The Ethical Issues behind Plastic Surgery free essay sample

Thomas McElhenney The Ethical Issues behind Cosmetic Surgery, and how JS Mill and Immanuel Kant would view it The article I chose is entitled Ethnic Differences Emerge in Plastic Surgery and was written by Sam Dolnlck for the New York Times on February 19, 2011. It explains that cosmetic plastic surgery is no longer an opportunity limited to wealthy suburbanites. In New York City, there has been a surge of immigrants having plastic surgeries that are correlated with their ethnic beauty standards. Furthermore, doctors practicing in various ethnic enclaves throughout the city have seen; Italians having their knees eshaped, Egyptians getting face-lifts, Iranians getting nose Jobs, Dominican women getting their buttocks lifted, Asians having double eye-lid surgery or receiving a crease In their eyelids to make their eyes appear rounder, and Russians getting breast implants. The article goes on to contrast the cultural beauty standards or tastes between one group of wealthy Long Island suburbanites with Washington Heights ancestrally Dominican citizens, where, in Long Island suburbs they want fat removed from their behinds, and in Washington Heights they want their rear ends enlarged and rounded. We will write a custom essay sample on The Ethical Issues behind Plastic Surgery or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page There are three ethical issues present in this article, the first being the usage of surgery to improve patients psychological self-esteem Issues versus the usage of surgery for traditional health reasons. The second issue is the fact that doctors are willing to offer layaway plans to help patients afford operations, but even more precarious, unlicensed practitioners are performing illegal surgery throughout most ethnic enclaves. The third is the belief that American pop culture and media have a role In affecting peoples personal awareness and Ideals of beauty, and this is making them much more willing to have unnecessary cosmetic plastic urgery performed. John Stuart Mills utilitarian doctrine Is the first ethical theory I chose to apply to these ethical problems. Mill argued that morality is based on the consequences you take, and that consequences must be a means to increase utility or pleasure (Utilitarianism: Of What Sort of Proof the, para 3,9). To the first ethical Issue, Mill would most likely say that people who undergo cosmetic plastic surgery are moral because they are acting accordance with increasing happiness. However, they are acting upon a lower pleasure, which Is vanity, and although this may bring ome Joy, it is something that can become an endless pursuit. Towards the second Issue, Mill would most likely say that the legality of the operations, and how the surgery is paid for, is superfluous to morality. If there is a tendency for patients to come out feeling and looking better, than the surgeon has done his or her Job and there Is nothing immoral going on. However, If there Is a tendency for people to leave these places, where layaway is acceptable and the surgeons do not have licenses to practice, In pain and vexation, there is something Immoral about this particular situation. One could further argue, that performing surgery illegally and allowing layaway for surgery is based In greed. To this I believe Mill would still say that it is the patients responses that matter, for they are the ones who choose to have the surgery Illegally. and If they have gained more pleasure through the experience, 1 OF3 tne actlons taken Dy tne Illegal surgeons or greedy doctors was moral (utllltarlanlsm: Of What Sort of Proof, para 6). To the last part, is media and pop culture responsible for unnecessary surgery, and people unhealthy personal beauty obsessions, he would say, generally no. Although he might say that certain parts of media are potent at changing the way people view their bodies and other peoples bodies, and may make people obsessively drawn into the lower pleasures of cosmetic bodily improvement. Immanuel Kants Deontological ethics is the second theory I chose to administer to the article. Kant argues that for an action to have genuine moral worth, it must be done out of duty, or from pure intentions. People or semi-rational beings must not allow subjective experiences and past events, or particular circumstances, determine what actions are morally right, but must act to achieve the categorical mperative, thus making every intention and every action together an end in itself (Groundwork: Moving from popular, para 2-4, 6-7). To the first, again being the usage of surgery for traditional reasons, versus the usage of surgery for patients who have psychological self-esteem issues; they believe that having cosmetic surgery will result in looking better and therefore bring happiness. Kant would strongly see this as immoral, as it is first off not being used to preserve ones life, and it is seeking out happiness through picking means which Kant believes will only lead to pain Groundwork: Moving from popular moral, para 15-16). Also cosmetic plastic surgery is not universafiable because it means that our self-love is based off of subjective contingent circumstances, and not based off of self-love because we are semi- rational beings. To the second ethical theory being layaway plans and illegal surgery, Kant would probably see the layaway plans as bad in that if everyone had layaway, there would not be any true ownership, and everyone would be in debt to someone else. Illegal surgery is also not universifiable in that, if it were universifiable, there ould be no legality, and the state laws for surgical practices would not exist. As to whether Kant would see people receiving cosmetic plastic surgery as victims of our hyper-idealized beauty popular culture and media, he would probably say yes, there is a problem. Pop culture, the media, and social networks certainly do have an insidiously furtive part in how we behave, and what we believe is beautiful. To go out of your way to make yourself more beautiful because someone or something tells you to do so, especially if it is instilled upon you in a covert way, is not acting in ccordance with freedom. It is dually leading you to use surgery as a mere means to happiness, and using you as a mere means to waste your money on advertised beauty/ diet products, more surgery, and more repetitive mindless television shows. In terms of which ethical theory best resolves the ethical issues spurred by this article, I would have to say Kants theory of good intentions is most critical and affirmative. All of these ethical issues I have raised have questionable intentions behind them. If I were to go with Mill, I certainly would be a lot more lenient with these issues. That is not necessarily a bad thing, since these peoples actions are not necessarily questionable. Their actions are somewhat good, because whether you are the patient, the doctor, or the pop culture media (entertainment) you are aiming at or supposedly affecting happiness (in a Mill sense). But their intentions are somewhat convoluted, and in my opinion, impure. I believe most of the doctors have greed as their intention, especially those who are willing to perform surgery illegally. Sure, the Illegal surgeons may De acting In a proper way, tnat Is, tney may perTorm tne surgery roperly. But behind it all is an intention of surreptitiously avoiding the rules of the state to save money, meanwhile being completely liable to malpractice and putting in jeopardy their lives and the lives of their patients. The patients may know that these doctors are quacks, but if they dont, then in fact they are being lied to and are being placed under the knives of surgeons who are dishonest and hence treating the patients as a mere means. Furthermore, I believe anyone who is getting cosmetic plastic surgery based off of established beauty standards, unless in some horrific ccident or bearing some horrific deformity is impure in their reasoning.

Dr Zhivago essays

Dr Zhivago essays Boris Pasternaks novel Doctor Zhivago was published in 1957. It was not published in Pasternaks native country of Russia, but in Italy. The USSR did not allow the publication of the novel because some believed that it showed a nonacceptance of the socialist revolution. (1) Today, Doctor Zhivago is considered to be one of the greatest Russian novels written. Boris Leonidovich Pasternak was born in 1890 in Moscow. His father was an artist and a professor at the Moscow School of Painting while his mother was a concert pianist. Both his parents were of Jewish lineage. Through his parents friends and associations he was often around well known writers and poets. Pasternak entered the Moscow Conservatory but dropped his musical ambitions to study philosophy at Marburg University in Germany. His first published works, BLIZNETS V TUCHAKN, went unnoticed. This was a collection of poems Pasternak had written but he did not give up. With his poems Over the Barriers and My Sister Life, he gained attention and fame as a promising fine new poet. Most of his poetic works from the early 1920s were autobiographical or political poems. In the mid twenties he shifted from this and focused on the Revolution and focused on history and the moral problems facing the Russian people. As Socialist Realism was more and more imposed on Russian writers , Pasternak stopped publishing new and original material. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s officials did not favor his work and refused to allow its publication. He began to work translating literature from writers such as William Shakespeare and J.W. von Goethe. During the World War II period, he wrote primarily patriotic poems. In 1954, a group of poems was published in a Russian journal under the title From a Novel referring to Doctor Zhivago. It was not until 1957 that his novel was published first in the Russian language ...

High GPA but Low SAT Score What Do You Do

High GPA but Low SAT Score What Do You Do SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips For a lot of smart students, the SAT is a struggle. If you have a high GPA, but a low SAT score, you're not alone! If you feel like you're good in school but not great at test taking, here's our expert guide on how you can boost your chances of getting into a great college. You'll be able to show colleges your true academic potential. The Good News Your high GPA shows that you have been diligent in your schoolwork across all four years of high school. I am classifying a high GPA as 3.5 to 4.0 on a 4.0 scale for reasons outlined in the article linked, though more competitive colleges such as the Ivy League will consider a high GPA to be in the 3.85 to 4.0 range. Stanford says on their admissions website, â€Å"We expect you to challenge yourself throughout high school and to do very well. The most important credential that enables us to evaluate your academic record is the high school transcript.† Your GPA is the most important part of your application, but a school will only consider your high GPA impressive if you took the hardest classes (AP or IB) offered at your school.If you took easy classes and had a high GPA, it does not impress admissions officers. (I'll discuss this more in detail later.) The Bad News Universities care about SAT scores because they see them as an equalizer (for an in-depth explanation of the function of the SAT, check out our other article).Every student in the country received a different high school education. Even students at the same school took different classes or had different teachers. However, every applicant to that university took the SAT or ACT. Every student took the same test (or at least an equivalent one, as the exact test changes from administration to administration). So, unfortunately, a university admissions officer may think that your high school grades were inflated or that you took easy classes at your high school and may think that your low SAT score is a more accurate representation of your college achievement potential. How Low Is Low for an SAT score? Before you worry about how low your SAT score is, consider this:some schools â€Å"superscore† the SAT, meaning they only count your highest section scores across all the dates you took the SAT. If you've taken the test multiple times,your score might be higher than you thought. For example, if you took the test 2 times, and your best Evidence-Based Reading and Writing Score was on your 1st test date (710), and your best Math score was on your 2nd test date (680), you can combine those 2 best section scores into a brand new composite score (1390). For a more in-depth explanation and for the schools that superscore the SAT, see our other article: Which Colleges Superscore the SAT? If you still feel like your SAT score is low, consider this: how "low" your SAT score actually is depends on which college you hope to attend.You should Google search for â€Å"[College Name] SAT† to find out the 25th/75th percentile for the school you are interested in. The 25th percentile score means that 25% of the students attending that school have a score at or below that number (this is below average). The 75th percentile means that 75% of students have a score at or below that number. In essence, the 25th/75th percentile covers the middle 50% of all students admitted to the school. If you score at the 75th percentile for any school and have a high GPA, you have a great chance at getting in. If you're at the 25th percentile, you'll need to have a strong application to boost your odds of getting in.For example, NYUhas a 25th/75th of 1255 to 1475, and Harvard has a 25th/75th of 1405 to 1600. You may ask, well, why don’t I have a great shot scoring a 1405 of getting into Harvard when 25% of admits scored below that?In reality, the 25% below are most likely admitted because they are a special applicant such as an athlete (or have a special talent beyond athletics such as being a New York Times published writer/famous actress), legacy, or child of a significant donor. In this article, I'm assuming you're a â€Å"normal applicant†(not an athlete/special talent, legacy, or child of a significant donor). In order for you to have the best shot of getting in, you want to get your SAT score to match your high GPA and get a score that is at or above the 75th percentile for the school you are applying to. What Do Colleges Think of Your High GPA/Low SAT Score? What really matters in all of these questions is how the college admissions office views your application. A high GPA paired with a low SAT score means a few things - most of them bad. One potential impression is that your school inflated your grades or you took easy high school classes, and that your SAT score may be a more accurate reflection of your academic potential than your GPA. In other words, if your academic skill is, in reality, low, you'll get a high GPA at an easier high school but perform poorly when compared to the rest of the nation on the SAT. However, admissions officers will go beyond this initial impression. Most admissions officers know high schools in the US very well. At most universities, each admissions officer is responsible for a specific state or a region. They read all the applications from that area and visit the high schools (if your high school has an admissions officer visit and talk about the university they work at - that person will typically read your application). Since the admissions officers visit these schools and read the applications from students at them, they are very familiar with the academics at these high schools. You want them to be impressed by your GPA and SAT score! They know if your school is historically academically challenging or historically easy and known to inflate grades.So, an admissions officer will know if you chose to take easier classes and avoided the AP or IB classes that your school offered (if your school offers AP or IB) and will most likely then consider your low SAT to be a better representation of your academic potential than your GPA. If you did take a very challenging course load throughout high school (packed AP or IB classes, if available at your school) and you still have a very high GPA, the admissions officer will know and may be willing to look past your SAT score.However, you will have a better chance of being accepted if you can get your SAT score up to match your high GPA. Why Is Your SAT Score Low? Not sure why your SAT score was lower than you expected? In this section, we discuss several common reasons good students often get low SAT scores, and we also explain what you can do to overcome these issues. Issue 1: Did You Study? If you didn't study, that is most likely the reason behind your low SAT score.You need to know the test format cold.Learn how the SAT is scored, how long the SAT is and the SAT structure, andknow the SAT instructions.You need to take several timed practice SATs(I recommend four or more before taking your next test).Check out our other article for Printable SAT Practice Tests PDFs: 8 FREE Official Tests.By taking all of these timed practice tests, you will get very familiar with the test format and comfortable with the timing. However, you should not be taking the tests just to take the tests; you also need to be reviewing your answers. For help reviewing your mistakes, check out our other article: The Best Way to Review Your Mistakes for the SAT/ACT. Issue 2: Did You Study Effectively? If you have practiced a decent amount for the SAT and it didn't result in a high score, then you may need to change how you study. If you studied on your own, what material are you using?You should only be using real SATs.Sincethe SAT is such a unique test, you need to being using the real thing to get the best practice.Check out our other article for Printable SAT Practice Tests PDFs: 8 FREE Official Tests.If you want more practice, check out our other article for advice on the best books to buy for SAT prep. When you study, are you reviewing your incorrect answers?This is the most important step in the learning process: figuring out what you did wrong.Without this step, you will not learn from your mistakes, and you will keep repeating them.For help reviewing your mistakes, check out our other article: The Best Way to Review Your Mistakes for the SAT/ACT. If you're studying with official practice SATs and reviewing your answers and still not seeing improvements in your SAT score, there may be a couple of problems: Problem #1: You have not mastered the strategies of the test.To help fix this problem, you should check out the other free guides offered here at PrepScholar, and you should also be looking at the other free resources available on the web. Problem #2: If you are still struggling after working on the strategies, you may be having an issue with focus while studying.To fix this problem, you may want more personalized preparation and may want to consider hiring a tutor, taking an SAT prep class or attending an SAT prep camp, or using an online resource such as PrepScholar. Issue 3: Is Your Tutor or Prep Program Not Getting You the Results You Want? If you have been studying with a tutor/class/online program and seeing no improvement, there may be a couple of problems: Problem #1: The tutor/class/online program is not personalized. It/he/she is not figuring out what your strengths and weaknesses are and is not focusing on fixing your weaknesses.Try to find a more personalized tutor/class/program.Consider trying our PrepScholar SAT prep program. We do the heavy lifting for you, by splitting up our prep material into specific skills. We'll detect your weaknesses automatically and give you focused lessons and quizzes to improve those skills. Problem #2: The tutor/class/ online program is not pushing you hard enough (i.e. letting you not do practice tests or is not forcing you to complete the test in the allotted time frame).You need a tutor/class/online program that will make sure you are taking accurately timed practice tests, and that will keep you on a study schedule.Consider trying our PrepScholar SAT prep program, whichtracks your hours spent studying each week, times you during all practice tests, and commits you to a study regimen. Problem #3: You may just be suffering from test anxiety.I have seen this in some students. You score very high in your practice, but on the real SAT, you cannot get the same score because you are nervous, or you forget your pacing and end up not finishing in time.There is no easy fix for this problem.Getting comfortable with the test format should help minimize stress, but may not eliminate test anxiety completely.Try to remember that this is just a test and the test will not determine your success in life.Consider trying meditation to calm your mind before the test. If You Don't Have Time to Retake the SAT, What Are Your Options? Your SAT score is only one part of your application, so try to focus on making the rest of your application as strong as possible. You already have a great transcript going for you, so try to make the rest of your application match your high GPA. This includes getting great letters of recommendation, having strong extracurriculars, and knocking your personal statement out of the park. For in-depth advice on how to build the most versatile college application,check out our other article. What’s Next? Retaking the SAT? Check out our ultimate SAT study guide to help you with your prep. Taking the SAT very soon? Check out our guide to cramming for the test. Not sure where you'd like to go to college? We'll help you find the right college for you. Nervous about getting arecommendation letter for your college application? Learn about who you should askto write itand check out ourtemplate for a good letter. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points? Check out our best-in-class online SAT prep classes. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your SAT score by 160 points or more. Our classes are entirely online, and they're taught by SAT experts. If you liked this article, you'll love our classes. Along with expert-led classes, you'll get personalized homework with thousands of practice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step, custom program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Try it risk-free today:

Controversy Over Irradiation of Food Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Controversy Over Irradiation of Food - Essay Example Schools are not even required to inform students and parents that they are using irradiated beef. Current FDA regulations only require that irradiated food be identified as irradiated when it is sold to the original customer. Restaurants and institutional cafeterias can use irradiated food without warning their customers. However, the USDA ruling has had little effect. Despite the fact that irradiated ground beef is being heavily promoted by the USDA and major food companies, almost no school districts are currently serving it in their cafeterias. High prices and possibly the fear of citizen complaints have stopped most schools from using any irradiated beef. Food irradiation continues to be a very controversial technology, and most consumers still reject it for many reasons. This research paper is designed to analyze the technology of food irradiation. The advantages and drawbacks of food irradiation will be researched. Any unknown dangers that may occur due to the use or misuse of the technology will be discovered. A decision on whether food should be irradiated will be made. Food irradiation involves the use of ionizing radiation on a food product. The radiation can be used to kill some or all of the viruses, bacteria, insects, and fungi in food. Irradiation can also be used to preserve food for a long period of time. It can delay the ripening of some fruits and vegetables. Three different processes and three different levels of radiation are currently used on food. The three levels used are radurization, radicidation, and radappertization. Radurization involves a low dose of radiation (around 0.5 kiloGrays to 10 kiloGrays). These low levels of radiation are commonly used on foods that are alkaline and moist, such as meat and fish. Radurization is designed to kill the organisms that cause meat and fish to spoil, but the doses involved in this process are usually not sufficient to kill most organisms that cause food borne illnesses. Radicidation involves a dose of radiation that is between 3 kiloGrays and 10 kiloGrays. This level of radiation can be used to kill many types of viruses and bacteria. However, the doses that are used in radiciation are still not high enough to kill spores and many resistant types of bacteria. The bacteria that cause salmonella and botulism can survive at these radiation levels. The radiation levels used in radicidation are also high enough to cause chemical changes in food. Radappertization involves very high doses of radiation (around 25 to 60 kiloGrays). These doses are enough to completely kill nearly all of the bacteria that inhabit an item of food. Botulism and salmonella bacteria are killed at these radiation levels, and the amounts of bacteria that are left on the food product are usually low enough for the food to be considered clinically sterile. Radappertization is not usually used on food, and it is currently illegal to use this process on most types of food in most countries (Cutter, 2000). There are also three different processes that have been currently approved to be used to irradiate food. These are electron beam, or e-beam, irradiation, gamma irradiation, and X-ray irradiation. The process of electron beam irradiation involves exposing food to a beam of electrons that have been accelerated to high speeds by a linear

ISOM 201 Excel assignment Speech or Presentation

ISOM 201 Excel assignment - Speech or Presentation Example The means are however different among the retailers and means that the standard deviation is not a god measure for variability. The universal measure, coefficient of variation, which does not depend on units, is therefore suitable (109). Based on the coefficient of variation, the demand is more volatile for retailer D and least volatile for retailer B. Retailer A experiences the second highest level of volatility and retailer C follows. From the results, and using either the standard deviation or coefficient of variation because of equivalent means, combining retailer B and retailer D, reduces the variability from 69.9 percent to 64.75 percent. The other combinations increase variability of D. Postponement tactic allows Benetton to meet uncertain demand of each color by reducing the level of uncertainty. By waiting until demand arises in a season, the company operates under certainty. Production is also done on demand and therefore to meet customers’ needs at a low inventory level. With high level of uncertainty, the postponement strategy reduces volatility to establish accuracy in production volumes. This ensures reliable and valid data and the eliminated error, due to variation, in the production volumes, ensures accurate

Father-Daughter Relationship in the Film, William Faulkner: A Life on Paper :: Movie Film Essays

Father-Daughter Relationship in the Film, William Faulkner: A Life on Paper While the relationship between fathers and sons has been documented at length, the father/ daughter dynamic figures less prominently in literary tropes; in fact the last canonical piece I can recall reading was Euripedes’ Electra in high school. The tenuous relationship between Daddy and his little girl, however, harbors depths more personal and tangible than Greek tragedy and psychological analyses invoking the Electra complex. The emotionally void or aloof father in particular often burdens the female psyche, for his absence proves just as palpable as his sought after presence, shaping the landscape of a daughter’s future relationships and the construction of a self-image fragmented and disjointed by an early and intimate knowledge of rejection and abandonment. Transcending characterizations attached primarily to filial duty as experienced by the matriarch, the father figure remains the subject of mythologization, just as Sylvia Plath turned her father into a Colossus , a cold, inanimate stone edifice revealing none of his secrets or affection. If the absent or emotionally unavailable father takes on shades of grandeur for the daughter that knew little of him, one can only imagine the impression left by the father figure whose imagined significance in the eyes of his child is only matched by the reality of his fame. William Faulkner, A Life on Paper conveys an image of the literary colossus that both perpetuates the persona of the great American writer and deflates it. Representing the author as a fallible man who endows the world with a narrative legacy while leaving his own daughter little more than a few candid glimpses into his character, the film relays the commentary of Faulkner’s daughter as she attempts to piece together a sketch of an apathetic, mercurial, and brilliant father. Jill Faulkner Summers pulls from her memory pictures of her father as â€Å"extremely courtly and elegant† but lacking a depth and sincerity in his personal relationships: â€Å"Pappy didn’t really care about people. I think he cared about me, but I also think I could have gotten in his way and he would have walked on me.† Faulkner’s coarse words penetrated more than the page as well. After imploring â€Å"pappy† not to succumb to another drinking bout, Faulkner informs his daughter, â€Å"no one remembers Shakespeare’s child†. The film, then, relates a father/ daughter dynamic built upon emotional lack, as the father expressly negates the significance of his own child.

Eating Habits

Eating habbits Junk food, keeping fit. In today’s fast-moving world, people have less and less time to spend eating. It is probably for this reason that junk food has become so popular, and there’s no doubt that it’s here to stay. In fact, it seems that you simply can’t get away from it. Obviously, a diet of junk food is not the best thing for your health, particularly as it is high in saturated fat. This type of fat is associated with great risk of cancer. Apart from the risk of cancer, another side effect of consuming highly fattering food is that you are likely to gain weight. This is especially true because you tend to eat more, as junk food is less satisfying and lower in vital nutrients than healthier food. The best advice, for those who cannot live without it, is to limit the amount junk foodthey eat/ A little now and then will probably do no harm. Young people pick up the idea that speed means excitement, whereas anything traditional is slow and boring. As a result, they turn down traditional food and go for junk food instead. Another alarming thing is that while the amount of junk food we eat has increased, the amount of exercise we do has actually decreased. Exercises help to control our weight and if taken regulary, can also decrease our having a heart attack in later life. What is more you don’t have to exercise much to gain vasible benefits, twenty minutes three times a week is all that is necessary. People nowadays are actually far more aware of the importance of exercise and healthy diet than they were a few years ago. Rcent reserch has shown that young people, who prefer burgers and chips to rich gourmet dishes, tend to become overweight. Reserchers suggest that the new genration will be much more likely to suffer from heart and liver desease. What can’t be emphasised enough is fact that a balanced diet and regular exrcise bring significant health benefits. You can gain anything from glowing skin to an allround feeling of good health. One way or another, the vast majority of people seem to be missing out on this, due mainly to the pressures of modern life. Ironically, if they were to make time to exercise and improve their eating habbits, they would probably find that they were far better equipped to deal with their stressful lifestiles than they are now. Vegan leaving. A large number of people do not eat meat. Vegans have taken this a step further by refusing to consume or use anything that comes from animals. This means that not only they do not eat meat; they do not eat fish, poultry or dairy products either. Although a vegan diet may be strict, there are certain advanteges to be gained. Firstly, because a vegan diet is low in fat and cholestrol, the risk of heart disease is reduced. Secondly, there is less preassure on farmers to keep animals under cruel conditions to produce milk, eggs and poultry. On the other hand, humans are natural meat eaters and some essential ingridients in our diet can only come from animal products. For example, we cannot get enough vitamin B12 from plants, so vegans have to take this vatamin, made from yeast, as a supplement to their diet. Moreover, the human digestive system cannot digest certain plant proteins, and this can lead to stomach problems. Although there are some disadvanteges to adopting such a strict diet, people feel that overhall; it is a healthier way of life. Furthermore, it is cruel to kill animals for food and if everybody adopted a vegan diet, our whole outlook on life would change for the better. Factors that influence on food choices Food choices are influenced by many factors, age, gender, friends, family, cultural background and where we live. Although the main purpose of food is to nourish the body, food means far more than that to many people. It can represent much of who and what we are. People bond and foster relationships around the dinner table and at celebrations with special meals and foods, such as birthday cake. Some people express their creative side by serving dinner guests, as well as expressing their awareness and appreciation for others. Some people also use food to help them cope with stress by overeating or depriving themselves. Food may also be used as a reward for accomplishing a specific goal. Consequently, what people eat can reveal much about who they are socially, politically and religiously. Factors influencing food preferences include: Taste, *texture* *and* *appearance*. Economics – The cost of food affects what we eat. Our early experiences with food – Food preferences begin early in life and change as we are exposed to new people and places. As children, our choices were in the hands of our parents. However, as we get older, our experiences with new people and places increase, thereby broadening our food preferences and choices. Habits – Most of what we eat from a particular core group of foods. About one hundred items account for 75 percent of the foods most people eat. Having a narrow range of food choices provides us with security. For example, going to a particular fast-food restaurant provides common expectations and experiences. Many people also have the cooking habits of our mothers or grandmothers. Culture – Religious rules can affect food choices. For example, Hindus do not eat beef, and some Jewish people do not eat pork. The region that people are from can also affect eating behaviors. Swedish people would not eat an ear of corn, because it is considered food for hogs. In Russia, we don't normally eat insects, but many other cultures regard them as preferred foods. Culture can also dictate the times to eat and what to eat at certain meals. Advertising – To capture the interest of the consumer, food producers spend billions of dollars each year on advertising and packaging, both for food bought in grocery stores and restaurants. The power of persuasion is very strong, and so food producers and restaurants try to make their products as appealing as possible to consumers, even if that means making false claims. Social factors – Social changes have a big effect on the food industry. Our fast-paced society demands drive-through restaurants. Gas stations now have convenience stores and restaurants attached to them, so people can do one-stop shopping. Malls also cater to their customers with food courts offering a wide variety of foods. My own eating habbits