Snacking and Mental Health

A common trend that I have noticed in both my own eating habits, as well as those of my peers, is snacking. In the food journals, I noticed that there were not very many large meals that were eaten during the day; rather, both I and my classmates consumed snacks at many different points of the day. I have always wondered if this habit had any sort of adverse effects on my general health and wellness, or if it caused my digestive system to work differently because of this habit. This is a trend known as snacking and Dr. Andrew P Smith addresses this trend in his article “Snacking Habit, Mental Health, and Cognitive Performance.” In his piece, Smith discusses different studies that were done to evaluate the effects of snacking on mental health and cognitive performance.

            Smith cites four different studies, done by both him as well as other researchers. In each of the studies, the same tests are done on the subjects, but different age groups are used each time. The age groups were as follows: sample of the general population ages 20-60, a sample of individuals in their late teens living at home, a sample of people ages 18-30, and finally an elderly sample aged 65+. The studies were done over a span of five years, from 1998 to 2003, with most of the studies being done in 1998 and 1999. The studies looked at how snacking affected mental health and cognitive performance by measuring the test subjects on a few different tests. For mental health, they looked at the Beck depression inventory, emotional distress, and state anxiety perceived stress. For cognitive performance, they looked at free recall (number of words recalled), logical reasoning speed, logical reasoning accuracy, and sustained attention. However, through all of these different tests, there was not enough significant evidence that showed that snacking has any effect on mental health and cognitive performance. The data was inconclusive in showing a trend between snacking and mental processes. Instead, this study showed an unintended result.

The researchers found that most of their subjects snacked very often. The categories of snacking were broken up in to never, once or twice a week, most days, and every day. The researchers found that most of their test subjects fell into either the category of most days or every day. This shows a general trend in the population that we are moving more towards a snacking culture rather than sitting down and having a few large meals a day. This confirms the observations that I made about my classmates own eating habits and a trend that I have noticed within society as a whole. Even though there wasn’t enough evidence to show a direct correlation between snacking and mental processes, I noticed from the data that there was a general improvement in results as snacking increased. Furthermore, the test results showed positive results as a whole, showing that snacking doesn’t have bad effects on mental health.

Overall, the study did not show conclusive results of a trend between snacking and mental processes. There was not sufficient enough data to come to that conclusion. There may have not been enough test subjects to come to this conclusion or maybe there were other errors within the study. I believe that this is a valid hypothesis that snacking has an effect on mental processes and that a potential study in the future would be viable. This study already showed there were minor improvements in mental health and cognitive performance due to snacking, and they certainly didn’t get worse because of the snacking, so by my evaluation, keep snacking. 

Snacking Habits

http://0-search.proquest.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu/docview/919439042
This article discusses snacking patterns within different age groups and how it effects mental health.

Food Log Observations

Something that I noticed pretty consistently was that on the weekends, everybody started eating sometime in the afternoon, and that a lot of meals were consumed at 1 or 2 am. Also, a lot of people ate the same things pretty consistently, whether they were snacks they had in their rooms, or specific foods at the dining halls that they knew would be good every time. There weren't a whole lot of complete meals, many people just snack on random things throughout the day.

My Food Log from the Weekend

Thursday:
1:00 pm- pretzels and french onion dip and a coke
4:50 pm- cheeseburger, cheese fries, baked potato, blue raspberry kool-aid
7:00 pm- orange crush 20 oz.
9:00 pm- beef skewers, hot dog, pepsi

Friday:
12:30 pm- pizza, peach yogurt, root beer
5:45 pm- hamburger, salad, fruit salad, kool-aid
8:00 pm- popcorn, cherry coke

Saturday:
12:00 pm- biscuits and gravy, rustic potatoes, chocolate milk
5:30 pm- tortilla chips and nacho cheese, gatorade
7:35 pm- Caeser salad, broccoli and cheese soup, and water

The History of the Potato

            This morning, as I left my Spanish class, I left Sturm hall, walked through Driscoll, and continued on to Nagel Hall to pick up something to eat for lunch. I decided to pick a selection from their Rotisserie section, which normally consists of things like chicken, ribs, meatloaf, mac and cheese, and some sort of potato dish. Today, I chose the ribs, some mac and cheese, and for my third choice, I could not decide between cream of chicken soup and potato au gratin. I eventually decided on the potato au gratin, a choice I was very happy with. The dish got me thinking about potatoes, and I realized that there are so many different ways to cook a potato. This got me thinking even more. Where do potatoes come from? Who was the first group to consume potatoes? Who would ever think to take that out of the ground and take a bite of it? These questions led to more questions, which caused me to do a little research into the subject matter. I soon found out both the history of the potato and the all of the different ways you can prepare a potato, and let me tell you, there are A LOT of ways that you can prepare a potato.

            I discovered, according to Eugene Grubb in his book “The Potato”, that the potato finds its origins up in the Andes Mountains, nearly 10,000 feet above sea level, with some being found nearly 15 to 16 thousand feet high. (64) To the Peruvians, these potatoes were more than just a source of food. They were called “apples of love” because of their aphrodisiac properties. The Incans fought to the death, just so they could use human blood to fertilize their potato fields. Though no one knows exactly how the potato got to Europe, it arrived sometime in the late 1500’s. Most suspect that the Spanish were the first to bring the potato back, but there is much dispute over exactly who brought it back. From there, the potato spread throughout the rest of Europe and eventually, the rest of the world. Over the years, the potato has received many names. To the Spanish, it is called a papata, a brambor by the Czech, a panbowka by the Polish, and a pomme de terre by the French, which literally translates out to ”apple of the earth”. (Robyns 8) The French have a very clever name for this food since, to many cultures; the potato is eaten just about as frequently as an apple. In 1959, Poland led the world in consumption of potatoes, consuming 550 pounds per year, with East Germany coming in second with 484 pounds per year. (Robyns 131) However, this survey did not include the USSR, which, at the time, was the heaviest consumer of potatoes by far. Potatoes have a very unique history, and have been considered to have been responsible for many important events over the course of the world. One of these events was the potato famine in Ireland. Without this famine, the Irish never would have migrated to the United States and we would not have the strong Irish background that we have today.

            After discovering the history of the potato, I inquired about how it has been used over the course of its history. The Potato Cookbook by Gwen Robyns was a wonderful source of information for this part of my inquiry. From this book, I learned that there are 4 different groups of potatoes: the round white group, the round red group, the russet group, and the long white group. (Robyns 9, 10) Within each of these groups, there are even more subgroups of potatoes that I will not go into since there are so many. From this point in my research, I took interest into the different ways that I could prepare the potato. I was very surprised by my results. I had always known that there were plenty of different ways to cook a potato, but I had not realized there were so many different ways. To begin with, Robyns lists a few lesser used ways to cook the potato, boiling, steaming, baked potatoes, roast potatoes, foiled potatoes, French fried potatoes, and potato chips. (40) The more commonly used ways of cooking potatoes were given their very own chapters. These include mashed potatoes, filled jacket potatoes, and skillet potatoes. In the chapters describing these ways of preparation, Robyns gives around 25 or more different recipes to cook the potato in that manner. After these ways of using mainly just the potato, I learned that you could also make potato soups and potato salads, and that you could even use potatoes in making pastries, flans, and pies. The most interesting recipes I found for these desserts were for Potato Chocolate Gateaux (French for cake) and Chocolate Éclairs. (Robyns 112) I was amazed by these results. I had no idea that there were so many different ways you could utilize something as simple as a potato. Robyns’ cookbook certainly gave me a lot of insight into the world of the potato.

            After doing all of this research, I thought back to my meal earlier in the day, my potatoes au gratin. I was surprised to not find any recipes for this particular dish, but I decided that it may have been listed under a different name. I don’t believe that my discoveries will by any means change the amount I consume potatoes, but it will definitely change the way that I eat them, at least once I have the ability to make that decision. When I am living off on my own next year, I will keep these recipes in mind and potentially try some of them out (I may even take a try at making potato wine.) One thing is for sure though, the next time that I am consuming a potato, I will think back to the Incans, who shed blood for the creation of this wonderful spud.

Eugene, Grubb. The Potato. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1912. Print.

Robyns, Gwen. The Potato Cookbook. Stemmer House Publishing, 1976. Print.

Pollan, Estabrook, and Cook

Before reading these pieces, I had already previously been exposed to the horrors of the food industry. A couple years ago, I read Fast Food Nation, which let me into the world of the fast food industry and showed me the terrible things that happen in that industry. However, most of that had all gone to the back of my mind before reading these. These pieces really brought back all of those memories and reinforced them. I previously had some knowledge to how bad the poultry industry was, but I did not realize the exact extent that it went to.

            Each of these different pieces goes about the different food industries in a different way. For example, the infographic by Cook goes through the process of how chicken’s go from the factory to the sale, and all the dangers that are involved in that process. It shows a bunch of numbers that really make you realize the extent to which this industry goes. It tells how many chickens are killed each day, how many workers are injured in this process, as well as how chicken consumption in the US has increased in recent years.

            The introduction to Tomatoland shed some light on a subject I had never considered before. I had no idea that the tomato industry was so bad and that they essentially use slaves to work there. The introduction uses a personal story to lead into his overall message and brings up points that he will elaborate on later in the book. He discusses the process of creating these industrial tomatoes and how they look perfect but have nearly no taste at all. He compares them to home grown tomatoes that while they look terrible, taste delicious. His way of explaining these processes is easy to understand since he uses personal references to relate the content to the reader. 

The final piece by Pollan essentially is a review on a book written by Peter Singer. He discusses how he tries to defend his personal views against what Singer says in the book. It seems as though Singer has a come back to every statement Pollan would try to make against the book. He makes a few valid points about animals and how society treats them.

Potato Research

A food that I thoroughly enjoy and try to eat as much as I can is mashed potatoes. Mashed potatoes do not include very many ingredients. They include potatoes, garlic, and any other seasonings that you might choose to add to the dish to give it your own special flare. My interest lies in potatoes. I would like to know the history of potatoes, where they come from, other purposes they serve, and interesting dishes that include them. I think a good place to start this research would be with a book I found of Amazon titled 

Potato: A History of the Propitious Esculent. This source seems as though it will give a very good explanation of the history of potatoes and will be very helpful for my research.

http://www.amazon.com/Potato-Propitious-Esculent-John-Reader/dp/0300171455/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1367435880&sr=1-3&keywords=potatoes