Food! Smucker's Jam=HFCS(High Fructose Corn Syrup)

Hello fellow Bloggers and Blog Readers! For my blog this week I will be discussing food. It is undeniable that all of us are avid fans of some sort of food. There is something thing without a second thought makes our tummys grumble. I personally enjoy a lot of different food. Instead of talking about something that would be considered foreign to my readers, I thought I'd talk about a food that finds its way onto our toast and sandwiches. Ask almost any child in the United States if they have eaten a peanut butter and jelly sandwich-they will most likely answer yes. When I was a child, my mother didn't want me to like jelly, as most has tons of sugar. In my PB and J sandwiches she would use strawberry preserves. I in turn grew up thinking I had eaten much healthier because of this. Sadly to my great dismay, strawberry preserves aren't much healthier. The "preserves" part makes it certainly sound more elegant, but instead of tons of actual real sugar, it has high fructose corn syrup or HFCS.

Now that strawberry preserves seem less exciting as even some of the junkiest cereals are filled with HFCS, let us take a closer look at Smucker's Strawberry Preserves to figure out what it is made of and where those ingredients come from.

We already know that HFCS is a major component, but without the other ingredients it would look just like this=

With the help of sstrawberries,  corn syrup(Yes! There are TWO kinds of corn syrup!), sugar, fruit pectin, citric acid we are able to enjoy this on our toast and sandwiches.

I found it very easy to find out the ingredients, but tracking where these ingredients come from was very difficult. The official Smucker's website was not at all useful in responding to my inquiries about where their ingredients come from. On their Q&As part they provided silly information like "Do We Sell Pickles?"(Yep, this is actually on there. Check it out yourself!).

After skimming the web for a while I was able to find out that Smucker's operates in Ohio, but that still didn't tell me where their ingredients come from. Corn syrup appears twice in their ingredients. Since the United States subsidizes corn, I can assume that the corn comes from more a few of our fifty states. In general the United States imports sugar from countries like Colombia, Mexico and Zimbabwe. According to the United States Department of Agriculture 90% of the strawberries imported to the United States come from Mexico. If they are not imported they are probably grown in California(probably by Mexicans. Wow, so original)

Realistically, the strawberries and corn for that matter which go into Smucker's Strawberry Preserves are probably not raised organic(unless the type of Strawberry Preserves doesn't state it is "organic" etc). Smucker's is making a profit and probably doesn't care about how healthy it might be for their consumers. Whether or not the sugar and strawberries are grown by a small farm or a large farm would most likely depend on the price that Smucker's would have to pay. I believe they would opt for the cheapest option.

The workers who raise the sugar and strawberries that are imported probably get paid little for their work. Their strawberries have to be carried across the sea, cleaned and put into little plastic boxes. The transportation isn't good if we want to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and the little plastic boxes just result in more waste. We can safely assume that the workers in the United States are all illegal immigrants and get paid little to nothing for all their labor. 

How healthy is Smucker's Strawberry Preserves?

As I mentioned earlier Strawberry Preserves is jam packed with sugar and two types of corn syrup. Corn syrup is extremely harmful to a person's health if they consume large quantities over a long period of time. HFCS contains mercury like some fish and according to EatingWell.com, "the heavy metal that even in small amounts poses a neurological risk for young children, babies and growing fetuses..". The same article written by Joyce Hendley entitled "What's So Bad About High Fructose Corn Syrup?" states that "[...]Then the Minneapolis-based nonprofit Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) reported that it had found “detectable levels of mercury” in 17 of the 55 HFCS-rich foods it tested last fall, including barbecue sauce and cereal bars".

Why would Smucker's use such a product to sweeten their jams/jellies/preserves if it was so bad? Corn syrup is cheaper than using sugar. The health of their consumers obviously takes the back burner.

This blog post may be depressing because most people do eat jam/jelly/preserves. Even if they don't buy or use Smucker's most companies(unless it is the no HFCS edition) use corn syrup and HFCS. It is very hard to avoid without giving up using up these products. Regardless of what is healthy for us, we do consume things that are bad for our health. If jam/jelly/preserves are really something a person loves, they don't have to give  them up simply because they have a small amount of mercury. We should all chose what we eat that is unhealthy or bad. Instead of giving up it all, we pick our poison. To be effective people need to have control over what they eat and I think this the a bigger problem altogether rather than HFCS consumer.

Anyway, I hope everyone is having a great week! Cheers to food we love!~!

Improving RCC Through Exercise

Hello Fellow Bloggers! For this week's post I will be discussing sustainability at RCC.

A while ago, one of my friend's Dale, told me that he heard that at UCSB(University of California, Santa Barbara) some of the buildings were powered by the energy created from the gym. When I heard this I was very thrilled and in awe. I thought that it was a wonderful idea and if it worked successfully, then maybe the idea might possibly be implemented on a larger scale. The campus of UCSB would be quite "green" if this were true. Unfortunately when I looked deeper into this issue I could not find any information online about this. The official UCSB website didn't have any mention of it, whilst the website did include lots of information about sustainability at UCSB. In comparison, let's take a look at RCC.

In my humble opinion, I think a campus gets a "green" stamp of approval from how the facilities are run. UCSB being the best example, if the buildings were powered and run in a very economically friendly way I think a campus would be very green. Other issues, like using only electronic devices for textbooks and to take notes would also be good options. I think that RCC has some very green options(we used to/or might still do have public bus transportation with a student ID, which would save money on gas and it is sort of like carpooling for example), but could be greatly improved in more ways than just have more vegetarian choices at the cafeteria.

In regard to this issue, one example would be Green Mountain College in Vermont. On campus there is a Student Campus Greening Fund which gets a certain amount of allotted money that comes from a fee students pay. While it is only $30, the students can choose which sustainable project this money will go to. Some of the projects that have been approved for funding include a compost collection program and a repairing a wind turbine on campus.

If another college can get just a mere $30 and save that money to make improvements to the campus, then why can't this be the same way for RCC? Money charged from the student service fees are used for the clubs on campus, but instead could be given to the Sustainability club in order to make the campus more "green". My idea is that like the UCSB idea of using energy created from the gym to power buildings. I think that RCC should find some way to hookup the gym equipment to the gym to power the electricity form the lights etc. This should start small and if it is possible to power the gyms electricity, then maybe the gym could be expanded and power the rest of the buildings on campus. In order to help make this a reality, I would first talk to my environmental science teacher because she is the advisor of the Sustainability club. Since I also know the club president, I hopefully wouldn't have any problems getting my ideas across. From there on, it would be a matter of convincing I believe the board of trustees(?) that money should be given to improve the newly renovated gym. The gym would have to upgraded to make it possible to be powered by equipment. The sum of money for this would probably be thousands of dollars, but Sustainability club could help to fund raise for money. Even if the club was not able to fund raise a lot, the effort that the club put in would show the board of trustees their devotion to the project. Fundraising could be as simple as bake sales(students always spend money on food. This works!~)

                                                                         
A time frame for this project depending on the technology needed might be a few years. But in that amount of time, so much energy could be saved from the gym it would really make a difference. Everything really does count! Plus it would also help to motivate students to gym more and exercise would improve their health and well being.

(Image is courtesy of Google)

24Hrs-Keeping Watch Of What You Consume

For this blog post, my topic will consist of the many items I used during one 24 hour period. By keeping record of this I not only become more aware of how I negatively impact the Earth due to my waste, but also where I can start cutting corners! Let's take a look at what I used as sorted into these different categories.

A. Food
Starbucks coffee(milk, vanilla, coffee, ice)
Sandwich( bread, eggs, cheese, bell peppers, oil)
Water bottle
Energy bar(nuts, grains, raisins)
Japanese style curry (carrots, potatoes, onion, curry mix, bell peppers, chicken)
Bread

B. House And Buildings
Home

School

C.Transportation And Roads
Car

D. Clothing
Jacket
Shorts (Denim)
Shirt (Cotton)
Shoes

E. School Supplies

Binder
Paper
Pen
Pencil
Textbook

F. Personal Care Products

Toothpaste
Japanese Facial Wash
BB Cream

G. Leisure Activities

Laptop
Novel

Other

Cellphone
Purse
Hair band




The product I want to talk about is BB Cream or Blemish Balm! This product is fairly new to North America, but was originally created in Germany to help laser surgery patients. BB Cream is essentially liquid foundation that depending on the brand differs in price, color; and elements such as sunblock, anti-aging, and whitener(to whiten your skin.

                                                                                
It has been popular in Asia( Japan, China, Korea) for a long time and has found its way into the makeup aisles at stores like Target produced by American brands. The type of BB Cream I use is a overpriced Korean brand A3FOn. Realistically, I won't be able to find information on this brand that is in English, so I decided to do research on some of the American versions and some of the Asian brands.

As I was unable to find the ingredients for the brand I use, so I found ingredients for another brand that has similar features.

MAC Prep + Prime Beauty Balm SPF 35 [$30 USd, Active Ingredients: Octinoxate 7.40%, Octisalate 4.00%, Oxybenzone 2.50%, Titanium Dioxide 1.10%, Zinc Oxide 3.50% Other Ingredients: Water/Aqua/Eau, Dimethicone, Butylene Glycol, Phenyl Trimethicone, Pentylene Glycol, Glyceryl Sterate, Behenyl Alcohol, Trioctyldodecyl Citrate, Polymethylsilsesquioxane, Octyldodecyl Stearoyl Stearate, PEG-40 Stearate, Polyglyceryl-10 ....and the list goes on.

Interestingly enough, all these items which are unpronounceable for most of us and probably unidentified are what so many of us wear daily. Foundations are oil, alcohol, powder, mineral, water  or even silicone based! That Mac Prep BB Cream is a mineral based foundation and to produce this minerals have to be mined. One ingredient I looked into was the Titanium Dioxide. It comes from titanium which is mined in Canada, Ukraine and only three states in the United States. After it is mined it is sent to a lab and combined with chemicals to produce titanium dioxide which is used in paint, food coloring and sunscreen amongst other things. All that work just for one of the long list of ingredients~ Just imagine how much is wasted and how much we hurt mother earth just to look beautiful. This is really sad to read about. I was not able to find out where MAC products are produced by the company has created programs for cruelty-free makeup products, child abuse, and protection for the environment through recycling. These are some small benefits to hopefully offset all the negative impacts their company has on the world.

Foundations is costly to purchase and mostly likely is expensive to import,export, and assemble as it is done mostly in a lab. Once people finish using the product they throw the empty container away which is then shipped to some landfill. Lipstick for example is usually consumed rather than worn for a long time, while we wash our faces or sweat away a lot of our makeup. We even spend money on wipes and goods to remove it! It would seem to some that BB cream or any makeup for that matter is a waste-and rightfully so it maybe a waste to some. But for the masses like myself, who buy it continually, we do so in hopes of being beautiful even if it does hurt the earth.


Overall, today was a much better day for me because I didn't consume as much as I normally do. The only two things that really bothered me was the water bottle and starbucks. Both ended up in the trash/recycle when I was done using them. Besides this, I ate at home and wore BB cream that had to be washed off, but was makeup free otherwise. I am constantly trying to be more Earth friendly, but find it hard sometimes as my selfish desires always get in the way.