raised with any one form of religion. My parents were both born in Christian households that were active church goers when my parents were young but were the type of families that started to just go every Easter and Christmas. At my Grandparents house we still say a grace before family meals, but nowhere else is a sort of organized religion found. Growing up we had an Osborne book of World Religions which introduced me at a very age to other forms of religions. My Mom is interested in Buddhism and has some Buddhist quotes around the house. We did however learn, although I do not remember when, the Christian creation story which has guided me throughout my life thus far. I do not remember who taught this to me or when, but as far as I can remember, I was aware of the Christian creation story and other religious as well. So that is my background into religion.

One of the major differences that I immediately noticed upon viewing was the introduction of a woman. There is no male mentioned in conjunction with the woman, she is independent of anyone else. The woman is an explorer who enjoys discovering the world around her. The woman’s role in the creation story is that she explored the world around her and then created life (the Twins) who could expand it. The woman is the sole creator of life and she is central to the story.

The creation story in the Bible has both a man (Adam) and a woman (Eve). Eve is the one who breaks God’s only rule: do not eat from the tree of good and evil. Eve eats the apple (this is contested) and therefore gets humankind shunned from the oasis that God created and “sin” is now a thing. The woman is solely to blame. The woman is not in charge of creating life, the Spirit of God does. Her role is mostly negative. This still is a reason that Christian followers put woman in different roles (usually within the household) because they are supposedly worse than men and caused the creation of sin.

My creation story devalues the role of women because it says Eve is responsible for humans having Earthly desires whereas King’s story displays how women are needed to create life. This contrast in the role of women was one of the first things I picked up on. Women are treated very poorly in parts of the Bible, starting with the creation story. This is drastically different from my own personal views, yet I still am a believer of the creation story of the Bible. Is it possible to be a Christian feminist if the Bible puts women down from the get-go?

The other main difference that stood out to me is the role of evil or conflict in both of the stories. In King’s story, it concludes with everyone saying that they are going to get along and what a beautiful world they live in. Whereas, the creation story of the Bible ends with Eve and Adam getting cast out in the vast wilderness without their God. King’s story paints a much brighter picture of the world and the inhabitants of it. I find the Bible to sort of cast humans as faulty from the start and did not allow Eve and Adam to see the beauty of the world. King’s is inherently more positive.

Although my creation story that is the story of the Bible is different from the story that King presents, both of them are beautiful stories with beautiful words. Both should be equally told and explored so individually we can decide for ourselves what creation story resonates with us.

The Canadian Multiculturalism Act of 1989 was created by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and passed by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney is a law in Canada that was enacted to protect and enhance different cultures, diversities, ethnicities, languages, etc and signalled that it would welcome all different types of people who came from different backgrounds. The Act is dissimilar from other state legislation in Canada’s past that discriminated against certain groups of people such as the Chinese Head Tax and other policies similar to it.  This act is one that tried to fix the racial discrimination that had happened and allowed by the state previous to it.

Section 3 (1) of the Act is where its motivations are:

It is hereby declared to be the policy of the Government of Canada to(a) recognize and promote the understanding that multiculturalism reflects the cultural and racial diversity of Canadian society and acknowledges the freedom of all members of Canadian society to preserve, enhance and share their cultural heritage(b) recognize and promote the understanding that multiculturalism is a fundamental characteristic of the Canadian heritage and identity and that it provides an invaluable resource in the shaping of Canada’s future

(c) promote the full and equitable participation of individuals and communities of all origins in the continuing evolution and shaping of all aspects of Canadian society and assist them in the elimination of any barrier to that participation

(d) recognize the existence of communities whose members share a common origin and their historic contribution to Canadian society, and enhance their development

(e) ensure that all individuals receive equal treatment and equal protection under the law, while respecting and valuing their diversity

(f) encourage and assist the social, cultural, economic and political institutions of Canada to be both respectful and inclusive of Canada’s multicultural character

(g) promote the understanding and creativity that arise from the interaction between individuals and communities of different origins

(h) foster the recognition and appreciation of the diverse cultures of Canadian society and promote the reflection and the evolving expressions of those cultures

(i) preserve and enhance the use of languages other than English and French, while strengthening the status and use of the official languages of Canada; and

(j) advance multiculturalism throughout Canada in harmony with the national commitment to the official languages of Canada.

The Act’s intentions were of a good ethical standing and shaped the way that Canada is made up today. Canada is home people of many different cultures, ethnicities, backgrounds, and languages. Immigration has helped Canadians have a more diverse neighbourhood leading to the break-down of many social taboos, such as inter-racial marriage or having French immersion schools. Multiculturalism certainly has impacted my own life, coming from a strong Ukrainian family. I grew up taking Ukrainian dance lessons and attending Ukrainian cultural festivals near Edmonton.  These festivals are widely attended by both Ukrainians and non-Ukrainians and is an example of Canada does try to celebrate other cultures (plus there is free perogies so it is worth it).

However, this is still a pervasiveness of British whiteness that exists in Canada. Daniel Coleman in his White Civility: The Literary Project of English Canada explains how Whiteness “still occupies the position of normalcy and privilege in Canada” (7). In Canada, those identify as White still experience more privilege in society and frequently are represented in Canada, through government, corporations, and public workers. “White” is still considered widely as the ‘normal’ culture in Canada and while others are legally protected under the Multiculturalism Act, they are still considered ‘other’. While it is great that Canada throws multiculturalism festivals, it is rare that the British Whiteness is represented. This is because it is considered the norm; there is nothing to throw a festival for because it is considered not different from what most people in Canada experience.

The Government of Canada has come far in the last century, but it is still widely a White Males playground and lacks in diversity. Since the Government is the group that governs the ‘state’ of Canada and those who are represented are White, male, and generally not young, that is the pervasiveness of British Whiteness still having an effect in Canada today. Even though the Multiculturalism Act has changed the face of different cultures legally, it does not change it culturally in Canada where British Whiteness is the norm and any one else is then othered.  Recent reports show that feelings of anti-Muslim sentiments are growing even though the Act is supposed to rectify that.

So how multicultural are we really? How much do we still assume British Whiteness is the norm? Do we as a state contribute to honouring the Multiculturalism Act in its true intentions? Not at all, 100%, and probably not.

Works Cited

Geddes, J. (2013, October 3). Canadian anti-Muslim sentiment is rising, disturbing new poll reveals. Macleans. Retrieved from http://www.macleans.ca/politics/land-of-intolerance/

Keung, N. (2015, January 2). Parliament’s lack of diversity goes beyond race, gender: study. The Star. Retrieved from http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/01/02/parliaments_lack_of_diversity_goes_beyond_race_gender_study.html

In an article called “A Map That Roared”, Sparke’s analyzes the statement that Judge McEachern made when examining a map that was created by the Gitxsan and Wet’swuet’en’s bands that detailed their remapping of their land that had been taken away from them during Canada’s colonization of First Nations land (and peoples). It was during a case where they were going up against the government for ownership claims and a notice of responsibility for the resources and land that was lost during the colonization of the area. Upon analysis of the map, Judge McEachern, the judge says “We’ll call it the map that roared!”

Sparke throws out a couple of ideas about what the interpretation could mean, such as a reference to a movie that is a satire of Cold War politics. His main interpretation is that the map ‘roaring’ is symbolic to the resistance that the First Nations were showing in their map. Since the map was going over the proposed areas that the law case was deciding, such as power lines, self-government areas, roads etc, the First Nations map was resisting the colonized restructing of their land. The colonizers who overtook First Nation land created their own type of maps and changed the landscapes. The map in question resisted that by displaying the effects that colonialism had on First Nations. The map refused the way that the colonizers wanted the land to be shaped.

The judge ended up denying the Gitxsan and Wet’swuet’en’s claim to ownership and failed to recognize the loss of resources and land that was forced upon these bands when colonizers took over the area.

Cartography and the world of maps, geography, and living things, points to how symbols of land, our land, whoever’s land, is important and symbolic and can have a great impact. As a geography student, I am constantly fascinated by maps and the importance of them. Maps can tell a story and map-making is not bias-free. Take our version of the world map for example. Is there a correlation between the fact that the countries in the Northern half of the map are traditionally the colonizers, and the bottom of the half is the half that is being colonized? Is it because the Northern half is represented as higher, therefore better? Yet colonization on the same half of the Earth occurs still. These are all questions that may be found in maps and the meanings that hide among them.

In my own hometown of Vernon BC, old maps label my area of town “Snob Hill”. Nowadays that would not be permitted but 100 years ago, it was an identifier.

The map that roared can be seen now as a bigger, wider symbol of a rebirth of resistance from First Nations, whether it is through Idle No More or the recent pipeline protests in BC and Alberta, more and more of Canadians are ‘roaring’ and it is about time that all of us roar.

Home is a word that packs a lot of punch and I throughly enjoyed reading everyone’s description of home. We all come from very different background and have vastly different experiences so it was intriguing to discover and delve into each other. I am writing on three peers blogs whom I found our experiences of home connected and shared similar values with mine. I will be sharing Melissa Kuiper‘s blog titled “Where We Grow,” Whitney Millar‘s blog titled “Let Me Come Home”, and Jamie King‘s blog titled “Home. Yes, we are home.”

One thought that I had during my reading of these three blogs was that each person had a very emotional connection to their personal meaning of home. Regardless if the writers attached home to a physical structure, or it was ghost-like and was a feeling that transferred with them wherever they went, no one had a lacklustre account of what home meant to them.

“It’s been a challenge letting myself get attached to any one place or person, so really accepting anywhere or anyone as an emblem of “home” is monumental for me.” – Melissa Kuiper

“(…)what does it mean when you get tired of these places? When you’re ready to leave them behind as placeholders for nostalgia, instead of retreading to make new memories?” – Whitney Millar

“They all came back at different times and as I greeted each person, I witnessed a vast display of grief, from almost jocular hellos to hugs that lasted minutes.” – Jamie King

Other people, loved ones in our lives where major central themes to our stories of home. Melissa talks about her family at length that gives context to her story, mentioning her Nanay and their relationship being home. Jamie describes the comrodity that the people at the outdoor theatre at which she worked had, how their stories intertwined throughout hers. Melissa tells how she tried to include pieces of her family when she was not with her family, such as a card her Mom slipped in her bag or making ramen noodles that her Grandmother made for her at home.

The physical structure of home was detailed throughout the blogs as well. Melissa beautifully describes her childhood home “two stories, three bedrooms, with different coloured carpet in every room” which really connected me to my childhood home as well. Whitney mentions that she is lucky to have her physical home also contain the emotional home. Jamie brings imagery to the farm, such as the wide acres of land and porches where the cast and crew gathered.

I felt that my blog reasoned with these three because all of us connected our personal stories of home with people, whether we are with them or not. I resonate home with a particular set of girlfriends (as well as my own lovely family) and I really felt that these blogs had that sense of bonding with people in a particular setting, whether that is the physical structure of a home or an outdoor setting. I enjoyed Jamie’s blog as it takes place in the Okanagan which is where mine is located as well and the sense and culture up here is wonderfully described in her blog.

I was touched by the level of emotion displayed in the blogs and appreciated the content. Home is a shifting idea but I feel we all have deep roots of our homes and will remain grounded within that.

There was just five of us and the moon that night. Five fresh-faced 13 year old’s, all with a future ahead of them that they did not even realize. None of us knew just quite what our paths held, all we knew is that it was summer and we were camping. This most likely was the most mature and grown-up thing we had experienced thus far. As we made our way down the water, snaking down the unlit path, we giggled and then hushed as we were terrified by the woods. The woods surrounded us and haunted us. We stuck to the concrete path that led to the water.

“Let’s jump in!” My friend Lila’s voice rang out. She was always the daredevil of the group, she had a slightly tough exterior and the most physical of the group. The rest of us nervously laughed on, we were not going to go swimming. It was midnight, pitch black, and we had sneaked away from her Mom. Then her voice called out again “But let’s do it naked!”

Suddenly none of us could look at each other. It was the time of our lives where we were starting to develop a mature body and none of us were confident in the fact that we were not fat, our breasts were fine, and we did not need to wax off all of our eyebrows. But slowly we shimmered out of our swimsuits, and ran individually into the water.

When I was immersed, I could not see my friends but I could hear their movement around me under water. I was 13 but looked much older. I thought my thighs were too fat and my stomach too flabby. I felt so ugly at 13 compared to my friends, some of which were already allowed to do things I was not allowed to do, and were allowed to look like a teenage, something I was not allowed to do. Under water I realized though, that on the beach, on the shores of where I spent my summers, all my friends were too insecure. We all did not possess the confidence to take pride in our bodies. As I emerged, I saw their naked silhouettes and noticed our differences. One of my friends was overweight and another was all skin and knobby knees. Another looked like she could be in her twenties and another like she was perfectly 13. I guess I was somewhere in between.

We all started shrieking as we came up from the water, it was cold, dark, and mysterious. The nervousness we had mere minutes earlier had disappeared with our bathing suits and we boldly took turns jumping off the rocks. As we shivered out in the lake, we promised that we would remain friends and always be there for each.

This is the actual site of the affair, the water is simply beautiful with the clearest sky you can imagine.

We were surrounded by the mountains of the Okanagan valley and surrounded by local history that created this beautiful hidden swimming lagoon. This was home to us. This is my home because I spent my childhood and my teenage years. This is my home because the parks and wilderness that cover the Okanagan is my backyard. My home is this valley and all the friendships and family that remain inside of it.

Today, 3 out of the 5 are still best friends with the other two drifting apart. We still too this day go skinny-dipping every summer and every time we have all grown into ourselves and started to if not appreciate, at least accept, the bodies that we had been given. Friends like this are the most powerful type of friendship around, someone who has seen every bit of you (quite literally in this case) and still loves you. Home is wherever these girls are.

The Okanagan is my home, with its clear blue skies, picture-perfect shorelines, and the stories of nature that I grew up and have created for myself. I will forever soak up the sky and the hot summer nights.