"Be the change you wish to see in the world." - Gandhi

I must agree that a sustainable diet and lifestyle can make you a healthier and happier person overall. From all of the research that I’ve read and done, it seems to be a healthy alternative to the normal hustle and bustle lifestyle that I, myself, lead. I really want to stay as committed as I can to a sustainable lifestyle, but I know it will be hard. I know that I probably will never live a 100% sustainable lifestyle, but I can do small things to help the earth! I’m definitely committed to planting a garden, going to the farmer’s market all summer (which opens in Bloomington/Normal May 14), eating less meat and buying food locally at food co-ops.

During this project, I really wanted to go work for PrairiErth Farms, in exchange for locally grown goods, but unfortunately, we were only in contact for a short time. I still wish to do this and hope I can during my summer in Bloomington/Normal. I also really hope to keep up with my blog and post more about living sustainably and any other food news (a-la Eng 308) I can find!

I know that with the help of my friends (i.e. Jenny Goodwine), I can work to make the earth a better place. It is absolutely going to be a hard journey because living sustainably isn’t the norm, but it’s one I hope to continue on, at least in small ways. I will continue to read literature about food and sustainability in the hopes of learning even more. I know I’m not perfect – I still enjoy a little Taco Bell in my life (our little secret!), but I can still do many things to help out the earth!

I hope you’ve enjoyed my blog and I hope that at least one thing I’ve said has inspired you to try and live the same! Thank you!

Best wishes,

Julia Frederick

Recipes & Dairy

For one of my last blog posts, I really wanted to talk more about food and how to make food in a sustainable fashion. You can always make and eat food sustainably, by using locally grown goods, but the website SustainableTable.org has taken this one step further. There are a plethora of delicious sounding recipes that I definitely want to sample.

One recipe in particular that sounds the most delicious is, Apple Honey Pie. I suddenly have the urge to bake and it doesn’t even look like that much of a challenge! I may not be able to cook, but I can definitely bake. J

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This site also has quite a large list of the problems with not eating sustainably. For example, they talk about dairy and cows and the issues in this industry. I’ve always had a place in my heart for cows, and after I watched a documentary about the dairy industry and Monsanto, I stopped drinking milk for a very long time and switched to soy milk because of all the awful things the cows go through and because the milk can sometimes be infected.

Although new technologies help cows produce more milk, this is unnatural and it’s killing the cows. Cows diets are being changed,  

“Pasture grasses are replaced with an unnatural diet high in fat and protein-rich grains to increase milk production, and to replace energy lost by producing such large quantities of milk. When fed large amounts of grains like soy and corn (often genetically engineered and heavily sprayed with pesticides),  this diet can cause cows to develop digestive problems and diseases that can lead to death. To keep animals alive, a continuous low dose of antibiotics, in conjunction with methods to relieve gas caused by lack of rumen use, is necessary” (SustainableTable).

After seeing all the information about what happens to cows, it’s hard to stomach what is going on. Unfortunately, I know that I will continue to use regular milk in my cereal because I share it with my roommates, or else I would just waste the soy milk by myself. Sort of a lose-lose situation.

SustainableTable’s solution to all of the issues they present? Simply eat in a sustainable fashion and you won’t have to worry about all the problems of factory-processed food.

Sincerely,

Julia

"Corn Sugar"

Something that recently caught my attention was a commercial for the website – http://www.cornsugar.com. The reason this caught my attention is because in class we had a debate about the change in words – high fructose corn syrup vs. corn sugar. In all honesty, there is no real difference between the words, the only real difference is that it seems as though they are “dumbing down” this word for us into corn sugar so as to make it more “recognizable” on labels. High fructose corn syrup and corn sugar are the exact same things, so why change the name? Is it because HFCS sounds too much like a chemical? Is it because we know what corn is and we know what sugar is, so why not just call it corn sugar?

According to CornSugar.com, “Relabeling high fructose corn syrup as “corn sugar” clears up confusion and enables consumers to easily identify added sugars in the diet” (CornSugar).  But why? Well, “Consumers need to know what is in their foods and where their foods come from. Corn sugar succinctly and simply describes what this ingredient is and where it comes from: corn” (CornSugar).

I’m sorry, but the ingredients of high fructose corn syrup, or corn sugar, are not exactly that simple. I understand what the website is trying to say, but I think we’re all smarter than to think that it is just corn and sugar, so why change the name now? It’s as processed as it’s always going to be, they’re not petitioning to change the ingredients, just the name.

Concerning high fructose corn syrup itself, there are many for it and many against it.

CornSugar.com quotes Phil Lempert, The supermarket guru,

“In addition to providing sweetness, HFCS acts to preserve and protect food from water activity, improves texture and reduces freezer burn. It imparts browning to breads, cakes and cookies and provides a soft, moist texture in the production of items like snack bars. And liquid HFCS blends easily with other ingredients.” (Lempert).

Although HFCS does all of these things, many disagree with the use of HFCS. According to research on rats at Princeton University,

“In addition to causing significant weight gain in lab animals, long-term consumption of high-fructose corn syrup also led to abnormal increases in body fat, especially in the abdomen, and a rise in circulating blood fats called triglycerides. The researchers say the work sheds light on the factors contributing to obesity trends in the United States” (Princeton University). 

This information is disheartening, but sugar is sugar and should be eaten in moderation for a healthy lifestyle. There are going to be different opinions for “corn sugar” because different research will be done regarding HFCS. I don’t think High Fructose Corn Syrup will be going anywhere because it’s such a huge part of our food system today, but in the end, it’s your choice if you want to eat it or not.

Take care,

Julia

Vegetarians & Sustainability

Something that has really interested me recently is vegetarianism and its relation to sustainability. Freshman year of high school I tried to be a vegetarian, but it only lasted about two weeks. Now, I only really eat chicken or turkey due to preference.

Becoming a vegetarian is one definite way to help the environment – even just cutting down your meat intake can have a positive effect on the environment! According to lettuceleaf.org, “the livestock industry is one of the biggest contributors to environmental degradation worldwide” (lettuceleaf).

From the Official Blog of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “There are a variety of different environmental impacts that occur due to the production of meat:

• Air pollution due to dust and liquid manures.
• Fossil fuels, water, and land over-use
• Rainforest erosion and destruction for pasture land
• Water contamination due to animal waste
• Grain and corn grown for animal feed instead of addressing world hunger” (Reising).

As we can see, the production of meat is not very earth-friendly, even if it it’s produced organically. I’m not at all trying to push vegetarianism on anyone because I myself am not one, but I think that it’s important to look at all aspects of food sustainability. Also, as I posted before, our meat, although it’s mandatory that is inspected, doesn’t have to receive a grade. If you’re not convinced that vegetarianism can help the earth – at least you can see that it can possibly help your body.

One of my goals of this blog was to strongly reduce my intake of meat in order to live a more sustainable life, and I think I’ve done a very good job at that, to be honest, I’m not very good at cooking – and I definitely am not good at cooking meat, so it has not been much of a challenge for me to reduce my intake. The one meat though that I love and could probably never give up fully is turkey. Turkey is one of the staples in my diet and try as I might, I just don’t think I could give it up.

Best Wishes!

Julia

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

I really think it is pertinent that I talk about the book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. There were mixed reviews on this book in our classroom, but I found there to be some good information within the pages. I truly think that any person (or family!) who can give up certain foods, and who try their hardest to live a sustainable lifestyle is someone to learn more about!

Barbara Kingsolver and her family, somewhat like the No Impact Project, decided to give up the industrialized food that we all hold so near and dear to our hearts, to only buy and grow local foods. If they could not buy or grow what they wanted locally – they simply did without.

There are three main components to this book.

1.       Barbara Kingsolver’s running narrative about their journey with food.

2.       Steven Hopp’s interjections on the more scientific side of what Barbara Kingsolver writes about. And,

3.       Camille Kingsolver’s personal outlook on food and what brought her family to this point, with a few delicious-sounding recipes piled in.

I was most interested in learning about what they did during the “hungry month” from February to March, because they had to eat food they had canned during the growing months and wait out the winter. Kingsolver writes, “January is widely held to be the bugbear of local food, but the hungriest month is March, if you plan to see this thing through” (Kingsolver 322). In the month of March, there is not much new being grown, but her family made it through. I wish there would have been more information on this topic, but alas, it wasn’t much touched upon.

Like I said earlier, Camille Kingsolver had a lot of delicious sounding recipes. One in particular that I am dying to try (from freshly grown vegetables, of course! Because there is nothing like a home-grown tomato) is her Summertime Salad. All it consists of is 2 large tomatoes, 1 ball of mozzarella, basil leaves, olive oil and salt to taste – but doesn’t that sound absolutely amazing?

In the end, although this was just meant to be a year-long endeavor, the Kingsolver’s continued to live this lifestyle. Kingsolver explains, “it was a deeply enjoyable conversion, so yes, it did stick.  We still organize our meals around what’s locally available, when it comes into season.  We don’t eat industrially-produced feedlot meats, and frankly can’t imagine it.  Our garden expands every year, and our local farmer’s market also keeps growing” (Kingsolver).

Overall, although I may talk the talk, I definitely don’t think I could walk the walk with the Kingsolver family. I definitely want to change my life for the better, but I know that I couldn’t do what they did, I don’t even think I could strive for it, but I still respect them for changing their lives in the ways that they have!

Have a great day!

Julia

King Corn

“King Corn” is a documentary made by mosaic films incorporated. This film is about two men – Ian Cheney and Kurt Ellis – and their journey to find out where their food comes from. They move from the east coast to the town of Greene, Iowa to plant an acre of corn and see where it takes them.

I learned many interesting and somewhat shocking things from this film that I had never known before. Like I said in a previous post, I’ve become more and more interested in corn and its uses, and obviously this is what the film was all about – corn.

Some things I learned that you may not know:

1.       Most of the corn found in corn fields surrounding us is not meant to be picked and eaten – it is used as feed corn, and corn that will be changed into high fructose corn syrup and other processed corn materials.

2.       Cows are not supposed to be corn-fed; rather, they are supposed to be grass-fed! Grass-fed beef is healthier to eat than corn-fed, too, “corn-fed beef contains much more saturated fat than those raised on grass” (King Corn)

3.       You can make high-fructose corn syrup in your own kitchen – though I’m not sure why you’d want to! Although, according to the men of King Corn, “it’s not really possible to make an exact homemade replica of high-fructose corn syrup. Three enzymes are required to make HFCS, and the third one, glucose-isomerase, is so expensive that it is not readily available to consumers” (King Corn).

4.       We generally have an enormous excess of corn every year.

5.       Grading for our meat is voluntary. Gross. Here’s what I found out about this from the USDA, “Inspection for wholesomeness is mandatory and is paid for out of tax dollars. Grading for quality is voluntary, and the service is requested and paid for by meat and poultry producers/processors” (USDA). So while there is a mandatory inspection for wholesomeness of meat, there is not grade for quality that is mandatory – what are we eating?! More information can be found at the USDA site about different grading techniques and the mandatory/voluntary issues.  

I thought the facts that King Corn portrayed were very real, and I was surprised to learn about the aspects of corn that they showed. I think their story is interesting, but most people wouldn’t leave their homes to go and plant an acre of corn to see what’s going to happen with it – though I guess I can say the same for the Kingsolver family or for the No Impact Project.

I think that all of these people are incredibly remarkable to go and see what’s in our food and to also try to live sustainably – their experiences have really shown me that there’s more to our food than meets the eye and we should be more concerned.

Take care,

Julia

Food for Thought

I thought that I would touch a little bit on the history of sustainability and the EPA’s stance on Sustainability in Agriculture.

The words sustainable development, “has been widely used in scientific, business, and public institutions since it was first defined in the Bruntland Commission's "Our Common Future" in 1987” (EPA). “Our Common Future” was a call for environmental change on a global level.

The term, sustainability, is a relatively new one, but now we see it virtually everywhere. Although it’s everywhere, the Environmental Protection Agency realizes that many people don’t know all of the facts about sustainability. The EPA’s main goal for sustainability is to have the

“federal, state, tribal, and local governments working together to achieve environmental protection goals [which] will set the standard for cooperation between communities, businesses, and governments. This new collaborative decision making process will ensure better decisions, create more rapid change, and promote more sensible use of human, natural, and financial resources.” (EPA)

The ultimate goals for the EPA regarding sustainability are to change what we’re doing to the earth; to help save natural resources; to help our future generations live a healthy and safe life; and to help ourselves now reduce the pollution and energy that we are creating, but not putting back.

On the EPAs Sustainability Topics – Agriculture page, there are a plethora of links that are meant to help explain some of the actions that the government takes and that others can take to help with sustainability in agriculture (for example, Organic Farming and Composting are on the list).

There is even an entire page promoted to Food Safety on the EPA website. They mostly talk about the use of pesticides on food and what they are doing to ensure our safety as consumers. I do know though, that most organic farmers don’t use pesticides (unless highly needed), “Organic farming, by definition, does not use environmentally harmful chemicals that may contaminate rain and groundwater” (Whole Foods).

But I also know that the traditional way of farming is to use pesticides to be safe under all regulations from the government. According to the EPA,

“Chemical pest control plays a major role in modern agriculture, and has contributed to dramatic increases in crop yields over the past four decades for most field, fruit and vegetable crops. Pesticides have enabled growers to produce some crops profitably in otherwise unsuitable locations, extend growing seasons, maintain product quality and extend shelf life. Nevertheless, these chemicals also pose some risks if used improperly or too frequently” (EPA).

The EPA goes on to say how much and what kind of pesticide is allowed to be used by farmers, etc. Although I know that because of convenience I will buy most of my vegetables/fruits in grocery stores, I still can’t help but feel that the use of pesticides and the overabundance of food that we produce is not a good thing, it’s not helpful to the environment.

Overall, the EPA is committed to helping us eat safer and live better lives through their food regulations and the tips that they provide for us.

Another great place to look for more information about food and sustainability is the United States Department of Agriculture. I specifically chose to look at the ‘Food Quality’ section of the USDA site. They do have a way of grading fresh food (i.e. fruits and vegetables), but “Grading is paid for by user fees and is voluntary except for commodities that are regulated for quality by a marketing order or marketing agreement, subject to import or export requirements, or purchased by USDA or certain other Government agencies” (USDA). What does this mean for what we are eating? What this means is that, not everything we eat is being inspected – this goes directly back to Pollan and caring about what we are consuming.

This semester, I’ve learned so much more about food than I probably would have ever wanted to know, but now that I know more about the production techniques, I at least have the choice now for healthier alternatives to what we’re given. I think it’s incredibly important to learn about what goes into our food, because if you don’t know, then why would the people producing it care about what they’re doing to it?

Just some food for thought!

Take care,

Julia