Claim, Reason, Assumption

Claim: The claim for my OpEd is that fast food is unhealthy and that options in the cougareat should be healthy options opposed to the unhealthy fast food options.

Reason: The main reason for my claim is that habits are formed in our youth. Healthy food choices need to be made now so that our futures are healthier and obesity can be avoided.

Assumption: I must assume that my readers are worried about their health now and in the future. I also must assume that the faculty of BYU are concerned about the health of their students and are willing to make a change.

A Little About Me

My name is Alyssa Dustin and I was born in Idaho Falls, ID. I lived there for the first few years of my life until my family moved to Vancouver, WA so that my dad could attend dental school at OHSU. After my dad finished dental school we moved back to Idaho Falls. I lived there until the age of 7, when we moved back to Vancouver so that my dad could start his own dental practice. I have lived there ever since. I love it there. It's so green and beautiful, however, it does rain for most of the year. I graduated from Union High School just about 3 weeks ago. At Union I was involved in several different activities. My main activity while in high school was swimming. I was a competitive swimmer from the age of 9 up until my senior swim season. I competed mostly in the 100 backstroke and the 200 IM (individual medley). This past November I place third in both these events at the district meet and went to state on the 400 freestyle relay. I was able to compete at state 3 years and was and alternate one year. I earned many recognitions from my swimming such as a varsity letter all 4 years and Academic All-American.

After finishing my senior swim season I became interested in CrossFit. I've been doing CrossFit for about a year now and I love it! CrossFit is a workout program and a way of life. It involves all sorts of exercise movements such as: lifting weights, pull ups, muscle ups, and much more. I'm looking for people to do CrossFit with me here at BYU so if anyone is interested or is already familiar with CrossFit talk to me! Someday, hopefully in the near future, I would really love to become a CrossFit trainer and be able to help others with their fitness goals.

I also have goals that pertain to my education. My major is undecided at this point, however, I do have interest in nutrition and dietetics. I would like to go into something medical such as dentistry or physician's assistant. I do tend to change my mind on what I want to do quiet often so for now I'm going to get some generals done and see what kinds of things I like and decide on a major later.

Some interesting facts about me are: I'm still 17 until July 12th. Also, I come from a family of 3 girls. I'm the oldest. My younger sisters are 13 and 10. Lastly, I love wakeboarding and wakesurfing. Not to brag but I'm actually pretty good at wakesurfing. It's so much fun and I love it!

As far as my OpEd I would like to write about an issue that has to do with nutrition and health on campus. A possible thesis is: On campus dining facilities such as fast food restaurants promote unhealthy eating habits. I looked around the cougareat today and noticed that the majority of the options for dining there are fast food establishments. I think that having all of these unhealthy options so readily accessible to students creates habits of unhealthy eating which, while we are young, might not have too much of any impact on our bodies but as we grow and leave campus will translate into an unhealthy lifestyle and obesity.