Page 7 The Lion’s Eye February 16, 2011 Fve oan Editorials The Disgruntled Fat Girl By Karrie Bowen - Lions Eye Advisor- kab44@psu.edu I have spent most of my life battling my weight, having a love/hate relationship with food, and wondering why it always has to be so complicat- ed. I have lived being overly mindful of what I eat to the point of making myself crazy weighing, measuring, counting grams and calories, and log- ging everything I put into my mouth. I have gone to the other extreme too, mindless of what I was eating because I didn't care anymore. I ate what- ever I wanted to, because I was sick of worrying about it. Then, sixteen months ago, I made a dramatic change with regard to my weight by having a gastric bypass, and I was forced to become very mindful of food once again. My mindfulness, however, is now different. Prior to surgery, I spent almost two years reading, researching, and working to gain a better under- standing of food and how my body uses it. Studying the subject was part of my own self-imposed process to determine if I honestly thought I had exhausted every avenue with regard to battling life-long obesity. In doing so, something happened within me. I began to look at food as a science, rather than a plague. In this journey, I have learned a lot, re-learned a lot, and changed my viewpoint tremendously regarding food. I am not a dietician by any stretch, nor am I a perfect eater. However, I have developed a new appreciation for what food is supposed to be. Food is simply fuel. It isn't my friend, it isn't my romantic partner, it isn't my first love, and it isn't the basis of my social life. It is our life force and source of energy. And friends, we need to start treating it as such. We attach so much meaning and symbolism and human affection to food. Making food into something more than fuel, however, it’s what makes the relationship with food toxic for so many people. We, as a culture, seem to be in complete denial that there is something terribly wrong with the way that we are currently eating. I don't want you to convert me to your _ way of eating and I have no desire to convert you to mine. That said, however, I do think that our relation- ship with food has some important and relevant factors, and I think that a lot of people are just plain unaware of how their food is killing them. Our society of moving too fast and never having time to cook is killing us. It creates this need for processed "foods" and refined carbo- hydrates and those things are making us sick. No one cooks anymore at all. People drive in, take-out, crack open a can, dump and heat it, or nuke it in the microwave. It is time to slow down and re-evaluate how we feed our- selves. Evidence shows that our late ancestors did not die from diseases like cancer, diabetes, or heart attacks. They died from natural causes and they cooked their food. Yet here we are, a society full of morbidly obese. people, battling the likes of cancer, diabetes, heart attacks, and high blood pressure, and we think frozen pizzas, hot dogs, and stew in a can are the way to eat. What we really need to do is closely examine foods that are chemi- cally altered, genetically engineered, or just plain full of junk, and make the conscious decision of whether or not we want to actually put that garbage in our bodies. I don't know how many times I have watched someone stand- ing at a gas tank pumping premium gasoline into their car while they send someone into the convenience store to get them a hoagie and a bottle of soda. They take better care of fueling a car than they do their own body. We need to focus on the real- ity of the situation. It's fake foods and chemical laden and altered products that need to be eliminated from our diets. Convenience food may be good for you as far as time management and your wallet, but it is horrible for you in the long run. Eliminate the fast -food, the processed food, and the stuff in a box or a can with a terminal shelf life, and you eliminate the majority of the medical problems in this country. It is better to eat butter than margarine because it is real dairy product. It is better to have homemade white bread than the bagged sliced Wonder Bread because it isn't full of preservatives. Buy some apples, peel them and cook them down and make applesauce instead of purchasing the apple-like substance in a can. Drastic changes need to be made when it comes to what we eat. The first thing we need to do is cook our food and more importantly, we need to demand that the food we cook not be full of chemicals and junk. If we make this change, then farmers and big business will begin to be forced to also change. We need to demand better quality for ourselves, for our health, and for our future. The editorial board of The Lion’s Eye welcomes faculty, staff, and students to submit their own columns for our editorial pages. Simply submit your article, no more than 600-700 ‘words, via electronic mail at lionseye@psu.edu no later than the Friday before our next publication. Our next publication will be on March 2, 2011. ABORTION: What Would You Do? By Rob Ewing- Lions Eye Campus Editor- rte5016@psu.edu Abortion. If you dare to mention the word in today’s society, you're almost guaranteed a shocked reaction from your audience. The word itself has become something that we avoid as. if it were vulgar language. Is the problem ignorance, or are we truly afraid of the topic? Let’s be honest, everyone has a different view when it comes to abortion. It’s an idea that gets thrown into a giant pile of “unforgiveable things” that lawmakers are afraid to touch. It is, however, not an idea which can be ignored, and if it’s a hot issue for you, then read at your own risk! A few weeks back in mid-January, a doctor was arrested who had been practicing illegal abortions for over 30 years in our own backyard. Dr. Kermit Gosnell, 69, had been performing primarily, late-term abortions on mainly minority women in brutal conditions. These women were paying this man to perform this procedure, for the fact, they had nowhere else to go. My question is: why in a country of freedom, such as ours, does a woman have to live in fear? Put yourself in the shoes of a pregnant minority woman in her early 20°’s. You didn’t mean for it to happen, and there is no way in your current stage of life that you can take care of a child. The father is nowhere to be found, leaving you scared, confused, and alone. Your religious family has always pounded into your head the morals of the Bible which makes abort- ing the baby an almost impossible thought. On the other hand, women do this every day, so what could be so bad? : : Now put yourself in the position of this young girl as she attempts to enter a Planned Parenthood location on abortion day. If your decision was not hard enough, you now have pro- testors screaming “Your baby is going to Hell” and any other rude comments they can conjure up to possibly turn you away. This, my friends, is why these women, desperate and confused, end up in the hands of “professionals” such as Dr. Kermit Gosnell. Hearing his name for the first time brought an image of famous child icon Kermit the Frog to mind. Unfortunately there was not a cute, green frog teaching the ABC’s at the bottom of this story. Late-term abortions run the risk of aborting a living, breathing child. Dr. Gosnell specialized in these cases. If the baby was alive, he simply “rendered the situation” by severing the spinal cord with a pair of office shears. In layman’s terms, he stabbed them in the neck with a pair of scissors. As a rights activist and a feminist, I believe that the choice of an abortion solely rests with the mother. It’s her body, her health, her choice. There cannot, however, be a choice if ‘women are left with nowhere to turn. If you can believe it, Abortion was legal and regularly practiced as far back as the early 1800’s. As social standards changed through the 1900’s, the topic became more and more controversial, until it was outlawed. Women died daily of self-induced abortions, or abortions performed by folks who risked their own freedom to help. It’s no surprise that very few of these people held medical licenses. : Women back then, and even today are still dying due to this ongoing controversial issue. Even with legal abortions, the problem still exists, which leads me to the question: why are we still trying to stop it? Wouldn’t it be easier to safely provide abortions without risk to the mother? : Put yourself back into the situation, of the pregnant girl. If it were your sister, girlfriend, daughter or any other personal relation, what would you do if they became pregnant and could not be a mother? In 2010, 1 out of 50 women in America had an abortion. That means that without a doubt, one of those protesters outside of Planned Parenthood has a daughter or another family member who they have helped through an abortion process. As a man, I will never know what it’s like to be stuck in that awful position, and person- ally I don’t believe it’s up to a room full of conservatives to decide on the laws and regulations regarding the procedures. At the end of the day though, it all comes down to the question: what would I do if it were my friend? My sister? My Child....? Lion's Eye | We are the newspaper of the | inform all of our audiences, and Editor-in-Chief- Judith Bowker : Campus News Editor- Rob Ewing B ontact the Lion’s Eye: Judith Bowker- jIb5706@psu.edu Karrie Bowen - kab44@psu.edu Local/World News Editor- Dave Serpentine For advertising information, please contact Karrie _ Bowen at 610.892.1336 or kab44@psu.edu. Op/Ed Editor- Judith Bowker gn Entertainment Editor(s) - Kelly Crawford, Caitlin Hazinsky B The Lions Eye is published bi-weekly] by the students of Penn State Brandy-| ‘wine, Media, PA. Penn State Brandy- wine does not necessarily represent or: “endorse the accuracy or reliability of | “any of the information, opinion con- | tent, or views set forth in the Editorials/. “Opinions section of this publication. ' The Lion's Eye welcomes both guest edi-: torials and letters to the editor. Letters: “we will strive to make each issue Kait McD tesp Sean M ; better, so that we remain a vital ait McDyre, Lee Burpee, Sean Morgan, 8, ot be no more than 200 words and ad-= pure of the Penn State Bran Lai Hoffer, Emily Cleveland, Yegor MISSION STATEMENT Generation Editor- Brittney Walker : : SS itor- Kevi Penn State Brandywine campus, ports Editor: Lovin Cross serving the students, adminis- tration, faculty, staff, and visi- tors of our campus. We vow to aa : ; p - Contributing Staff Writers: ‘Martina Delgado, Ryann O’Donnell, Advertising/ Distribution- Nick Cerrato : : dress a single topic or theme, and con-_| wine experience. We also pledge. Muravyev, David Dolan, Nicole Fedora, yy contact information of the author. : Christine Hughes, Jennifer Johnson, Ka- to be professional, and to follow: the highest standards of quality journalism. X “Guest articles can be up to 500 words. i tie Koelewyn, Kenny Lankford, Megan 77, editorial board reserves the right to: edit letters and guest articles for space. purposes and content. Please send all’ "editorial and guest correspondence tol kab44@psu.edu. : Draper, John Henry, Paolo DiPaolo : Lion’s Eye Adviser- Karrie Bowen
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers