Scheduling Labor and Equipment in a Cook Chill Food Production System

Hospital foodservice productivity is an area where improvement is important, particularly in light of the current emphasis on cost containment in the health care field. In a foodservice system productivity is measured by input/output ratio. Resources are the system\u27s inputs. There is little information on the effect on productivity of variation in quantity of resources and sequencing of operations, the basic aspects of scheduling. The COST ARREST model was recommended as a tool for management decision-making and productivity monitoring in a foodservice system. The program was used to study the effect of varying labor time and activity sequencing on entree production in a cook chill foodservice system. Results were compared with conventional scheduling. Data from an existing foodservice operation were used to determine available labor and equipment and to analyze entree production formulas. Formulas were broken down into activities having definite time and resource requirements. Patient entree production for six days was evaluated on the basis of labor cost and labor and equipment time requirements including delays using two levels of labor and different criteria for scheduling priority. The results were compared with conventional scheduling, that which was done intuitively by production personnel. The production plan, Plan I, using most labor resulted in greatest labor cost and delay. In the plan, scheduling priority was given to items requiring long production time. Two plans using less labor, plan II giving priority to long preparation time and plan III to short labor requirement, were similar in results as to labor utilization and appeared to be more labor efficient than plan I. Different sequencing did not demonstrate major differences in production duration. Conventional scheduling was similar to plans II and III in results. It was not compared with plan I because of dissimilarity in labor level. Plan I resulted in shorter duration of oven use and was believed to be more energy efficient than plans II and III. Conventional scheduling resulted in more efficient use of the slicer than COST ARREST plans. The COST ARREST scheduling algorithm provided a useful tool for management decision-making and productivity monitoring in a cook chill food production system

Nutrition Education to Minimize Health Risk: Approaches for Teaching College Students and Female High School Athletes

Adolescence is a time of increased control over food choices and dietary practices. Participating in high school sports or attending college presents unique nutritional concerns and health risks. Some female high school athletes have low energy availability (consuming inadequate calories to compensate for exercise energy expenditure), which can result in menstrual dysfunction, bone loss, and injury, also known as the female athlete triad (Triad). College students who consume diets low in fruits and vegetables and high in fast food are at increased risk for weight gain, chronic disease, and some cancers. Nutrition education interventions that were tailored to the participants\u27 unique nutritional concerns yielded positive results such as increased Triad knowledge among female high school athletes and increased self-efficacy and readiness to change dietary behaviors among college students. Peer-led education was preferred by college students, but not by high school students

Mining culture, elevating taste: foodies and the work of refinement

As a means of social differentiation through taste, distinction has historically been viewed as a form of snobbishness. Elites with high cultural capital used their exclusive, esoteric, and refined preferences to both signal and justify their superior position in society. More recently, however, scholars have largely agreed that the dynamics of distinction have changed. In our “omnivorous” era, the types of tastes that are socially valuable are also more wide ranging, accessible, and tolerant of cultural expressions outside the Western elite cannon. While broadly accepted, the omnivore thesis has been subject to sustained critiques. This dissertation furthers such inquiries by examining whether the metaphor of the omnivore is appropriate.To be omnivorous, two separate criteria must be met: taste must be less restrictive than classic sociological theories would predict, and new cultural objects must be valued on their own terms. Across four food-related cases, I ask which logics and practices go into elevating seemingly ordinary and non-elite material objects: in 1) the category of “natural” foods in differently classed supermarket settings; 2) the service strategies of food truck operators trying to appeal to customers in different Boston neighborhoods; 3) the standards of value applied by participants in a food swap event, where individuals barter with items they have made, grown, or foraged themselves; and 4) the reappraisal of rosé wine by wine critics. Comparisons across diverse cases avoid reifying what counts as valuable within a given category, bringing more general logics of the gastronomic field to the fore. Using ethnography and content analysis, I find that while contemporary foodies may be consuming a wider range of objects, these objects are not accepted on their own terms. New objects and food practices are more highly valued when producers, distributors, consumers, and critics can monopolize the social meanings that get attached to them. As a result, this dissertation suggests a new metaphor for taste in contemporary social life. Foodies are more like the miners of our culinary landscapes than true omnivores. Theirs is an eye for raw materials—appropriating and refining their quarries to fit their needs

A social epidemiology of foodwork and home-prepared food

A significant amount of energy and resource has been devoted to promoting home food preparation, based on the hypothesis that it is an important, modifiable determinant of diet composition and quality. Ideas about the importance of home food preparation to good nutrition have permeated into policy, with a number of countries emphasising home food preparation and home-prepared food in their dietary guidelines and food guides. These policies encourage individuals to maintain ‘traditional’ domestic food practices in order to eat healthily, even while the food system, along with other dimensions of life such as working hours and leisure activities, are undergoing substantial change. Interventions have often focused on boosting skills, guided in part by public and academic discourse that posits that people are cooking less than they did in the past because they no longer know how. This idea persists despite evidence that most people feel their skill set to be adequate to their needs, and cite other barriers, including, notably, a lack of time. Concerns have been raised surrounding both the effectiveness of encouraging home food preparation as a strategy to improve dietary quality, and its repercussions for equity, with foodwork still being predominantly undertaken by women, and with those who are time-poor being potentially less able to adopt time-intensive approaches to food provisioning. Further, there is a certain lack of clarity surrounding what is being encouraged: not all foodwork produces foods that might be defined as ‘home-prepared’. This thesis aims to present a social epidemiology of foodwork and home-prepared food consumption, using nationally representative data from UK adults to: 1) Investigate how a ‘lack’ of time, in the form of competing demands on and other uses for time, is associated with time allocated to foodwork; and 2) Explore the association between home-prepared food consumption and diet quality. First, analysis of three waves of cross-sectional UK time use surveys, spanning three decades, demonstrated that both participation in foodwork and time spent on foodwork continued to decrease. A compositional data analysis approach was used to put this in the context of other daily activities, examining how time spent on activities such as work, sleep and leisure has evolved in tandem with time spent on foodwork. Results suggest that time devoted to work, paid and unpaid, has not increased substantially over this period. Instead, more time is spent on sleep and screen time. Second, analysis of the most recent wave of the UK time use survey compared how participants who did no foodwork, some foodwork, or a lot of foodwork allocated their time differently. Participants who spent more time on foodwork also spent less time on sleep, although not on screen time. Foodwork was predominantly done by women, and women who did more foodwork increased time spent on work (both paid and unpaid) and reduced time spent on leisure and personal care activities more substantially than their male counterparts. Third, a measure of home-prepared food consumption based on food diaries was developed using data from the UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey, and compared to a more orthodox measure: self-reported frequency of meals being prepared at home in participants’ households. These measures were significantly associated with one another, and this association did not vary systematically between most socioeconomic and demographic groups. Fourth, the food diary-based measure of home-prepared food was deployed to estimate consumption levels in the UK population (around a third of energy intake), and to determine the association between home-prepared food consumption and dietary quality. A moderate, though significant, association was found between the two. However, there was limited variation in the consumption of home-prepared food or its association with diet quality between different socio-demographic groups, suggesting that other components of diet may be responsible for consistently reported inequalities in diet quality. Finally, we explored the possibility of eating healthily where extensive foodwork was not possible or desirable by identifying individuals who ate healthily with minimal reliance on home-prepared food, describing their intake in terms of food and nutrients, as well as their socio-demographic characteristics. As a whole, this work suggests that, while foodwork and home food preparation continue to play a role in how people in the UK spend their time and provision their food, other ways of eating also play an important, and potentially growing, role, and may not always necessarily be detrimental to health. Interventions that seek to improve dietary quality at the population level must take a full account of contemporary life, supporting individuals in eating healthily through a diverse range of approaches to food.Funded by the Medical Research Council through the Centre for Diet and Activity Research, MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridg

A mixed methods programme of study on the determinants and health outcomes of home food preparation

PhD ThesisDiet-related diseases are the greatest cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Food preparation methods are linked to diet and health. The aim of this thesis was to study the determinants and outcomes of home food preparation, using mixed methods. The first research phase was a systematic review of observational studies on the health and social determinants and outcomes of home cooking. Key determinants included female gender, greater leisure time availability, close personal relationships, and culture and ethnicity. Putative outcomes were mostly at an individual level and focused on potential dietary benefits. The second phase involved qualitative interviews exploring home food preparation practices, experiences and perceptions amongst adults from the United Kingdom (UK). Key emergent themes concerned the cook (identity), task (process of cooking) and context (situational drivers). Practices changed over the life course and reflected compromises between varied competing demands. Comparison with focus group data from Baltimore, United States, showed that ‘home cooking’ was distinct from other types of cooking at home. ‘Home cooking’ was defined as: preparing a meal from scratch; cooking with love and care; and nostalgia, and was not aligned closely with principles of healthy eating. The third phase comprised analyses of cross-sectional data on participants’ meal consumption patterns, sociodemographics, diet and markers of cardio-metabolic health, from a large population-based UK cohort study. Eating home cooked meals more frequently was significantly associated with being female, older, of higher socioeconomic status and not working overtime. Varying patterns of association were observed for consuming takeaways, ready meals and meals out. Eating home cooked meals more frequently was significantly associated with a range of healthier dietary indicators, and lower adiposity. Overall, preparing and eating meals cooked at home were found have complex and varied determinants, and to offer a range of putative benefits, indicating potential to enhance the public’s health.National Institute for Health Research (NIHR

The Effect of Implementing Behavioral Counseling for Elevated LDL Levels

Hyperlipidemia is a key risk factor in cardiovascular mortality, and is prevalent in approximately 38% of American adults (CDC, 2022b). Cholesterol levels are intensified by unhealthy lifestyle choices, which means a change in lifestyle behaviors could prevent cardiovascular related deaths (WHO, 2022). The PICOT question for this project was: In adults aged 20 years or older in the primary care setting who have elevated low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels (P), does the implementation of behavioral counseling on lifestyle modifications (I) compared to current practice (C) decrease LDL levels (O) over a 10- to 12- week period (T)? Fourteen participants from a small direct primary care clinic in Indiana completed the entirety of the project. LDL levels were measured pre-intervention, along with a rapid assessment of physical activity (RAPA) and the rate your plate (RYP) tool, blood pressure (BP), body mass index (BMI), weight, and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk scores. The nurse practitioner initiated a behavioral counseling session on lifestyle modifications, assisted by educational handouts, and created three healthy goals with the participant. A follow-up telephone counseling session was scheduled at five weeks to review those goals, followed by an in-person counseling session at 10- to 12- weeks. LDL levels were redrawn and the RYP and RAPA tools, weight, BMI, BP and ASCVD scores were completed once more to show a within-group evaluation of pre- and post-intervention outcomes. A paired t-test was used for analysis, and statistically significant data was found by increased RYP scores (p = .001), increased RAPA scores (p = .004), weight reduction (p = .035), BMI reduction (p = .026), systolic BP reduction (p = .025), and ASCVD score reduction (p = .002). There was no statistical significance in LDL reduction (p = .051); however, there was still a decrease in mean scores pre- (137.36) and post- (114.43) intervention. These findings support the use of behavioral counseling for lifestyle modifications in patients with elevated LDL levels

Social Role Transitions and Technology: Societal Change and Coping in Online Communities

Technological and societal changes unfold in relation to one another. Many events like becoming a parent, getting divorced, or getting a medical diagnosis dictate a change in one’s social role. Social role transition can have negative consequences including stress, stigmatization, and disempowerment. Social interactions, especially communicating with allies and those facing similar conditions, can alleviate the psychological burden of these challenges. The goal of this dissertation is to understand how people use technology to cope with social role change, and how the features of different online communities provide a range of ways to make sense of their social role transition, find support, and advocate for change. In the first study (Chapter 3), I qualitatively analyze interviews with fathers and a sam- ple of father blogs to show how fathers use do-it-yourself (DIY) language on blogs and in their online interactions as a means of redefining fatherhood. Fathers use the DIY concept to build their own father-centric online communities in order to manage some of the disad- vantages associated with the lack of parenting online communities that cater to them. This new framing of fatherhood allows fathers to make sense of their new role as parents, and at the same time, to redefine the social norms around fatherhood. In Chapter 4, I study how parents use social media sites at scale using natural language processing. The focus of the analysis is on Reddit, a social media site that allows users to comment under pseudonyms. I find that parents use pseudonymous social media sites to discuss topics that might otherwise be considered too sensitive to discuss on real-name social media sites such as Facebook (e.g., breastfeeding and sleep training). This study also outlines similarities and differences in discussion topics among mothers and father on Reddit (e.g., mothers discussing breastfeeding and fathers discussing divorce and custody). Finally, in Chapter 5, I use computational and qualitative methods to study how anony- mous accounts on Reddit (throwaway accounts) provide parents with varying levels of anonymity as they cope with social role changes by sharing potentially stigmatizing infor- mation (e.g., postpartum depression) or advocating for stigmatized identities (e.g., divorced fathers). Finally, based on my findings, I present design recommendations that could pro- mote better social support on platforms beyond Reddit.PHDInformationUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/162933/1/tawfiqam_1.pd

Perceptions of Healthy Eating among Pakistani Immigrant Women in Oslo : Influences on dietary habits

Executive Summary Background:South Asians are known to have a high risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D), therefor Pakistani immigrants in Norway constitute a high risk subgroup of the population. In particular, the Pakistani immigrant women exhibit a high prevalence of T2D. There is convincing evidence that T2D can be efficiently prevented by lifestyle modification in high-risk individuals. Prevention includes dietary changes, physical activity and weight control. In order to give appropriate dietary advice for making changes it is important to understand the influences that motivate food choice. Aim: The aim of the study was to explore perceptions of healthy eating among Pakistani immigrant women and how this relates to food choice and dietary patterns. Methods: The sample consisted of 197 Pakistani women aged 25-62 living in a urban area (Søndre Nordstrand) in Oslo and participating in a randomized controlled lifestyle intervention, InnvaDiab. All except for one were first generation immigrants, and the median age at immigration was 22.4 (95 % CI=21.3, 23.1). Only the baseline data were analyzed in the current study. These included demographic and socio-economic variables, command of Norwegian, intake frequencies of fruits, vegetables, fish, high fat and high sugar foods and perceptions of healthy eating (healthy/unhealthy foods, awareness the 5-a-Day recommendation, important factors guiding food choice and motivational stage for dietary change), and were assessed through a pre-coded questionnaire. Data collection was performed by means of an interview with Urdu/Punjabi-speaking interviewers. Statistical analyses with chi-square and binary logistic regression were use to analyze relationships between socio-economic and demographic variables, command of Norwegian, years of residency in Norway, dietary intake and perceptions. Findings: The results showed that vegetables were mentioned by 89 % of the women and fish by 54% as foods important in a healthy diet. As unhealthy components in the diet, sugar was mentioned by 65% and too much oil by 60 %. The large majority of the women perceived as very important/important that the children like the food (90 % of the women), that the food is healthy and balanced (89 %) and that it has little fat (88 %) when planning/cooking dinner. Furthermore, the women were asked to select the factor they perceived most influential for dinner food choices; 30 % of the women considered health aspects (e.g. healthy food/a lot of vegetables/low fat content) as most important, e.g. “health oriented”. These women had a higher intake frequency of fruits (p=0.010) and vegetables (p=0.139), and a lower intake frequency of high fat foods (p=0.014).The majority (57 %) reported that cooking food in accordance with the preferences of children/husband/other family members was most important when planning/cooking dinner meals, e.g. “managing relationship oriented”. These women reported a lower intake frequency of fruits (p=0.025) and vegetables (p<0.01), and a higher intake of high fat foods (p<0.01) as compared to the rest. Only 24 % of the women were aware of the dietary recommendations of eating five portions of vegetables a day (the 5-a-Day message). Message awareness was positively associated with years of residency in Norway (p=0.015) and degree of formal education (p=0.038). Message awareness (p=0.049) and command of Norwegian (p=0.031) predicted a higher intake frequency of vegetables when controlling for socio-economic and demographic variables. Similarly, perceiving fish as part of a healthy diet was predictive of a higher frequency of choosing fish for dinner (p<0.01) when controlling for socio-economic and demographic variables. Stages of change distributions were also associated with dietary patterns: intake frequency of fruits and vegetables was higher and intake frequency of high fat foods and high sugar foods was lower in the action stages as compared to the pre-action stages (p<0.01 for all food groups). A higher level of formal education was related to “health oriented” attitudes, being aware of the 5-a-Day message and being in the action stages for increasing vegetable consumption and reducing fat consumption. Conclusion: This study gives support to the assumption that perceptions of healthy eating, including attitudes, knowledge of recommendations, and motivational stage, relates to dietary patterns. The influence of family members was perceived as most important in food choice by most women. It also shows that within one ethnic group there were socio-economic differences with regard to perceptions of healthy eating and motivational stage. Such differences should be taken into consideration when designing health interventions and in communicating health messages among Pakistani immigrants. More research is needed to understand family influences in food habits and how healthy eating is managed in everyday food choice

Effects of a 12-week Plant-Based Diet Program on Obese and Overweight Adults in Rural Michigan

Background Overweight and obesity among adults are a rising epidemic in the U.S. Obesity is a risk factor for many chronic diseases and impacts morbidity and mortality. Despite our high-tech medical care system in the U.S., we are losing the war on obesity due to not addressing the underlying problems. These include unhealthy lifestyles and an unhealthy diet. A growing body of research studies has shown that adopting a low-fat whole food plant-based diet (WFPBD) regime consisting of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes, and no animal-based products is an effective measure to counteract the rising pandemic of chronic diseases related to obesity. Purpose The purpose of this project was to examine the effects of a WFPBD on overweight and obese adults residing in northern Michigan. The project objectives were to examine if a 12-week online program on a plant-based diet would improve body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), blood pressure (BP), fasting blood glucose (FBG), and serum lipid levels in this population and to determine if participants\u27 self-efficacy and intake of plant foods would improve post-WFPBD. -- Methods. This project used a quasi-experimental one-group pre-test post-test design. Forty-three individuals started the program, and 35 completed the requirements. The mean age for participants was 54.92 (SD=12.09) (range 34-75 years). For gender, 10 (23.3%) were male, and 32 (76.2%) were female. Biometric measurements, including weight, BMI, BP, WC, total cholesterol, LDL, HDL, triglycerides, and FBG, were taken before and after the program. Participants were also asked to complete a self-efficacy questionnaire before and after the program and a dietary questionnaire at baseline, week four, week eight, and post-intervention. The intervention was entitled The Eat Well, Live Well Program. Through a 12-week evidence-based online lifestyle educational intervention, participants were taught the principles of a WFPBD and how to apply these measures to lose weight, lower their risk factors for obesity-related diseases, and manage obesity-related problems. Results The results of the biometric measurements indicated significant reductions in BMI of 1.09 (t(34) = 5.583, p \u3c .001, d=0.944), weight of 7.21 pounds (t(34) = 6.370, p \u3c .001, d=1.077), WC of 2.01 inches (t(34) = 7.781, p \u3c .001, d=1.315), FBG of 4.94 mg/dL (t(34) = 2.174, p = .018), total cholesterol of 13.971 mg/dL (t(34) = 2.248, p = .016, d=0.380), LDL of 10.03 mg/dL (t(31) = 1.784, p = .042, d=0.315), and triglyceride levels of 14.77 mg/dL (t(34) = 1.744, p = .045, d=0.295). Results for HDL levels, systolic blood pressure (SBP), and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were not statistically significant. There was a mean increase in self-efficacy scores of 3.810, which was not statistically significant (p=.05). Results of the Mediterranean food questionnaire showed a significant difference between baseline and week four (p Conclusion This project demonstrated significant reductions in total cholesterol, LDL, triglycerides, FBG, BMI, weight, and WC. The results of this project indicate that any change in the direction of a WFPBD is a good change and may be associated with a decreased risk for obesity and chronic diseases