FOOD/HEALTH/ MIGRATION
Interviewee: 22 year old female, former Lehman College student, "C"
Duration: ~34 minutes
Location: Lehman College campus
M: What is your age?
C: 22.
M: What’s your gender, what are your pronouns?
C: She, her, female.
M: What is your racial or ethnic background?
C: Filipino.
M: Where were you born?
C: Bronx, New York.
M: Do you strongly identify with your roots?
C: Half and half. Not really...
M: Why?
C: So my mom came to America when she was about 22. So I think she became more American rather than more Filipino. Besides the food which my grandma cooks I think we do a lot of American things rather than Filipino things.
M: What’s considered Filipino things?
C: Maybe like activities probably food. I don’t speak my parents dialect, that’s one thing. We eat a good amount of Filipino food my grandma cooks. We don’t really act Filipino, or we don’t really... yeah.
M: Would you say that you don’t have a close connection to your home land? Whatever you define it as.
C: I know a lot about my Filipino history, like knowing my cousins well, but I think culturally we are really different.
M: When was the last time you had visited your homeland?
C: Last March.
M: Did it change a lot?
C: Oh it changed. Like the homeland or?
M: Or anything about it.
C: Hm, no not really. I visited freshman year of college and third year of college, so there wasn’t really much change in between.
M: Do you have family living there?
C: Yeah, a lot.
M: What is your college enrollment status?
C: Oh, graduated.
M: When did you graduate?
C: Fall 2018.
M: What is your occupation and/or job?
C: I’m a writing tutor, Japanese tutor, and teacher assistant.
M: How many hours a week do you work?
C: Um, maybe around 15?
M: Do you plan to stick with the same occupation for a while, why or why not?
C: No, it’s probably just a stepping stone for now, I think.
M: How stressful is your occupation from a scale of 1 to 5? 1 being barely, and 5 being extremely stressful.
C: Maybe like uh, teaching assistant? Maybe a 2? Maybe the tutoring maybe like a... that usually depends on the students I have, so maybe that ones a 3-3.5?
M: Do you have a lunch break?
C: I guess both are part time, so I guess yeah.
M: When do you eat usually?
C: I usually eat between my two jobs. I have one job in the morning, and then I have to commute to my other job right afterwards, so maybe like 1?
M: Do you eat on your commute or do you have a scheduled lunch break at your worksite to eat?
C: Oh, I’m usually done with that job, so after I’m done with the first job I have an hour in between that I can just stay in one area. I would likely eat in the Lehman cafeteria.
M: At your job are you able to eat snacks, take breaks?
C: If there’s not a tutee coming in, then we usually have a break. I heard we’re not allowed to bring snacks into the writing center, but...
M: Does it interfere with your normal eating schedule?
C: Oh, like tutoring or?
M: The schedule of your jobs.
C: I used to intermediate fast, but I think it’s a little bit harder now that I work at the hours I can eat. Intermediate fasting has been more difficult than before. I have to usually make sure that I eat a little bit earlier before my job, and then... that’s probably the biggest difference. I think I always eat around my work schedule, whenever I’m free, there’s no work in the morning, so then I eat and then work and then break and then eat and then I commute and... sometimes I don’t even have enough time to eat in between the work.
M: Oh wow, okay. What’s your current civil status?
C: Citizen?
M: Were you born here?
C: Yeah, born here.
M: What about your family’s?
C: No, they weren’t born here but they’re citizens. They’re called naturalized citizens?
M: Have you migrated, if so where to and from?
C: Oh does Japan count?
M: Yeah like moving from place to place, even commuting counts as migration.
C: So three days a week I commute to Brooklyn. First I commute from the east Bronx to west Bronx to Lehman and then afterwards I commute all the way to Brooklyn and then I go back home. I used to volunteer a lot so I used to go in and out of manhattan on the weekends, and then I studied abroad in Japan for a year.
M: And you also visited the Philippines as well?
C: Yeah in between my trip, like studying abroad.
M: What sort of feelings did or do you encounter before during or after migrating to some place? So like stress, fatigue, happiness, relief?
C: Commuting to Brooklyn has been very stressful. Or just traveling from borough to borough every week has been getting to me. I’m not really good with waking up early, so I usually rush to Lehman to get here on time, and then when I’m finally settled down I have to go all the way to Brooklyn so I feel definitely fatigued and stressed. Going back home from Brooklyn all the way to home I have to take the train and then I have to take the bus so I think every day I’ve just been feeling very tired. All I want to do when I get home is sleep: I don’t have any energy.
M: Oh, so do you commute— I assume you commute by train now, or do you also commute by other vehicles of transportation?
C: I take the bus to Lehman but from Lehman I take just the train but going back home I take the train and then the bus.
M: What times do you commute? So like in the mornings, during rush hour, at night?
C: Usually in the morning. I usually leave my house by 9, get to Lehman by 10, and then around 1 is when I head out down to Brooklyn and then by rush hour usually around rush hour I get home. I’m already in Brooklyn so the trains aren’t usually as filled.
M: Do you eat on your commute?
C: I do snack, yeah I do snack, or I usually bring tea or something like that.
M: Do you like or dislike eating on your commute?
C: Hm, it depends on the food actually. I had a sandwich— I hated that! Because the sandwich was like falling apart and then all the grimes on my hand... but if it’s small snacks then I don’t really mind that. If it’s like Doritos or something that’s fine.
M: What foods do you like or dislike?
C: I usually like eating healthy food but it’s kinda hard I think in Lehman it’s hard to... the healthier foods tend to be more expensive than what it actually costs. Or sometimes when you want to get filling food like chicken or rice or something they usually only have like the same foods, so I’m tired of Lehman food! I’m tired of always eating the same thing like chicken and rice chicken and rice chicken and rice. Anything that’s not Lehman food I tend to like more. And I like eating healthier foods because I usually feel better even though I’m commuting.
M: What do you consider healthy food to be?
C: So every once in a while I guess at Lehman they have this kind of sushi where they have sweet potatoes and avocado and stuff like that. I like getting that. Instead of soda there's tea I usually get tea or something like that. I guess anything that's really not oily or not pizza.
M: What's your culture’s cuisine like?
C: Oh, I see. Filipino food is kind of weird. If your going out food or the food that is normally famous in the Philippines is really greasy, meaty foods and filled with rice or there's something called like crispy Pata and it's basically like fried pork belly or pork shoulder or something like that it's super fatty Filipinos love it and that's what usually we have when we go out to eat. sometimes Filipino food is healthier just because in the Philippines if you are poor vegetables are cheaper so usually at home we would eat like healthier things at least for my family. But if you're going out to eat for Filipino food it's meaty and really greasy and unhealthy. If you’re gonna go out you should you want meat you want the expensive things.
M: Interesting, what region are you referring to? Because I know in the Philippines there's different like I guess it's all islands so they must have their own particular cuisine that they eat.
C: I know there's three sections of the Philippines and my mom's from the Pasais Area(?). I think my dad is from Iloilo and my mom is from Cebu.
M: What do you say that's the general cuisine, what you were describing it to be before?
C: The unhealthy food is the general cuisine. It’s… In the Philippines if you are rich like meats and meaty foods are expensive so like they have access to it so they tend to be more overweight and even being in the Philippines being overweight is seen as a good thing because that means you're rich. If you're more on the poor side you'll probably eat healthier options actually like fish because it's cheaper or like vegetables or rice. It’s weird, it’s actually weird. The rich side of my family tends to eat more of the general fatty foods that are like what people think of when they think of Filipino cuisine. But then I have a poor side of my family and I think they eat healthier more vegetable-oriented stuff, more like stews and fish and things like that.
M: Ok, so do you cook? If so, do you cook your culture’s cuisine on a frequent basis?
C: Oh, no I don’t really cook because my grandma cooks so much. But when I was in um Japan I made chicken abode a lot which is like a really famous Filipino cuisine.
M: Cool. In your experience, does financial security affect your food choices?
C: Hm, um… let’s see. My family. I guess my family’s…
M: Or, like, in your general experience.
C: I guess there was a time where I didn’t have a debit or a credit card, so I used to forget like cash a lot. So whenever I didn’t have cash I just wouldn’t eat for the whole day. Or I would take the train as fast as I can so I could go home to eat.
M: Ah, okay.
C: But not anymore, now that I have my debit card, haha.
M: Nice. How about your family’s food choices?
C: Oh, I see. Hm. I guess like in Filipino culture um I guess the one thing they really if they have money for it tends to go to food so food is like the number one priority and also my parents are decent in terms of their financial status so I guess it hasn’t really been like a struggle.
M: Do you worry about running out of food?
C: No, we have too much food, actually. We have too much food!
M: Do you consider your diet to be balanced nutritionally?
C: No! No I don’t think so. I don’t eat a lot ever since I fasted but even if it’s days where I just eat unhealthy stuff so a lot like pizza or sometimes just meat heavy foods or stuff like that and then there’s other days when I’m pretty healthy. So either I’m like unhealthy or like pretty healthy, every week it varies.
M: Mhm.
C: Every three days it varies.
M: Oh. have you ever found yourself in a situation where you had to cut the size of the meals or skip meals?
C: Because of money or something?
M: Yeah it could be in any case.
C: Ever since I started fasting… um, or even when I came back from Japan I was used to the Japanese portion size so I didn’t eat that much and then I was used to the Filipino portion size so I started eating a lot when I came back home from Japan and then I started fasting so then I think my stomach shrunk again so I tend to skip a lot of meals or sometimes I’m too tired or stressed that I don’t feel like eating.
M: Oh.
C: So the mixture of fasting and the stress affects me. Yeah, I’m too lazy to eat. It’s weird.
M: Oh, yeah, I see. Have you ever ate less due to not having enough food?
C: Huh. Mmm, no I don’t think so.
M: Ok.
C: Or maybe I didn’t have time to get food I might be late to work or something like that so then that’s why I’m hungry.
M: Can you provide an example of when you felt the most or least secure regarding food security?
C: There was a time in college where I didn’t have a job and I usually relied on my parents for money to get food and sometimes I would forget to ask my dad and I think that’s when I so like freshman year of college or sophomore year that I was really dependent on my parents so if I forgot to ask them I wouldn’t be able to buy food.
M: Oh, wow. I see. So what’s your definition of health?
C: Health. I think balance. Definitely balance and as natural as possible. So, like soda isn’t natural I think go for tea don’t eat too much meat don’t eat too much rice have some vegetables here and there.
M: Nice. Do you any allergies, intolerances, or health issues related to your diet?
C: No, thankfully. For now i’m safe and sound.
M: How would you rate your overall health? So 1 being poor, and 5 being excellent.
C: Maybe a 3. I think a 3.
M: Ok. How would others rate your overall health? So how would your doctor or your family or anyone else like
C: I see. Probably my doctor would say I think a 4 maybe. I think the standards in America are so low, they probably you know because there’s a lot of… I think the standards for American health wise the obesity rates and stuff like that are so high here… being unhealthy is the norm here especially compared to Japan. But I think for my brother he eats really healthy, he fasts, he works out I don’t work out anymore I don’t work out anymore I just kinda laze around at home so I think for my brother i would be a 2. He has a high standard of health he does everything you’re supposed to do.
M: Oh.
C: He doesn’t even eat cheese anymore. That’s crazy!
M: Why did you rate your overall health with a 3?
C: Hm, let’s see. I know I don’t eat too much anymore which is good. Because I used to eat a lot when I came back from Japan. So I think eating habits are not that bad and um usually if a healthier solution is available I tend to choose it, so instead of soda I’d pick tea. If there’s ever brown rice, like I’d choose that over white rice. But it’s a little bit harder now that my grandma cooks so much that I think usually like white rice and things like that, pork instead of chicken is more accessible to me so I think I’m not as healthy as I could be so I would say a 3 and I don’t work out anymore so, and I used to work out a lot so… I’m so weak.
M: How do you think you can improve your overall health?
C: I need to start… hm… how can I improve my overall health? I think I need to exercise again. I don’t think I exercise enough at home. Sometimes my sleeping schedule is a little bit off wack too, I should probably improve that as well. And I think sleeping schedule I should eat more fruits and vegetables, i don’t think i eat enough.
M: Why do you think this way?
C: Oh, why do I think this way? I think my brother. So my brother he was the one that got us into being more healthy and he is like the standard of healthiness in our family and also he’s going to be a doctor soon so all those things line up so I definitely know the potential of what I should be doing and I know I’m not there I’m not even close so I think that’s why.
M: Ok. Have you tried to improve your overall health?
C: I think fasting was the biggest thing. I tried learning how to breakdance as a form of exercise but then I got lazy again and I stopped. Oh and I always try to walk instead. If I have a chance to walk home from maybe the bus then I’ll do that.
M: Ok. I see. Do you have any current or past health problems and this can also refer to mental health it doesn’t just have to be purely physical health.
C: I think I’ve always suffered a little bit it’s never been diagnosed I never went to a therapist about it but I’ve always been very like anxious. I tend to freak out easily in the inside there’s a lot of emotions inside I tend to overthink a lot of self-doubt so I hmm… I think maybe over these past months I’ve been really stressed out and had a lot of anxiety over the future and where I’m going, I think. And sometimes I don’t eat as much because of that too actually, I think that’s also why I lost weight.
M: Oh… I see. Um, what do your doctors say? Do they focus more on the physical or mental components of your health issues or just your health in general?
C: Funny thing is my doctor’s Filipino, and I don’t think Filipinos are very good with mental issues they just don’t get it it’s something you don’t talk about in Filipino culture so I feel like growing up all my doctor appointments have been very physical. I’ve been thinking about like the physicalities with the body, nothing really mental. Yeah, I was never really asked anything about mental before, I think. Not in my doctor appointments.
M: Do you think your food choices affect your health problems in either a positive or negative way or both?
C: Hm. I see. Well ever since I started fasting I think my confidence has been going up like I feel more comfortable with my body and my weight I think. Also knowing that you’re doing something for your health um gives you confidence. Wait what’s the question again?
M: Do you think your food choices affect your health problems in either a positive, negative way or both?
C: I think both though. I think sometimes I overdid it with the fasting where I wasn’t eating enough and then I just couldn’t keep up with anything so there was a time when I was really feeling fatigued. And then another thing with fasting too is that um you don’t eat as much. So if there’s one day where I only eat unhealthy food like pizza and then I feel really crappy but there could be another day where I eat more like vegetarian based foods and more vegetables and fruits and then I feel a lot better. It usually depends on what I eat that day.
M: What is your perspective of Western idealizations and values regarding body image?
C: Oh, I see. I think compared to like certain Western philosophies [Filipino values] are like being like frail and everything like that like being skinny don’t eat too much starving yourself they don’t think about working out as a way to be healthy and I think one thing that I really like about Western standards is the focus on working out and being strong as a form of health and as a form of beauty but one thing I don’t like is that I think Americans they just go too crazy with everything like we’re so extreme it’s always like an obsession with the biggest butt or like um or yeah like having the curves and being thick it’s fun to joke around about it shouldn’t be the focus.
M: What about your family’s perspective?
C: Oh. So I used to weightlift a lot. In terms of being a girl they didn’t like the fact that I weightlifted a lot back then. They thought that girls shouldn’t really be muscular girls should be more like thin and elegant and petite so. I think for them health wise figure wise is more about being slim. In terms of my family I think as long as I’m healthy like at a healthy weight medically I’m fine.
M: I think this is the last question but has the Western cultural emphasis on thinness, dieting, and exercise have ever clashed with your culture’s ideals of beauty and health? Which you sorta answered before, right?
C: That’s right. Let’s see if there’s anything else. Um, hm. Clashing with the culture. I think um so Filipino culture for a long time we were all just starving so they think the cure to everything is eating. If you even have a stomach ache they think you should eat more as a cure even though that’s the total opposite of what you should be doing so. I think dieting goes against kinda like traditional Filipino standards of being healthy. If you diet they think you’re gonna die or something you’re starving yourself you need to eat all the time it’s bad. So I think that’s like the biggest clash. They think if you diet, like, you’re crazy.
M: All right, cool. That’s pretty much it. Thank you.
Duration: ~34 minutes
Location: Lehman College campus
M: What is your age?
C: 22.
M: What’s your gender, what are your pronouns?
C: She, her, female.
M: What is your racial or ethnic background?
C: Filipino.
M: Where were you born?
C: Bronx, New York.
M: Do you strongly identify with your roots?
C: Half and half. Not really...
M: Why?
C: So my mom came to America when she was about 22. So I think she became more American rather than more Filipino. Besides the food which my grandma cooks I think we do a lot of American things rather than Filipino things.
M: What’s considered Filipino things?
C: Maybe like activities probably food. I don’t speak my parents dialect, that’s one thing. We eat a good amount of Filipino food my grandma cooks. We don’t really act Filipino, or we don’t really... yeah.
M: Would you say that you don’t have a close connection to your home land? Whatever you define it as.
C: I know a lot about my Filipino history, like knowing my cousins well, but I think culturally we are really different.
M: When was the last time you had visited your homeland?
C: Last March.
M: Did it change a lot?
C: Oh it changed. Like the homeland or?
M: Or anything about it.
C: Hm, no not really. I visited freshman year of college and third year of college, so there wasn’t really much change in between.
M: Do you have family living there?
C: Yeah, a lot.
M: What is your college enrollment status?
C: Oh, graduated.
M: When did you graduate?
C: Fall 2018.
M: What is your occupation and/or job?
C: I’m a writing tutor, Japanese tutor, and teacher assistant.
M: How many hours a week do you work?
C: Um, maybe around 15?
M: Do you plan to stick with the same occupation for a while, why or why not?
C: No, it’s probably just a stepping stone for now, I think.
M: How stressful is your occupation from a scale of 1 to 5? 1 being barely, and 5 being extremely stressful.
C: Maybe like uh, teaching assistant? Maybe a 2? Maybe the tutoring maybe like a... that usually depends on the students I have, so maybe that ones a 3-3.5?
M: Do you have a lunch break?
C: I guess both are part time, so I guess yeah.
M: When do you eat usually?
C: I usually eat between my two jobs. I have one job in the morning, and then I have to commute to my other job right afterwards, so maybe like 1?
M: Do you eat on your commute or do you have a scheduled lunch break at your worksite to eat?
C: Oh, I’m usually done with that job, so after I’m done with the first job I have an hour in between that I can just stay in one area. I would likely eat in the Lehman cafeteria.
M: At your job are you able to eat snacks, take breaks?
C: If there’s not a tutee coming in, then we usually have a break. I heard we’re not allowed to bring snacks into the writing center, but...
M: Does it interfere with your normal eating schedule?
C: Oh, like tutoring or?
M: The schedule of your jobs.
C: I used to intermediate fast, but I think it’s a little bit harder now that I work at the hours I can eat. Intermediate fasting has been more difficult than before. I have to usually make sure that I eat a little bit earlier before my job, and then... that’s probably the biggest difference. I think I always eat around my work schedule, whenever I’m free, there’s no work in the morning, so then I eat and then work and then break and then eat and then I commute and... sometimes I don’t even have enough time to eat in between the work.
M: Oh wow, okay. What’s your current civil status?
C: Citizen?
M: Were you born here?
C: Yeah, born here.
M: What about your family’s?
C: No, they weren’t born here but they’re citizens. They’re called naturalized citizens?
M: Have you migrated, if so where to and from?
C: Oh does Japan count?
M: Yeah like moving from place to place, even commuting counts as migration.
C: So three days a week I commute to Brooklyn. First I commute from the east Bronx to west Bronx to Lehman and then afterwards I commute all the way to Brooklyn and then I go back home. I used to volunteer a lot so I used to go in and out of manhattan on the weekends, and then I studied abroad in Japan for a year.
M: And you also visited the Philippines as well?
C: Yeah in between my trip, like studying abroad.
M: What sort of feelings did or do you encounter before during or after migrating to some place? So like stress, fatigue, happiness, relief?
C: Commuting to Brooklyn has been very stressful. Or just traveling from borough to borough every week has been getting to me. I’m not really good with waking up early, so I usually rush to Lehman to get here on time, and then when I’m finally settled down I have to go all the way to Brooklyn so I feel definitely fatigued and stressed. Going back home from Brooklyn all the way to home I have to take the train and then I have to take the bus so I think every day I’ve just been feeling very tired. All I want to do when I get home is sleep: I don’t have any energy.
M: Oh, so do you commute— I assume you commute by train now, or do you also commute by other vehicles of transportation?
C: I take the bus to Lehman but from Lehman I take just the train but going back home I take the train and then the bus.
M: What times do you commute? So like in the mornings, during rush hour, at night?
C: Usually in the morning. I usually leave my house by 9, get to Lehman by 10, and then around 1 is when I head out down to Brooklyn and then by rush hour usually around rush hour I get home. I’m already in Brooklyn so the trains aren’t usually as filled.
M: Do you eat on your commute?
C: I do snack, yeah I do snack, or I usually bring tea or something like that.
M: Do you like or dislike eating on your commute?
C: Hm, it depends on the food actually. I had a sandwich— I hated that! Because the sandwich was like falling apart and then all the grimes on my hand... but if it’s small snacks then I don’t really mind that. If it’s like Doritos or something that’s fine.
M: What foods do you like or dislike?
C: I usually like eating healthy food but it’s kinda hard I think in Lehman it’s hard to... the healthier foods tend to be more expensive than what it actually costs. Or sometimes when you want to get filling food like chicken or rice or something they usually only have like the same foods, so I’m tired of Lehman food! I’m tired of always eating the same thing like chicken and rice chicken and rice chicken and rice. Anything that’s not Lehman food I tend to like more. And I like eating healthier foods because I usually feel better even though I’m commuting.
M: What do you consider healthy food to be?
C: So every once in a while I guess at Lehman they have this kind of sushi where they have sweet potatoes and avocado and stuff like that. I like getting that. Instead of soda there's tea I usually get tea or something like that. I guess anything that's really not oily or not pizza.
M: What's your culture’s cuisine like?
C: Oh, I see. Filipino food is kind of weird. If your going out food or the food that is normally famous in the Philippines is really greasy, meaty foods and filled with rice or there's something called like crispy Pata and it's basically like fried pork belly or pork shoulder or something like that it's super fatty Filipinos love it and that's what usually we have when we go out to eat. sometimes Filipino food is healthier just because in the Philippines if you are poor vegetables are cheaper so usually at home we would eat like healthier things at least for my family. But if you're going out to eat for Filipino food it's meaty and really greasy and unhealthy. If you’re gonna go out you should you want meat you want the expensive things.
M: Interesting, what region are you referring to? Because I know in the Philippines there's different like I guess it's all islands so they must have their own particular cuisine that they eat.
C: I know there's three sections of the Philippines and my mom's from the Pasais Area(?). I think my dad is from Iloilo and my mom is from Cebu.
M: What do you say that's the general cuisine, what you were describing it to be before?
C: The unhealthy food is the general cuisine. It’s… In the Philippines if you are rich like meats and meaty foods are expensive so like they have access to it so they tend to be more overweight and even being in the Philippines being overweight is seen as a good thing because that means you're rich. If you're more on the poor side you'll probably eat healthier options actually like fish because it's cheaper or like vegetables or rice. It’s weird, it’s actually weird. The rich side of my family tends to eat more of the general fatty foods that are like what people think of when they think of Filipino cuisine. But then I have a poor side of my family and I think they eat healthier more vegetable-oriented stuff, more like stews and fish and things like that.
M: Ok, so do you cook? If so, do you cook your culture’s cuisine on a frequent basis?
C: Oh, no I don’t really cook because my grandma cooks so much. But when I was in um Japan I made chicken abode a lot which is like a really famous Filipino cuisine.
M: Cool. In your experience, does financial security affect your food choices?
C: Hm, um… let’s see. My family. I guess my family’s…
M: Or, like, in your general experience.
C: I guess there was a time where I didn’t have a debit or a credit card, so I used to forget like cash a lot. So whenever I didn’t have cash I just wouldn’t eat for the whole day. Or I would take the train as fast as I can so I could go home to eat.
M: Ah, okay.
C: But not anymore, now that I have my debit card, haha.
M: Nice. How about your family’s food choices?
C: Oh, I see. Hm. I guess like in Filipino culture um I guess the one thing they really if they have money for it tends to go to food so food is like the number one priority and also my parents are decent in terms of their financial status so I guess it hasn’t really been like a struggle.
M: Do you worry about running out of food?
C: No, we have too much food, actually. We have too much food!
M: Do you consider your diet to be balanced nutritionally?
C: No! No I don’t think so. I don’t eat a lot ever since I fasted but even if it’s days where I just eat unhealthy stuff so a lot like pizza or sometimes just meat heavy foods or stuff like that and then there’s other days when I’m pretty healthy. So either I’m like unhealthy or like pretty healthy, every week it varies.
M: Mhm.
C: Every three days it varies.
M: Oh. have you ever found yourself in a situation where you had to cut the size of the meals or skip meals?
C: Because of money or something?
M: Yeah it could be in any case.
C: Ever since I started fasting… um, or even when I came back from Japan I was used to the Japanese portion size so I didn’t eat that much and then I was used to the Filipino portion size so I started eating a lot when I came back home from Japan and then I started fasting so then I think my stomach shrunk again so I tend to skip a lot of meals or sometimes I’m too tired or stressed that I don’t feel like eating.
M: Oh.
C: So the mixture of fasting and the stress affects me. Yeah, I’m too lazy to eat. It’s weird.
M: Oh, yeah, I see. Have you ever ate less due to not having enough food?
C: Huh. Mmm, no I don’t think so.
M: Ok.
C: Or maybe I didn’t have time to get food I might be late to work or something like that so then that’s why I’m hungry.
M: Can you provide an example of when you felt the most or least secure regarding food security?
C: There was a time in college where I didn’t have a job and I usually relied on my parents for money to get food and sometimes I would forget to ask my dad and I think that’s when I so like freshman year of college or sophomore year that I was really dependent on my parents so if I forgot to ask them I wouldn’t be able to buy food.
M: Oh, wow. I see. So what’s your definition of health?
C: Health. I think balance. Definitely balance and as natural as possible. So, like soda isn’t natural I think go for tea don’t eat too much meat don’t eat too much rice have some vegetables here and there.
M: Nice. Do you any allergies, intolerances, or health issues related to your diet?
C: No, thankfully. For now i’m safe and sound.
M: How would you rate your overall health? So 1 being poor, and 5 being excellent.
C: Maybe a 3. I think a 3.
M: Ok. How would others rate your overall health? So how would your doctor or your family or anyone else like
C: I see. Probably my doctor would say I think a 4 maybe. I think the standards in America are so low, they probably you know because there’s a lot of… I think the standards for American health wise the obesity rates and stuff like that are so high here… being unhealthy is the norm here especially compared to Japan. But I think for my brother he eats really healthy, he fasts, he works out I don’t work out anymore I don’t work out anymore I just kinda laze around at home so I think for my brother i would be a 2. He has a high standard of health he does everything you’re supposed to do.
M: Oh.
C: He doesn’t even eat cheese anymore. That’s crazy!
M: Why did you rate your overall health with a 3?
C: Hm, let’s see. I know I don’t eat too much anymore which is good. Because I used to eat a lot when I came back from Japan. So I think eating habits are not that bad and um usually if a healthier solution is available I tend to choose it, so instead of soda I’d pick tea. If there’s ever brown rice, like I’d choose that over white rice. But it’s a little bit harder now that my grandma cooks so much that I think usually like white rice and things like that, pork instead of chicken is more accessible to me so I think I’m not as healthy as I could be so I would say a 3 and I don’t work out anymore so, and I used to work out a lot so… I’m so weak.
M: How do you think you can improve your overall health?
C: I need to start… hm… how can I improve my overall health? I think I need to exercise again. I don’t think I exercise enough at home. Sometimes my sleeping schedule is a little bit off wack too, I should probably improve that as well. And I think sleeping schedule I should eat more fruits and vegetables, i don’t think i eat enough.
M: Why do you think this way?
C: Oh, why do I think this way? I think my brother. So my brother he was the one that got us into being more healthy and he is like the standard of healthiness in our family and also he’s going to be a doctor soon so all those things line up so I definitely know the potential of what I should be doing and I know I’m not there I’m not even close so I think that’s why.
M: Ok. Have you tried to improve your overall health?
C: I think fasting was the biggest thing. I tried learning how to breakdance as a form of exercise but then I got lazy again and I stopped. Oh and I always try to walk instead. If I have a chance to walk home from maybe the bus then I’ll do that.
M: Ok. I see. Do you have any current or past health problems and this can also refer to mental health it doesn’t just have to be purely physical health.
C: I think I’ve always suffered a little bit it’s never been diagnosed I never went to a therapist about it but I’ve always been very like anxious. I tend to freak out easily in the inside there’s a lot of emotions inside I tend to overthink a lot of self-doubt so I hmm… I think maybe over these past months I’ve been really stressed out and had a lot of anxiety over the future and where I’m going, I think. And sometimes I don’t eat as much because of that too actually, I think that’s also why I lost weight.
M: Oh… I see. Um, what do your doctors say? Do they focus more on the physical or mental components of your health issues or just your health in general?
C: Funny thing is my doctor’s Filipino, and I don’t think Filipinos are very good with mental issues they just don’t get it it’s something you don’t talk about in Filipino culture so I feel like growing up all my doctor appointments have been very physical. I’ve been thinking about like the physicalities with the body, nothing really mental. Yeah, I was never really asked anything about mental before, I think. Not in my doctor appointments.
M: Do you think your food choices affect your health problems in either a positive or negative way or both?
C: Hm. I see. Well ever since I started fasting I think my confidence has been going up like I feel more comfortable with my body and my weight I think. Also knowing that you’re doing something for your health um gives you confidence. Wait what’s the question again?
M: Do you think your food choices affect your health problems in either a positive, negative way or both?
C: I think both though. I think sometimes I overdid it with the fasting where I wasn’t eating enough and then I just couldn’t keep up with anything so there was a time when I was really feeling fatigued. And then another thing with fasting too is that um you don’t eat as much. So if there’s one day where I only eat unhealthy food like pizza and then I feel really crappy but there could be another day where I eat more like vegetarian based foods and more vegetables and fruits and then I feel a lot better. It usually depends on what I eat that day.
M: What is your perspective of Western idealizations and values regarding body image?
C: Oh, I see. I think compared to like certain Western philosophies [Filipino values] are like being like frail and everything like that like being skinny don’t eat too much starving yourself they don’t think about working out as a way to be healthy and I think one thing that I really like about Western standards is the focus on working out and being strong as a form of health and as a form of beauty but one thing I don’t like is that I think Americans they just go too crazy with everything like we’re so extreme it’s always like an obsession with the biggest butt or like um or yeah like having the curves and being thick it’s fun to joke around about it shouldn’t be the focus.
M: What about your family’s perspective?
C: Oh. So I used to weightlift a lot. In terms of being a girl they didn’t like the fact that I weightlifted a lot back then. They thought that girls shouldn’t really be muscular girls should be more like thin and elegant and petite so. I think for them health wise figure wise is more about being slim. In terms of my family I think as long as I’m healthy like at a healthy weight medically I’m fine.
M: I think this is the last question but has the Western cultural emphasis on thinness, dieting, and exercise have ever clashed with your culture’s ideals of beauty and health? Which you sorta answered before, right?
C: That’s right. Let’s see if there’s anything else. Um, hm. Clashing with the culture. I think um so Filipino culture for a long time we were all just starving so they think the cure to everything is eating. If you even have a stomach ache they think you should eat more as a cure even though that’s the total opposite of what you should be doing so. I think dieting goes against kinda like traditional Filipino standards of being healthy. If you diet they think you’re gonna die or something you’re starving yourself you need to eat all the time it’s bad. So I think that’s like the biggest clash. They think if you diet, like, you’re crazy.
M: All right, cool. That’s pretty much it. Thank you.