The first activity that I completed was called Score Your Diet. My overall score ended up being a 71, which is classified as excellent. I score the highest in the health catergory with a 134 because I eat alot of fruits, vegetables and whole grains. I also eat fat-free dairy and low-fat cheese, which are both better for my health than the full-fat versions. I scored the lowest in the environment column with a -32. This is mostly because of eating processed foods like cheese and beef/meat products. I also eat alot of eggs which can attribute to the environmental health problem. By consuming all of these animal products I am causing the air and water pollution from manure, overuse of fertilizer, cattle belching and the unnecessary use of land to produce feed grains and soil erosion. One thing that I can start doing is buying more organic and locally produced food. This would include grass fed beef and free range eggs. I can also cut back on the processed meat that I consume daily and substitute it with more vegetables and other sources of protein.
After completing this eye opener I have realized that I consume more processed food than I thought I did. Even though I have a healthy diet filled with alot of fruits and vegetables, I sitll consume packaged meat products. This not only effects my health, but also the environmental health due to the way they were produced, packaged and shipped to the local supermarket. The next time that I am grocery shopping, my goal is to buy different protein sources other than processed meat, buy free range eggs and make sure my purchases are made from local farmers rather than the big corporations.
Hey I took this quiz too! Did you find your results surprising? Our environmental scores were pretty similar, I think it's really hard to avoid making a negative impact in this area when eating processed and packaged meat. I think I'm going to do the same think you plan on doing and try to find other protein sources when possible.
ReplyDeleteI think every one of us consumes more processed food than we realize. It is something that goes completely unnoticed mostly because of convenience.
ReplyDeleteI think your goal is a good idea. It's so easy to just grab food from the shelf and not think about if it's processed and what effect it has on the environment.
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ReplyDeleteIt seems like it is so hard to get away from processed food living the busy lives us college kids do. I know I don't want to cook a big meal for myself. I'll definitely be making more of an effort though after taking this quiz.
ReplyDeleteI too consume way more processed food than I thought I did. Convenience is a huge factor for me but I am starting to notice how over packaged our products truly are. I like that you are committed to cutting back in certain areas. :)
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