Topic 1: Popular fad diets vs. Nutrition Introduction: As someone who feels constantly unhealthy, I closely follow popular diets in search of a healthier me. I have embarked several diets that left me feeling average at best. For four years I was a vegetarian, vegan for three months, paleo for two months and keto for two months. Each of these diets restricted me from the nutrients I needed, as well as added a layer of problems and complications. They also left me tired, and unable to process things later on when I ended each diet. When I decided to eat meat again after four years, I vividly recall many times where my life was consumed by hovering over a toilet after only a few bites of meat. It greatly impacted my social life, and my doctor warned me that these diets were dangerous to a young adult. After several blood tests, we found that these diets ended up giving more problems than benefits. They found that I was low in important nutrients such as magnesium, potassium, vitamins B12, D, became I became dangerously anemic (low in iron). Topic Proposal: My topic is focused on the short/long term effects fad diets and how the youth interprets diets displayed in popular media. Fad diets are diets popularized by the media that typically focus on the elimination of eating certain food groups to achieve weight-loss. However, this leads to a huge impact of nutrition given that restriction of entire food groups can erase one’s intake and even ability to process vital nutrients. The most common diets suggest limiting consumption of carbohydrates, fats or/and over-indulging in foods such as grapefruit. These diets, while promoting something considered positive, weight-loss, also can lead one into serious health problems. Focus: I am to focus on the common misconceptions on dieting and weight-loss. I want to uncover the great risks that come with the most popular dieting methods due to the restriction of vital nutrients as well as a solutions that nutritionists actually support. In hopes of finding a solution, I also want to take a look into positive diets promoted in the media, or if there is even a diet that is generally helpful and doable for the general public. Importance: While many people seem to focus on the obesity epidemic in the U.S., I want to focus on more plausible dieting solutions that promote long term health and healthy weight loss. The nutrients people deprive themselves of can lead to an even more unhealthy society caused by the lack of education on healthy dieting habits. Many people look to social media to find healthy goals and role models end up greatly damaging their body and could later on effect their children and society at a whole. Students and young adults are most at risk for joining unhealthy diets given that they are on social media the most. If DU and other schools promote healthy relationships with food it would benefit their ability to perform as well as their life and longevity. Sources: I will research fad di ...

1. Topic 1: Popular fad diets vs. Nutrition
Introduction:
As someone who feels constantly unhealthy, I closely follow
popular diets in search of a healthier me. I have embarked
several diets that left me feeling average at best. For four years
I was a vegetarian, vegan for three months, paleo for two
months and keto for two months. Each of these diets restricted
me from the nutrients I needed, as well as added a layer of
problems and complications. They also left me tired, and unable
to process things later on when I ended each diet. When I
decided to eat meat again after four years, I vividly recall many
times where my life was consumed by hovering over a toilet
after only a few bites of meat. It greatly impacted my social
life, and my doctor warned me that these diets were dangerous
to a young adult. After several blood tests, we found that these
diets ended up giving more problems than benefits. They found
that I was low in important nutrients such as magnesium,
potassium, vitamins B12, D, became I became dangerously
anemic (low in iron).
Topic Proposal:
My topic is focused on the short/long term effects fad diets and
how the youth interprets diets displayed in popular media. Fad
diets are diets popularized by the media that typically focus on
the elimination of eating certain food groups to achieve weight-
loss. However, this leads to a huge impact of nutrition given
that restriction of entire food groups can erase one’s intake and
even ability to process vital nutrients. The most common diets
suggest limiting consumption of carbohydrates, fats or/and
over-indulging in foods such as grapefruit. These diets, while
promoting something considered positive, weight-loss, also can
lead one into serious health problems.
Focus:
I am to focus on the common misconceptions on dieting and

2. weight-loss. I want to uncover the great risks that come with the
most popular dieting methods due to the restriction of vital
nutrients as well as a solutions that nutritionists actually
support. In hopes of finding a solution, I also want to take a
look into positive diets promoted in the media, or if there is
even a diet that is generally helpful and doable for the general
public.
Importance:
While many people seem to focus on the obesity epidemic in the
U.S., I want to focus on more plausible dieting solutions that
promote long term health and healthy weight loss. The nutrients
people deprive themselves of can lead to an even more
unhealthy society caused by the lack of education on healthy
dieting habits. Many people look to social media to find healthy
goals and role models end up greatly damaging their body and
could later on effect their children and society at a whole.
Students and young adults are most at risk for joining unhealthy
diets given that they are on social media the most. If DU and
other schools promote healthy relationships with food it would
benefit their ability to perform as well as their life and
longevity.
Sources:
I will research fad diets through a book called “Decoding Fad
Diets” by Gail Hoddlebrink. To ensure the uprising of unhealthy
practices, I am going to read into a nutritionist’s perspective of
the most popular fad diets. This will also give me information
about the most popular fad diets. Using more statistical and
scientific research, I will look for the long-term effects of these
diets and how it may effect younger and younger generations. I
can find out the effects by reading an article titled “Fad Diets”
from a source called A Guide to Women’s Health.
Topic 2: Dieting Culture and Eating Disorders
Introduction:
Growing up as a little sister, I always looked to my older

3. brother for guidance and protection. To me, he was always a
super star athlete, a great student and a wonderful brother.
Despite all the admiration I have for him, he had his struggles.
During the height of diet-culture illustrated in the media with
shows such as “The Biggest Loser” and celebrities publicizing
their extreme diets, I began to see a decline in my brother’s
health. He used to cook 24/7 and loved to share his creations
with the family, but that began to quickly taper off as he
followed several fad diets that would later lead to a severe
problem. As he saw popular media demoting eating for pleasure
and promoting extremely restrictive eating, he also became
extremely judgmental of his diet and his body. Entering his
sophomore year of high school, he developed an eating disorder
so powerful he had to be hospitalized several times. The media
of toxic food culture tore away at the joyful brother I knew and
left us struggling to find a solution to simply save his life.
Topic Proposal:
The topic I wish to uncover is how fad dieting as well as dieting
culture raises young adults to be less body positive, less healthy
and possibly creates eating disorders. Seeing that the media
today has a very in-depth relationship to food, its impact on the
youth is immense. Simply the celebrities that promote their own
impossible diets invite their fans to join in on their diet that is
unneeded and ill-suited for their younger audiences. There is
also a huge amount of body shaming that goes on in the media
that tells their audience that their best and “healthiest” self is
their skinniest self. The mental and physical damage being done
by fad diets to young bodies is being ignored by mainstream
culture. There is also a huge amount of marketing being done by
the food and diet industry that coaxes the youth into more
unhealthy alternatives such as hunger suppressing shakes. By
using things such as social media influencers, the youth are
being encouraged every day on things like Instagram to push
towards an unhealthy skinny standard.
Focus:

4. I want to dive in deeper to the effects of fad dieting have on
one’s psyche as well as their general health. Given that the
media has a large sub-concious and conscious impact on one
vision of food, I want to see how large and how long the impact
takes.
Importance:
In America alone, there is at least 30 million people with an
eating disorder, and despite the many reasons people give, I
want to talk about the influence of media’s dieting trends on
those statistics. Fad diets typically shame people’s current
bodies and diets thus adding to the growing number of eating
disorder victims. If we can change the culture around food, we
can help end the unhealthy habits that are currently being
promoted in the U.S. We need to promote a healthy and loving
relationship with our food rather than using fear tactics and
shame.
Sources:
For my research project, I will interview more in depth those I
know with eating disorders to see how their relationship with
food and food/dieting culture has effected their disorder. I will
also do more statistical research on the scientific databases to
see the history of eating disorders have changed with the
introduction of the media into the youth’s daily lives. I also will
interview and research professionals in the field of psychology
(Dr Kelly Jameson) to studying how shame arises from media’s
coverage of food and try to read their articles as well as
possibly interview them about their patients experiences. I will
also read “Food, Morals and Meaning The Pleasure and Anxiety
of Eating” by John Conveney do research the trauma associated
with eating.
Multifunctional Agriculture on DU’s

5. Campus
Prepared for: University of Denver Proposal Review Committee
Prepared by: Maya X, Undergraduate Student
April 13, 2017
Introduction:
I have worked on at Mountain Flower Goat Dairy an urban goat
farm in Boulder, Colorado for the past four
years of my life. The farm focuses on sustainability and animal
husbandry, but that is no easy task in a society
that doesn’t encourage sustainable agricultural practices.
Rotational grazing of crops and animals a process that
can eliminate soil depletion and lower or abolish greenhouse
gases emitted from animals. When animals are
grazed on pastures, their feces become nutrients for the ground,
which are no longer released as gases into the
atmosphere. Therefore, plants and crops will grow more
productively on the same chunk of land if they are
rotationally grazed, as in the animals pasture is moved
throughout the year to different sections. This eliminates
the problem of over-grazing, while also fertilizing the land
equally. The ecology of agriculture requires
rotation, for both the animals and plants to survive sustainably.

6. Mountain Flower Goat Dairy leases land from a
century old iris garden farm. Our goats are rotationally grazed
to re-enrich the soil, so that the iris plants can
thrive in better quality soil. This is a practice that benefits the
land, the goat farm, and the iris farm. The farm
has taught me a lot about rotational grazing and the importance
of that practice for the most efficient land use.
We strive to teach the public and surrounding community about
the importance of sustainable agriculture
through our farm, and rotational grazing is a main focus.
Topic Proposal:
The topic I will be discussing for my research project will be
multifunctional agriculture and the benefits of
rotational farming practices for sustainability. Multifunctional
agriculture is agriculture that produces various
non commodity outputs alongside food or commodity outputs. It
also recognizes that agriculture can have
other functions than just to provide food. It should function to
protect environment, landscape, and rural
employment. The word multifunctional agriculture can also be

7. referred to as “rotational agriculture,”
“rotational grazing,” or “integrated crop and livestock use.”
Specialized farming has dominated the agriculture
and food industry causing a loss in biodiversity, depleting the
land of vital nutrients, environmental affects, and
concerns for animal welfare. According to the Journal of
Sustainable Agriculture, “integrated crop/livestock
agriculture could improve soil quality, increase yield, produce a
diversity of foods, augment pollinator
populations, aid pest management, and improve land use
efficiency” (Mason 365). Integrated crop/livestock
agriculture or multifunctional agriculture practices would fix
many of the issues that are created by specialized
agriculture.
Focus:
The question that this project will focus on is how policy
change nationally and locally can promote sustainable
multifunction agriculture practices. This information will come
from looking into the policy changes that other
countries have made towards this practice already, and how to
model their progress in US.
Why this is important:

8. Agriculture contributes to 6 to 7% of the total U.S. greenhouse
gases, and manure management contributes to
7% of the methane emitted into the atmosphere. Changing the
feeding of animals from corn to grass can lower
the methane released from manure that is a large contribution to
climate change. Agriculture is a major
compounding factor in the climate change crisis that needs to be
addressed. Mass-producing specialized
agriculture practices are not only bad for climate change, but
climate change is also very bad for agriculture.
Some of these effects of climate change on agriculture are
increased stress to crops and livestock due to weeds,
diseases, and pests, extreme precipitation and soil erosion, heat
and drought damage, rate of adaption, and food
security (US Global Change Research Program). Agriculture
policy in the US focuses largely on subsidies for
common crops that encourages specialized agriculture, but
policy needs to be changed to encourage diverse
crop practices, restoration and protection of the land instead.
This subject is vital to creating positive social,
economic, and environmental change. Food production affects

9. the whole population. It is important that the US
continue to be progressive and keep up with other countries that
seem to be much farther ahead in sustainable
agriculture practices in attendance to climate change as well as
other food production issues. Many European
countries have already made model policies for multifunctional
agriculture and are seeing the effects of that
change.
As part of the DU student body, many students are passionate
about stopping climate change. I believe this is
not only a very important topic for the US to consider, but it is
also crucial for DU. As an institution that has a
constant need for food productions through the dining halls, DU
has a lot of power to make local change by
who they get their food supplied by. There are farms that are
trying to use these practices now but who are not
able to economically sustain themselves. This research will
hopefully lead to a way to change policy that
promotes multifunctional agriculture while still economically
benefitting DU. Sustainability is not only about
environmental factors, but also economic sustainability for
farmers, food products, and in this case the
University of Denver.

10. Sources:
For this research project, I will interview the founders and
employees at Mountain Flower Goat Dairy, Taber
Ward, Michael Montgomery, and Madelynn Evensen. In a
survey, I would like to demonstrate how many
students at DU want policy change to help lower emissions of
greenhouse gases and promote climate change
action. This will demonstrate the wishes of the student body
that live and learn on this campus and why it
should be important for DU to consider. I will use peer-
reviewed journals like the American Institute of
Biological Science and the Journal of Sustainable Agriculture to
provide evidence for my claims. I would like
to utilize sources from economic, social, and scientific
perspectives, as well as those of real life farmers in
order to incorporate the policy change that will most
cooperatively function for all of those affected.
Sustainable agriculture also needs sustainable policy.

11. TOPIC PROPOSAL RUBRIC
Exceptional
(A-level work)
Effective
(B-level work)
Inconsistent
(C-level work)
Inadequate
(D/F-level work)
Concise
discussion
of subject
Provides a clear and
sophisticated introduction to
the topic; conversant with
key terms/language relevant
to the topic; draws on quality
facts and stats to offer

12. context and background
Provides an interesting, if
more general, introduction
to the topic; may leave
readers with some
questions after reading;
provides facts and stats for
context and background
Provides an introduction
to the topic based on
broad or popular
knowledge; no outside
sources used
Introduction lacks specificity
and development; may be
unclear or unfinished.
Clear
statement of
intended
focus
Research questions are
complex and clearly stated;
direction of research is
explicit and well designed.
Research questions are
meaningful, though they
may require further
development; direction of
research is presented, if

13. vaguely.
Research questions lack
development and do not
demonstrate sufficient
background research on
the topic; direction of
research is not clear.
Research questions are
surface or missing
altogether; little or no
direction for research is
outlined.
Rationale for
choosing
subject
Reasons for choosing this
topic are clearly and
articulately expressed, and
suggest a thoughtful
selection process.
Reasons for choosing this
topic are clearly expressed.
Reasons for choosing the
topic are unclear or need
to be inferred from other
parts of the proposal.
Rationale is missing or
suggests only a surface
interest in the topic.

14. Mention of
key
resources
Quality academic sources
are discussed and
demonstrate comprehensive
background research.
Quality sources are
discussed and demonstrate
meaningful background
research, if limited.
Sources are discussed,
but they don’t reflect
much academic research.
No sources are mentioned
or are done so in a limited or
superficial way.
Required
elements
All elements of the
assignment are covered in
detail, including research
questions, names and titles
of possible interview
subjects, and survey topics.
All elements of the
assignment are present,

15. but may lack detail and/or
sufficient discussion of
purpose.
One item missing entirely
from the proposal.
More than one item missing
entirely from the proposal.