Rachel Reacts: Bacon (And Other Things)

A lot has happened since I last reacted - so let's get right into it:

1/ ... Bacon, Ham, Red Meat and the WHO

(giphy.com)

             
Not The Who like the band, I mean the World Health Organization (WHO, you ask?)
Aside from that terrible pun, the WHO came out with a report in late October that crushed the lives of millions and millions that love meat of all kinds, particularly that of processed nature. So any kind of bacon, deli meat, and even red meats are now said to be linked to a higher risk to having cancer. Some reports went way into the deep end by drawing the parallel that eating processed meat is just as harmful as tobacco and asbestos. Rest assured, the WHO shot down that claim. However, it is still a wake up call to the rest of us to stop eating these meats on a regular basis so as to control our future risk of cancer.
But here's the thing: when my Facebook and Twitter lit up that night with bacon filled posts, a part of me was not convinced at all. Yes, the WHO has extensive research to conclude that processed meats are now classified as a carcinogen (group 1). But previous research has said similar things, albeit not to the extent that processed meat could cause cancer. We already know that high and regular consumption of processed meat can lead to conditions like obesity and heart disease, which is why you don't eat bacon every day. But if you really can't help it, then exercise and balance it out with a lot of fruits and vegetables. This will only remain an issue if you let it. So get up and exercise, and try something new, like chicken.

2/ ... Essena O'Neill

(http://www.manrepeller.com/minor_cogitations/essena-oneill-quit-social-media.html)

My most recent blog post was inspired by Essena! Just a quick recap: This 18 year old girl from Australia had built for herself a massive internet empire with large followings on Instagram, YouTube, Tumblr and Snapchat. She had gotten so famous that she began to receive sponsorship from various companies to pose with their products. But recently she revealed that all of this fame and having what many of her followers dubbed as "the perfect life" did not make her happy - in fact, it was quite the opposite. Because of this, she "quit" social media cold turkey (a carcinogen?) - She deleted her Tumblr account and discontinued posting videos, as well as deleting over 2000 pictures from her Instagram feed and changed the captions of many to reflect the true meaning behind the "perfect" snap. She says that despite being looked up to and being worshiped by thousands of girls, she knew that this was all a facade and incredibly misleading. I applaud Essena's bravery and wish for authenticity. So many times do we find ourselves trying to project a certain image of ourselves onto social media, just so that we can come across as happy. But our true happiness is not determined by a number of followers or likes. Being content - truly content - requires humility and respect for ourselves. We should be incredibly thankful with what we do have instead of focusing on what we don't have.

3/ ... Gender balanced Cabinet

("Because it's 2015" will probably go down in history. - http://www.themarysue.com/justin-trudeau-cabinet/)

 After being sworn in on November 4th, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau revealed his new Cabinet. His cabinet has been dubbed "gender balanced", "progressive" and "accepting" of various minorities. A quick breakdown of the cabinet includes 15 women out of the 31 cabinet members, 2 Indigenous ministers, 3 ministers with disabilities, a mix of rookie and veteran ministers, and regional representation across the board. This is definitely a step in the positive direction for diversity, inclusion and equality for all, especially in the area of government decision making. I think that it's great that we have such a diverse cabinet (with an equal proportion of women to men!) as well as many ministers that have different backgrounds outside of politics. It will be interesting to see where this takes our country in the future. And his reaction when asked why he aimed for such diversity in his cabinet? Classic.

That's all for now! Stay rad :)

Until next time,

x R