Backers of the idea say consumers deserve to know what’s in the food they eat. Critics say labeling is a ploy to make consumers worry.

One of the biggest arguments in the food world these days involves products that have been genetically modified.

Consumer advocates have been pushing for rules requiring companies to label foods that contain ingredients that have been modified for any number of purposes, such as making them resistant to herbicides. Recently, voters in Oregon and Colorado voted down measures to require labeling. Other states, though, have approved labeling, and the Food and Drug Administration’s website says it has received petitions to mandate labeling nationwide but hasn’t made a call on the idea.

The argument for labeling comes down to the right to know: Consumers, the advocates say, should be well informed of what’s in their food. Further, they argue, genetically modifying food carries risks while providing few nutritional benefits.

Opponents say that the fears about GMO foods are overblown, and that in fact the foods are safe and bring benefits. So, labeling foods would give the wrong impression that there’s something dangerous about GMOs, when there isn’t, opponents say.

Andrew Kimbrell, the executive director of the Center for Food Safety, makes the case in favor of labeling. Arguing against labeling is Nina Fedoroff, the Pugh professor emerita at Penn State University.

YES: We Deserve To Know What’s in the Food We Eat

By Andrew Kimbrell

The American public has the right to know what’s in the food they buy and serve their families. That includes the right to choose whether or not to purchase foods produced through genetic engineering. Consumers in 64 other countries have that right, and Americans overwhelmingly want that right. Most polls show that more than 90% of the public favors labeling.

Why label? Genetically engineered foods are materially different than their nonengineered counterparts, and the public has a right to know it. In fact, the DNA in these foods has been patented by biotech corporations as completely new.

Labeling would not be curtailing a technology that is beneficial to the public. No currently commercialized genetically engineered crop substantially increases yield or nutrition. And other cheaper, proven methods are more effective at increasing production.

In fact, the primary use of genetic engineering involves genetically altering crops so they can withstand massive doses of herbicide (mostly Roundup, recently classified a probable carcinogen). And increased herbicide use has led to air and water pollution, created a major problem with herbicide-resistant “superweeds,” and resulted in increased toxic residue on our food.

Moreover, genetic engineering is not safer, nor more efficient nor more predictable than traditional breeding. Genetically engineering crops involves trial and error, mostly resulting in failure.Tinkering with a plant’s DNA might make a nontoxic plant toxic or have other unintended impacts. Without labeling, we can’t fully track those impacts.

Source: http://www.wsj.com/articles/should-companies-be-required-to-label-genetically-modified-foods-1436757040

Critical thinking questions:

• Do you think this kind of foods has an impact in life expectancy?
• By labeling products that are genetically modified, do you think most people would buy them or not? Explain.

During a summer of skimpy bathing suits and bare sundresses, many women are thinking about one number. It’s not the number of diapers they need to cart to the Hamptons or the balance of their bank accounts. This season most women will be obsessing about their weight. And it seems they will try anything to drop the pounds.

This year’s diet trends have spanned from the commercial to the comical. Star of MTV’s reality show The Jersey Shore, Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi has turned to the so-called Cookie Diet to lose weight this summer. The program allows followers to eat only six cookies and a healthy dinner every day for as long as it takes to meet their goals.

In the last few months, some celebs have been connected to a new Baby Food Diet, in which they eat several servings of goopy pureed greens daily. Fast food companies have tried to roll out new diet fads too. Taco Bell, insisting it is not a weight-loss program, debuted its “drive-thru diet” menu and advertised that one woman lost 54 pounds on the fast-food meal plan.

Top 10 Weirdest Diets

“Every time a diet craze hits the market, people want to give it shot,” says David Edelson, M.D., founder and medical director of weight loss facility HealthBridge. “It’s the American way. We want it fast. We want it now. And we don’t want it to be difficult.”

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, Americans spend billions annually on weight loss products and programs, and women are the majority of dieters. The CDC reports that women are twice as likely to diet as men, and that on any given day 45% of women are dieting. Meanwhile, Mary Gocke, a registered dietician at the Continuum Center for Health and Healing in New York, estimates that women are the vast majority of “extreme dieters,” at a ratio of 10:1. Extreme diets are the severe calorie-cutting and experimental plans that could be dangerous.

Gocke says women experience much more social pressure to be in shape, and often use events such as weddings or class reunions as deadlines. That makes them more apt to try quick fixes. They are also more likely to view rail-thin models and actresses on the covers of women’s magazines as the ideal, Gocke says, adding, “and they’re all airbrushed.”

Despite the fact that health professionals agree fad or quick fix diets often don’t work–dieters may lose weight in the short-term but gain it all back and more once they stop dieting–they continue to pop up, becoming progressively more weird and wacky.

Diet doctor and Cookie Diet creator Sanford Siegal, D.O., M.D., says some of the weirdest diets can be found in the history books.

Wish you could wash the pounds away? Siegal recounts that 18th-century physician Malcolm Flemyng suggested his patients try to do so by eating soap. Then at the turn of 20th century a man named Horace Fletcher suggested dieters “Fletcherize,” or liquify, their food by chewing 100 times per minute and then spitting out any solid remains. Siegal snorts, “Can you imagine attending his dinner parties?”

At the same time, desperate dieters began turning to the shiver-worthy practice of eating tapeworms. They believed the parasites would attach to their stomach linings and consume some of their calories. The worms actually cause nauseating digestive problems and can reproduce in your system. “It’s terribly dangerous,” says Siegal.

Spring forward to the 1970s, when Robert Linn, M.D., prescribed a program called the Last Chance Diet, on which people ate nothing but a liquid protein elixir called Prolinn a few times a day. The blend was pre-digested animal hides, tendons and slaughterhouse byproducts combined with sweeteners and artificial flavors. The FDA stepped in after several Last Chance dieters died.

“Some of these fad diets are extreme,” says nutritionist Gocke. “People get to that point because they are so frustrated with weight loss, but they really need to see a good nutritionist so they don’t harm themselves.”

Many of today’s diets, too, might make you lose your appetite–and maybe that’s the point. Weight-loss doctor Edelson says the Apple Cider Vinegar Diet, popularized by supermodel Heidi Klum and consisting of swigging vinegar before a meal, may aid weight loss only because vinegar–and everything eaten after it–tastes horrible. Edelson does not recommend it, though, as the high acidity could damage the esophagus.

Edelson notes two other “scary” diets that have him worried. Some supermodels and dancers have been known to eat cotton balls, he says, to feel fuller. But because the body is unable to digest them, they can cause serious injury to the digestive system.

Another eyebrow-raising fad is the HCG Diet. Practitioners eat only about 500 calories a day and inject themselves with a hormone that is naturally produced by the placenta of a pregnant woman. “There are so many red flags there,” Edelson warns. “Stay away from this.”

There will always be new and ever-weirder diets, Edelson says, but ultimately you have to come up with a long-term strategy for keeping the weight off and maintaining your health. He suggests you first figure out why you’ve gained weight, considering your portion sizes, the types of foods you eat, emotional eating patterns and your exercise habits. Then you can start a healthy weight-loss plan, which he says usually consists of about 1,200 to 1,400 calories for women, small meals throughout the day and lots of vegetables.

Diets are popular in part because people like to follow rules and regimens to keep themselves on track, weight loss experts say. If you’re looking for a safe and healthy diet to follow, Edelson suggests the low-carb South Beach Diet, the hormone-balancing Zone Diet or a vegetarian diet.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/2010/07/08/diet-weight-loss-health-forbes-woman-well-being-women.HTML

Critical thinking questions

• Do you agree with dietician Mary Gocke when she states “Women experience much more social pressure to be in shape, and often use events such as weddings or class reunions as deadlines”?   Explain.
• Nowadays, the Internet offers us information related to different areas, including health & diets. Also, the number of dieticians is increasing worlwide. Then why do most people keep bad eating habits?

Those old board games collecting dust on the top of your closet could be key to keeping your mind active and healthy. Board games entertain and bring people together through competitive and cooperative game play. Some of the most popular board games are: Monopoly, Chess, Checkers, Life, Clue, Scrabble, Mancala, and many more.  However, board games offer a lot more than just entertainment. In fact, these games beneficially impact health in multiple aspects at any age. If this is news to you, here’s some of the top 10 benefits that you should know about:

• Have fun and feel good: One of the side effect of playing board games is laughing. Laughing has been shown to increase endorphins, those are chemicals that bring up the feeling of happiness. Sharing laughter and fun can promote empathy, compassion and trust with others.
• Family time: Sitting down with family with no interruptions may feel like an impossible thing in your home, as everyone has different schedules which pushes them to opposite directions. But playing games with your kids, or with your friends, is a perfect way to spend time together and build learning skills at the same time. Playing a board game after a family dinner is an excellent way to get closer to your family, while strengthening your family bond.
• Memory formation and cognitive skills: Allowing your kids to play a board game helps them practice essential cognitive skills, like problem solving. The hippocampus and prefrontal cortex especially benefit from playing board games. These areas of the brain are responsible for complex thought and memory formation. Board games help the brain retain and build cognitive associations well into old age too.
• Reduces risks for mental diseases: One of the primary benefits of playing board games is reducing the risk of cognitive decline, such as that associated with dementia and Alzheimer’s. Keeping your mind engaged means you are exercising it and building it stronger. A stronger brain has lower risks of losing its power.
• Lowers blood pressure: Along with laughing and increasing your endorphins, they can help you lower or maintain your blood pressure. This release of endorphins help muscles to relax and blood to circulate, which evidently will lower your blood pressure. High blood pressure is associated with greater risk of artery damage, heart disease and stroke.
• Speed up you responses: Get yourself a board game like chess, checkers or monopoly, and in time you might be better at being able to find those hard-to-find car keys without having to look for then in the entire house. Scientists at the University of Toronto in Canada assessed two groups’ ability to search for and find an object; their results showed that study participants who regularly played video games were far quicker at locating the target than those who didn’t play.
• Reduce stress: You can always benefit from a healthy distraction like playing  a board games since it is an excellent way to kick back and relax. According to an online survey by RealNetworks, Inc., a casual games developer, found that 64% of respondents said they play games as a way to unwind and relax and 53% play for stress relief.
• Grows your immune system: Research has shown that negativity, depression and stress can reduce your ability to fight disease. Positive feelings and thoughts, like the laughter and enjoyment that always comes with board games, prevents these effects by releasing some chemicals that fight stress and boost your immune system. A simple board game could give rise to the ‘survival genes’ and activate them in your brain, making the brain cells live longer and helping to fight disease.
• Child development: Board games play a very important role in child health and brain development. Board games help children develop logic and reasoning skills, improve critical thinking and boost spatial reasoning. Encouraging children to play different types of board games can also increase verbal and communication skills, while helping develop attention skills and the ability to concentrate and focus for longer periods of time.
• Therapy treatment: Many board games require the use of fine motor skills to pick up or move pieces, actions that take both coordination and dexterity. Regular practice and activity improve these basic skills, which is important for children, people with mental or physical disabilities, the elderly and those recovering from accidents. Board games are very helpful when they are added to occupational therapy treatments, as well in places like classrooms for special needs to help improve muscle and nerve function over time.

Source: http://www.healthfitnessrevolution.com/top-10-health-benefits-board-games/

Critical thinking questions

• A number of benefits have been mentioned in the article, however, few people are into this kind of games. Why do you think it happens?
• From your own experience, how beneficial is playing board games?
• Could you suggest any other activities, physical or cognitive, that offer the same results?

When emotional intelligence first appeared to the masses in 1995, it served as the missing link in a peculiar finding: people with average IQs outperform those with the highest IQs 70% of the time. This anomaly threw a massive wrench into what many people had always assumed was the sole source of success—IQ. Decades of research now point to emotional intelligence as the critical factor that sets star performers apart from the rest of the pack.

Emotional intelligence is the “something” in each of us that is a bit intangible. It affects how we manage behavior, navigate social complexities, and make personal decisions that achieve positive results. Emotional intelligence is made up of four core skills that pair up under two primary competencies: personal competence and social competence.

Personal competence is made up of your self-awareness and self-management skills, which focus more on you individually than on your interactions with other people. Personal competence is your ability to stay aware of your emotions and manage your behavior and tendencies.

• Self-Awareness is your ability to accurately perceive your emotions and stay aware of them as they happen.
• Self-Management is your ability to use awareness of your emotions to stay flexible and positively direct your behavior.

Social competence is made up of your social awareness and relationship management skills; social competence is your ability to understand other people’s moods, behavior, and motives in order to improve the quality of your relationships.

• Social Awareness is your ability to accurately pick up on emotions in other people and understand what is really going on.
• Relationship Management is your ability to use awareness of your emotions and the others’ emotions to manage interactions successfully.

Emotional Intelligence, IQ, and Personality are different.

Emotional intelligence taps into a fundamental element of human behavior that is distinct from your intellect. There is no known connection between IQ and emotional intelligence; you simply can’t predict emotional intelligence based on how smart someone is. Intelligence is your ability to learn, and it’s the same at age 15 as it is at age 50. Emotional intelligence, on the other hand, is a flexible set of skills that can be acquired and improved with practice. Although some people are naturally more emotionally intelligent than others, you can develop high emotional intelligence even if you aren’t born with it.

Personality is the final piece of the puzzle. It’s the stable “style” that defines each of us. Personality is the result of hard-wired preferences, such as the inclination toward introversion or extroversion. However, like IQ, personality can’t be used to predict emotional intelligence. Also like IQ, personality is stable over a lifetime and doesn’t change. IQ, emotional intelligence, and personality each cover unique ground and help to explain what makes a person tick.

Emotional Intelligence Is Linked to Performance.

How much of an impact does emotional intelligence have on your professional success? The short answer is: a lot! It’s a powerful way to focus your energy in one direction with a tremendous result. TalentSmart tested emotional intelligence alongside 33 other important workplace skills, and found that emotional intelligence is the strongest predictor of performance, explaining a full 58% of success in all types of jobs.

Your emotional intelligence is the foundation for a host of critical skills—it impacts most everything you say and do each day. Emotional intelligence is the single biggest predictor of performance in the workplace and the strongest driver of leadership and personal excellence.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/travisbradberry/2014/01/09/emotional-intelligence/

Do you agree with the information provided in the article above? If so, why? How has your emotional intelligence influenced  on your workplace?

The short story is sometimes an under-appreciated art form. Within the space of a few pages, an author must weave a story that’s compelling, create characters readers care about and drive the story to its ultimate conclusion — a feat that can be difficult to accomplish even with a great degree of savvy. Yet these authors have mastered the art of the short story, turning condensed pieces into memorable works of literature that stick with readers long after they’ve finished.

Some good examples are:

1. “The Snows of Kilimanjaro”by Ernest Hemingway: A writer on safari in Africa is close to death and looks back on his life regrettably in this short tale.
2. The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien: Nominated for and winning numerous literary awards, this collection of stories about the Vietnam War is moving– perhaps even more so because many of them are based on the author’s own experiences.
3. “The Body”by Stephen King: Adapted into the movie Stand By Me, this short tale documents both the depth of friendship and the horrors of misfortune.
4. “The Telltale Heart”by Edgar Allan Poe: There are few out there who haven’t read or at least heard of this classic tale. Over a few short pages, Poe builds the suspense as a murderer begins to feel the guilt of his crime.
5. “Three Questions”by Leo Tolstoy: While Tolstoy may be better known for his epic novels, this short story in the form of a parable about a king searching for the most important questions in life shows he mastered the medium of the short story as well.
6. “Fall of the House of Usher”by Edgar Allan Poe: This classic tale of gothic horror will have you hanging on to every last detail.

Source: http://www.onlineclasses.org/resources/the-50-best-short-stories-of-all-time/

Have you read any of the short stories mentioned above? If so, what do you think about them? If not, what other short stories you have read do you recommend us to read?

Read the following article and answer the questions:

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/10-benefits-reading-why-you-should-read-everyday.html

• Which of these benefits do you find the most interesting? Why?
• Which other benefits would you add to the list?
• Do you have a favorite author? Why do you like his or her work? 
• List some books you would encourage other people to read. Why would you recommend these books to others? 

Welcome to the blog that has been specifically designed for Comprensión Lectora en Inglés – Course CLECV Plus 2 – administered by Idiomas Católica.

This blog aims at providing opportunities for participants to exchange information related to the course. Although our reading course is not meant to develop oral or written communication skills, we have noticed that many of you can and wish to “have your say” in English about issues that we look at in the course. Your participation in this blog can award you up to 5 points in the assessment area labelled Tareas de Evaluación Continua.

Ready to begin? It is easy. The questions on the next message are waiting to be answered! You may want to participate twice. The first time, just write your answers to the questions. The second time, you are supposed to reply somebody else’s answer.

Enjoy the experience!

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