Behind The Greens

Learn about healthy choices and creating the perfect diet!

Fall 2018

Flowers in Shimla, India. Photo by Rohan Maholtra.

From the Editors

Houses on the waterfront in Hallstatt, Austria. Photo by Cathryn Gunawan.

When we ďŹ rst came together as a group, we had shared common interests in science, but we realized that we also enjoyed the empirical aspect behind food. So, we decided to combine our two main interests into a food-through-science perspective. We explored the controversies behind certain diets and healthy living.

From our individual infographics to contrasting feature articles, we hope to intrigue our readers and that they are able to fully appreciate our dedication and commitment to convey our research. We hope you enjoy Behind the Greens.

Sincerely, The Editors

Special Thanks to...

Sumi Singh Briana Faustino Benjamin Kha Hannah Thompson Mika Cline Mari Casas Joshua Morris Hannah McFarren Jessica Wensel Angi Scallon Katherine Hall Carrie Holley-Hurt Alberto Bautista Angelica Garcia Claudia PeĂąa Radhika Malhotra Kevin Garcia Tyler Hill

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Graphic by Cathryn Gunawan.

Table Of Contents 6

Meet The Team

8

Are Artificial Sweeteners Splenda-id? The contraversy of the health of artificial sweeteners

12

Berry Blast Learn how to make a smoothie

14

Keen On Being Lean How to lose weight safely

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Which Fries are More Ap-peeling? The most popular types of fries

20

Diabolical Diets How to decipher which diets work

24

How To Create a Food Blog

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Blood Type Diets May Not B-Positive Find out whether he Blood Type Diet is effective or not

32

Breakfast is more Egg-cellent than You Think Why Breakfast is the most important meal of the day

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Fruits vs Vegetables Classifying foods as fruits or vegetables Front cover photo is the Ginkakujicho temple in Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan.

Photo by Weiran Jiang. Back cover photo by Rohan Malhotra.

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Meet the Team We are freshman at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy.

Cathryn Gunawan

Cathryn is crafty and likes tinkering with technology. She is also part of the LASA FTC robotics team and spends a lot of her time working there. She has played piano for 10 years and continues to explore other instruments, such as the violin. When she grows up, she hopes to be a biomedical engineer.

Eliana Hurley

Eliana likes playing the violin in orchestra and taking private lessons regularly. She is very interested in music as well as biology. She finds writing enjoyable, so it was an exciting challenge to try writing in a journalistic style. After taking French for the past two years, she decided that she would love to be a foreign analyst and become fluent in French.

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Rohan Malhotra

In his free time, Rohan enjoys taking and editing landscape photos and playing video games with his friends. He is part of the LASA FRC robotics team and enjoys going there after school to learn. When he grows up, he wants to work in prosthetics, and his goal is to make prosthetics that allow people to play competitive eSports.

Michelle Rodriguez

Michelle likes to watch Netflix during her free time. Her favorite shows to watch are Criminal Minds, Law and Order, and Forensic Files. She also has a large interest in music. Michelle takes piano lessons and enjoys singing at her church as well. She also enjoys drawing because it allows her to relax and use her creativity. Michelle is interested in medical health, so she wants to be an OB/GYN when she grows up.

Weiran Jiang

Weiran is an accomplished violinist and likes taking ballet classes during her free time.

Besides ballet, she has joined a dance club at LASA where she learns K-pop dances with her friends. In addition, she enjoys learning Latin and has joined the Latin club. When she grows up, she wants to be an entrepreneur, continue her studies in violin, and possibly learn the cello.

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Are Artificial Sweeteners Splenda-id?

By Weiran Jiang

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Brown Sugar Photo by Eliana Hurley.

A

rtificial sweeteners benefit people’s diets by providing a sweet taste to foods and drinks without adding many calories. However, there is some controversy over whether artificial sweeteners are healthy for humans.

Artificial sweeteners were discovered accidentally, but at first, they were used by those who were diabetic people, or for a medical necessity. However, people started consuming it for the purpose of intaking sweetness without gaining any calories.

Consuming foods with artificial sweeteners is completely fine if it is medically necessary or is used very rarely, according to Texas State nutritionist Hannah Thompson, but many people eat or drink foods with artificial sweeteners too excessively because of their yearning for sugar and keeping a healthy figure.

The American Heart Association does approve of the use of artificial sweeteners, but the experts who were interviewed said that people should generally lessen the intake of any artificial sweeteners, because it isn’t natural to what the human body is used to and it doesn’t help the habit of intaking high levels of sugar.

As an alternative, many should look into the alternative of water, which is much healthier than having sugary beverages or artificially sweetened beverages, because water is natural.

The more concentrated, the higher number of calories, which indicates when to stop eating, but

artificial sweeteners harms the process of tracking calorie intake, and the body gets thrown of track.

Oncologist Mika Cline said zero calorie foods could be effective in some situations.

“I think in general, calorie reduction is an effective method

intaking sugars.

“Theoretically [artificial sweeteners] could help, but in reality it doesn’t seem to, and there might be multiple reasons for that. I think the biggest issue is that you need to decondition your palette to a sweet taste, so if you always have to have sweet tea or if you always have to have sweet drinks, that can be an issue, and artificial sweeteners don’t do anything to break that habit.”

Although Cline said zero calorie foods can be effective in some instances, what concerns her is that the overall consumption “If you drink a diet soda that levels of sugars is too high.

She also said is a higher chance of you to that people prefer sweet increase your risk two beverages diabetes and metabolic because of the taste, and syndrome.” that causes an increase -Mari Casas, Nutrition Student in calorie intake, which can negatively affect a person’s body. Consuming artificial sweeteners doesn’t directly affect for weight loss and because people, but it doesn’t aid people artificial sweeteners have fewer from consuming less sugar, which calories than sugar,” Cline said. is an issue. Artificial sweeteners Artificial sweeteners do reduce don’t break the habit of drinking the amount of calorie intake and sweet beverages, and definitely isn’t if effective. People consume it for natural to the human body. As a those reasons, so they can keep result, people should consider water the sweet taste without gaining too as the alternative, since it is natural much calories and weight. However, and a true zero calorie beverage. It the consumption can become a little also economically benefits people excessive, which leads to health too. problems.

“The main benefit is that Furthemore, Cline concludes that you get the sweet taste without consumption of artificial sweeteners increasing blood sugar,” does not help with the habit of said Thompson. “Someone 9

Artificial Sweeteners by Weiran Jiang

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Nature’s with type 2 diabetes who is trying to control their blood sugar, artificial sweeteners would be a great alternative and wouldn’t make their diabetes worse.”

Artificially sweetened foods do have benefits, especially for those who medically rely on them.

They were first made to help those who were diabetic or relied on them, which was a great finding.

It really benefits those who have type 2 diabetes or have a medical need to keep a low blood sugar level or just to control the blood sugar, and it is an alternative for calorie reduction.

Cline, who consumes zero calorie foods from time to time, said she wouldn’t recommend 10

a d n ple

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r weetene S e e r F Calorie

A mocha drink in a Japanese teahouse. Photo by Weiran Jiang.

them for everyone.

“One, you should try to wing yourself from having something sweet all the time,” Cline said. “Then I looked at the chemical composition, and I saw what the chemical composition was, and I was like ‘I probably shouldn’t be ingesting this stuff.’”

Cline says that splenda is made of carbon, hydrogen, and some nitrogen, but when Cline glanced at the chemical composition, she thought she saw a fluorine or a chlorine atom, which isn’t something somebody would want to intake since it isn’t what a body could break down and is deadly. Another

comparison Cline gave as an alternative of butter is vegetable shortening which turned out that hydrogenated oil was worse, which this could apply to artificial sweeteners.

Mari Casas, a nutrition student at the University of Texas in Austin doesn’t prefer artificial sweeteners for herself or others.

“If you drink a diet soda that has artificial sweeteners, there is a higher chance of you to increase your risk of type two diabetes and metabolic syndrome,” said Casas.

The purpose of artificially sweetened foods is to prevent high calories and diabetes, but instead, it could actually increase the risk of getting type two diabetes. Someone who does have type two diabetes uses zero calorie foods to control blood sugar level, but it increases the risk of type 2 diabetes in people who don’t have it. Although artificial sweeteners do prevent calories, it does give people higher risks all types of diabetes.

A mango slushie at Mango Mango in Austin. A mocha pudding at a ramen resaurant in Osaka, Japan. An almond fruit pudding in a barbecue in Kyoto, Japan. All photos by Weiran Jiang.

“In my nutrition class, we were talking about how nutrition is portrayed in the media and how little kids watching TV see ads for sugary foods and stuff like that,” Casas said. “You’re going to want it. I think just educating people in any way can help for sure… Maybe if a dietician would make a PSA, a video, a commercial about it, just to get it out there.”

Although it hasn’t gotten to the point where artificial sweeteners are a

problem, people should start making healthier choices about their sugar intake levels.

Educating people about the health complications associated with diet beverages and zero calorie foods is the key to address this problem.

And many don’t realize that zero calorie drinks might not be the way to go because there are too many risks to consider. Artificially sweetened foods and beverages might be a short term solution, but in the long term, it could cause type two diabetes.

Cline agrees that education is key to addressing the problem of high levels of sugar and artificial sweeteners consumption.

“I think there are already studies that show that Americans eat far too much sugar on a yearly basis.

So just educate them about healthy body weight, healthy lifestyle, good choices in general, and to reduce sugar, but that doesn’t mean substitute it with artificial sweeteners.”

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Ingredients: 10 Strawberries 10 Bluberries

1/2 cup of milk 1 bannana

Berry Blast 1 Cup of Yogurt

By Weiran Jiang

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Steps:

1. Pour the yogurt to fill the bottom of the blender.

2. Pour the 1/2 cup of milk into the blender.

3. Rinse the strawberries and blue berries as desired.

4. Peel the bannana amd place the ingredients into the blender.

5. Now place th lid on and start the blender.

6. Now your smoothie will be ready!

Mason 13

A deer explores the Jim Corbet Park in Nainital, India in the early morning. Photo by Rohan Malhotra.

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A tide pool gathers near California Academy of Sciences. Photo by Weiran Jiang.

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By Michelle Rodriguez

Keen on Being Lean

All Graphics by Michelle Rodriguez

“Later I was able to understand that if you eat healthy and eat well, you can avoid many things.�

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P

eople wonder what to do to live a healthy and nutritious life and how to avoid harming oneself by eating incorrectly. This could be achieved by receiving information about eating the right amount of foods and quality as well and applying it to their lives.

Good nutrition is key to everyone’s daily life. The majority of the people in our society want to have a healthy life and a fit body, however, not everyone knows how to treat their body adequately, and instead of becoming healthier, they accidentally harm themselves. Trying to switch to having healthy eating habits is not an easy process that can be made overnight, but it i s

definitely possible to do. Having a healthy lifestyle helps one’s mental and physical state. There are many ways to become healthier, but there are also methods one should not attempt to become slimmer or healthier.

Some people eat smaller quantities of food to become slimmer or healthier, but surgeon Alberto Bautista said it isn’t that simple.

“To become thinner, you shouldn’t interfere with the quantity of food that you consume but in the quality in which you eat it,” Bautista said.

“If you want to lose weight and try to eat less, without a good quality … you can get sick because the

body needs a necessary amount of proteins, vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, and energy daily for its proper functioning.”

Nutrients obtained from food are very important to one’s body because they help create energy. There are some people that think that eating less is a good method to feel comfortable with their body. However, it is not the quantity of food one eats, but the quality in which it is

become slower which would allow your body to gain weight,” Claudia Peña, teacher of a nutrition class, said.

There are many people that complain why they gain weight when they only eat once a day.

“It’s precisely because your metabolism slows down, and what the body does is that it obtains all the food because it doesn’t know when’s the next time you will feed it,” Peña said. “The idea is that you should only eat the amount of food and nutrients your body needs.”

People that limit themselves to eating once a day will end up having a slow metabolism, and having a slow metabolism

“Later I was able to understand that if you eat healthy and eat well, you can avoid many things.”

-Alberto Bautista, Surgeon

being consumed. The quality and quantity of food determines if one has a healthy diet.

Getting sick and not acquiring the amount of nutrients needed for one’s body aren’t the only disadvantages.

“Instead of losing weight, you could gain weight. Because what happens is that your metabolism would

c a u s e s one to decelerate the breaking down of the food in their stomach.

This won’t reduce their weight, but instead, it will increase it.

Because some people become anorexic, they stop eating.

“Anorexia is the loss of appetite, but it can be physiological or can be pathological,” Bautista said.

Anorexia, in physiological terms, is when one lacks appetite and stops eating to become 17

slimmer. In pathological terms, anorexia is a sickness because it is produced by an effect in the person. It decreases one’s nutrients and vitamins, which are essential to create the organic base in one’s body, which is not adequate and doesn’t give one appetite.

One can know if someone is experiencing anorexia by the following.

“The anorexic symptoms are created from the lack of the wish to feed oneself, and this entails the weakness of the body,” Bautista said.

“This causes one to fall in anemia.”

It is necessary for everyone to eat food in good quality. Although quality is key, the amount of food one consumes is important as well.

Food quality helps people because it allows them to eat properly, obtaining the right amount of ingredients and nutrients.

Food quantity tells people how much food they’re supposed to eat according to their body size.

Not everyone has the same body size, so everyone consumes varying amounts of food.

“For example, people in general are allowed to consume from 6-10 servings of grains, in general, per day,” Angelica Garcia, assistant of a nutrition class in, said. “However, not everyone can eat the same.

For example, I’m around five feet tall, and I wouldn’t be able to 18 eat the same amount

of food a tall and strong man, due to their body size and sex. So the plate doesn’t look [the same] for everyone.”

People have many different types of body shapes and sizes.

This means that their stomachs and bodies need different

amounts of alimentations. A young girl wouldn’t be able to eat the same portions of foods as an adult man. The amount of food the man eats would be too much for the young girl, which would cause negative effects to her health and weight.

One’s plate should be divided into three different sections.

A quarter of the plate should be grains.

“Oatmeal, cereal, brown rice, pasta, tortillas, beans, those are all grains,” Garcia said. “For example, from 6 to 10 servings of grains per day, that’s what people in general are allowed to consume” The other quarter of the plate should be proteins.

“What are proteins? Meats,” Garcia said. “You can either get proteins from animals or proteins from vegetables, like chicken, beef, anything that’s an animal” However, not everyone gets their proteins from animals because some people are vegetarian. “ Ve g e t a r i a n s don’t eat meats, but they get their proteins from a vegetable source,” Garcia said.

The other section of the plate are the vegetables. The consumption of different vegetables are pointed out.

“You can eat all types of vegetables, as much as you want. Except for the peas, the corn, and the potatoes,” Garcia said. “It doesn’t mean that you can’t eat them because they’re [going to] elevate your glucose level … but eat less of [those vegetables].”

However, one should not just have three sections in their plate to consume from. Foods are divided into five main groups. The first three groups are the grains, proteins, and vegetables, but one needs fruits too.

“A lot of people think that because fruits are good, they can eat the amount that they want. Well, they can’t. So less fruit, more veggies,”

Garcia said.

The last group is supposed to be dairy.

“So when we talk about dairy, we’re only talking about milk and yogurt,” Garcia said.

“However, depending on who you are, and what age you have, it depends how much dairy you consume. Always make sure to pay attention to how much you’re eating of each group”.

I n s t e a d of trying to lose weight by the lack of getting fed three times each day, a great alternative is exercise and sleep.

“You have to incorporate the practice of exercise

“You have to incorporate the practice of exercise which is what helps you reduce your weight.”

-Alberto Bautista, Surgeon

which is what helps you reduce your weight,” Alberto said. “If you don’t exercise but stop eating, you could potentially lose weight, but it would take a matter of months because the organism uses the only glucose in your body, and until the glucose finishes, it’s not going to use fat from your body.”

Sleep plays a very big role when obtaining good health.

An a r t i c l e explained how sleep helps one’s health.

“Getting enough quality sleep at the right times can help protect your mental health, physical health, quality of life, and safety. The way you feel while you’re awake depends in part on what happens while you’re sleeping. During sleep, your body is working to support healthy brain function and maintain your physical health. In children and teens, sleep also helps support growth and development.”

Sustaining a healthy life brings one many benefits and allows them to live longer than if they ate incorrectly. Eating too little or too much isn’t healthy at all. Instead, one should base themselves off of the Nutrition Plate and eat adequately, according to their body size and weight. Live a healthy life, and in return, live happily.

“Later, I was able to understand that if one eats healthy and eats well, they can avoid many things,” Bautista said.

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Which Fries Are M N

By Michelle Rodriguez

Times Fries Got Chosen

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Fries Graph!

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Types of Fries

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28 students at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy were asked to fill out a survey about their favorite type of fries. This fries graph shows how many times each type of fry was chosen. The largest number was 10, correspoding to waffle fries, a percentage of 35.7%.

More Ap-peeling?

A. Curly Fries

B. Crinkle-Cut Fries C. Chili Cheese Fries D. Potato Tornado E. Sweet Potato Fries F. Steak Fries G. Garlic Fries H. Belgian Fries I. Poutine J. Tater Tots K. Smiley Fries

L. Normal Standard Cut Fries M. Cheese Fries N. Waffle Fries

FRIES

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Diabolical Diets

By Eliana Hurley

Vegetable and pork kebabs on the grill. Photo by Eliana Hurley.

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MN O P Q R ST U V W X YZ

any people struggle with shaking those last, pesky 10 pounds no matter what diet they try. Fortunately, there is not concern for those people because the struggles to attain and sustain the perfect diet are avoidable and easily understood.

In order for a person to be healthy, their efforts don’t have to be perfect.

If their diet isn’t completely followed for every meal, it does not mean that it should be given up on. According to Donald Hensrud, a dietician who studies preventative medicine and nutrition at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, in order to lead a healthy lifestyle, one must have a maintainable diet.

He also believes that weight loss is attributed more to a healthy diet rather than exercise. Learning what steps one should take and which ones will set their progress back is pertinent to an effective diet. These steps must be easy to implement and to retrace if a person feels like the restrictions are overwhelming.

What is a Healthy Diet?

Jessica Wenzel, a former registered dietician and completing her third year of medical school in 2018-2019 at Dell Medical School, said that there is no single group of foods that should be avoided entirely.

“So, my answer to that would be no, if you’re thinking of food groups in the sense of like grains, fruits, vegetables, and protein, and sweets as well,” Wenzel said. “I would say no… everything in moderation.”

If a diet is too intense or the variety of foods that are allowed is too limited, it can cause the person

following it to want to give up, rendering the diet useless. However, Hannah McFarren, a third year medical student at Dell Medical School researching pediatric

“I think that really any food is fair game in a healthy diet, but it's amounts and portions that are most important.”

-Joshua Morris, Medical Student

obesity, said there were exceptions to this rule of moderation.

“I think the only food or item that really has no redeeming qualities whatsoever is probably soda because it is straight-up liquid sugar, it doesn’t make you full at all, and you are just chugging calories essentially,” McFarren said.

Mcfarren stressed the importance of consuming mostly foods that have a sufficient amount of nutrition, even if they may not be the healthiest thing to eat. Soda, however, has no beneficial value to one’s diet.

Therefore, according to McFarren, it is one of the very few items that should be completely avoided in a diet. Rather than the quality of the foods, McFarren believes that the quantity of food that is consumed is of greater importance in a diet.

“I think that really any food is fair game in a healthy diet, but it’s amounts and portions that’s most important,” McFarren said.

“This is difficult in our culture due to little awareness of what portion sizes we should be eating and the prevalence of processed foods with condensed amounts of sugars and dense caloric content.”

Restricting groups of foods entirely can lead to abandoning a certain eating habit because it seems unrealistic or too daunting. Which foods people eat actually do matter, but making sure that the restrictions aren’t causing too much stress for a person dieting plays a larger role in the diet. Rather than cutting out foods, McFarren believes that people should control the amount that they eat instead.

Where McFarren stressed the quantity of foods more than quality, Wenzel disagreed, and saw both factors to be of equal importance.

“It is more of a hybrid,” Wenzel said. “I think the quality is really important. You definitely want to be eating a majority of whole foods, more of your fruits, veggies, whole grains, and lean proteins, but you don’t want to be eating too much of those, granted, it’s a lot harder to overeat on that food because it is lot more filling.”

Joshua Morris, a second year medical student at Dell Medical School, agreed when he said that maintaining a reasonable quantity and good quality are both important in a diet.

“Both matter… I mean, everything has to be in balance,” Morris said.

People have varying opinions on whether the quantity of the food one eats or the quality of it matters more, but the interviewees all agreed that both factors have importance in a diet, and should both be regarded when choosing what foods one should eat. 23

The Food Plate Diagram The food plate diagram is posted on cafeteria walls at schools and is supposed to represent a balanced meal.

Morris explained his hesitancy to encourage people to follow the food plate model.

“The food plate doesn’t really seem to be tailored to any one person in particular,” Morris said. “It doesn’t really reflect either the cultural values that someone has or their own dietary preferences or what kind of diet they ultimately want to adhere to.”

If the diagram is not specific enough for a certain person, or it doesn’t fit that person’s needs or wants, then it should be altered to be more effective. Personalizing a diet is key to maintaining it. If a person follows someone else’s diet exactly, they may not achieve the same results.

This is because people’s bodies work in different ways, even if they are subjected to the same circumstances.

How should a person lose weight?

When losing weight is the sole goal of a person’s diet, according to Morris, reducing their caloric intake is the best way to go about losing that weight.

“If… a person just decides to eat less of their standard diet, then, yeah, that would be an ultimately good way to lose weight,” Morris said. “How much weight they wanted to lose would depend on the proportion of their diet they reduce, and if 24 they are eating less, but

they are eating more calorically thousand calories a day.’ You dense foods, then it doesn’t matter.” could say, [it is] probably a bad Understanding how to do lose idea, and you’re probably going to weight safely is the concern for do some damage to your body.”

If a person gives their body the amount of time that it needs to process the changes that are being made, then they won’t quit so easily, but if they are expecting it to be quick and easy, they won’t be prepared with the correct mindset. In most cases, it is not a good idea to use these fad diets.

“Most fad diets don’t

By Eliana Hurley keep long term results and focus too much on the initial weight loss many people. The concern pertains and not a pattern of choosing to whether losing weight in a short healthy things,” McFarren said. period of time is healthy or not.

Some diets advertise this weight loss The Infamous Juice Cleanse as if it could happen in a week or a month and gain popularity quickly, Morris seemed to laugh a little these diets are deemed “fad diets” at the mention of the juice cleanse, by the public. The people that follow expressing his distaste towards it. them often don’t actually think about “We already have this thing how they are affecting their bodies called our liver and our kidneys, or gather background about them, which do awesome jobs at cleansing rather they just take what the media all the junk that we put into our portrays these diets as and trust it. bodies, and all the normal stuff “While there may be a place for that turns into toxic metabolites,” short term diet [or] exercise plans, Morris said. “So, the juice cleanse is it really takes daily habits in order just an insane idea from the get-go.” to be healthiest,” McFarren said.

Wenzel’s beliefs were in “Short term diets… have a high agreement with those of Morris. rate of weight regain after the diet.”

“I don’t think your body ever Morris believes that in order needs to be ‘cleansed’ and that to stick to a diet, the person doing is your liver’s job,” Wenzel said. it must be very goal-oriented According to Morris and and plan ahead. He believes that Wenzel, the juice cleanse insinuates expecting results quickly can be that there is metaphorical ‘dirt’ in the downfall of a person’s dieting. people’s bodies that built up and “Ultimately, it just kind of needs to be cleaned out. However, depends on the long term play is, and Morris stated that there are parts of what the short term play is,” Morris the body that do that, so he believes said. “I mean, if you have a woman that the whole diet is simply a scam. who is like, ‘I am getting married in Morris said that the juice cleanse two weeks, and I am going to eat a may seem like it works because

Healthy food can be delicious too! Baked potatoes and brussel sprouts. Photo by Eliana Hurley.

weight is lost in the beginning of the diet, but it is easily regained after the diet, similar to other fad diets. It tricks people into thinking they have succeeded in losing their weight, so it is praised and gains popularity.

The Lifestyle Diet Yo-yo dieting is when a person decides to diet and restricts a large amount of calories in their diet for a short period of time. Then they give up and overeat when they realize it isn’t working at all or it isn’t working as quickly as they would like. This cycle happens repeatedly, hence the name ‘yo-yo diet.’ The danger of yoyo dieting is that it can lead to health problems and other side effects that are not beneficial for the body.

“I tend to see yo-yo dieting as harmfulit’s certainly emotionally harmful and difficult fluctuating in weight, and it’s not good for your body for that to be going on,” McFarren said.

A way to combat this unhealthy push-and-pull diet strategy is to approach eating in a whole new way. Rather than trying

A taco from Frontier in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Photo by Eliana Hurley.

to start a definitive diet, try to implement new things slowly.

“I definitely would recommend a lifestyle approach,” Wenzel said. “I think one of the best ways to have a lifestyle approach is to basically make a small change each week.”

Intermittent fasting was recommended by Morris. According to him, it has gained popularity for its reputation of success. Morris expressed his positive view of it, showing how drastically different it is from other types of dieting.

“Intermittent fasting is where you take a period of time and… you don’t really put any calories into your body,” Morris explained.

At first fasting may be alarming, but it is much more than just fasting because after the period of fasting one would eat as they would otherwise.

“So you aren’t really doing anything more than drinking water or ultra low, calorie free beverages for 12-16 hours,” Morris said. “During the time that you are not fasting, you would eat seminormal meals, and listen to your body and eat as you are hungry.”

This is quite different from yo-

yo dieting and fad dieting. Morris said that it seems to have worked for many people and has been proven to be sustainable and fairly easy to maintain as a lifestyle. Morris also said that as long as the diet that people are adhering to is long lasting and employs mostly healthy habits.

“They should take the word ‘diet’ and destroy it and get it out of their brains because they should be living a lifestyle,” Morris said.

“Lifestyle carries the implication of something that’s longitudinal, longterm, sustainable and something that’s just a natural part of the habit.”

Instead of jumping into something that feels frightening to achieve what is unattainable in a short period of time, look at a series of changes over time, and there will be better progress than jumping back and forth from different temporary diets.

“Ultimately they need to have something that they are not going to drop at the first sign of difficulty or their first bad day,” Morris said.

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HOW - TO

By Eliana Hurley

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STEPS: Create a website using a domain such as weebly, wix, or squarespace.

Decide what the “Pull Factor� of the website will be. Why should people visit it rather than other food blogs?

Create a section for blog posts, recipe posting, and an about me page for for the creators.

Include contact information if you desire.

When posting each recipe, make sure each recipe is detailed and easy to follow. Posting pictures with each step will help the audience to better understand what the step is asking them to do.

Personalize each page with your own pictures to make the blog more inviting.

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A canoe navigates a lake in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Photo by Rohan Malhotra.

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A stream running through a forest in Borjomi, Georgia. Photo by Tyler Hill.

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May Not Always B-Positive

By Cathryn Gunawan

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All graphics by Cathryn Gunawan

ST U V W X YZ he Blood Type Diet is selling a personalized diet, but they are just using other diets to create their own because there is no substantial evidence provided that proves blood type correlates with people’s diet.

According to the Blood Type Diet, created by naturopath Peter J.

D’Adamo in his book “Eat Right for Your Type”, each of the four general blood types are meant to eat different things due to ancestral habits. This diet gained popularity in the late ‘90s due to its individualization.

Research was necessary for designing the Blood Type Diet, as with all diets, but D’Adamo received criticism of his findings from scientists and researchers who deconstructed his claims. Although he

addressed this criticism, his rebuttal may not have adequate evidence to support his case. However, D’Adamo’s book provides anecdotal evidence regarding how well the diet works correlating positively with his research. D’Adamo could not be reached for comment but he responded on the Blood Type Diet Official Website that he created.

“The responses are in most part rhetorical since none these criticisms present any proof for their assertions,” wrote D’Adamo.

He only discussed the matter generally, but he did not directly address the critics and their research, nor did he combat their concerns in any way. While he said the critics did not have any proof, neither did his own research.

The ketogenic diet focuses on decreasing carbohydrates while pushing towards fatty foods and is similar to the Blood Type Diet. Angi Scallon, an Austin-resident who uses the ketogenic diet, said that

change in her lifestyle was remarkably positive after choosing t o f o l l o w the ketogenic diet and that people should consider results before choosing a diet.

“It’s a total difference, a total turnaround,” Scallon said. “I sleep a lot better.

Everything’s better… itbecomes a habit; it becomes a lifestyle… I recommend the diet to other people, especially people… that live a more sedated lifestyle.”

She believes that there is so much refined sugar and carbohydrates in the American diet that the body refers to the carbohydrates for energy, and the leftovers are stored as fat. These refined sugars and carbohydrates make it easier for people exceed the caloric intake necessary for their body to function. This increases the additional energy that needs to be stored as fat.

She also believes her diet, which includes an increase of fat and protein, has changed how her body gets energy by initially using up all the carbohydrates and then using the fat, making her metabolism more efficient.

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This allowed her to intake less calories along with tracking how how much food she needed to maintain her body and operate functionally.

Katherine Hall, a registered dietitian and founder of Optimal RD: Registered Dietitian Nutritionists,

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explained the significance of evidence in her field of work and the conclusions she reached about the Blood Type Diet after her own research.

“As a registered dietitian, we use evidence based research,” Hall said.

“So, all of the recommendations and guidelines that we provide to our clients are going to be based on medical journals, large samplesized populations… Nutrition can be really trendy and that’s why as a dietitian we do use those evidence based research to help guide us and help our clients… I didn’t really feel that the evidence was there to support it.”

Hall stressed the importance of research and evidence in order to provide her clients reliable information. She dug deeper into D’Adamo’s Blood Type Diet and was unable to conclude that the research was based on evidence because the research was not done on a large enough scale to be considered viable evidence.

Carrie Holley-Hurt, a dietitian at the Austin company Nutritional Wisdom, explains why the Blood Type Diet could be useful in leading people towards a healthy life.

“The beauty in it is that it gets people to commit to a more wholefood way of eating, meaning that they’re eating more vegetables.

They’re eating better quality fats and proteins,” Holley-Hurt said.

Similarly, Hall said, “One of the benefits that is in something like these Blood Type Diets, or any other diet, is that it may encourage a lot of fresh fruits, vegetables, lean proteins.”

Holley-Hurt explained that the Blood Type Diet is beneficial for introducing a healthier way of eating in general, even if it is not as individualized as initially thought. Hall also related the Blood Type Diet to eating healthier and using diets as motivation towards this better lifestyle. Dr. Hall uses this as an example similar to what the

blood type does: You and your friend decide to eat a great salad, and you call it a diet. It seems great and you write a book about it. Meanwhile, it is working for other people, and more people gravitate towards it. However, when you look at the big picture, you are just eating healthier. This can be seen with a lot of different diets that say they are specific for each person with personalized effects.

“Being too

legislature for a long time, but as her health started to decline, she was diagnosed with lupus, her second autoimmune disease. At that time, she started working with her own health coach and started to see

Holley-Hurt advises high school students to do three things: Manage stress, sleep and eat regularly. She emphasizes reframing how people think of stress and taking time for self-care. The second most important piece of advice was getting more sleep. Without these first two things, diets will not be able to improve health significantly.

She said that it is all three of these things combined because when people are under stress, it can really affect their health and cause many

“I didn’t really feel that the evidence was there to support it.” dog mat ic about any one particular way of eating can eventually pamper you because it doesn’t allow you to change and to be flexible with your diet as you age or as your circumstances change,” Holley-Hurt said.

She is concerned about how being too strict by using a particular diet can be harmful to the body.

Instead, it is better to eat balanced meals and various foods rather than focusing too much on a specific way of eating.

“I wanted to share that,” HolleyHurt said. “I wanted to help other people with that because I know how hopeless it can feel when you’re so sick. So I quit my job, and I went back to school, and I started doing this work.”

Holley-Hurt worked for the

-Katherine Hall, Dietician

improvements in her health and eventually reached remission. She used her struggles to motivate herself and help others.

Hall was personally interested in becoming a registered dietitian because she was interested in working in the medical field, and she believes that nutrition is a powerful that can really help people feel their best.

“If you’re not sleeping, it doesn’t matter how great your diet is, and if you’re not managing your stress, it doesn’t really matter how great your diet is,” Holley-Hurt said.

problems.

Hall said that high school students should eat lunch, especially because of their developing bodies. Teenagers should try to avoid skipping meals and bring something portable with nutrients in it.

Even though basing a person’s diet on their blood type may not be effective, as long as they are eating a sustainable healthy diet, HolleyHurt said they should be supported.

“They are motivated at that time to eat better, and therefore, with improved balance in their diet, an improved amount of fiber, decreasing the sugar and the fat, they are feeling better,” Holley-Hurt said.

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A “Agrarian”

Eat More: - Fresh Fruits - Fresh Vegetables - Fresh Beans - Whole Grains

(Due to Weak

Immne System)

Blood Type Diets “Balance” Eat More: - Eggs - Low Dairy - Green vegetables

- Certain Meats

Avoid: - Chicken

- Wheat

- Corn 34

By Cathryn Gunawan

B

O

“Old”

Eat More: - High Protein - Lean Meat - Poultry - Fish - Vegetables

Light On:

- Grains

- Beans

- Dairy

“Modern”

Eat More: - Tofu - Seafood - Dairy - Fish - Green Vegetables

AB

Due to Low Stomach Acid, Avoid:

- Caffeine

- Alcohol

- Smoked Meats

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Breakfast is More Egg-cellent Than You Think

By Rohan Malhotra

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Graphic by Rohan Malhotra

BC D E HI J K N O P Q T U V W Z reakfast is called the most impor tant meal of the day -- but many people underestimate its effect.

The significance of eating breakfast in the US varies with age or a person’s schedule.

For an adult, scheduled breakfast may not seem vital, but a scheduled breakfast is very important for children and teenagers, and skipping it isn’t a good idea according to Sumi Singh, Austinbased nutritionist and life coach.

Time of day Singh said nutritious food is very influential for children.

“They will be playing and be in class all day and haven’t eaten much, and breakfast is super important,” Singh said. “For adults, who can grab food at any time of the day, it’s not as important because they can get nutrition at any time.”

According to Singh, eating food at a strict time isn’t as important as long as people are getting their nutrition, but when a person isn’t hungry, they shouldn’t eat.

“Eat according to when you are hungry,” Singh said.

Being hungry is usually a body’s natural way of saying it needs nutrients, and when people aren’t hungry, they shouldn’t eat because that will cause their body to have excess calories.

“A lot of people miss breakfast or kind of look over breakfast,” said Briana Faustino, manager at Black Walnut Cafe in Austin. “All of our food is really filling…something

small like fruit [is really filling].

They are getting something really good in their body to last them throughout the day.”

Breakfast isn’t that important to some people, which is why it is sometimes overlooked when time is an issue. There are many foods in the Black Walnut Cafe that are filling to make sure that customers meals and breakfast last them the rest of the day or at least keep them

F L

proper nutrition, even if it seems like a nuisance.

Type of food “It’s fine that they have a meal that’s more protein based in the morning,” Singh said. “If you have a sugary cereal meal you will be hungry later, but if you eat more substantial foods like higher fiber and protein meals and veggie meals, you will not be hungry for a while after breakfast.”

Sugary meals, like candy and cereal, aren’t filling, or nutritious, so having them as the most important meal of the day is a bad idea. Eating other foods like high fiber or proteins for breakfast is a great way to reduce hunger after breakfast and not develop a habit of unhealthily snacking.

- Sumi Singh, Nutritionist “Our most popular thing on our menu is eggs benedict,” Faustino said. “We have different variations from that, but eggs benedict is still the most popular. I think it’s just a breakfast feeling full with good and healthy classic... So you’re getting all the food. major food groups, and delicious “Breakfast usually dictates stuff.” whether I have a good day or not.”

According to Faustino, eggs said Benjamin Kha, sophomore benedict is one of the better foods at Anderson High School in for breakfast because it’s important Austin.“When I skip breakfast, the to get all of the food groups in day ends up going bad... I’m always a filling and healthy way. Most tired and sleepy, no energy.” customers are in a consensus about Since breakfast is a large , so not many can refuse the eggs contributor to whether Kha has benedict. energy or not throughout his day, “It’s kind of halfmaking time for it and allowing for and-half,” Faustino said.

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R X

“Eat according to when you are hungry.”

“During the work week you’ll get healthy, and then on the weekend you’re like ‘who cares.’”

Since people tend to order healthier foods during the week, but not on the weekend, trying to and implementing a healthy breakfast into every day, rather than just on the weekends is a good strategy.

Getting into a everyday routine could really aid this strategy. “[In the morning, I eat] some eggs or just cereal.” Kha said. “I usually

just eat it in the car.”

If high schoolers like Kha have something small and sugary in the morning like cereal, then they might be tired as they won’t be able to eat again until lunch. However, if they have food like eggs in the morning, they probably won’t feel the need to eat until lunchtime.

Age “I think that for kids who are active a lot, they should plan their

meals in advance,” Singh said. “It’s easy to put together a protein shake or a banana or a [Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich]... It sets up for better habits in the future.”

Most children usually don’t plan their snacks for the day based on nutrition, and not doing that can prove to be a bad thing for the child both at the time and in the future as they won’t have that healthy habit.

“Gogurts are not the way to go.”

Singh said. “Don’t absentmindedly eat something; Pay attention to what you are eating. As parents, we realize we have the responsibility to put the food on their plate. We should be offering to drive them to school and pick them up, and helping them control what they eat.”

Singh said that Gogurts aren’t the way to go because most parents just absentmindedly give their child these small and unhealthy snacks because they do not want to prepare snacks for their children.

Teenagers and children are usually reliant on adults for food, but breakfast is still important.

“Schedules are more hectic than elementary school kids because they will be doing so much all day, so the home base meal is the most important and needs to be the most nutritious,” said Singh. “It’s important for them to get more nutrition.”

Briana Faustino, manager of Black Walnut Cafe. Photo by Rohan Malhotra.

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39 A crepe at Cafe B Copenhagen Denmark.. Photo by Cathryn Gunawan

Fruits

By Rohan Malhotra

o t a Tom

That you probably didn’t think were fruits

C

r e p p e P e

l i h

ve i l O

Banana A fruit is a seed-bearing structure, while vegetables are all other plant parts, such as roots, leaves and stems.

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Av a

ca

do

Vegetables

That you probably didn’t think were vegetables

Tu rn Be

C arr o t s

ets

ip

Potatoes

c ttu Le

Brocco li

e 41

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The water shimmers in the lake accompanying a mountain view in Hallstat, Austria. Photo by Cathryn Gunawan

Flowers in Shimla, India. Photo by Rohan Maholtra.