Presentation Experience

Hello,

I want to talk about my experience when i had presentation during Nutri Food Fair on 16 July 2009 in my university UCSI. In the food fair i did a presentation about the adverse effect of the food combination of chocolate and soda drinks.

For the preparation of the presentation, it was very stressful moment where there was only one group who wanted to present. So in the end i asked my group to do the presentation and they agreed. Our first and second topic was rejected because there were no evidence on the topics. And then one of our teacher suggested to try combination of chocolate and soda drinks topic because it was rarely talked in front of the public. My group agreed about that topic and started to discuss the allocation of the assignment. My part was to do the presentation, and the other two members did the hard copy (student A) and the slide presentation (student B). At first i was very excited but when the process preparing the hard copy, there was a little arguments because there was only one member did the hard copy (student A) and the other one only do the slide presentation (student B). Then i tried to help by adding some sources to the hard copy. Even me and student A were mad with student B who only did the slide presentation but we tried to do our best to do the hard copy. Student A was very mad because student B's job was very easy and student B did not give some help. Then i also thought that it was my job to do the slide presentation because i was the one who will do the presentation. Two weeks before the presentation student A finally can finish the hard copy and i tried to understand all of the sentences. Student B started to do the slide presentation. At the same week, my group had a trial before do the real presentation in front of the public. This trial was useful to reduce my tension, but there were a lot of problems in the slide presentation such as grammar problems and the contents were a little bit different with the hard copy one. I and student A were very stressed at that time where we had to finish up three assignments at the same time. We stayed until 8 o'clock in the library to do the slide presentation. This was my first time to feel very stress with my assignments because there were a lot of things to do and i could not think clearly. Then the week for the presentation came. I tried to relax before the day of the presentation. But it was not successful where the student A kept giving me pressure because student A forced me to see other groups' presentation and kept asking about my preparation. I was prepared but student A still gave me pressures so i could not relax and i was too tired because i need to work also for the Nutri Food Fair.

Here i want to attach my video during the presentation but i could not because the video's file was very big. It was a good experience because this is the first time i had my presentation in front of the public although only few people came but it was interesting. At that time i was shaking and could not spoke clearly because i was so nervous. At the end of the presentation, the judges kept asking questions to our group. We answered the questions even it might not satisfy the judges but we already done our best to answer the questions. At the end of the presentation i felt very guilty to my group members because i did not do the presentation very well, i was too nervous. But i thanked them for all of their hardworking to prepare the presentation. At the end i had my experience and it was very precious experience.

That was my experience during the Nutri Food Fair presentation. Thank you for reading my blog and have a nice day.

Chocolate and soft drinks

Author: Meitta Lim, Wong Yee Ying, Fendy Yuanto

Nowadays people still believes in myths which affect people's mind about their food consumptions. Steven Pliszka, MD, professor of psychiatry, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio said that the biggest myth of all is that food has any connection to behavior (Warner, J., 2004).

One of the myths that concern in people's mind is about eating chocolate with soft drinks which can cause hyperactivity in children and teens, not in adult. One of the reasons is the consumption of high sugar content from chocolate and soft drinks. Actually hyperactivity is not a disease but it is a behaviour problem due to increased movement, impulsiveness, destructibility, and decreased attention span. There are some beliefs that children can become hyperactive if they consume sugar (sucrose), aspartame, artificial sweeteners, or certain food colourings (MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia, 2009)


Factors that can cause hyperactivity in chocolate and softdrinks:


1. Sugar contents. In some chocolate, soft drinks or any other foods contain refined sugar which may cause some effects on children's activity because the refined sugar enters the bloodstream very fast which increases the production of fluctuations in blood glucose levels and cause the adrenaline to trigger more and make the children more active. (MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia, 2009). Besides that refined sugar can also decreases the nutrients which are important for neurological health in the body (such as vitamin B, magnesium, and zinc) and causes mental and physical disorders (Adams, M., 2004).




2. Caffeine contents. Some people only know that high caffeine content is only in coffee but somehow some of chocolate and soda drinks also contain caffeine. Caffeine can be good for people if it is consumed in small amount, it can stimulates the central nervous system which can make people to be more alert and energetic. But if the caffeine is consumed too much, it can be harmful for children which can effect their behavior such as anxiety, mood changes, and caffeine can also increase the blood pressure and heart rate (Dowshen, S., MD, 2009).





3. Food additives. Some of the food additives are believed can cause hyperactivity in children, and so many researches had been done to prove it. One of the researches was done in 2007 at University of Southampton to ensure Benjamin Feingold’s hypothesis, where 153 3-year-old and 144 8/9-year-old children were included in the study. Some of the student were given drinks contained sodium benzoate and the others were given a placebo mix in their drinks. At the end of the research, they found that removing food additives from the diet of a group of 3-year-olds caused a reduction in the children's hyperactive behaviour and when the food colourings and preservatives were added back into the children's diets, the parents reported an increase in hyperactivity (McCann, et al., 2007).

Suggestions to reduce the hyperactivity in children and teens:

1. Chocolate can still be consumed by children and teens but in a small amount, or the chocolate can be replaced with another sweets which are safe to consume, or any high level antioxidants foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fatty fish, and skinless lean meats (Tsang, G., 2005).

2. Soda drinks can still consumed in a small amount, or can be replaced with some other drinks that provide important nutrients (such as calcium and vitamins) like soy milk, skim milk (skim milk provides protein, calcium, vitamin D, and other important nutrients), green or black tea, fruit or vegetable fresh juices, coffee, or daily mineral water (Magee, E., 2007).

3. Parents should try to avoid some of food additives which can cause hyperactivity in their children.

hi

hi guys... actually this is my first time do a blogging.. i don't have anything to talk right now but soon i will post something in this blog.. ^^