Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change 5: Final Weekly Review & Overall Project Reflection

Week 5:
My SMART goal was: I will eat three organic fruits vegetables each day.  Overall, I succeeded in my attempt to find more balance in my diet, although I didn't meet my goal exactly how I would have liked, I did learn a lot about new healthy eating habits for myself.

The biggest challenge for myself was time.  Over the last month, I think I am busier than I have ever been in school.  Having two high demand classes, as well as two internships, finding time to go home and eat was not easy.  I learned new ways to help fight against this by bringing a snack to work with me to help reach my goal.  The biggest success I have had was learning that there are foods and markets out there that have yet to be explored by me.  I have always enjoyed making sandwiches, but now I have started putting lettuce and tomatoes on them.  I think it is an acquired taste because I never really liked it before, but now find it enjoyable.

I felt really good whenever I made it to my goal, and even though some times I didn't make it, I didn't get too down on myself.  I was making a change in my life that is more likely to happen over a longer period of time.  I also felt better eating organic because I now know where my food was coming from, and felt a lot better about what I was putting back in to the environment.

This week I have learned that to be successful, you need to be meticulous in your preparation, and that goes for eating too.  The people who eat the healthiest are most likely the same people who will plan their meals out at least a day in advance, instead of waiting until hunger strikes and eating the easiest thing to make.

For the future, I plan on making this short term goal a life goal.  I have felt better about what I eat, as well as physically and mentally.  I really like the variety I have added over the last several weeks, and fully intend on keeping it a part of my day to day life.

Review:
My SMART goal was: I will eat three organic fruits or vegetables each day for 10 weeks.  Overall, I succeeded three of the of the weeks while falling short two of the weeks.  I was never that far off of my goal, so I never felt the need to amend it in any way.  I felt like it was realistic and practical, and would serve me well.  I was right on all of those thoughts.

The things that helped me be successful was at the beginning, when I had went and bought plenty of food.  The things that made it hard to be successful was having little or no time to eat during the day, or needing to go to the store to buy more.  For the future, I have decided I just need to plan my eating patterns a day or two in advance, rather than wait until I am hungry and then look for something to eat.

I benefited from this project with my body.  I feel like I am eating healthier than I ever have at any point in my life, and it is a lifestyle change that I intend to keep.  I learned that this is something I enjoy, and that will help me live healthier and more productive in the future, because I feel better than I have before.

I feel like the environment benefited from this goal because I am eating more organic and locally grown products, thus cutting down on the cost of transport for the product.  And although it is more expensive, I am happy to help make the environment healthier too due to less chemicals being used to produce food.

To conclude, I will definitely be keeping this goal as a lifestyle choice from now on.  It has made me feel better about what I eat, and about myself.  To me, there is no downside to this change.  There is a slight economic one, but as long as I am able to afford it, I will love to eat this way.  I would strongly encourage anyone else considering a change similar to this to do so.  You will not regret it.  You have nothing to lose, and everything to gain.

Reflection: Weeks 9-12

Summary:
For weeks 9-12 of this blog, a large majority of what I discussed, especially in the Eco-Chic posts, was about what food I eat and what I put into my body.  For my SMART goal I choose to help the environment and local economy by buying and eating more organically and locally grown food, to cut down on waste in production of these foods.  But in an Eye Opener exercise, I showed how much food of mine is still being packaged in materials that aren't as easily broken down by the environment.  After seeing some of the things I have seen in the class to this point, I know every time I go to the grocery store I will be looking for ways to help the environment with the things I buy.

Color changed to show the spread of oil

New skills:  One of the more interesting things I learned in this semester, not just the last four weeks, was how to research bills that are to voted on.  It is also very easy to find out a lot about the people affected by the bills we are checking out.  The information age has saturated the internet with information that we can use as an aid to show the need for change.  In my case, I found a bill that called for BP to give $500 million in aid to the coastal communities of the gulf in order to aid the suffering tourism industry in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.  Through reading many articles about this oil spill and ones before it, as well as financial reports of the affected areas, I came to the conclusion that this was a necessary bill and personally look forward to reading news of progress being made in the region.

Where I can improve: I want to continue to grow as a researcher, blogger, and planner.  I want to be able to achieve the goals set for myself for the next quarter of the course.  My goal for personal nutrition has remained the same (Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change), and I will succeed with it throughout its duration.

Share & Voice: Quantum of Solace: Who owns water?

Where can a guy get a drink?

I recently watched the newest chapter to the James Bond film franchise called Quantum of Solace.  In this film, the main antagonist, Dominic Greene, helps facilitate new leadership into struggling countries in exchange for land in the countries under the stipulation that his corporation owns whatever they find.  He is the head man of a corporation named Greene Planet, and it is an environmentally interested group that mentions restoration and preservation as some of the things they want to/are helping with.  However his corporation is also a utilities provider who, once the new dictatorship takes place, forces a contract for double the price of water as the country had before.  To make matters worse, they often times will do what they can to cause drought in the areas that they inherit.  Many of the countries that have this transition take place, are third world countries that have barely enough of what they need to survive before this, don't have a choice but to pay the outrageous prices.

Even bottling companies do a version of this, but because we have other options, and people pay at their own free will, no one does anything about this because it isn't a pressing issue.  Just because the companies in our own countries don't have evil villain haircuts doesn't mean they can be trusted to do the right thing.  Water is a resource necessary to everyone's survival, and I don't believe anyone should be able to lay claim to it.   

My question is this:  Do you think that anyone should be able to produce/sell water for any margin of profit?  Meaning, should anyone make money on an essential part of life? 

Would it be possible to have worldwide legislation against producing water for profit above a certain percent?

A lot of people have their thirst taken advantage of.  There are sporting events, festivals, and theme parks that charge a couple dollars for a bottle of water.  Even when I was in Vegas, I asked a bartender for water during the day, and he set one on the counter and said it was $4.50 with a straight face.  How do you feel about this?

Share and Voice: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

GreatGarbagePatch.org
Great Pacific Garbage Patch Wiki

Both of the above websites have information on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch which is a large "gyre of marine litter" cause by pollutants into the environment.  Most of these pollutants are debris from land fills that has found its way into oceanic currents and begins to come together to form a large patch in the ocean.  This is a large problem for aquatic life as often times fish can mistake this for food, and the toxins in the plastics they digest are adversely affecting the species' hormones as well as killing the fish.  And if you follow the food chain, fish that eat these pollutants are eaten by other animals, and so on, all the way to our own lunches and dinners.  So the next time you don't recycle a plastic bottle, ask yourself this: Do you want to eat part of that later?

For more information regarding this issue, please visit the websites listed above.  Everyone can help make a difference, as with most big problems, it starts with the little things.  Don't be trashy, recycle!

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change 4: Weekly Update

For my SMART goal, I decided I would eat three servings of organic fruits and vegetables a day. This last week I spent five of the days back in my hometown of Grand Rapids, and didn't bring the food I had bought with me. And it being Thanksgiving, I spent most of my time eating the food my mom prepared for our family dinner. I did however bring a few apples and oranges back from Duluth with me so while I fell short of my goal for 4 of the days, I did manage to eat a serving or two per day as a snack.

The biggest challenge I faced was the traveling. I didn't want to spend extra money for some food I may or may not eat and then transfer it back to Duluth, so I just brought what I could back to GR for snacks. I felt bad that I couldn't follow through on my goal for the week, but I know that my circumstances changed from their norm.

I know that for the future, if I have goals like this, that I may have to plan and make extra sacrifices in order to meet them.

I'm going to continue on with my goal because I still feel like I can obtain it and feel like it is a good one for me to continue to live healthy. Having said that I want to be more diligent in following it for the duration of the goals timeline.

Blogged for the Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 4 hosted by Amy @ Amy in the Rain.

Eye Opener: Photo Essay

For my photo essay I chose to take a suggestion that fit well with what I am doing as a part of the Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change.  I kept track of all of the things that I have eaten over the last week.  I eat a diverse selection of food and because of this some is easy on the environment, while others are potentially damaging.  For my Eco-Chic Lifestyle change I wanted to eat more organic and locally grown foods to help the environment, now I feel like I need to take it to the next level and make sure I am disposing these products the right way.  (I do recycle, by the way)

These products can all be recycled. But the plastic bottle is the type of damaging pollutant that can find its way into the environment and can take a long, long time to decompose.

The worst thing about the fruits or vegetables I buy is the packaging they come in.  Most of the time they come wrapped in plastics.  I also had eaten raspberries and blueberries but the containers had already been thrown away before I could snap a photo.  The foods themselves decompose rather easily.

Most meats and cheeses are sold in plastics because of their ability to be re-sealed and their ability to preserve freshness.

Foods that come in cardboard products should still be recycled if possible.  But some times the process that they have been made for their product makes them unable to be recycled.  For example of cardboard gets a coat of wax, it can no longer be recycled.

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change 3: Weekly Update

As I stated in part one and two, my SMART goal is: I will eat three servings of organic fruits/vegetables each day for the next three weeks.  For the last week, I fell short of my goal two days, while exceeding the 3 serving goal for the other 4 days.  I had two full days of class and internships on the days I missed, and it helped me understand how people would want to grab the quickest thing they can when they need to eat during a busy day.

One thing that I have loved doing lately, and had taken for granted growing up, was a having a serving of vegetables with dinner.  In keeping with the time of year this week, I have made stuffing and corn with some of my regular meals of chicken.  I love making my meals into combinations and two of my favorite things are corn and stuffing.  I kind of made a 'famous-bowl' of stuffing, corn, and bbq chicken for dinner at work tonight.

As I said before I feel better knowing how my food is grown and contributing to the local economy, but it comes at a monetary price.  I still believe as long as I have the means to pay for it, it is worth it.

This week I learned how a busy schedule can keep you from meeting your dietary goals.  It can  be hard to get the kind of food you want when you only have 10-15 minute in between getting to the places you need to be.

I will keep doing this goal for the following week.  I have exceeded the goal on some days, and fallen short on others.  This makes me feel like I have found somewhat of a balance.  I think that overall my average of organic fruits and vegetables is about 3 per day.  So I feel like even though I have failed some days, I have succeeded overall.

Blogged for the Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 3 hosted by Amy@Amy in the Rain