Eye Opener: CSPI

For this blog I chose to do "Sc. Your Diet." I thought that this would be a good exercise to do because I was kind of curious as to how good my diet was not only for me but for the environment. My overall score for this activity was a lot lower than I expected it to be. I scored a 3 which put me in the "uh-oh" category.

I found out that I did the best in the dairy category and in that category I scored a 4. I believe it's because I have always loved drinking milk and yogurt is the perfect snack for me that I have on almost a daily basis. Not only do I have those on a regular basis but when I buy my dairy product I most often buy the low fat version of of the item. Next to my dairy I tied for fruits and vegetables with a 3. This is because as a health education major I know the importance of getting in my daily amount fruits and vegetables as often as possible. Although I know that I don't get my full amount everyday I try to make a conscious effort to consume more fruits and vegetables.

I scored the worst in the cheese category and in that category I scored a -4. I add cheese to a lot of my dished that I make and when I do I try to make sure it is low fat cheese so that it is a bit more healthier but since it's cheese it is mostly still bad for me. To fix this I am gonna start cutting it out of the meals that don't need it and when they do require it I will try using less cheese than what the recipe calls for.

The category that I did the worst in was both environment and animal welfare and in both categories I scored a -4. There are quite a few things that I can do to fix this. I can start buy making sure that the food that I am buying is locally grown and also grown naturally. To help with animal welfare I can try getting my meat from a local butcher that has free-range poultry and doesn't come from a place that feed their animals any GMO or inject them with any chemicals.


After reviewing my overall score in all the categories separately and combined I realized that although I have made some changes to improve my eating habits they still need some more work. Also I need to make more of an effort to eat environmentally healthy as well as pay attention to animal welfare. This exercise has been a real eye opener for me.

Below I posted the link to my diet score page:
http://www.cspinet.org/EatingGreen/score.html

Label: Eye Opener

Read 'n' Seed 2: Hope's Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet.

I read the first 3 chapters, which ended up being the first 92 pages of the book. The first few pages of the book started out by discussing the author's first book and it's affect not only on her family but those who read it and those she talked to about it. She then introduces this book and explains why she decided to write another book about this topic. This book is a continuation of the first book she wrote, "Diet for a Small Planet." Each chapter covers the places that she visits on her trip to discover the truth about our food sources and food shortage. She goes on to explain why there are people starving in a world that is producing plenty of food to feed everyone. She also explains five myths about food that we as the consumer are led to believe by the large corporations that control our food production.

 There was quite of information that I read in this book that I was not aware of. I had heard of the food shortage and knew about all those people who were starving all around the world because there was not enough food to go around. I had no idea that food shortage was a myth and that we were producing plenty of food to feed everyone but we were just choosing to waste it instead of share it. I was shocked to read that almost half our grain produced in the U.S. was used to feed cattle instead of those who are going hungry. I don't understand how that makes sense to feed half our grains to cattle who only give a small fraction of nutrients in return instead of to people who need it. Where is the logic in that? If there is any scarcity out there it is because we humans are creating it ourselves. Instead of fixing this simple problem we instead to mass produce GMO (genetically modified organisms) plants. These types of plants don't offer us the same amount of nutrients as naturally grown plants plus they are grown with chemicals. That's our big solution? To ward off starvation you are gonna feed us unnaturally grown food just because it's faster and cheaper for the producers?

 We are just looking for a quick solution to fix everything and that wont work to get done what we really want to get done. People need real food with real substance and nutrients. Society needs to get involved to help stop this problem. Buying locally can really help to make sure that you are getting fresh naturally grown fruits and vegetables. To quote the author, "what's good for you is also good for the earth." Naturally grown foods are better for you and for the environment. There aren't chemicals involved in the growing process and the food isn't processed food either. When we choose to eat these foods they effect our health, there is more fat in these foods and less nutrients as well. This increases our weight which increases our risk for disease. What we can do to help the environment and improve our health is to eat naturally and locally grown foods.

Ecological Footprint

I took the quiz and was shocked by my results. I wasn't aware before this quiz on how much I consume and use on a regular basis on my own. My impact showed that it would take 4.3 worlds to hold people like me. Once I read that I was really taken back. I felt bad about just how much me alone was affecting the environment. Now that I am aware I know that I will be actively trying to cut back on my ecological footprint.

Some things that I know that I can easily do improve my footprint is to buy locally grow food and bring my own reusable bags. On nice days instead of taking the bus I could walk to and from campus. Just these small little changes can help me to start cutting back on my footprint.

http://www.iuhpeconference.net/pages/sustainable_conference/ecological_footprint.php