Day Four- Food

       Day 4 deals with eating healthier, sustainable food.  During the Beavan’s No Impact Challenge, they ate locally and seasonally, and gave up packaged and processed foods.

       Step One is to take my food list from yesterday and calculate my carbon footprint.  If you’re interested in calculating your footprint, go here.  My carbon footprint for breakfast was 1224 CO₂e.  My carbon footprint for lunch was 1132 CO₂e.  My carbon footprint for dinner was 1340 CO₂e.  CO₂e stands for carbon dioxide equivalent, which measures the amount of global warming from greenhouse gases.

       Step Two is to change my diet for the week.  Tomorrow I will be going to the farmer’s market, so I will buy some local produce so I can be a locavore.  I am looking forward to a change in my eating habits since lately I feel like I’ve been eating the same things repeatedly.  Under Step Two is the suggestion to eat less beef.  Since coming to college, the only beef I eat is when I go home.  I am on a tight budget and cannot afford to buy steak for dinner every night.  If I eat meat, it’s usually chicken.  Also, since it is Lent, I can’t eat meat on Fridays, which helps to decrease my meat consumption.

       Step Three is to go to a farmer’s market, which I will be going to tomorrow.

       Step Four is to keep track of my food choices throughout the day.  My lunch and breakfast choices remained the same as yesterday, but I incorporated more vegetables into my dinner, like asparagus, onions, tomatoes, and spinach.  Also, I went to Amber's "Truck Farm" showing and sampled some tasty vegan food.  One of the hardest parts about this challenge will be giving up packaged/processed food since most of the food in my room is packaged.  When I go to the farmer’s market tomorrow, I will be able to buy in season produce and better transform into a locavore.

       Here are some suggestions on making changes in your eating habits:

•    Eat fewer animal products (this is the hardest challenge for me)
•   Drink tap water instead of bottled water
• Switch to fair trade coffee if you can’t give up your caffeine fix
•  Browse the internet for your city’s local farmer’s market and restaurants that serve sustainable, organic food