Separating From Ed

02/25/2018      One thing I clearly remember from my childhood is having wonderful, delicious Stoffer’s Lasagna with Meat and Sauce often on Sundays after church. My mom would make a “family size” tray of it in case my older sisters would come down to our house (making six people total in our immediate family). There was always plenty of food, whether or not my sisters came over. I have fond memories of eating lasagna with my family regularly.      A few months after I got married and we moved into our own place, I had a strong craving for lasagna, but I wanted to make it homemade. As my blog name states, I am a little bit of a “whole grain freak.” I went to a well known “fresh-format” grocery store with my roommate/best friend that I presumed would have the type of noodles I was looking for. We didn’t find any, so we went to our version of Cub Foods and searched and searched for the ingredients I was looking for (has anyone else never had ricotta chee...

02/25/2018 What is Orthorexia?      Orthorexia is currently not defined as an eating disorder within the DSM V (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Fifth Edition, better known as the big book of psychiatric, or mental, terms). The root words tell what the condition means, though. “Ortho” means right, or correct, while “orexia” relates to appetite. Orthorexia can be defined simply as the infatuation with correct or proper eating.      Many people quickly jump aboard the “clean-eating” train, which is where I found myself almost three years ago when I developed a strong desire to be healthy and “prevent” disease. Orthorexia is different, however, in that the individual goes beyond clean eating habits and develops an outright obsession with consuming “pure,” “whole,” “unprocessed” foods, and the like. This serious pattern of disordered thinking regarding eating can truly lead to a host of additional medical, emotional, and psychological problems. It can be t...

02/10/2018 I want to take a moment to talk about values. Values are the things that you hold near and dear. They help define you and can influence decisions you make, people you spend time with, and what matters to you. They can be deeply ingrained, or learned throughout life. Values are important to people because they help those around us know what we care about and what we stand for (or choose to not stand for). When I was in college, during my time as a Resident Assistant (RA), we spoke often about values and how they influenced and impacted people. You see, our university’s housing program has what they call “core values;” a set of goals that helped promote, reach, and develop the mission statement of the department. These values are: Wellness, Inclusion, Learning, Community, Communication, Support, and Sustainability. These seven things are what housing tries to strive for and to encourage our residents (students who lived on campus) to learn. These were and ar...

     Below is a copy of the text from my undergraduate honors thesis, minus the title page, acknowledgements, and table of contents. The Bibliography section is not in it's original format, however, all of the sources used are listed. Abstract Whole food consumption is a topic that is not significantly discussed in everyday culture. Whole foods have positive impacts to physical and mental health as well as to the environment. This thesis will explore the many benefits of whole foods, support a need for change, and persuade the reader to engage in a whole foods diet. This scholarly article will compile vast information from other researchers to examine the current whole foods situations around the globe, provide scientific confirmations behind the need for change, give recommendations for altering present habits, and will confront any pre-existing contradictions. The outcome of this thesis will be a text that is suitable for a reader with or without knowledge of nutr...