LAtSA Food

LAtSA F

A Personal Account on the Foods of the World The Perfect Recipe for Guacamole

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Taxes on Junk Food: The Good, the Bad, or the Ugly?

Food Search

Use the following clues to guess the food, then find it in the word search!

The 25 clues!

1. Circular bread with sauce and cheese on top (extra hint: its italian) 2.It melts in the sun and you eat it on hot, summer days 3.Crushed ice with flavored syrup drizzled on top!

13.Long, yellow, and is green when not ripe.

14.______, ______ they’re good for your heart, the more you eat the more you fart! ... (fill in the blanks) 15.Bears are ALWAYS eating this stuff!

16.LEGGO MY EGGO! (what is it?)

4.These are made up of straight bones and meat and are usually eaten with barbecue sauce

17.A pretty muffin!

18.Comes from cows (Hint: it’s white)

5.Cow patty with square dairy on top 6.Its meat on a stick with bread wrapped around it and is sometimes eaten with mustard and/ or ketchup 7.This is a C-13 plant. It is yellow and reminds some of farmers 8.It is red, has black seeds, and the outside is green 9.This is also red and in spanish, it is called a manzana!

19.Taste the rainbow! (Hint: that is the slogan) 20.Fruit ___! It’s like gummies with juice inside!

21.Little candies that make you smart!

22.It’s like flavored goop, but different.

It comes in chocolate and vanilla usually.

(Hint: it starts with a “P”) 23.A circular pastry with a hole in the middle. (Hint: sometimes it is iced/ glazed)

10.This is a delicious food that tastes good on strawberries and is found in specialized 24.Green and leafy, healthy and yummy with fountains at many parties. dressing!

11.These yummy little wrapped blackish things have white cream in the middle.

25.It’s like a piece of bread with a hole in the middle. (Hint: similar to number 23.)

12.It looks like its brown and hairy, but on the inside, its green and smooth.

The answers are located on page 17.

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LAtSA 2

Letter From The Editors

Hello Reader,

This is the amazing and fantastical magazine that is called LAtSA Food. This magazine is all about food and what role it plays in every day life. Our goal is to entertain and educate the teenage world about food and how important it is to our survival. We hope that our articles educate you about food and how everyone should love it.

We spent a whole semester making this magazine and have combined all of our creative ideas into the pages. This magazine is practically dripping with creativity because all of the staff has awesome ideas that we incorporated into the layouts of our articles. Because of all this creativity, the magazine is filled with highly exciting and fun designs that will keep you, the reader, reading our awesome magazine.

-LAtSA

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Food Staff :D

About Us Kendra F.

is a leprechaun that rides unicorns in her spare time. She is addicted to red popsicles and loves to blow Pixie Stix dust all over the floor. She calls this magic and does it daily while she is feeding her vegetarian coyotes that live on the moon. She is a “fish” at LASA and made up the name LAtSA Food.

Kendra enjoys distorting photos in Photoshop to make the pictures look evil.

Fernanda A.

is a fluffy lamb with magical powers and likes to stuff Cheez-Its into her mouth. She enjoys deep-sea scuba diving with giant turtles. She likes root beer floats and reading famous works of english literature.

She can pull bunnies out of hats and pull gold out of rainbows. She is a “fish” at LASA and keeps the LAtSA Food crew on task. Fernanda enjoys creating faces in her foods.

Kayley T.

only speaks spanish. If you touch her taco, she’ll slap you with her maracas. She has magical powers coming out of her ears, so she keeps headphones in to keep the powers from coming out. She is really outgoing, and snaps at people who don’t accept her as a hippy. She is a “fish” at LASA and uses her powers to make our magazine SUPER AWESOME!

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Table

Contents

Opinion Section

Why Which Wich?

A sandwich with an ego.

By: Kayley T.

W

Photo Credit by Kayley T.

hich Wich is not your typical fast food chain restaurant. It wich components is one of the largest I have seen in a very long time. is filled with magical fruits and vegetables that will make If the giant selection of sandwich components weren’t enough, the you grow wings so that you can fly to Africa and raise a way your order goes through the sandwich process is even cooler. After pride of lions with your bubble buddy from Britain. Not really. You’ll you give your “order bag” to the cashier, he gives it to the sandwich probably just leave happy and stuffed with sandwich goodness. All of the makers who put the bag along a sort of laundry line. While they make sandwiches on the menu board are inexpensive, tasteful and unique for your sandwich, you get to watch your bag proceed down the line. This each person. process is even better when you make a drawing on the back of yours For fast fine dining, I recommend Which Wich for its excellent selec- so that you may see where your order is. No other restaurant does this tion, taste, and unique dining experience. The genius behind the Which unique way of ordering that reaches out and makes you feel like you Wich menu idea deserves some credit. Not every average person comes are a part of the meal preparation. Once your sandwich is finished, you up with a way to get the client even more get called up by the name that you write down involved in their dining. The new way of on your “order bag”. This name can be anything With all of these choices, how that you want it to be. Substituting a celebrity ordering is sure to be the frontier of 21st can someone not make an name instead of your own is a fun way to enjoy century dining.

Some people think that food that comes incredibly awesome sandwich? your breakfast, lunch or dinner. This ordering in a brown paper bag is “bland”. They also process that Which Wich has is very efficient, think the sandwich is tasteless and the waiteffective and one of a kind. ing is endless. I disagree and say that Which Wich is an amazing concept The fresh ingredients of each Which Wich sandwich are another one for the food consumer on the go. They have carnivore, herbivore and of the many reasons that Which Wich is of excellent taste. The meat, omnivore choices that all taste like they have been cooked by a food cheese, fruit and vegetables that are used in the sandwiches are always expert. The ingredients are fresh and pair great with the white or wheat at their peak of freshness. The freshness is preserved in every bite of bread that you can choose. any delectable sandwich that you could possibly come up with. As you When you go into a Which Wich restaurant, you see the giant board can find on www.whichwich.com, the Montecristo is an especially fresh of ingredients that you can choose to make up your sandwich. With and sugary sandwich because of grape jelly and powdered sugar that all of these ingredients, how can you not make an awesome sandwich? are stacked on top of the turkey and ham. With over 50 fresh sandwich Which Wich is better than Subway because with Subway, you don’t have choices and 56 fresh component choices, this restaurant is a very special the same control that you have at Which Wich. At Which Wich, you can and bright idea. If you are in the mood for meat, I recommend the Bacplace your order, with exact details about your sandwich, then walk Hammon with mayonnaise, cheese, tomatoes, pickles, and avocado. This away to read a newspaper while you wait for your meal. The ingredi- sandwich satisfies all of the major taste buds of your tongue. ents are there they just require you, the cashier and the sandwich preWhich Wich is truly a place to spend your money. All subs are only parer’s help to make it into a tasty meal. Some examples of ingredients mere $5.00 which is a very cheap meal. A Which Wich sandwich is a are tomatoes, avocados, caramelized onions, oil, and red bell peppers. sandwich with an ego. Eating there will be the best choice that you ever Along with the multiple sandwich ingredient choices, you also have the made in your life. The atmosphere is clean and fresh, the service is sumultiple flavors of chips that you can get with your sandwich. If you’re perbly great and the food is uniquely different. Every sandwich is diflooking for something better than water to drink, you can always get a ferent and only matches the person who ordered it. So what are you smoothie to help wash down the delicious sandwich. To finish, there are waiting for? Eat at Which Wich tonight for a taste that will stay with you the delicious fresh baked chocolate chip cookies. This choice of sand- throughout the rest of your life.

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LAtSA

Opinion Section

No Taxes on Happiness!

Taxes on junk food would only cause unhappy customers and more obesity.

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hank you! Please drive up to the first window,” the speakers at the drive through always say. It’s the same, ordinary routine every time you buy fast food: you tell the black box exactly what you want, drive up to the first window, give the cashiers your money and they give you their food. Usually the price is under five bucks, a relatively low price for a meal. But what happens when the taxes go up a great deal higher than they already are? If the government puts taxes on junk food, then people will still come hungry. But they will leave unhappy.

Taxes on junk food might solve its main issue: obesity, but it will most likely cause more problems than fix them. Some public health experts are drawing attention to having extra taxes put on high calorie foods, mostly being junk food. These people are doing a good job being heard, too, because the ObamaCare law does, according to the author of “ObamaCare’s Hidden Tax on Fast Food”, Howard Portnoy, feature words that will put a tax on fast food.

The health experts got New York Governor David Paterson’s attention as well, according to Karen Kaplan, the author of “Calls to Tax Junk Food Gain Ground”. Paterson proposed a tax of 18% on sodas.

The public did not like his tax and started to dislike him, so Paterson stopped promoting it because he did not want to risk his chances of loosing popularity and reelection. Even though these taxes could help to improve the health of the country, peoples’ health should not be controlled by the government, and taking care of obesity in a person is not the government’s responsibility.This is a personal matter. Obesity is not

Both photos by Kendra F.

By: Kendra F.

the government’s fault, so they should not intrude into every persons’ personal space to fix the peoples’ individual choices. The people with obesity should find their own ways to get in better health, or they can stay in the same situation they are already in.

Fast food restaurants, including everyone’s favorite, McDonald’s, sell a lot of high calorie junk food, and they get a lot of customers. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 3,036,000 people work in fast food restaurants. If taxes are placed on fast foods’ main product, then many of the frequent customers are not going to buy products from them or they are going to just buy less. Without as many customers, there are less sales. Without sales, businesses could go bankrupt and close. And less business means less jobs. Most fast food restaurants are chain restaurants, so if McDonald’s, with about 47 thousand in the United States according to Eric Schlosser, were to not sell enough of its junk, then 47 thousand locations in the U.S. alone are going to close down. That is just the locations. Millions of jobs could be lost. What company is going to be able to employ all of those workers? Taxes on junk food could, obviously, lead to a huge decline in the U.S., and maybe even global, economy. There are already many low income families in the U.S. who do not have enough money to buy healthy food, so they lean on the cheap fast food as a main food source. If fast food and other cheap junk foods start costing more money, then none of the low income families are going to have anywhere to run for cheap food.

If the government is trying to fix the problem with obesity, is a tax on junk food really the approach that the government needs to take?

Taxing junk food could lead to less people buying it, but it would still be easy to get to and would probably still be cheaper than, say Whole Foods. If the government wants to reduce obesity, then maybe what they need to do is not make unhealthy, junk food more expensive, but rather make the healthy foods less expensive and more affordable. If the healthy foods cost less and were accessible, then maybe the U.S. would naturally become healthier.

Taxes on junk food would create more than just the few problems I mentioned. I think that putting taxes on junk food would be a very upside-down plan for helping to solve obesity in America.

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Photos Courtesy of Freedigitalphotos

Opinion Section

Cupcakes Enemies Are Not Our

The harmful truth behind dieting By Fernanda A.

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Today’s markets are clustered with dietary products. Every aisle seems to be packed with low-fat yogurts, and right before our very eyes, “sugar-free” labels are being slapped onto every item possible. However, these promotions are influencing a large amount of people to make an unhealthy choice­­—diet.

Healthy eating is important for maintaining the overall wellness of the body. The body needs all types of dietary supplements, such as minerals, vitamins, and even sugar. However, many of us have grown to believe that healthy eating is defined by dieting. As PhD Alan H. Hayler explains in his article Healthy Eating Refined, “We’re not seeking to eat healthy as much as we are trying to lose weight…it’s our negative feelings that create obstacles.” And dieting is one of them, as it is seen as a solution to one’s dissatisfaction with unwanted physical features.However, dieting can backfire.

While dieting, eating seems to be everything. Suddenly, one is more aware of what is consumed and is constantly making crucial decisions, such as if meals should be skipped, and what will be eaten next. “The mind and the body are inextricably linked,” says PhD Cynthia M. Bulik in her article called Are All Diets Unhealthy, “And never is this more apparent than when you go on a diet.”

If the body wants food, then the mind does too. It’s natural to be aware of what one is eating. But planning every meal, frantically checking food labels, and avoiding everything high on sugar is going a little too far.When it has already targeted the mind, dieting can severely change one’s behavior as well. According to the Negative Consequences of Dieting by Allison Daee, “Unhealthy weight-loss methods have been shown to be frequently associated with other problem behavior, such as alcohol or marijuana use, school delinquency, and suicide attempts.”

This may seem extreme. However, dieting can often lead to eating disorders, which kill 326 people each week alone.

Moderation is gained through consumption of a variety of foods, including healthy amounts of fat. What most diets have in common is that one way or another; they cut vital food groups out of balanced diets. One of the most common is the low-fat diet. Although they reduce potential cholesterol-related complications such as heart attacks, low cholesterol levels can also bring bad news. According to The

Great Cholesterol Con by Dr. Malcolm Kendrick, “A falling cholesterol level is associated with a greater risk of heart disease.” Another diet is the low-carbohydrate diet. While allowing dieters to consume as much fat as they please, this diet restricts excessive consumption of carbohydrates. The body turns carbs into sugar, causing high insulin levels. Since carbohydrates are the first thing that the body relies on for energy, having low carbohydrate levels would make the body burn fat instead, therefore making it easy to lose weight. However, according to the American Heart Association, low-carbohydrate diets only cause “short-term weight loss through dehydration” and are “harmful to the cardiovascular system in the long run.” While restricting what you can and cannot eat, diets restrict the body from receiving the dietary components it needs for healthy and proper function.

It important to have a healthy diet, but dieting can backfire. According to the Department of Child Health Industry, “weight-loss behavior has been associated with an increased risk of long-term weight gain.” Unfortunately, the longterm risks are often worse. Cutting crucial foods from one’s diet can lead to issues as severe as heart disease. To dieters’ frustration, the body is unbelievably smart. Many often wonder: Why does one quickly regain weight after quitting a diet? When one diets, the body is signaled that it is stranded on a foodless island. As a reaction to being fooled into false starvation, the body launches into survival mode. Restriction of calories can lower metabolic rates, so the body stores everything it can to save energy. Diets only agree with your short-term issues, and are not the solution to a long term problem. As an Austin Fit article of December, 2009 states, “Dieting doesn’t teach long-term eating skills.” The body needs moderation and balance. So when one diets, it’s like trying to learn how to ride a bicycle with a missing tire.

Dieting is tempting. However, there is a big difference between healthy eating and eating a bite-sized apple for breakfast. So what’s the solution? As Hayler puts it, the first step is to “embrace the notion that healthy eating does include higher-fat, higher-sugar, and highercalorie foods.” It’s possible to be healthy, lose weight, and eat one’s favorite foods at the same time. So pick up a carrot and a cupcake. One will maintain good weight, and the other will maintain good health.

“The body needs moderation and balance. So when you diet, it’s like trying to teach yourself how to ride a bicycle with a missing tire.”

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The Man of

Many Tongues

Savoring the world with an open mind

By Fernanda A.

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aris, Tokyo, Florence, Beijing—he’s seen it all. The long hours of structural engineering seem to pay off every time he flies into a new country. But he hasn’t experienced it all until he’s tasted it all.

As a professional structural engineer and an expert in natural disasters, 46-year-old Jaime Argudo’s job often demands his presence in countries all over the world. However, traveling the world wasn’t always easy. He often finds that he has to teach himself to be open-minded about the strange foods he encounters. Even on his current trip to the Maldives, staying optimistic is a challenge.

“If you don’t train yourself,” he cautions, “you won’t get to experience the different sour, spicy, and sweet foods the world has to offer.”

Before he had the chance to travel to distinct countries like Japan, he found himself very restricted to his own food preferences. But once he surrounded himself with the hot, unique flavors and the bright, crimson walls of his favorite Japanese restaurant in Tokyo, things began to change.

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“Japan’s food is one of the most diverse ones,” he smiled, recalling the rich sake and the tender Kobe beef his sensei, which means professor, treated him to. “In the beginning the taste is not easy to interpret; once you start developing the sense of sympathy it changes your sense of taste.You can’t have that in many other places.”

But traveling can really have an impact on one’s taste buds. After twenty years of traveling the world, his sense of taste drastically grew.

“As you travel around the world,” he explains, “your sense of taste expands and the foods that you thought were repulsing suddenly become delicious.”

There were very few factors that limited his diet. Ten years ago, he would have been able to grab a burger with ease. But after becoming aware of his increasing high-blood pressure, he had to slow down on the fast food.

“Fast food is very repulsing to me! I used to like it, especially when I lived in America,” he exclaims. “Every time I eat a hamburger I get sick, it’s just like a reflex. Age definitely changes a person’s menu.”

But as long as it’s not hazardous to his health, Argudo is always willing to try what ever the world has to offer.

“That’s pretty much all that restricts me from getting a taste of something new,” he laughs.

And when Jaime Argudo says something, he means it. The more countries he visited, the more he found himself trying exotic foods like chicken feet, fish head, and cow tongue. The foods he wouldn’t have thought twice about suddenly became his favorite.

“They taste better than rabbits,” Argudo says, referring to Ecuador’s indigenous guinea pig shamelessly. “I wouldn’t be hesitant to try other countries’ traditional foods just because I’m not used to eating [it].”

Although he was born and raised in a more urbanized city in his country, Ecuador, Guayaquil, Argudo was often willing to visit the country side for a change. As a child, he was often mocked for his strange willingness to try new, unfamiliar foods.

“But it’s important to stay open-minded about a person’s culture,” Argudo says.

About twenty years later, when he began his career, his adventurous spirit lead him to find more meaning in his business trips. When he began to truly see the world, his respect for cultural diversity strengthened. Whenever he wasn’t working, he often went touring to grasp the beauty of his surroundings. However, it wasn’t souvenirs he spent most of his money on.

“Here in the Maldives, there is a restaurant in Hulhule Hotel that sells really well seasoned fish,” Argudo recalls. “It’s poignant and full of flavor.”

But not every culinary travel experience had been so positive.

Although he was surrounded with surreal scenes and sights, France wasn’t as welcoming on his budget. High-quality food also meant a high price to pay.

“For twenty dollars I got a piece of carrot and 2 small slices of salmon. I took me two seconds to finish the meal,”

Argudo laughs, “but I won’t deny it—it was very good!”

But his favorite place to dine of all was at a small barbeque restaurant in Argentina. Watching his meals being cooked on the spot over a large grill made the visit even more worth while.

“Their food proportions are incredible!” Argudo recalls, extending his hands. “A piece of [their] beef won’t fit on a regular sized plate. It was about twice as big as a meal even a Texan barbeque restaurant would serve.”

Although he spent most of his time visiting more urbanized areas of the countries he visited, Argudo also liked to travel to rural areas to obtain multiple aspects of the region’s culture. “[People in rural areas] spend more time cooking and preparing the dishes with a little bit more care,” Argudo explains, “And if you eat in a place where everything is fresh, the food has a lot of taste and unique flavors.”

However, Argudo also sees a downside in being too flexible about the foods you try. He learned the dangers of carelessly stuffing his face the hard way. Once, in his own country, Ecuador, Argudo walked by a kiosk that read ‘SANDWICHES.’ Hungry and in a hurry, he bought himself a quick meal. Due to poor sanitation, Argudo grew severely ill. “[Sometimes] being a foreigner isn’t handy,” Argudo explains, “you need to figure out where the healthy food is, and part of that is getting to know their culture.”

However, it wasn’t only his health and food preferences that prevented him from savoring new flavors. In countries where religious practices are highly enforced, he often had to cut things out of his diet.

In some countries of Muslim culture, it was difficult for him to find pork. As he continued hopping from plane to plane, Argudo’s eyes were opened to the differences and gaps between each country’s value of food.

“In some of the countries that I visited, people were more openly having alcohol, but this doesn’t happen here in the Maldives as much… food [here] has a religious meaning.” Argudo noticed, “In the Western hemisphere, [it] is more like a form to get energy, entertainment, and satisfy hunger.”

And what he couldn’t have wasn’t the only thing that stood out to Argudo. During a business trip, he was invited to a meal by his boss.

The dinner was high-class, and the conversation was even more formal than he had anticipated. However, the loud burp that came from his coworker was something he wouldn’t have expected in a lifetime. And the fact that the host was actually pleased.

“I was startled,” Argudo laughs. “There is not a single way to define what good manners are across the world.”

But what impacts him the most is differences between food’s role in bringing families together across the world To Argudo, who grew up with a strong value of food, warm home-cooked meals and memories of his mother in the kitchen, this is a problem.

“It’s a great memory to have. Unfortunately, some people don’t get that opportunity. There is a lot of value in that. But whether that is good or bad,” Argudo adds with a grin, “that’s just their culture.”

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Diet Rumors By: Kayley T. Art by: Kayley T.

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ieting in today’s modern world can be a hazardous thrill ride.

With all the diet methods that are being introduced into today’s society, some can be good but most are bad. Being able to distinguish between the two, like Clara Showalter does, can be a very useful skill.

Dieting, in a nut shell (pun intended), can either be good to your health or bad to it. There are special rules that you can use to tell the difference between a good diet and a bad diet. In addition, there are certain diets that are proven to not be good for your health.

“Any diet program that still lets you eat a wide range of foods is okay.” Personal trainer Clara Showalter explains. “Don’t hit McDonald’s all the time. Don’t eat all your food out of the vending machines and especially remember that stuff that you drink has calories.”

A dieter should never drink all their calories. Doing so reduces the amount of calories that they can eat during the day and makes it much easier to go over their allotted calories for the day. If a dieter abides by certain rules and restrictions they can tell which diets are bad and which are good.

“Your carbohydrate portion should be about the size of your clenched fist. Protein should be about the size of the palm of your hand or a deck of cards and then extra fats about the size of your thumb,” Showalter says gesturing the correct sizes with her hands.

These specific measurements are the very important aspects of a diet. How much is eaten on a diet and how much time is spent exercising are the individual ideas that make up a diet. This breakdown of carbohydrates includes many types of food. A few examples are apples, potatoes, pears and strawberries. Protein includes (but is not limited to) poultry, red meat and fish. A few examples of fats are dressing, butter and cream. There are also good fats that count in the fat category.

Foods like avocado and salmon have good fats and are good for your body. If you include exercise in your diet, then there are specific exercise tips that can help you.

“You really would like to look for at least 30 minutes of extra activity every day,” she says. “If you do a really good intense interval workout, 30 minutes, you’re done. Better quality workouts usually use intervals so that you have intensity levels which go up and down.”

If a person does the recommended 30 minutes of exercise then they will be set for their exercise portion of a diet. More exercise is not necessarily better unless there are more calories going into the body. If one burn calories when they do not have them, they will burn muscle which is not a good thing. The only type of food that a person can each as much as you want is vegetables.

“Things like lettuce, tomatoes, [and] green vegetables of any type. Eat as much of those as you want. Even if you don’t want to eat them, eat as many of those as you want because those don’t…they don’t count.” Showalter says, specifying on vegetables.

Vegetables that are not starchy, such as asparagus and broccoli, and are not considered carbohydrates can be eaten in any size. So the typical meal of a dieter may look like 3 oz of beef, a sweet potato and a cup of broccoli. There would be no extra sauces on the meat and very little butter on the sweet potato. Some diets that are circulating throughout the world are better for the body than others.

“WeightWatchers, Jenny Craig, Body-For-Life, [and] South Beach. Any diet program that still lets you eat a wide range of foods is okay. Any diet you look at that says you have to get rid of food groups is not your friend. Atkin’s says that you shouldn’t eat carbohydrates.

Don’t do it,” says Showalter.

Atkin’s says that carbohydrates are the cause of weight gain.

If one does not eat carbs then the body will be unbalanced and believe that there is a shortage of carbs and the body will start burning fat. This is not necessarily a good thing. Teens typically have a higher metabolism and this helps them maintain an average weight.

“When you are growing up you need to remember you’re still growing and so sometimes you’re going to weigh more than you think is okay but it’s because you’re growing and your body is adjusting.

It is very important to remember that you don’t want to just diet because your friends are doing it and you think that it is cool.” Showalter says explaining the difference between adult and teen diets.

When a teen loses weight it is very different than being an adult. As a teen, there is a higher metabolism so one must eat more food and exercise more in order to lose weight. Adults have a harder time of losing weight because their metabolism is lower so they have less inclination to eat and exercise.

“The best thing a teenager can do that’s actually gonna help you lose weight without having to go crazy dieting is cut back on fast food and junk food. Doesn’t mean you get rid of it entirely because everyone still wants to have some of that but you really cut back on how much you eat.” says Showalter on teen diets.

Fast food and junk food are the main causes of weight gain along with not exercising. This buildup of fast and junk food will cause the body to gradually get bigger. It is because the fat from the food one eats is being stored.

“All set, you still have a life, [you] can go out and do something,” Showalter laughs.

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Rachel B. eating her gluten-free lunch.

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Special Food for a Special Girl I

brought brownies!” Rachel B., a 15 year old girl, announces as her friends gather around in the hallway to get a piece during lunch.

“Wow! These are good!” Brigid complimented.

“Thanks! I made them myself. They are gluten-free dairy-free.”

Rachel has to make all of her foods this way.

Rachel is allergic to dairy and gluten. All of her foods are gluten-free dairy-free now. Rachel has been allergic to dairy since she was little. Her mom found out about these dairy allergies because Rachel “…always was a very ‘angry baby’,” and would get very sick.

The gluten allergy is completely different from her dairy allergy. Rachel’s mom is allergic to gluten, which is in wheat, rye, and barley, and many times gluten allergies are genetic and are developed, so Rachel avoids eating gluten. So far, she says that she has no symptoms from eating gluten, but if she were to eat it all of the time, then she would develop an allergy. So she just sticks to breads, bagels, and chips that have had their gluten extracted.

Rachel does not take any medicines for her allergies, instead she has stuck to a dairy-free, gluten-free diet ever since she first found out that she was allergic to gluten and dairy. But this has not stopped her from eating the same, good foods. Well, maybe not the same foods, but they are very similar. The only thing different about her foods is that they are gluten-free and dairy-free. She eats brownies, but the flour used in them has no gluten, and she eats cheese, but there is no dairy in the cheese.

Because Rachel has been on her dairy diet since she was little, she has gotten used to her friends offering deliciouslooking foods and not being able to accept them. Whenever she went to birthday parties where people were eating cake and ice cream, her mom would pack her a special cupcake or piece of cake so that Rachel would not feel left out.

“I always thought they [her gluten-free, dairy-free cupcakes] were better because it was special.” Rachel explained as she picked up her canteen of gluten-free pasta.

Rachel looks at her diet in a very optimistic way by trying to work around her allergies and get the same assortment of food as every-

“Rachel has weird food. It is not necessarily the way it looks or tastes, but what is in it.”

By: KENDRA F. Photograph By: KENDRA F. LAtSA

16

Feature Section one else. She eats at normal restaurants; her favorites are Guero’s Taco Bar, and Tarka Indian Kitchen. She orders normal foods, but stays away from things with dairy and gluten.

Usually she likes to order salad and meats.

Rachel’s mom buys their family’s food at places like Whole Foods, Central Market, and Costco; usually places with organic and vegetarian foods. Rachel eats almost the same foods as everyone else does, like her pasta, brownies, waffles, and tacos, each special because they have all of the normal ingredients, including cheese, but without gluten or dairy. Her friends see her eating everyday at lunch and most of them think that her food looks normal, with only a slight color differentiation that is only noticeable with a sharp eye.

“I’m constantly raiding her lunchbox, and I don’t even notice the difference!” Katelyn, one of Rachel’s friends, said.

Rachel’s friends each have a different opinion on her food, but they all pretty much have one thought in common. “It [Rachel’s food] is weird,” Michaela B. said. It is not necessarily the way it looks or tastes, but what is in it. There is no gluten and no dairy. How do her waffles and brownies look so normal and only sometimes taste a little bit different? They ask themselves.

“I love to cook… Her [Rachel’s mom’s] love for cooking has passed on to me.” Rachel told her friends one day at lunch.

Her mom usually cooks, but Rachel makes some of her food and enjoys cooking. Her mother taught her how to cook all of the things that Rachel makes. They have a collection of cookbooks with special recipes for food she can

Food Search Answers: 1.pizza 2.ice cream 3.snow cones 4.ribs 5.cheeseburger 6.corndog 7.corn 8.watermelon 9.apple 10.chocolate 11.ding dong 12.kiwi 13.banana

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14.beans 15.honey 16.waffles 17.cupcake 18.milk 19.skittles 20.gushers 21.smarties 22.pudding 23.bagel 24.lettuce 25.donuts

eat, the secret to all of her “normal” looking and tasting foods.

These cookbooks have helped Rachel and her family get through their allergies.

One of Rachel’s favorite things to cook is her gluten-free, dairyfree brownies from the special cookbooks that her mom showed her. All of her friends think they are delicious and can’t even tell that there is a difference between Rachel’s brownies and “normal” brownies.

Rachel looks at her allergies in an optimistic way and is always happy to bring some brownies for her friends. She doesn’t let her allergies ruin her creative menu and is always trying new things to shrink her “NO EATING” boundaries from her allergies by buying dairy-free milk, cheese, and yogurt, and also by buying gluten-free cereals, breads, and flour.

Rachel’s gluten-free, dairy-free waffle with dairy free cheese and a fried egg.

Alternative Section

A Blackout Poem

By Kendra F. Art by Katie Botto

In the heart dressed in an

Will

appealing scene

barbecue

the speak

the restaurant

and

has the speed the heart

amounts

The meat in

helpful and taste like a dream

town

for a

is a counter service with barbecue, southern dishes, Cajun food, tacos and vegetarian options.

food

of a small with

is fit An

atmosphere that is charming and it

people enjoy

barbecue

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Juicy July Sunday

Monday

6

7

13

14

20

21

27

28

Tuesday

1 Chocolate Day

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Second Half of the Year Day

National Milk Chocolate Day

Wednesday

2

8

9

15

16

Gummi Worm Day

National Lollipop

Day

19

By: Kayley T.

22

23

29

30

National Chili Dog Day

Thursday

International Chicken Wing Day

Hot Dog Night

3

Friday

4

5

10

11

12

17

18

19

25

26

Independence from

Meat Day

Cow Appreciation

Day

24

National Drive-Thru

Day

Saturday

National Ice Cream

Day

Cheesecake Month Observances Day Blueberries Month

National Ice Cream Month National Hot Dog Month National Grilling Month

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Alternative Section

Your Choice Big Mac

VS

Whopper

and

Coca Cola VS

79%

21%

54%

Serving size 1 Calories 540 kcal Carbohydrates 47 g Sugars 8g Dietary Fiber 3g Total Fat 30 g Protein 25 g Sodium 1010 mg

Serving size 1 Calories 670 kcal Carbohydrates 51 g Sugars 11 g Dietary Fiber 3g Total Fat 39 g Protein 28 g Sodium 1120 mg

Serving Size: 1 can Calories 140 kcal Carbohydrates 39 g Sugars 39 g Dietary Fiber 0g Total Fat 0g Protein 0g Sodium 55 mg

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S

Alternative Section

The Best Choice

By Fernanda A.

Dr. Pepper

46% Serving size 1 can Calories 150 kcal Carbohydrates 40 g Sugars 40 g Dietary Fiber 0g Total Fat 0g Protein 0g Sodium 55 mg

Subway

65% Serving size

1 Calories 290 kcal Carbohydrates 46 g Sugars 7g Dietary Fiber 4g Total Fat 5g Protein 18 g Sodium 1270 mg

VS

Domino’s

35% Serving Size: 1 Calories 695 kcal Carbohydrates 72 g Sugars 3g Dietary Fiber 3g Total Fat 27 g Protein 41 g Sodium 2080 mg LAtSA

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Alternative Section

Homemade ice cream with M&M’s

A Frozen Delicacy A homemade ice-cream recipe.

By Kendra F. Ingredients • • • •

1 Tablespoon sugar 1/2 cup milk 1/4 teaspoon vanilla 6 tablespoons rock salt (normal salt also works) • 1 pint-size plastic Ziploc bag • 1 gallon-size plastic Ziploc bag • Ice cubes

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Alternative Section Step 1 Fill the large bag half full with ice and add the rock salt.

Step 2 Pour milk, vanilla, and sugar into the small bag. Try to squeeze all of the air out of the bag, and then seal it.

Step 2

Step 1

Step 3 Place the small bag inside the larger bag, then seal the large bag.

Step 4 Shake until the mixture is creamy. (this should take about 5 or 6 minutes) Step 4

Step 3

Step 5 Wipe off the top of the bag so that no salt gets into the ice cream. Open the bag and enjoy!

An Extra Tip! Throw in some chocolate to add your own personal touch!

Step 5

An Extra Tip!

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Alternative Section

I li k

apples e ic

e cr e

a

Do you like apples? There is nothing too special about them. But sometimes, people are like apples on trees. Some are within arms reach, others are much harder to pick and see. The ones at the bottom make themselves stand out. They seem to be the brightest; the easiest to spot. So, why not? But over time, these ap- ples fall and bruise. Yet ones at the top can’t fall.

Mysteriously, they hide among the twining branches and leaves. Are they more plump or or more red than the eye than the others?

Only the bravest ones can climb to the

top, and find the cores of the small,

strange fruit. How far would yo

u go, for your favorite apple

at the top of the tree?

am

p ple

l i ke

sI

cak e

ike c

“I scream, you scream, all scream for ice cream,” the famous proverb says. Ice cream must be magical. Why do people devour tubs of ice cream when they’re upset? Is

it the cold sensation that distracts them from

their sadness? Is it the sweetness that tempora rily fills the holes in one’s heart? But over time, things change. Is it possible to become immune

ice cream’s mystical powers? Your friends, hairstyle, your clothes, the cars you drive and sometimes, even emotions can c hange. But some things never change. sI l “Age does not diminish the extreme

disappointment of having a sco op of ice cream fall from the

“You stole my cupcake!”

cone,” says Jim Fiebig. Is

Cupcakes are like hidden trice cream happiness coasures. They can be decorated in

ndensed? Incredibly, any way and any color— purple f-

a single scoop of osting with sprinkes, blue swirls mini ice cream can chocolates, and can even be personified make us recognizable figures. It’s strange how dif- smile. erent cupcakes can be from one another. E-

xpression is limitless in one’s hands. Wh- ,

at’s more special, desinging it or eating it? Sometimes, cupcakes are made alone.

Sometimes four, six, and eight hands can spend hours drawing messy, funny, and distorted faces a little cupcake. Strangely, these bite-sized desserts may un derstand us more that we do. up

Oh my!

By: Fernanda A.

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Alternative Section

Groovy Guacamole

By: Kayley T.

Photos by: Kayley T.

Ingredients List: 4 avocados 1/2 red onion 2 tbsp cilantro 1 tomato Salt, to taste Pepper, to taste 1 tbsp lemon juice 1 tbsp lime juice

How to make:

1

Cut Avacados into halves. Remove the seeds and take the skin off of the

avacado. Put the avacado meat into a large mixing bowl. Put the seeds away for use later.

2

Use a fork to mash the avacado in the bowl. Add the red onion, cilantro and tomato into the bowl. Mix around.

3

Add the lemon juice, lime juice, salt and pepper. Mix more until it looks like guacamole.

4

Put the set aside seeds into the mixing bowl. This will keep the guacamole fresh so that it will not turn brown.

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OOD