Reflections Post: Weeks 5 & 6

WHAT WE DID!
So for week five we had to do an eye opener.  I did the tour of our food industry.  Then we watched a film about Genetically Modified Foods.  I then did a post about my first 7 days of my SMART Goal, (which is going wonderfully!)  My last post of the week was my first quarter of my Read 'n' Seed.
Week 6 we started out class with a good discussion, I love discussions because it makes me feel so much more involved in the class.  Then we watched a film by John Robbins about the Revolution of Food.  After which , we learned how to make a graphical header for our blog, which I had already done.
WHAT I LEARNED!
The tour of the food industry was a lot of stuff we've been learning about in class, but the way they had it laid out in a way that everything is connected, was really eye opening.  The only time I ever thought of food negatively before this class was when it had to do with my weight. Now that I realize food affects so much more than our body I have been making much more eco-friendly, and nutritious choices. 
The film about GMO's was also scary.  I think there should not be a patent on anything in nature.  Nature is called nature for a reason we don't have a whole lot of control over it, and therefore can't own it. 
So far my book Exposed is going really well. 
From the John Robbins film I took away so many disturbing images in my head.  The arthrosclerosis (when they pulled the fat out of an artery!), the blood with all the fat in it!, and a heart surrounded by fatty tissue.  I like how he views food as a healing thing.  It is so true that we need to watch what we eat so much closer than most of us do, it affects our bodies so much.
WHAT I'M GONNA DO!
All of the things I've been shown, and all that I have learned over the last few weeks just keep motivating me more and more to live a healthier lifestyle, not just for my body's sake but also for my surroundings.  I will voice my educated opinion about these topics, and make better choices when it comes to my own actions.

See you monday! 
Pam

Eco Chic Lifestyle Change: Week Three

Week 3 of my Eco Chic Lifestyle Change!

Today is the beginning of my 3rd Week of only eating one 4 oz. serving of red meat per week, (every seven days.)
Challenges
None of my friends are being very helpful!  I have sunday night dinner with a bunch of friends sometimes and they are guys and wanna have like burgers or steak!  Ha can't do that!  But I have been preaching it up to them on how red meat is so bad, and why.
My serving for the week
So my friend turned 21 on last wednesday.  She works at Old Chicago so I took her there for her first legal drinks.  And we ordered her favorite pizza, which is a MEAT ME haha its got like sausage, salami, pepperoni, Canadian bacon, and green olives ;) haha not my choice!  I picked off some of the meat trying not to go over my serving.  I have no idea if I did go over.  I had two pieces of pizza Wednesday, then I ate a left over piece like Saturday evening, so I kinda feel like I cheated a little this week.

Goals for this upcoming week...

I am going to try my hardest to only eat one serving of red meat this week.  Its getting easier and easier to turn it down, and I feel so much better not eating it.  Not only health wise, but environmentally wise.

until next week!
Pam

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

Share and Voice: Vitamin Water drinkers BEWARE!

So I remember when this stuff came out, I was still in high school.  Kelly Clarkson was doing commercials and talking about how awesome it was, and how good it made her feel!  I never really tried the stuff... I've probably bought it less than 10 times.  I like the 10 calorie lemonade one.  Then someone told me I might as well drink a soda when I was going to buy one!  I was so confused?!  This stuff is just water with vitamins added to it right?
...
NO!
1.  The first big no no I discovered about it is the renamed ingredient they use as a sweetener.... "Crystalline Fructose"! AKA HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP.  HFCS has been linked to obesity and insulin resistance.  It is allegedly one of the main causes of our obesity empidemic that is going on right now! This could be caused by the fact that it causes insulin resistance, and is linked to diabetes!       Crystalline Fructose is pretty much just refined and milled HFCS, and full bottle of VitaminWater contains around 30mg of the stuff.  You are not suppose have ANY HFCS in your diet, obviously this is almost impossible, its in a lot of todays products.  So don't be fooled by the fancy labeling!
2. They use vapor distilled water, and which is completely empty of anything including minerals,  then they add minerals back in.  But distilled water actually is used to pull out toxins out of your body, but also pull some nutrients.  So you might be getting some minerals, but your also losing nutrients at the same time, with distilled water.  I can't say for sure that this water does that, but supplements are only suggested for people who can't obtain enough of an essential vitamin or mineral from their diet of whole foods.
3. Its in a plastic bottle.  Which i'm not even fully going to go into... but studies on plastic bottles have proven  chemicals leaking into the bottle could mimic estrogen, and other chemicals linked to diabetes.
http://www.worldhealth.net/news/are_you_drinking_water_from_a_plastic_bo/
4. Finally, there aren't even that many fricken vitamins in it!

Nutrition Facts:
Serving Size 8 fl oz; Servings per Container 2.5
Calories 50
Total Fat 0g
Sodium 0mg
Total Carbohydrate 13g
Total Sugar 13g
Protein 0g
Vitamin C 60%; vitamin B3 10%; vitamin B6 10%; vitamin B12 10%; vitamin B5 10%, Zinc 10% (got this from EmilyPlaysCello's blog The Truth about Vitamin water)

Calories in V8 100% Vegetable Juice

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 8 oz (224.0 g)

Amount Per Serving

Calories  50

Sodium 480mg

Total Carbohydrates 10.0g

Sugars 8.0g

Protein 2.0g

Vitamin A 40% • Vitamin C 120% Calcium 4% • Iron 4%

* Based on a 2000 calorie diet got this from http://caloriecount.about.com/calories-v8-100-percent-vegetable-juice-i84093

 Now I'm no doctor and I'm not suggesting one is better than the other but the obvious thing is V8 packs more vitamins, no HFCS.  But it also contains sodium which can be bad in high amounts!

So i'm not trying to bash anyone and i'm sure i'll end up drinking the stuff sometime again, it probably is better than a coke, but the principle of the matter is that its advertised to be SO HEALTHY, and marketed that way, but its really not!

Pam

Share and Voice: Positively 3rd Street Bakery!

So my Share and voices have kinda been on a food kick lately!  But I just wanted to tell people about 3rd Street Bakery.... I live right next to it, and I am sitting in bed actually smelling it as I'm writing this!  The bakery uses almost all organic ingredients, and makes some of the most delicious baked goods I've ever had.  They are located on the corner of 12th Ave. and E. 3rd St.  If you are a big donut person you will definately be disappointed.  But they have amazing granola, cookies, bars, muffins, breads, bagels, and even pizza crusts!  They sell there products at a couple different places around townBlogger: Pam's Green Blog - Create Post.  One of them being the co-op.  They also sell local syrup and honey.  Couple of things I can't live with out from the bakery are the Godess Bar's, their granola ( so good in vanilla yogurt), and there THUNDER COOKIES... they are pretty much famous.  Check em' out!
http://positively3rdstreetbakery.com/home.html