How does what we put into our body in the form of food matter? How does the human body process food into energy? Where does our food come from, and what is the moral importance of knowing. These are some of the fundamental components of nutrition that I have analyzed for the past twelve weeks during my core’s exploration of nutrition. While delving into this topic, I have acquired knowledge and experience that is vital to understanding nutrition as a subject.

Supermarket pastoral on the walls of Oliver's

Competing stories between butter brands

     By reading and analyzing The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, I learned about the moral implications of being able to eat anything. For example, in my chapter 9-11 assessment I examined and discussed “storied food” and “supermarket pastoral”. By bringing in knowledge from our field trip to Oliver’s and Safeway, I was able to bring in first-hand knowledge and apply it directly to my reading. This added to my understanding of the book and of the supermarket.

Diagram of  Krebs Cycle and Electron Transport Chain

Additionally, during this unit, I learned how we convert food to usable energy. For example, in my science assessment 2, I used knowledge gained from various labs, demonstrations, and teach backs to show the system of order between in how we produce energy. This allowed for me to see the importance of eating a low-fat diet. If excess fat is consumed, bile calcifies up in the gall bladder. If this happens the gallbladder has to be removed. This causes the subject to eat a low-fat diet. This is because the bile emulsifies fat, and without bile, you can not digest fatty foods.

System of order in the respiration of plants and animals.

By conducting a student designed experiment and skills labs I have been able to gain knowledge about the scientific method, agar plate making, staining, wet slide creating, fixation, incubator fixing, microscope usage, and hypothesis writing.

Petri Dishes from our Iron chef lab

I am glad that we studied nutrition because it has compelled me to adopt a healthier, whole food, and mainly plant based diet. I have experienced energy increase and overall holistic awareness of what I put into my body and its effect.