Read 'n' Seed 2: First quarter of "The Food Revolution"

         

 Chapters Covered and Main Topics
 I am reading "The Food Revolution" by John Robbins. For the first quarter I read 80 pages of this book, which covered chapters 1-4.

   I found these chapters to be very inspirational. So far "The Food Revolution" has brought up some great points that I was unaware of. John Robbins, son of Irv Robbins from the world’s largest ice cream company, Baskin Robbins had a lot of wealth in his family and could have easily taken over his father’s successful company. Instead, he chose his own path which was to move to a small island off the coast of British Columbia with his wife and live financially poor and grow most of their own food.  Robbins wrote this book to provide solid information about our food choices and to get people aware of greater health choices in order to live a lifestyle you value. These chapters talked about how to lower your blood pressure, how to treat heart disease and which diets to look out for. For an example he brings up the Atkins Diet and talks about how we are told that is an amazing weight-loss plan and how you can enjoy a cheeseburger when you are hungry and you will be on your path to weight loss seeing amazing results in "14 days".  Robbin's does a great job of explaining why these diets do not work. He calls them a "classic profile of a fad diet scam". Robbin's quotes, " leaving behind the standard American Meat is like breaking free from chains, to become, perhaps for the first time, truly free".

   Significant Things I learned
 "The Food Revolution" has made me learn many significant things thus far. Statistics show that blood cholesterol levels of vegetarians compared to non-vegetarians are 14% lower. Many people grew up believing animal protein is superior to plant protein and believe that we are risking our health if we do not eat animal protein. Soy proteins have actually been found to lower cholesterol levels. Although you cannot guarantee you will not become ill, eating healthy reduces your risk of many diseases and it opens the door to experiencing new levels of passion in your life. I learned about ketosis. The primary mechanisms by which the Atkins diet causes weight loss are caloric restriction and ketosis. According to Robbins "Ketosis occurs when there is an imbalance in fat metabolism which occurs in starvation.  People eat fewer carbohydrates because that’s what diets such as the Atkins diet tell them to do. In reality, when people eat fewer carbohydrates, their bodies turn to fat for energy. 

      Implications of What I Read 
 This book has already taught me a lot of great information I was unaware of. I really liked how the author, John Robbins, displayed his information and I really respect him for doing what he loves instead of taking over his family’s business. I learned there are other ways to get protein instead of meat. Meat can cause health problems and raise blood pressure. I liked how Robbin's stated a lot of facts and never said people have to give up meat. Ending with a quote from John Robbins I found to be very inspirational, "This life we lead may be hard, may be downright agonizing at times, but it’s not about finding fault. It's about finding a way of life that honors your living spirit. It's not about blame. It's about coming to a deeper understanding of who you are, and of the love and power that lie within you. It's not about pointing fingers. It's about pointing the way, whenever possible, to a thriving, healthy, and compassionate life.”

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Chnage Week 2: Weekly Update

My SMART Goal for this semester is to stop drinking pop and start drinking more water, while using a re-usable water bottle. It is already a little challenging because I have always drank a lot of pop, so it has been hard to give it up. However, I have been drinking a lot of water, which I had been lacking lately. Drinking more water made me feel a lot healthier and more "up beat". 

Knowing that I am helping the planet by using a re-usable water bottle and helping myself be healhier is a huge fator is why I am staying motivated. I have been experiencing many feelings on this challenge. I have been frustrated when I have wanted to drink pop, yet, motivated most of the time and excited to see how I progress. 

This week I have learned to stay strong and keep motivated in order to achieve my goal.

Next week I plan to do the same thing. I am trying to get my roommates to do this as well so that it will be easier to stay strong. 

Blogged for the Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 2 hosted by Amy@Eco-Chic with Amy

Share and Voice: Eco-Friendly Tips

I searched for Eco Friendly tips and found this site. http://www.ecologyfund.com/ecology/res_tips.html. There are some of the basic things we already know such as conserve water and ride your bike instead of driving but there were good explanations on why we should do so. However, I thought there were a few tips I had never heard of such as leave your cat inside because cats kill about 1 billion small birds and animals each year. There were also tips such as, dispose old paint and chemicals. Not only does this site have tips, but it has the eco footprint and information we are learning about in class. Its a fun website, check it out :)

Share and Voice: Eco-Friendly Bathroom Products

I found an interesting youtube video that shows how to choose eco-friendly bathroom products. This video shows how to cut your families risk for toxic chemicals, and also how to help the environment by choosing the proper products. For example, it is eco-friendly to get the highest percentage of post consumer content toilet paper you can find and without chlorine processing. Also, the average American uses 9 products a day which is about 120 chemicals spread among them. These are things I never would have thought about. Hope you enjoy the video! 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pCe5KXwO2o

Eye Opener: CSPI

CSPI, which stands for the Center for Science in the Public Interest is something I was not aware of until just now. The organization focuses on nutrition and health, the alchol policy, and food safety. I decided to Tour the Food Supply and found some shocking statistics. 

I learned that in 2002 alone 140 million cattle, sheep, and pigs were slaughtered in the United States and 9 billion chickens and turkeys were killed. Statistics from http://www.cspinet.org/EatingGreen/tour.html show that this converts to 30 birds for every American. I also learned that diets rich in Dairy products and meat products have a greater obesity rate because it can make you have high blood pressure, an increase risk of having type 2 diabetes, heart disease or cancer.

  A very shocking thing I found was that there are over 1,000 Americans that die each year from food bourne illnesses.Also, less than one quarter of americans eat the recommended servings of fruit and vegetables. 

Another interesting statistic I  found is that foods such as hamburgers, egg yolks, whole milk, and other fatty meat and dairy products can lead to some types of cancer and then saturated fats and cholesterol in these products 50,000 to 75,000 fatal heart attacks annually.

These are all shocking statistics I was unaware about. I am glad I am more educated on these topics and will continue looking at this page in my spare time. I realize it is important to "eat green". Organic foods can be pretty spendy, but I realize I should cut down on some meets. I learned how much the U.S. food supply is hurting our country and I feel it is an issue more people should be aware of.

Reflections week 3 and 4

Week 3

I am finally starting to get the hang of blogging, just like Dr. V said we would. I have been having a lot of fun with it and I have been learning a lot of exciting things! We did not have class the third week of school. Instead we set up a 15 minute appointment with Steve, which was extremely helpful! Meeting with him made me feel on track and more comfortable about the work I was doing. He told me things I needed to work on such as the labels and following everyone in class. I am really happy with my blog so far :).

Week 4 

We started out with a fun game that had to do with questions about blogging. I thought this was the perfect game because this way I could test my knowledge. I felt really comfortable with about 95% of the questions, which made me feel relieved. I got an easy question and had to answer if it was true or false to always comment on Dr. V's posts. This is true, you should always comment on her posts, along with your group members to give them feedback. We all got a prize for answering the question correctly. I, of course, got tampons. I thought that was really funny because I was not expecting that at all :P. 

After the game, we watched a movie called, "The Inconvenient Truth". This movie definitely opened my eyes and made me realize how big of a problem global warming is. The video featured the United States 45th Vice President,  Al Gore , speaking out about how global warming does in fact exist and how big of an impact is will have on our planet. 

I did not realize how serious global warming was until I saw the Inconvenient Truth. Seeing the pictures of how the planet was years ago, and seeing how the same places have drastically changed is very scary to me. It has already affected a lot land, and also animals such as polar bears. Polar bears have been drowning because there is not enough ice for them to swim to. This movie made me realize even more how important it is to help out the environment as much as we possible. They say global warming may not effect us in our lifetime, but the truth is, it already has and it will continue to worsen for our children and grandchildren if we don't change our bad habits.

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Chnage Week: 1 My SMART Goal

My SMART lifestyle change goal is to give up drinking pop and start drinking 3 glasses of water a day in a re-usable water bottle. This lifesyle change is eco-chic because I will stop throwing away several plastic bottles per week, which I feel is great for the environment.

I chose to start using a re-usable water bottle because i started drinking way too much pop and not enough water, causing myself to become dehydrated often. By giving up pop I will hopefully feel more healthy, and also I will be doing the environment a favor by not throwing away multiple bottles per week.

I am very excited to start this process because I have wanted a reason to give up drinking pop. Now, I can help myself and the environment at the same tim. :)

Eye Opener: Ecological Footprints

Before reading about Ecological footprints, I was not sure what it was. I went to wikipedia's ecological footprints and read what it was and found it to be very interesting. I learned that Ecological Footprints is a measure of human demand on the Earth's ecosystem. According to, http://www.rprogress.org/ecological_footprint/footprint_FAQs.htm the Ecological Footprint measures the amount of natural resources an individual, a community, or a country consumes in a given year. Each person living on this planet has a huge impact on how this earth is today.

I took a quiz and thought it was extremely interesting. It asked me what country I lived in, how much meat I ate a week, what kind of house I lived in, how often I use my car and do I carpool, and how often do I fly each year.  At the end, the results told me that if everyone lived a lifestyle like mine, we would need 5.4 planet earths to provide enough resources. This was a huge eye opener for me. I realized I should be more cautious to my everyday lifestyle choices such as what I eat and how much I drive.

After being in Environmental Health for a couple weeks I have already started to change some of my daily routines I felt I should change because of the environment. This quiz really made me realize its not just about recycling, its about driving, eating, flying, living in a house.

The Food Revolution

The book I chose is called, "The Food Revolution" by John Robbins. This book is about acknowledging there is a problem with global warming, people with little to eat, and innocent animals being killed. Robbin's wants to inform people there are solutions and we can help. He has disturbing, however, true facts about slaughtering animals. After reading Robbins book, he wants people to be more aware of real situations we may have never thought of and he hopes people will change their ways so we can help save our planet.

I chose this book because it had topics I have been wanting to learn about. I have been wanting to eat more healthy and learn about organic foods.

About The Author, John Robbins
Book Review
Book Review #2
"The Food Revolution" book has 340 pages. I  plan to divide it into 4 parts so I will read 85 pages for each assignment.

This book seems very interesting and I am excited to start reading! :)

Reflections week 1 and 2

The first day of class was a lot of fun for me. I hadn't really heard how Environmental Health was from other students, so I wasn't very sure what to expect. The first activity we did with the rope was fun, and also an eye opener. When Dr. V kept removing the ropes and we all had to fit into one with both feet in the circle I wasn't sure how it would be done. This activity taught us to work as a team to come up with a sollution. The rope activity also taught us to always go into new experiences with an open mind to see what the different possibilities are. After the rope activity we worked on blogging, which, I am completely new to. It was cool to make my own blog and put whatever I want on it. Blogging seems a bit overwhelming right now, but I'm excited to see all the different options:). Week 2 started the class off with a few quotes. Dr. V.  asked us what we thought the meaning of each one was. It was fun to hear what everyone said because this showed there are a bunch of different ways to interperet things. Each quote can be short and simple, but it can also be deep at the same time. We also talked about how the government relates to the environment. After watching a movie about global warming I was really shocked to learn that the government does not tell us some very important information. Global warming is becomming an even bigger issue, however, they arent telling us what they know about it. After the discussions we had a verrry good snack that keith brought in! His specialty, chocolate covered pretzels will definitely be tough to beat! After the snack, we learned more about blogging. I feel that I am starting to get the hang of it (slowly). I feel that it is really overwhelming, but once I get it done it seems fun!

Welcome to Carrie's Environment

                                                       Welcome to Carrie's Environment!

My name is Carrie Jones. I am a Junior at UMD with a Community Health major and a Psychology minor. I love to work out, hang out with family and friends, travel, and cruise around the lake. This is the second blog I have ever made, so I am still new to blogs. I have already learned a lot of new and exciting things. My blog is going to be about tdifferent things we can do to help the environment such as recycling everything that needs to be recycled, car pool, and use the reusable bags for the grocery store. My main goal is to start drinking a lot more water so I am going to buy a reusable water bottle instead of throwing the plastic ones away every day. :)



There are 6 possible types of posts on my blog. They include:

1. Advocacy Project
2. Eye Openers
3. Reflections
4. Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change
5. Read 'n' Seed
6. Share and Voice

If you notice at the bottom of this post, the categories will be listed as labels. This post is has been labeled with all five kinds of posts.


       1.Carrie  http://carriesenviornment.blogspot.com/
       2. Kayla http://kaylasgreenland.blogspot.com/
       3. Danielle S http://daniellesdandyenvironment.blogspot.com/
       4. Rita  http://ritasrealm.blogspot.com/

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I plan on learning a lot in Environmental Studies and I Know that my "bad habbits" will start to change very quickly and I will try to educate my friends, family, and other peers on what I can to help change the environment.

Blogged for the Welcome Linky Party hosted by Amy@Eco-Chic with Amy



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