'Not From Concentrate'

Reading Journal Entry

• The article I read was Freshly Squeezed: The Truth About Orange Juice in Boxes by Alissa Hamilton
• The article was about the process of making boxes of orange juice that are labeled 'Not from Concentrate'
• I was never much of an orange juice fan, mainly because of the after taste it gives off. After reading this article, I know why. The manufacturers who produce boxed orange juices are completely stripping whole oranges of anything that could potentially make them go bad in less than a year. And all while doing this, they're taking away the flavor of the oranges all together. So in order to get a flavor and scent that consumers approve of, they hire flavor and fragrance companies to create something similar to a real orange. Disgusting, right?
• The one thing I noticed about the writer's strategy was the way she stayed biased throughout the entire article until the end, where she suggested eating an actual Valencia orange in the morning to save yourself from ingesting chemicals and drinking what some would consider 'fake orange juice'.
• Because almost all of the American population drinks orange juice first thing in the morning, I think it's important for everyone to read this article or at least research the topic themselves; ignorance isn't always bliss

'Pink slime'

Reading Journal Entry

• The article I read was "'Pink Slime' distracts from food safety fight" by Brent Jones.
• The article talked about how the recent controversy of 'pink slime' blew up all over the media and distracted the government from focusing on more important issues involving the food industry.
• One thing I did like about the writer's technique was his use of bullet points. I feel that if you're really trying to get a point across without adding too much unnecessary information, bulleting is the way to go. Another thing I thought was a good idea was his use of hyperlinks. This is good for the reader to see sources of the information that the writer is relaying, and to find out more information on specific details of the article.
• I do recommend that people read this article mainly because the controversy of 'pink slime' was so widespread throughout the media, that people need to realize there's many more problems with the food industry. Another reason why is because the article points out that this 'pink slime', although a gross thought, is proven to be more safe than most other raw meat. 

Argument Essay Proposal

The theme I chose at the beginning of this semester was food. Almost every article I have looked at has talked about how we, as a country, can reduce the amount of fast food we consume and what we can do about childhood obesity. The answer is obvious, eat more fresh food and less processed food. While I was looking up topics to write about, I ran into a debate under the name of "What it Takes to Fight Obesity", and of course I figured it would say exactly what all the other articles I've read have said. But a comment from an anonymous reader said this:

"4) Give people incentives to work out and exercise. When people work exercise, it helps manage blood pressure, cholesterol, etc. Doing so saves money in health care costs. Perhaps make gym memberships tax deductible. One health insurance company used to give people a certain amount of money at the end of the year if they used their gym membership a certain amount of times a week (the swipe card was the indicator for it)."

An brilliant idea! Why have I never thought of this before? So this is what I will be arguing. The American government should be rewarding the people who are making an effort to become a healthier country instead of going on about what we can do to change. It's time to make that change.