Ayla Elledge

Annotated Bibliography
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of
Agriculture. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2005. 6th Edition,
Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, January 2005
This Guide is a manual of sorts that is produced and released to the
public every five or so years. The federal government makes this information
public to allow transparency and wide accessibility. The Department of Health
and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture started this regular
publication less than forty years ago in 1980. It is considered our nation
standard of nutritional health and is used widely by schools, primary
caregivers, hospital staff etc. Its very important that the information on it is
accurate because it reaches such a wide audience. There are many authors
that do the research, usually doctors, nutritionists and so on. The guide
usually contains a breakdown of the foods we should and should not eat and
their respective portions and frequencies. It also includes things such as safe
food storing techniques and the weekly amount/type of fitness we should
obtain. The report spends a very good amount of energy on the nutrients we
need and where we can source them from. When reading it, it is dry but
straight forward. To make it accessible to more listeners, it is written in a very
easy to read manner.
Quotes:

Information for adults with elevated LDL blood cholesterol. LDL

blood cholesterol goals for these individuals are related to the level of
coronary heart disease risk. People with an elevated LDL blood
cholesterol value should make therapeutic lifestyle changes (diet,
physical activity, weight control) under the care of a healthcare

provider to lower LDL blood cholesterol.

Good nutrition is vital to good health and is absolutely essential for
the healthy growth and development of children and adolescents.
Major causes of morbidity and mortality in the United States are

related to poor diet and a sedentary lifestyle.

Given the importance of a balanced diet to health, the intent of the
Dietary Guidelines is to summarize and synthesize knowledge
regarding individual nutrients and food components into
recommendations for an overall pattern of eating that can be
adopted by the general public.
Analysis

My analysis of this publication is that it is very thorough and necessary.

Without these guidelines, there would be so much more incongruous
information floating out there about how we should feed ourselves and act.
This text makes it very easy for the reader to understand what it is saying and
doesnt make many assumptions of a high educational level. It was very helpful

in my search for what our society thinks are healthy eating/exercise practices
vs. what we used to think were healthy. It would be very beneficial to read this if
one was looking for a way to get healthier in terms of diet and exercise.

Spellberg, B., Guidos, R., Gilbert, D. (2007). The Epidemic of AntibioticResistant Infections: A Call to Action for the Medical Community from the
Infectious Diseases Society of America. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 46 (2), 155164. doi: 10.1086/524891
In this startling document Spellberg et. Al serves a rallying cry to
physicians in the U.S. and globally. In the first sentence of the introduction he
exclaims We are in the midst of an emerging crisis of antibiotic resistance for
microbial pathogens in the United States and throughout the world. He
explains the complex nature of microbes and their adaptability. He also says

out right that our society thinks it was won the war on microbes, but that we
are mistaken and have not given enough credit to the power of microbes. The
study concerns itself with how antibiotic-resistant we have become and the
future difficulties this presents. Spellberg points out that there are some
meaningful efforts to enact legislation that would more closely monitor the
prevalence of antibiotics prescriptions, yet it has not been completely
successful. This study also offers suggestions to slow the path we are currently
on, in hopes that our health as a species is sustained. Some of these
suggestions include: 1. The creation of a federal office of antimicrobial
resistance in the department health & human services. 2. A federal strategic
research plan on antimicrobial resistance and research efforts. 3. A resistance
impact statement sent to the FDA by every pharmaceutical company wishing to
have their antibiotics approved for market consumption etc. This article was
published in the Oxford Journal, one of the gold standards in the field of
science and medicine. The are highly prestigious and only print notable peerreviewed studies. The Oxford Journal is the largest university press in the
world and is the second oldest that still exists.
Some particularly powerful quotes I liked:

Forrelevantlegislationtobeviable,politiciansneedtobeconvincedthattheproblem
iscriticalandequallyimportanttohearfromtheirwellinformedconstituentswho
believetheproblemissignificant.
Itisincumbentonphysicianstoleadthefighttoaddressthissocietalconundrum.

Educateyourcolleaguesandyourpatients.WritetoyourSenatorsandCongresspersons.
Thetimeforactionisnow.
(myfavorite)Itiscommonlyexpressedthatphysicianmisuseofantibioticsisthecause
ofantibioticresistanceinmicrobesandthat,ifwecouldonlyconvincephysicianstouse
antibioticsresponsibly,wecouldwinthewaragainstmicrobes.Unfortunately,this
beliefisafallacythatreflectsanalarminglackofrespectfortheincrediblepowerof
microbes.
Analysis
I very much enjoyed this study, though I probably wouldnt feel the same

way 5 years ago. It was of a medium difficulty level to read, considering the
format its published in and the medical jargon and knowledge of biology one
must have to interpret it. This journal article applies to my topic of health as
anti-biotic resistance (or infections) is a leading cause of death in the U.S. and
abroad. It allows me to contradict the ideas of what people may believe is
healthy, such as going to the doctor and getting medication and have adequate
scientific justification. This would be a great article for anyone who is interested
in health or science fields of study because it is very relevant to peoples
common experience with the healthcare system.

Becker, Anne E. Television, disordered eating, and young women in Fiji:

negotiating body image and identity during rapid social change. Culture,
Medicine, and Society (2004): 533-59. Online scholarly journal.
PMID: 15847053
This journal was incredibly long and in-depth, but definitely not boring.
It was fascinating to hear how the culture Ive grown up in could impact the

culture of another so drastically, but also sad. Anne E. Becker is truly

respected in her field. She is a professor of global health and social medicine at
Harvard medical school as well as sitting on a leadership council for a similar
Harvard/MIT Ph.D program. She has received many grants to further her
research on small culture groups eating habits (amongst other things) and also
served as a committee member of the Eating Disorders portion of the DSM-5
for the APA. With all of these credentials, I feel safe in my conclusions of her
validity. While I make this sound all so clinical, much of her research was
qualitative rather than quantitative; meaning that instead of getting hard
numbers, there were informal interview sessions with the female participants
in Fiji. Everything I read was very candid and open. She seemed to really want
to grasp the scope of the effect of our media on them in a non-judgmental way.
It would probably take me forever to go into every single facet covered in the
study but some of the broad highlights were 1. Links between media exposure
and body image. 2. Resulting consequences of the subjects perception of
healthy/attractive eating and dieting behaviors 3. Perceived advantages in
social status linked to diet, exercise, and productivity. Though this all sounds
very grim, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Becker states in the
discussion This story also allows a frame for exploring resilience and
suggesting interventions for future research. This gives me hope that through

meaningful observation and thoughtfully calculated outreach, we can find

newer and better alternatives to help young women struggling with eating
disorders of other self-esteem issues.

Subjects explicitly reported modeling behavior and appearance on

television characters. Indeed, role modeling of television characters
appeared to conflate moral virtues, success in job opportunities, and
appearance. On a subtle but palpable level, study subjects indicated that
television characters, appearances, and values portrayed on television
provided an anchor for identity as well as competitive social positioning in
a rapidly evolving social landscape.

In any case, the apparent connection between comparison with television

characters and a new standard they set, self-disparagement, misplaced
efforts to reshape the body, and disordered eating attitudes and behaviors
is a serious public health concern.

Direct Quote interview with Fijian girl:

I: Do you think that television is making Fijians ashamed of their bodies?

S: Yeah, very much. Because Fijians are, most of us Fijians are, many of
us, most, I can say most, we are brought up with those heavy foods, and
our bodies are, we are getting fat. And now, we are feeling, we feel that it
is bad to have this huge body. We have to have those thin, slim bodies. (S64)
Analysis.
This journal article was important for me to include because it shows

that paying attention to ones perceived health isnt inherent in the human
condition. It goes further to explain how culture molds our ideas of self and are
malleable to social influences. This journal would be helpful to anyone trying to
understand the social aspects of healthiness on a cultural (vs. biological) level.

Your Fat Friend. What its like to be that fat person sitting next to you on the
plane. Medium.com. A Medium Corporation. Blog post. 26 March 2016.
I came across this blog post on Facebook. My mentor did her graduate
studies on the stigmas overweight women face in college and she posted a link
to this blog that I found very insightful. I will preamble my description with a
warning. All of the material in this blog is the experience of one person and
should not be generalized, but used more as a tool of understanding one facet
of health and how others perceptions of you can be damaging. This blog post
explicates the fear and mindset she goes through when faced with the prospect
of having to fly somewhere. She is an overweight woman and has faced
discrimination of sorts on previous airlines. The blog also goes into her negative
emotions and outward reactions towards loved ones in the days preceding a
dreaded flight. These include anxiety, panic, depression, alienation, and
withdrawal/stoicism towards others. The author gives explicit details of how
and when their emotions come: The anxiety doesnt subside once I buy a ticket
it
distills, intensifying for weeks leading up to the flight. I think about how to
eliminate every other stressor. I imagine this is a somewhat common
sentiment seeing as she explains about Airlines having policies for people of
larger size and her experience having to buy 2 seats to accommodate her (at
request of the passengers or airline). They conclude that this is just one

example of the life of being fat and perceived as unhealthy; that still I am never
quite small enough to make anyone else comfortable.

I close my eyes, feel my feet on the ground and my breath in my

throat, trying desperately to avoid the embarrassment of a fullblown panic attack at work. I will have to get on a plane. And I am

fat.
Southwest famously let director Kevin Smith board, then publicly

escorted him off the plane for looking too fat for his seat.
Someone pulls out their phone as they pass. I remember the
countless, surreptitiously filmed youtube videos of fat passengers on
planes with titles like Gross Obese Fat People on planes
overweight and fat man slobbering on airplane, sleeping, snoring,
drooling and BAN DISGUSTING FATASSES. I make myself smaller
still, doing my best impression of a calm person. Theres nothing to
see here. Move along.
Analysis

I really considered not using this blog post because Im more partial to
academic article and scientific research; but when I was going over my
concerns for my inquiry, I realized that it would probably be best to have an
informal and subjective view/opinion on health. This blog really captures the
human experience of being different than the expectations that are set by those

around you and shows how mentally detrimental it can be to ones psyche.
While this is only one example, they make great use of the English language in
conveying how uncomfortable some things can be made by the perceptions or
actions of others. Blogs like this could help reconnect researchers to why they
are trying to help people in the first place.
Photo from the blog:

For my 5th Source, which was a compare/contrast of two images that the
average person would search on google, a citation was unnecessary.

The two photographs above are screenshots of a google search I did,

when trying to garner information about health. I wanted to know what would
come up if I typed in Womens health and Mens health. Upon analyzing the
two images, I was able to draw some conclusions not only about health in
general, but also about the difference in female and male expectations of
health. Both magazines focused mainly on muscle, weight loss, or dieting.
However, they differed in the way they framed these concepts. In the pictures of
womens health magazines, I counted the word sexy no less than six times.
The womens health magazines also mentioned a part of the body (Abs, belly,
stomach, other) in twelve different instances. In both photos, looking
provocative and being less clothed was a common theme. Why does any of this
matter? If I wanted to get healthy, I might start at google image searching
womens health and these are the photographs that would appear. While
these women do look healthy, they are not a representation of ALL healthy
women or all facets of the construct of healthiness. A startling find is that it
seems as if the magazines are shouting at you. SHRINK YOU BELLY! It
would read or my personal favorite LOOK GREAT NAKED! While funny and
somewhat ridiculous, these phrases are the clearest to see and stand out the
most. They are prioritizing the exercise/diet idea of health.
Quotes:

FIGHT FAT & WIN

HARD MUSCLE FAST

Analysis
This was in important part of my thesis because its very relevant to most
people. Who hasnt felt unhealthy and gone online to google search something
to fix it? Its something we all share so we would probably see the same (or
similar) images pop up in our search. It is important to not understate the
accessibility of these images and how they can shape our perceptions of with is
or isnt healthy. This can be both a good and bad thing, depending on the
execution.

Park, Alice. The Cancer Gap. Time Magazine., 19 March 2015. Web. 30 March
2016.
When looking into Alice Park, I found myself pretty impressed. She has
done quite a bit of newsworthy writing/reporting on AIDS, Stem cell research
and so on. She has been involved with both Harvard medical school and
UCLAs medical program in innovative research. I felt comfortable in hearing
what she said and talking it at face value. This article was great at illustrating
the side of health that many people dont get to see. I like to call it getting back

to a new normal. Alice Park goes into the difficulties of cancer care on many
different levels. Some of these include financial troubles, insurance policy
difficulties, and the diversity of what cancer actually is (which is complex and
makes it hard to standardize treatment). She cites good example of hospital
that are in the forefront of medical innovation such as Sloan-Kettering
Memorial. From personal experience, that hospitals name is well-known and
well-respected. Park uses narratives and quotes of people actually going
through the process to further driver her message. It also helps her credibility
to interview those who are currently seeking treatment. After talking about
such dreary business, she tries to end the article on an uplifting note. I just
have to stay positive. Thats your only salvation.
No two cancers are alike; even within an individual patient, tumors may
change over time. And doctors are learning that a melanoma growth might have
more in common with a lung cancer or a brain cancer than another
melanoma.
Theres a reason we fear tumors that arise seemingly out of nowhere and
theres a reason we catch our breath when we hear the diagnosis. By its
nature, cancer is unpredictable and untamable. But calming the rampant
growth one patient and one mutation at a time may provide the best chance yet
of finally getting cancer under control.

Analysis
I plan to use this article to show the diversity in people. I want to drive in
the idea that health isnt always a default for some of us. For many, to be
healthy means getting back to at least a fraction of what we were before some
sort of medical ailment hit. I remember the frustration when all of my hair fell
out and people would stare at methey probably thought I shaved my head.
What I perceived as them judging me hurt me psychologically for a long time. It
wore down my self-esteem. To get back to the point, if newer and more targeted
treatments can lead us where our hair doesnt fall out, it is very important.
This article could help a lot of people. Because cancer diagnoses are happening
at alarming rates, most people know someone who is affected. This article
could help patients and caregivers look into newer and healthier treatment
option they didnt know existed.