English Language VI

Debate 6: Diets and Treatments

Members:

C:

ST-LVIC-G6-1
ST-LVIC-G6-2
ST-LVIC-G6-3
ST-LVIC-G6-4
ST-LVIC-G6-5

A:

ST-LVIA-G6-6

ST-LVIA-G6-7

 

Discussion Leaders:

DL-LVI-G6-1

DL-LVI-G6-2

 

 

·         DL-LVI-G6-1

Hello everyone!

I am excited to be the discussion leader for this topic. Before starting the topic of Obesity, we all need to introduce ourselves and ‘break the ice’ with some questions.
I am from Northampton in England and I am here in Valencia for my Erasmus year to study French and Spanish. I am passionate about music (I play the trumpet, bassoon and piano) and sports (mainly badminton and volleyball, but I love all sports!). I enjoy seeing new places and experiencing different cultures, and I like to think of myself as being friendly and open-minded.

My four icebreaking questions are the following:
1. If you could have dinner with any celebrity/historical figure (dead or alive), who would it be?
2. What’s the worst present you’ve ever received?
3. Would you like to see into the future? Why/why not?
4. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?

I look forward to hearing from you!

 

·         ST-LVIC-G6-2

+ DL-LVI-G6-1 Hello DL-LVI-G6-1! Nice to meet you! I’m ST-LVIC-G6-2 and I’m studying Translation and Intercultural Mediation in Valencia. I love music, traveling and getting to know new cultures too.
Regarding your questions, I would have dinner with Jennifer Lawrence, because I think it would be quite fun. Also, I would love to have dinner with any nutritionist. I know they aren’t celebrities, but I think I would learn a lot more about healthy diets.

I would like to ask you something too: do you think celebrity diets (such as model diets) generally produce the best results? Do you think anyone can follow these kind of diets?
I personally don’t think those diets are the best choice, because usually they’re too restrictive and therefore they become unhealthy (some of them don’t include all the essential nutrients and vitamins). Let me know what do you think about it.

 

·         ST-LVIC-G6-3

Hello everyone! Nice to meet you!
My name is ST-LVIC-G6-3 and I’m studying Translation of English in Valencia, where I live. I really love reading and writing but I admit I don’t do it as often as I should, I blame it on the amount of time I waste online. I also love music and I would love to learn to play an instrument.

I find it hard to decide with which celebrity I’d like to have dinner with… I think either Ed Sheeran or someone from the cast of Harry Potter (I’m obsessed), like Emma Watson. I’d ask Ed to sing something for me or have an interesting conversation with Emma about feminism.

I’d love to learn more about diets, nutrition and treatments, since I believe I know very little. I love cooking (even though I’m still learning) and I’d love to know more so that I could incorporate healthier recipes and ingredients into my meals.

Following ST-LVIC-G6-2’s question, I don’t believe celebrity diets should be followed by everyone. I believe each person needs a specific diet and the ones they follow are usually designed specially for them. Also, the lifestyle they have is really different from ours and their diets are designed in order to cope with their routine or their necessities.

What do you think? Have you ever followed one of these diets? If you have, did it work for you?

 

·         ST-LVIC-G6-4

Hi everyone!
Nice to meet you all. I am ST-LVIC-G6-4, from a small town close to Valencia. I study Translation and Intercultural Mediation here in Valencia. I like doing sport at the gym and listening to music and I love travelling and reading crime novels.
Regarding DL-LVI-G6-1’s questions, if I had the chance to have dinner with any celebrity I think I would probably choose Will Smith because he seems to be a very interesting person and I really like his films. Also, I don’t think I’d like to see into the future, because I prefer not to know what my life will be like in some years.
Regarding ST-LVIC-G6-2’s question, I don’t think model’s and celebrities’ diets are healthy and a lot of them say it. I think it depends on who we look at, because there are a lot of celebrities who train a lot and have very specific diets because they want to look good, but there are others who don’t make such a big effort.
Regarding ST-LVIC-G6-3’s question, I have never followed any diet, but if I ever followed one, I would like to go to a nutritionist and make things right, adapting the diet to the amount of sport I do and my lifestyle.
What do you think about diets that consist of eating just one type of food for a certain amount of time, such as pineapple’s diet?

 

DL-LVI-G6-2

http://www.nhsggc.org.uk/about-us/media-centre/news/2016/010/importance-of-preventing-obesity-in-early-years-children/

 

DL-LVI-G6-2

Hi Guys, read this article through and tell me how you feel about it. Do you think that educating younger people/children about obesity should be a priority or is there better ways to prevent it? Do you think child obesity should take priority over adult obesity? Should schools take a larger role in educating about obesity? (what could they do)?

Let’s get this debate going!

 

·         ST-LVIC-G6-1

Hello everyone! I’m ST-LVIC-G6-1, a Translation student in Valencia. In my free time, I like to take photos, go to concerts and read. Regarding DL-LVI-G6-1 questions, if I could have dinner with a celebrity I agree with ST-LVIC-G6-4, Will Smith would be a great option. I think he is a person with whom very interesting topics of conversation would come up. I recommend that you follow him on Instagram, as he usually uploads posts that make you think.

Moreover, with regard to ST-LVIC-G6-2’s question, I consider that most celebrity diets are not based on healthy principles. These diets seek the rapid loss of weight, without taking into account the ‘rebound effect’ or the amount of daily nutrients that we should ingest.

On the other hand, I read the article that DL-LVI-G6-2 has posted and I found it very interesting. I think that, today, a good food education is paramount. Children have to learn from that age how to feed themselves, because later they grow up without having been taught correct principles about what to eat and what not to eat. From my point of view, institutions should do more to promote a healthy lifestyle and not focus on the consumption of ultra-processed products.

What do you think about this?

·         ST-LVIC-G6-4

Hi everyone!
I have just read the article and I think that obesity in children and young people is very common nowadays. We should all be more concerned about our eating habits and the consequences these may have, not only for our body, but also for our health. In my opinion, education about this topic is important, but I think adults also have to be concerned about it. This way, they can teach their children how to eat healthy and help them acquiring healthy eating habits since they are little. I think eating healthy is much easier if you have always had healthy eating habits.
Schools can also help preventing obesity, but, maybe, it would be better to do it with activities such as taking the children on an excursion to a nutritionist or a farm. In these places they could learn how to eat healthy, why it is important, how food is grown… I think this way children remember things better than with just an explanation at school.
I agree with ST-LVIC-G6-1 that food products usually go through too many processes and, although some might be necessary, others are not and could be avoided in order to make these products more natural.

 

·         ST-LVIA-G6-6

Hello everyone! I am ST-LVIA-G6-6 and I am currently studying English Studies in Valencia. In my free time, I mostly like listening to music, reading books and learning about other cultures. I chose this topic specifically because I read a lot about diets and nutrition, so I believe I can contribute with my knowledge. First of all, I have some questions for you:

1. Do you think that zero diets/fasting are good to lose weight and healthy for the body?
2. Do we actually need to eat a little bit of everything to be healthy (excluding those foods we are intolerant or allergic to), or can we exclude some food groups permanently without it causing a bad impact on us?
3. According to you, what is one of the most ridiculous diets or myths revolving around food?
4. Would you try any anti-ageing treatment to look younger? Why/Why not?

Now, I will proceed to answering some of your questions.

First, regarding DL-LVI-G6-1’s questions, if I could see into the future, I think that would only make life less exciting, so I would prefer not to. If I could see into the future and know every good and bad thing that will happen in my life, that would only ruin all the excitement, and I would get disappointed if I knew something is not going to turn out the way I expected to before it even happens. Also, I do not have in mind any place in which I would want to live, but something I know is that I want it to be a calm place, where there is more nature around than buildings, and of course somewhere with little crime.

Regarding ST-LVIC-G6-2’s questions, no, I do not think celebrity’s diets produce the best results, at least not always; therefore, not everyone should follow those diets. They are most probably personalized diets that do not work for everybody, and they could even be unhealthy for the celebrities themselves. The best thing to do is requesting your own personalized diet, because each body is a different world with its own needs. Moreover, it is also dangerous to follow a diet that focus on only one type of food because of this, and also because the body needs many more nutrients.

Lastly, after reading the article that DL-LVI-G6-2 has posted, I must say that yes, teaching younger people and children about obesity should have more priority than teaching an adult and in any possible way, such as being taught by their parents, teachers or a specialist. I think that it is more important that a young person is taught how to avoid obesity because their bodies are more capable of losing weight and preventing illnesses than an adult’s body. It is certainly not the same detecting certain illnesses in an adult than in a child or a teenager.

 

ST-LVIA-G6-7

+R DL-LVI-G6-2 Hi DL-LVI-G6-2!! I’m ST-LVIA-G6-7 and I am going to answer youre questions because I think that they are very interesting.
Releated to the first question about the education of young and adult people I think that if we educate a young children to prevent the obesity, to know what kind of things you have to eat and what kind of things are good for you is better to prevent it and I agree with the opinion about the child obesity should take priority over adult obesity because when we are children it’s better to take a routine and know that we have to eat well.
And I also agree with the role of the school in this aspect because when we’re a little children, almost most of us spend a lot of time at school, so it would take an important paper about our health and the way we have to eat, because in most occasions, the children have lunch at school.

 

·         ST-LVIC-G6-4

Hi everyone!
I think ST-LVIA-G6-6’s questions are very interesting. When it comes to zero or fastening diets, I think these are not healthy. However, I read some information about fastening diets and I’ve found out that research says these improve blood sugar levels, decrease the risk of heart disease and cancer and improve people’s mood and memory. I don’t really think this is the best type of diet and I don’t think I could spend so many hours without eating anything.
What do you think? Could you do it? Would you? Why/why not?
When it comes to anti-ageing treatments, I think it depends on the treatment. Perhaps, I would try creams or lotions, but I don’t think I’d go through an operation to look younger. In my opinion creams or lotions can help with things like wrinkles or cellulite, and I don’t think these are bad for our health.
I also think eating a little bit of everything and excluding some food groups can be both good things, but, in my opinion, if there’s a lack of some nutrients then the diet is not as healthy as it could be.
Related to this topic, do you agree vegetarian diets are healthy taking into account that all the nutrients from meat and fish are excluded? What about vegan diets?

·         ST-LVIA-G6-6

+ ST-LVIC-G6-4 Hi ST-LVIC-G6-4, thanks for answering my questions! I agree that zero diets are not healthy for the body, even though I read that they are good to let your digestive system take a break and improve your health in general. They also say that these diets are good to lose weight, and while that may be true, I think that weight mostly consists of water and muscle and just a little bit of fat. This is of course no good, because the body needs muscle mass to burn fat, which is what losing weight should be about. The most effective method to build muscle mass is doing exercise, and of course you need to eat so that your body has enough energy while exercising. Ironically, I also read that zero diets are bad for your sugar levels in blood, and that is why diabetics must have 5 meals a day. I think that even for non-diabetics it is essential to have those 5 meals everyday, so that their metabolism keeps working and to avoid any temptation of eating high-calory meals. So, in conclusion, you must combine a good diet and some exercise to build muscle mass in order to lose weight and stay healthy.
Regarding your questions, I think that both vegetarian and vegan diets are healthy, but not completely. This is because they eat many vegetables and fruit, which are essential for everyone. But, at the same time, these diets lack nutrients which are important for us, such as vitamins D and B12 and iron, so they must take supplements to compensate any nutritional deficiency to avoid health problems. Also, both vegetarians and vegans must take into account that eating vegetables and fruits is not enough to be healthy: they must also reduce or completely restrict their sugar and salt intake, as well as to avoid processed foods and choose those which are organic.

 

·         DL-LVI-G6-1

Hi everyone.
Since everyone seems to be in agreement from DL-LVI-G6-2’s questions that we should educate people about obesity from a younger age, how exactly can we motivate children to be active/healthy in this tech-driven era? As a starting point, let’s take a look at the recently launched Fitbit for children:
TIME, 13th March 2018: «Fitbit’s Newest Fitness Tracker Is Just for Kids» (I’m not including the link as to avoid this thread being deleted)

Let us know what you think of the product. Would you buy this for your child? Why/why not?

 

·         ST-LVIC-G6-3

Hello everyone!
I am a big fan of vegetarian and vegan diet, but I don’t follow any (yet). I believe they’re actually more difficult to maintain than they seem. It’s not only about fruit and vegetables, it’s also about whole grains, pulses, etc, and, as ST-LVIA-G6-6 said, you even need to incorporate an intake of vitamins to fully substitute meat and other sources of proteins.
I’ve read all of your contributions and I believe we all agree that children should be educated from a young age on healthy diets. I think nowadays this is really difficult because of the amount of fast food and unhealthy snacks we can find everywhere. If you go to a supermarket, snacks like chips or chocolate bars are often cheaper than fruit or vegetables. I think this should be changed in order to change our eating habits, especially for children.
Regarding DL-LVI-G6-1’s question I believe the Fitbit is a good idea. Even though it isn’t really necessary to actually do sport, we all know that all of these new gadgets, as well as having special “sport clothes” and trainers often motivate us. Since kids love technology, having a Fitbit is an easy and efficient way to motivate them, since they can also take doing sport as a game or a challenge to stay healthy and set a goal everyday. However, I think it’s quite expensive, taking into account that it’s especially designed for kids and they will eventually need another one when they grow up. It would be easier (and much cheaper, even free) if parents or teachers taught kids to do sport and grow in them the need and the desire to do it without needing to spend money on it.
I have never had a Fitbit or anything similar to it but I use my mobile phone app to control the number of steps and kilometres I walk everyday. Do you have a Fitbit? If you do, do you believe it actually helps you? Or, if you use any apps for your mobile phone, do they control your amount of km and calories? Are they useful?

 

·         ST-LVIC-G6-5

Hi! Nice to meet you, all of you! My name is ST-LVIC-G6-5 and although I am originally from Czech Republic, I live here in Valencia for 8 years. Currently I am studying Translation and Intercultural Mediation of English and at the same time I am doing a music degree. So, in the same way as DL-LVI-G6-1, I am passionate about music (I play the piano). Sport is one of my favourite activities to do in my free time that is why I chose the topic about Diet and Treatments. Actually, I think that no diet is necessary to follow. We should just keep an eye on what food we eat and the quantity. Nothing is good if it is excessive.

Regarding DL-LVI-G6-1’s questions, which I find very interesting and funny, I should say that I would have dinner with a retired Russian rhythmic gymnast, Alina Kabaeva (Olympic Games winner). She is my idol since I was little and I had the opportunity to meet her once and she seemed to me like a very charming woman. The worst present I have ever received is an electric toothbrush, which I already had at home. It was even the same colour. There are days, I would like to see to the future. I would like to know how the world will be and see all that human beings will be able to engender or destroy. But in any case, I would like to know what will happen to me.

I must agree with what you all have said about the topic we are dealing with. I think we should learn to eat healthy since we are born and the main responsible for it should be our parents. The degree of overweight is spreading worldwide day by day and it is because parents have less time to cook or they are less likely to do it at home. Eating fast food is a very comfortable fact, but more and more we are less aware of its impact. Maybe I can sound radical, but I am basing myself on my own experience. My mum has always cooked at home because she hates eating outside and so I had very little contact with eating fast food when I was a child. Thanks to these facts I have learn to have a very balanced diet and still nowadays if I have a busy week and I cannot cook as healthy as I should, I feel the need to recover it in the following days. My aim is not to talk about me, I am just trying to get to the point that in my opinion we can learn to eat healthy in the same way as we learn to walk, read…

Personally I am not in favour of any diet. I think we should eat a little bit of everything, including chocolate and sweets and control daily our calories. In other words, more than talk about an established diet I would talk about the importance of the exercise we should do every day. The idea of Fitbit seems very reasonable and I agree that a device like this could motivate us more, but I find it unnecessary as we should get our body used to detect the lack of exercise and not depend on an electronic device that could be really imprecise. In any case, I think it can be more useful for adults than for children as parents can control their children’s daily exercise.

With regard to ST-LVIC-G6-3’s questions, my last mobile phone went with an app that controls the steps I make every day and I used it for a while. But honestly, it was of no help, except the fact that I got an idea of how much exercise I can make up to date.

To conclude, I have also some questions. Do you really think that breakfast is the most important meal of the day? Is it important and how important is it to respect the five meals a day? Do you think there is any food that should be banned? Would you agree that drinking water before a meal can reduce the amount of food you are going to eat?

 

·         ST-LVIC-G6-4

Hi everyone!
I have read DL-LVI-G6-1’s article and I think this fitness tracker is quite a good idea. I like the fact that it can control the sleep trends, because I think this is not only interesting, but also important. The idea of the family challenge is also great, as it is a way of motivating children to move more and I think it would also improve the time spent with the family. I don’t know if I would buy one of these to my child because, although I think it can be great, it could also be dangerous if children get too obsessed.
I don’t have any watch like this, but I would like to have one because I would like to know things such as how many calories I burn when I go to the gym or how my sleep trends are. In my opinion, it would help me getting healthier habits because I believe we don’t really realize the number of hours we spent siting doing homework, listening to our teachers, driving or going home by bus/train…
As ST-LVIC-G6-3 said, I agree that it would be easier if parents or teachers taught kids to do sport, but I think people don’t have time to do these things nowadays, although it is a pity. I also agree with her that fruits and vegetables should be cheaper than unhealthy snacks such as chocolate bars or chips. This way, parents would buy more fruits and vegetables and not just cookies or muffins for their children. Moreover, lot of brands launch new types of cookies onto the market quite frequently and the TV is full of advertisements saying how fun eating these cookies is and how tasty they are. However, fruits and vegetables are always the same and there are very few advertisements saying how good or delicious they are. What do you think about this? Do you think there should be more advertisements showing how good eating fruits and vegetables is?
Finally, considering ST-LVIC-G6-5’s questions, I think a diet that consists of five meals is quite good, as a lot of experts recommend it. Personally, I can’t eat a lot during my breakfast, but it is true that a lot of people say it is the most important meal of the day. When it comes to drinking water, I think it might be true, as it has sometimes happened to me, but I believe this only happens if you drink a lot of water.

 

·         ST-LVIC-G6-5

Hi everyone!

Considering what ST-LVIC-G6-4 said about the lack of advertising that is given to healthy food, I must agree completely. Nowadays, advertising is one of the most influential aspects of our lives and when comes to the food, it is normally focused on fast food or unhealthy snacks just as said ST-LVIC-G6-4. In my view, the most affected are the children. In fact, they are very sensitive to the messages they receive and what is more they tend to copy the actions of the characters depicted in the food advertisements. If they only see on television or flyers food like hamburger, biscuits, ice cream…, while the vegetables and fruit are not shown anywhere, this causes the distortion of their tastes for food. In other words, marketing to children does more than sell products; it inculcates habits and behaviours.

Fortunately, it seems that the demand for healthy food grows and as a result new stores, dedicated to the sale of healthy food, are rising. However, the problem is that the healthy food is always more expensive. Maybe a start would be to increase the price of fast food. I believe that there are many people, who would like to eat healthier, but because of money they turn to the junk food.

Anyway, do you know any official advertisement dedicated to healthy food, fruits and vegetables in particular? I was trying to find some and I did not discover anything, at most I found healthy drinks and yogurts ads. Did you heard about the new diet that is trending upward? It is called The tongue patch diet and consists of sewing your tongue so that your taste buds disappear and you have to eat above all liquid meals. They said that this fact makes miracles, but personally I find it dangerous and unsuitable. What do you think about this method?

 

·         ST-LVIA-G6-6

Hi again! I have been reading your posts so I’m going to comment a little bit on them.

First of all, regarding DL-LVI-G6-1’s question, while I think the goal of the Fitbit is good, I don’t think it’s quite necessary in all cases. I don’t think parents really need a device to motivate their children to keep a healthy lifestyle and be active, since they can pretty much do it themselves. Besides, it is very expensive, and there is the risk that children will not want to use it any longer after a while, so it would be a huge waste if that happened.. And if parents do truly think that technological methods will motivate their children more than if they did themselves, they can search for apps that more or less have the same function than the Fitbit. Therefore, if it were me, I would always try to find cheaper or free alternatives for my children instead of buying an electronic device.

Now, regardind ST-LVIC-G6-5’s questions, I think that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, because morning is the moment that your metabolism starts working again after several hours of sleep and of not eating anything, so people need some energy to keep it working. Regarding the other meals, I don’t think it is that important to have 5 of them everyday, especially those before lunch and dinner. However, if you want your metabolism to work efficiently, then you need to eat every 4 hours approximately, and that applies even more for diabetics, since skipping meals would raise their sugar levels on blood. Also, I wouldn’t really ban any food in particular, but I would ban some ingredients, such as white sugar and some sweeteners, and those foods which are processed. In my opinion, even sweets can be healthier if they were made with the right ingredients. Lastly, drinking water before a meal does keep you from overeating, since it tends to calm the hunger feeling.

I agree with you that there are too many advertisements on TV and other places about unhealthy food, and that it should be changed. I think that it is also very important that the food industry stopped producing unhealthy food and replaced it with healthier foods. Furthermore, it is important that they stop producing and advertising healthy foods that are actually not as good as they say they are. For example, you may find sweets which are sugar free in the supermarket, but when you check the ingredients you find there are artificial sweeteners that are nearly as bad as sugar, or you may also find fruits which have chemicals in them. I also read not long ago that Danone had to pay 16 million euros for lying in their Actimel advertisements. So, even though people are becoming more conscious about these matters, there is still a lot to do, such as producing real healthy food and lowering their prices.

 

·         ST-LVIC-G6-4

Hi everyone!
I agree with ST-LVIA-G6-6 that the combination of a good diet with exercise is the key to lose weight and also to be healthy. I think this is the best combination in order to lose weight in a healthy way or just to feel healthy.
I also agree with ST-LVIC-G6-5 that the price of healthy food or eco-friendly products is higher than it should be. I would like to buy these products but they are too expensive, so I can buy just some of them. Moreover, these products are usually sold in big cities, so this also reduces the number of buyers.

When it comes to the diet ST-LVIC-G6-5 mentioned, I had never heard of it. I’ve read about it and I think it is a horrible idea. The tongue patch diet consists of putting a patch at the top of the tongue that causes pain when the person eats. This is done in order to avoid eating solid food. I think this pain could be avoided by eating healthy and doing some exercise, as I have mentioned before.

Reading ST-LVIA-G6-6’s comment I think it is true there’s a lot to do and to improve regarding the ingredients of the majority of the food products we consume. There are a lot of processed food products and others with chemical products which are obviously not good for our health and of which we are not conscious most of the times.

 

·         ST-LVIC-G6-5

Hi everyone!

I concur with the idea ST-LVIA-G6-6 and ST-LVIC-G6-4 said about the fact that to be healthy we need both, exercise and a good diet. I think that we could reduce the sale of the processed food, if we cook more at home with natural and fresh food. On the other hand, I think that nowadays it is almost impossible to buy products without chemical substances. Indeed, as I could read, even for the cultivation of fruits and vegetables are used different chemicals (antibiotics, artificial colours, artificial sweeteners among others) that are poison to our body. The chemicals produce significant changes in the mineral and vitamin balance of food. This leads me to ask the following question: Is there something we can eat? I guess the matter is much more complex than we think, because we don’t, at least I, stop to reflect on these issues, given that we have many other matters in life to deal with and only thanks to these conversations, we are having, I am starting to be conscious of it, above all when I read that eating highly processed foods linked to increased cancer risk.

Moving on to another point, do you think there should be a specific diet for pregnant women? Do you think that people, who are intolerable to gluten, eat better than a person, who can eat everything? And finally, do you consider vegetarian and vegan diet healthier?

 

·         ST-LVIC-G6-3

Hello!
I totally agree with ST-LVIC-G6-5. Is there anything we can eat? If we have to avoid processed food or vegetables which haven’t been grown with chemicals, what’s left? I’d personally love to be able to grown my own fruits and vegetables, because that way I could grow them in the healthiest way possible, but, again, who has the time to do that? It’s such a pity that we have such a limited variety of good quality products available in supermarkets nowadays. If you want to buy chemical-free food you have to pay almost twice the prize of a normal food, that’s so unfair! Do you think organic stores should change their prices? I think if they did, more people would buy their products.

Regarding what ST-LVIC-G6-5 asked, I believe that people who don’t eat gluten usually eat very healthy, since some foods with gluten contain a lot of sugar. However, cereals like wheat or rye contain a lot of good vitamins, and people who are intolerable to gluten should seek an equivalent in other gluten-free foods in order to compensate. Nowadays many people decide to eliminate gluten (and even lactose) of their diets because they believe them to be unhealthy or as a way to lose weight. At the same time, many people decide to become vegan or vegetarian for the same reason.

I wouldn’t say they’re eating healthier than people who have a balanced diet (with meat, fish…), but by eliminating them they are also avoiding a lot of food which contains sugars and fat, which eventually is healthier.

What do you guys think? Do you believe eliminating food from your diet (like gluten, lactose or meat) is okay? Is any of you (or someone you know) intolerant to any of these foods?

 

·         -LVIC-G6-5

Hi again!

Regarding ST-LVIC-G6-3’s questions, I think there is actually no need to remove some food from our diet. I believe that gluten, lactose or meat is not bad, as long as we don’t eat it excessively. Particularly, I think that it is a personal decision. If you know what eating lactose or meat supposes to your body, you can decide, if it is good or not. For example, in my case, I cannot drink milk on the morning, because if I do, I am sleepy all day.

When it comes to the second question, I have a friend who is intolerable to gluten and I have to say that it is very difficult to have lunch or dinner with her, because there are very little bars, restaurants or fast foods that sell gluten-free food. The other day she told me that she could choose something to eat in McDonald’s or 100 montaditos, but on the contrary, she couldn’t in Burger King, because they don’t offer anything free of gluten. What is more, she has to order bread in a special bakery what seems to me incredible and unfair. People, who are intolerable to gluten should not have so limited options to buy food. However, even though their diets can be healthier, I agree with ST-LVIC-G6-3 that they can suffer a great loss of vitamins that some gluten food offers.

Have you ever had to take capsules with vitamins or any other supplement to complete a balanced diet? Do you think that it has the same effect on us as when we ingest the supplements directly?

 

·         ST-LVIA-G6-6

Hello! I totally agree with all of you when it comes to the fact that the amount of healthy food available in supermarkets and similar places is very limited, and that is such a shame. It is very clear that our food industry does not care much about our health, as long as they can earn money. I think it is also a pity that organic foods are so expensive and mostly limited to organic stores. For instance, last weekend I went to one of those stores and bought four units of oat milk for 2.50 euros each, and a box of miso soup with only 4 packets of 10 grams each for 5.45 euros. No wonder people cannot afford to eat healthier.

I personally think that our food industry should do as Japan’s, since I read that they actually do care about the population’s health. From what I heard, they don’t usually put chemicals or other substances to their food, and although that means the food and drinks you buy usually expire that same day, it is also much healthier for the body. On another note, their schools tend to encourage their students to do exercise 1 or 2 hours after class, so many people reach their adult age having practiced lots of sport. Furthermore, students also get their BMI calculated by their schools so that they maintain a healthy weight.

Now, regarding ST-LVIC-G6-5’s questions, I think that yes, pregnant women should follow a specific diet, because what they eat and drink also ends up in the baby’s body, so they should reduce their intake of fatty foods, sugars, processed foods, chemicals and caffeine. Also, I don’t think people who restrict their gluten intake necessarily eat better than others who eat a little bit of everything, as that depends on their diets. Obviously, if they are intolerant and allergic to gluten then they will be healthier on an individual level, but if they are not then it doesn’t really make a difference on a general level. Strictly speaking, there are some healthier foods, such as spelt bread, which still have gluten, but it is not as bad as that which you may find in, for instance, white wheat flours, since it is easier to digest, so you can still be healthy eating foods with gluten as long as you avoid white flours. Also, there are many people who think that gluten free foods are healthier, so they may end up eating lots of sweets and other unhealthy foods which only lead them to have more problems. So, in conclusion, gluten is not really a health problem as long as you are not intolerant to it and you take care of what you eat. That is the same with meats and foods which have lactose: if you don’t have any symptoms after eating them, there is no problem if you still include them on your diets and just moderately. However, in case of doubt, there is also the possibility of going to a nutritionist or taking a scientifically certified intolerance test.

 

·         Maja Chalhoub

Hi everyone,

sorry for joining you that late, I was only told a couple of days ago about my attendance in that particular group. However, I’m glad that I now will have the chance to participate and exchange views with all of you.
My name is Maja, I am an Erasmus student from Germany and am currently in Valencia to study modern languages and their literatures as well as translation.

My ice-breaking questions are:
– do you believe that chocolate really makes people happy?
– does fast food make you tired?
– would you rather do more sports to work off unwanted calories or do without sweets in order not having to do sports at all?
– how would you explain to your children why you want them not to eat too much unhealthy food but can’t get yourself from forsaking it?

1st comment:
@ ST-LVIC-G6-4: “I don’t really think this is the best type of diet and I don’t think I could spend so many hours without eating anything. What do you think? Could you do it? Would you? Why/why not?”
@ ST-LVIA-G6-6: “…of course you need to eat so that your body has enough energy while exercising. Ironically, I also read that zero diets are bad for your sugar levels in blood […], I think that even for non-diabetics it is essential to have those 5 meals everyday, so that their metabolism keeps working and to avoid any temptation of eating high-calory meals.”

I completely agree with the both of you: Not eating anything all day or just for many hours can drive you crazy if you particularly force yourself not to touch any food. It’s different to when we are so busy all day that we forget to eat and it might not be before late at night that we realize we actually haven’t had a bite all day.
Whenever you try to prevent yourself from doing something, your hunger for it growths (literally speaking).
As a result, in my opinion, we should not try to ban ourselves from eating for a specific amount of time (as in the case of zero-diets) or from eating sweets or fast food, neither should we teach our children that unhealthy food is “bad”.
We all know about the fascination and attractive power prohibited items radiate, which leads me to my second comment:

2nd comment:
@ ST-LVIC-G6-1: “Children have to learn from that age how to feed themselves, because later they grow up without having been taught correct principles about what to eat and what not to eat.”

Although I do agree with you on the point that educating children about food definitely is important and can’t be taken seriously enough, I wouldn’t say that they actually should be taught about “what not to eat”.
In my experience, children that have always been prohibited from eating too many sweet, for whom sweets have become something special, something which they have only been allowed to eat after having asked their parents or after having behaved especially well so that they will be rewarded for it with sweets, are more likely to establish an unhealthy relationships towards them than children for whom sweets never played an important role.
In consequence, parents should, in my opinion, strike a balance between banning their children from unhealthy food and giving them a free reign to eat as much of it as they would like to.

3rd comment:
@ ST-LVIC-G6-5: “Is it important and how important is it to respect the five meals a day?”

To be honest, no, I don’t think it is important. Just as restraining yourself from eating at all, forcing yourself to eat won’t be of any good either. If you don’t like having breakfast in the morning why forcing yourself to eat anything? If you are used to having a big breakfast on the other hand, you won’t be hungry again till lunchtime, so why forcing yourself to have a snack in between?
In my opinion how many meals one has a day depends on the person and should not be generalized. In the end it’s about how much you eat of what and the rule of 5 meals a day won’t be of any success if you’re eating five times a day at McDonald’s.

4th comment:
@ DL-LVI-G6-1: “[…] how exactly can we motivate children to be active/healthy in this tech-driven era?”

As for me, a child of the 1990s, where mobile phones, computers and the internet just started to become popular, the children of today may be raised differently to the way in which I myself grew up having access to all the technology there is from an early age while I got my first mobile phone when I was 13.
However, not everything is different. In terms of doing exercise and being active I believe it’s not necessary to support the idea that due to the “tech-driven-era” one has to connect every part of one’s everyday life to technology; that in order to motivate today’s children to do some exercise one has to buy them fitness trackers or install apps on their mobile phones. What happened to the idea of signing up your child for a football club or a swim team in order for them to get to know new people and find friends outside school who share their interests? To give them the chance to discover new environments as part as a team as well as finding joy in being active? I believe that children can be brought closer to sports activities without using technology to lure them.

5th comment:
@ ST-LVIC-G6-5: “[…] do you think there should be a specific diet for pregnant women?“

What do you mean with “specific diet”? Do you mean it in terms of what to eat and what not to eat or regarding to a kind of diet tailored to pregnant woman to lose weight?
In the first case, I personally think that knowing about what will be good and what we will be bad for your unborn child is one of the most important things a mother has to consider while bearing a child in her womb. What she eats and drinks during pregnancy is her baby’s main source of nourishment, so her diet should provide all the important nutrients her baby needs for its development.
In the latter case, I hope that no pregnant woman thinks about reducing her bodyweight or keeping it low during her pregnancy. Dieting while being pregnant could be dangerous for both, mother and child, as a weight loss may restrict important nutrients, such as minerals and vitamins.

 

 

·         ST-LVIC-G6-5

Hi everyone,

I have to agree with Maja’s opinions about the question I asked about the specific diet of pregnant women. But even though a pregnant woman knows what is good or bad to her baby we should take into account that she can have cravings and that can be very difficult to control (I guess it depends on each woman). I cannot agree more with the statement that the diet of a pregnant woman should provide all the important nutrients for a correct development of her baby.

Now, regarding Maja’s questions, I have read that chocolate can make us happy because the substances present in cacao contribute to give us a sense of well-being, which makes us happier, but based on my own experience, I don’t believe it is true. Indeed, I think that chocolate provides us more energy than happiness and if it is happiness I think it is more psychological.

With regard to the question: Does fast food make you tired? I think this is a key question to understand a lot of things. Some years ago I ate more fast food than nowadays and it is true that I was tired all the time and I needed to sleep more than usual. I think it is because of the fact that food, rich in carbohydrates, salts or sugars, flavourings and others, usually has an effect on us that makes us sleep longer than usual.

As far as I am concerned, I would rather do more sport to work off unwanted calories than stop eating sweets. I don’t say it because I couldn’t stop eating sweets, but because I consider that sport is important in any case, even if you don’t eat sweets. Finally, I consider that the last question is a fact that happens in the most of cases nowadays and each of us should ask this question. I think it doesn’t make sense to try to explain your children not to eat unhealthy, if you don’t do it. Firstly, because parents are the main model for their children and what they do so will their children. Secondly, parents can make their children reduce eating unhealthy by cooking healthy at home. Consequently, I guess that before giving advices, we must work on ourselves and our habits.

 

·         ST-LVIA-G6-6

Hello everyone,

I agree with what Maja said about how dangerous it can be that a pregnant woman goes on a diet to lose weight, since that would only deprive both her and her baby of being healthy. I think in this case, the mother should include a little bit of everything to cover every nutritional needs, both for herself and for her child. Also, since some nutrients end up in the baby’s body, that means the mother will have to increase the amount of nutrients she takes so she doesn’t suffer from nutritional deficiency. Moreover, a diet during the pregnancy period is not a matter of losing weight; the mother can worry about that only after pregnancy. Of course, that doesn’t mean that she can eat just whatever she wants all the time, and instead she must make sure she covers all nutritional needs while following a balanced, healthy diet.

Regarding Maja’s questions, I remember reading once that our brain has some kind of satisfaction system that reacts when we eat certain foods. That may be explained because some foods release chemicals that, when they reach this system, it makes us feel happier. That may be why chocolate makes people happy, although I think that depends on whether you are very addicted to it or not, and also on the ingredients of the chocolate you eat. So, in the end, it is a matter of how much you crave certain flavors and, based on that, eating chocolate may make you happy or at least not that much.

Now, with regard to the second question, that may be different for each body. That is, a healthy body may not feel that tired after eating fast food because it is able to digest it without many problems. However, an unhealthy body (such as that with a liver full of fats) may have to work a lot more to digest that food, so people will feel tired after eating fast food because their digestive system is working really hard since it probably cannot take more of the nutrients that come from that food.

Personally, I would rather do sport to get rid of unwanted calories rather than doing nothing and stop eating sweets. But, even so, I would only eat sweets just occasionally and still eat as healthy as possible, since there is no point in doing a lot of exercise and then eating a whole bag of sweets after workout. Lastly, I think that teaching children how bad it is to eat certain foods while you cannot avoid the temptation of eating those same foods is very difficult. If you did that and then your children saw you eating an unhealthy food, then what you said would not make sense to them. If you are to teach someone of something that is bad for them, the best way to prove your point is applying to yourself what you said.

 

·         DL-LVI-G6-1

Hi guys! Well done for such a developed and extensive debate. Your English is amazing!
Here is just a round-up of the main points you discussed so brilliantly:

Firstly, as far as celebrity diets and zero diets are concerned, the general consensus is that they are not good for our bodies due to their generally restrictive and unbalanced nature. They also can often take short-cuts in weight loss that have a rebound effect. Many of you also said that diets should be tailored to the individual and therefore cannot be applied to every body type and lifestyle. For this reason, ST-LVIC-G6-4 suggests that diets should be recommended by nutritionists and that a balanced, yet substantial, diet is important in order to avoid temptation of high-calorie meals.

Secondly, a gluten-free diet or vegetarian/vegan diet can be seen as eating healthier as they cut out many sugary and fatty foods – hence the trend of a gluten-free or meat-free diet to lose weight. However, people who don’t eat gluten need to compensate for the lack of vital elements such as fibre in cereals, and those who don’t eat meat must do the same for protein in meat. This being said, eating gluten should not be seen as unhealthy, since you can opt for food such as white flour produce. For those of you with gluten intolerant friends, you highlighted their reliance on the relatively small possibility of restaurants selling gluten-free food. Ultimately the ‘everything in moderation’ teaching applies to people with or without nutritional requirements, so cutting out gluten and constantly eating sugary snacks does not constitute a balanced diet.

Our other main topic was the alarming level of childhood obesity and how educating children about food is paramount in its improvement. With this in mind, you have made these suggestions:
– Institutions should make more of an effort to promote a healthy and organic food rather than the consumption of processed food for the sake of making money. It is only natural for children to be enticed by adverts for chocolate bars and crisps when it is delivered by their favourite TV character. In addition, false advertising should be banned when making things like sweets out to be ‘sugar-free’ when they in fact have equally harmful sweeteners and chemicals in them.
– The parents should be heavily involved in their children’s eating habits as they are the ones with the influence in the household. This is evident in the fact that those who eat healthily from a young age generally grow to have healthy eating habits once they have left home. For this reason, you have said that it is necessary also to lower the price of healthy food/restaurants and increase that of unhealthy foods/restaurant in order to avoid the current problem of eating unhealthily because the parents go for the cheaper and easier option in the supermarket and when eating out. Maja also brings up the interesting point of ‘the forbidden fruit’ concept, according to which children are more attracted to the things that are rarely allowed by their parents, and therefore establish an unhealthy relationship towards unhealthy food. It is therefore suggested by almost all of you that the children are taught to have ‘everything in moderation’ mentality.
– Schools can also get involved through activities designed to demonstrate, in a more interactive and stimulating way, what a balanced diet should include, and the way these different types of food are produced, for example through excursions to a farm or factory.

Upon consideration of the Fitbit for children article, the group has argued that having a cool gadget could motivate inactive children to do physical exercise because it involves games and challenges. However, many of you argue that relying on gadgets to remind children to exercise is an expensive option considering the cheaper alternative of instilling the desire to do sports from a young age as part of a healthy lifestyle. That being said, it is an excellent way for parents to monitor their children’s activity level and sleeping habits, and the ‘family challenge’ is a good opportunity for quality family time.

Thank you all for your participation!