CRITICAL SUMMARY PORTFOLIO.

FOOD AND IDENTITY- David Feliciano

Diet and depression - Harvard Health  , 

            This article "Diet and Depression" is an informational article that argues the significance of diet contrasted to depression.  A key point in this text, is "Self-care includes things like sleep, physical activity, and diet, and is just as important as meds and therapy, and sometimes more." The author says, "I am passionate about diet and lifestyle measures for good health because there is overwhelming evidence supporting the benefits of a healthy diet and lifestyle for, oh, just about everything: preventing cardiovascular disease, cancer, dementia, mental health disorders, including depression." There is a critical contrast between a healthy diet and health. First off, diet has many beneficial factors such as preventing many diseases. This is essential when it comes to depression and that's what the author tries to argue. "What it boils down to is what we eat matters and for every aspect of our health, but especially our mental health." The saying goes "You are what you eat". Furthermore, the importance of restricting yourself from foods that only feed the body is necessary in order to have a healthy brain. There is a difference between eating a protein bar and eating broccoli. Broccoli has many benefits to your mental health as well as your physical. The important thing is to eat your greens. "The gist of it is, eat plants and eat lots of them, including fruits and veggies, whole grains (in unprocessed form ideally), seeds and nuts, with some lean proteins like fish and yogurt." If you want a healthy brain, it starts with your diet. "Researchers found that a healthy diet (the Mediterranean diet as an example) was associated with a significantly lower risk of developing depressive symptoms." I agree with this information a hundred percent. I have met many people that seem depressed, and I ask them what they eat and it's always the same answer, little to nothing. My PSA video can give you more information on this topic which you can check out here. The words "[there] is overwhelming evidence supporting the benefits of a healthy diet and lifestyle." helped me identify this was an argumentative essay. This article relates to our inquiry because our diet affects how we think, and how we think affects our actions, giving us our identity. 

            What is "Food Insecurity"? It is "When households are uncertain of having, or unable to acquire, enough food to meet the needs of all their members because they have insufficient money or other resources for food." Do you know that in the United States "1 out of 7 people are food insecure"? This means it is likely that you know someone that is food insecure. It is just as important to attend to someone else's feelings as it is to attend to yours. We must recognize that "46 million Americans rely on food Stamps". I find this interesting because I use food stamps myself and there was a time when all kids in New York were given $400 due to covid. I also know a lot of people that rely on food stamps. It's surprising because 30 years ago it was a shame to have food stamps now people pull them out in the stores like it's a million cash.  This doesn't mean people aren't still insecure about them and that's what this article is trying to show us. "868 million people suffer from food hunger each year." This is one of the world's biggest issues if not the biggest one next to poverty. This all relates to food and identity because we usually feel great after having a nice meal to fill up our stomachs. Imagine how the kids and adults feel after eating something they were forced to eat. Or even the ones that don't have anything to eat. What about the ones that suffer from undernourishment. "12.5% of the global population" suffer from undernourishment and think about how their voices are literally taken from them. Their identity is drained and affected by food insecurity.

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        Nas and Damian Marley - patience is a song that breaks down our identity to the core. The song starts off with "Scientists still can't explain pyramids." I think this is crucial to understanding our identity given it is our history. If we don't know where we came from, how will we ever know ourselves? "We born not knowing, are we born knowing all?" If we don't know what we know where our sense of individuality is the point Damian is trying to get at. "So, the ones in the West will never move East and feel like they could be at home." Our identities will never bond. This is important because it displays the division that exists in the world. "The average man can't prove of most of the things that he chooses to speak of." This is important because if we can't prove why we speak of what we do then all of our identities become false. There is no such thing as authentic which is the point trying to be argued in this song. We continue to divide ourselves blinded by the fact that we don't even know the truth. "Can you milk cows even though you drive cars?" I'll answer this question for most of us. No. We are brainwashed to worry about materialistic things that can be taken from us in a blink of an eye. What does that say about our identities? hold? "Don't you try, and grab hold of my soul." Damian Marley portrays him fighting for his identity which is something we all do on a daily basis whether we recognize it or not.  "What's man? What's Human?" This is the question we ask ourselves every day and if we don't know the answer, then Damian says you don't even know yourself.

REFLECTION...

Some strategy I used to help me identify different genres was deep interpretation. I needed to find out what the article was either arguing or trying to inform us about. Through deep analysis and brainstorming, I was able to pinpoint these common themes brought up throughout the article. I also looked for certain keywords. For example, if an article says, “Research shows”, I know it was an informational article. If the article went along the lines of “I believe” or “I think” then it was an argumentative article. Being able to recognize certain key phrases also helped me identify the genre. Another strategy I used was my resources. My laptop was my biggest tool when it came to identifying genres.

This project actually helped my ideas when it came to our inquiry. It provided a broader insight into the correlation between food and identity. I always believed you are what you eat, and you are what you believe. So, if you are eating junky food you might think of yourself as a junky person leading you to only meet junky people, and vice versa. There are great ways these articles helped this idea. Reading an article about the relationship between diet and depression allowed me to get more factual insight into my topic. The song by Nas and Damian Marley explained the importance of identity. It also influenced my idea of diversity. Given we all eat different foods and come from different places of the world we have this thought that we are actually different from others. This is where identity is created, and division is formed. I have this idea that I am you and you are me. We are all made out of the same stuff and there is only one spirit alive in this universe. It is the main character which is you and can be me. Overall, this project was fun and helped me learn more things about myself.