As a college student food choices become very limited. One of the biggest issues is a lack of money, so food choices become based on how cheaply we can attain food. Buying cheap unhealthy food is a social norm that I live by on a day to day basis. It is much easier for me to buy McDonalds or Taco Bell instead of buying vegetables and other healthy alternatives. Unfortunately, these food choices can potentially cause obesity. As mentioned in Module 6, obesity is an ever growing issue that affects many of us and it is caused by poor social norms. The social norm of not spending a large sum of money is directly related to the food choices we make. As students, we already try to spend as little as possible so spending on food isn’t much different. I am not saying this issue applies to all students, but I know for a fact that I would spend $5 on a burger and some fries over spending $5 on a few tomatoes.
As mentioned in the first paragraph, my choice of purchasing and consuming cheap, unhealthy foods is a direct link to societal issues such as obesity and other health related issues. Obesity is said to have a variety of causes such as lack of exercise and gene related issues, but by far over consumption of food has the biggest impact. As I described earlier, cheap food is typically unhealthy food. Since it is easier to purchase these foods, we tend to over consume them thus causing obesity. Obesity isn’t the only negative health issue related to cheap unhealthy food. In fact, it can cause a variety of issues such as diabetes, heart problems and even potentially an early death. Personally I believe that choosing to consume this type of food is an individual action. Though it’s social norm, people are still responsible for what they eat and their choice does not directly affect anyone but themselves. I think that the new social norm should be that we focus more on our health than saving money.
2 thoughts on “Module 6: Food & Agriculture”
Hi Karissa,
My name is Sarah, and here is a link to my blog post: http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/03/04/module-6-food-choice-social-norms-3/
I really enjoyed reading your blog post. I wrote about a similar topic and said how having time and money to buy food as a college student is not always very easy. I wrote about my pizza obsession and how it is simply easier for me to eat pizza more often than cooking a meal and eating healthy. I like how you related your topic to the societal issue of obesity. This is very relevant because of the typical “freshman fifteen” that we’ve all heard about when students first go to college. Their time and money restrictions that they’ve never had before really impact their food choices in college, which can in turn really affect their health.
I can relate to your social norm. There seems to be that joke that college students eat ramon noodles day in and out but sometimes it is not far from the truth. I think college students can get away with eating Taco Bell or McDonalds as long as they do so in moderation and live productive/healthy lifestyles otherwise such as going to the gym or working out. I know plenty of people who have poor diets but are not obese. This is because they are still aware of how much of a bad thing they put into their bodies. I think self control can go a long way.
Hi Karissa,
My name is Sarah, and here is a link to my blog post: http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/03/04/module-6-food-choice-social-norms-3/
I really enjoyed reading your blog post. I wrote about a similar topic and said how having time and money to buy food as a college student is not always very easy. I wrote about my pizza obsession and how it is simply easier for me to eat pizza more often than cooking a meal and eating healthy. I like how you related your topic to the societal issue of obesity. This is very relevant because of the typical “freshman fifteen” that we’ve all heard about when students first go to college. Their time and money restrictions that they’ve never had before really impact their food choices in college, which can in turn really affect their health.
Hey Karissa, its Rob. Link: http://sites.psu.edu/geog30/2016/03/04/module-6-food-ch…and-social-norms/
I can relate to your social norm. There seems to be that joke that college students eat ramon noodles day in and out but sometimes it is not far from the truth. I think college students can get away with eating Taco Bell or McDonalds as long as they do so in moderation and live productive/healthy lifestyles otherwise such as going to the gym or working out. I know plenty of people who have poor diets but are not obese. This is because they are still aware of how much of a bad thing they put into their bodies. I think self control can go a long way.