Read 'n' Seed 6: Final Review of "Eating Locally: 100 Mile Diet"

Since the next couple days are going to be very busy for me, I thought it would be best to write the final review of the "100 Mile Diet" today, instead of waiting until Friday.

OVERVIEW OF ENTIRE BOOK:

The "100 Mile Diet" is about a couple that decides to only eat food produced 100 miles of their Vancouver home for one year.  This book includes their detailed story as the authors connect with the people and places that produce what they can eat.  The narrators highlight the challenges the couple faced, the benefits they attained while engaging in this diet change, information about local food that they weren't aware of before, how large food corporations are steadily taking over, and goes in depth about stories and emotions they encountered throughout the year.


3 MOST SIGNIFICANT THINGS LEARNED:

1.)  Why is it important to eat locally?
     * Help flourish local economy
     * Locally grown foods are almost always better for you and also tastes better (no pesticides and chemicals!)
     * You help reduce global warming by eating locally (don't eat food that has to be shipped thousands of miles, just to reach your plate).
     * Local produce is much fresher
     * Better for air quality and pollution
     * More variety when eating local food
     *Local fruits and veggies have longer to ripen

2.)  People who buy from large food corporations do not have as much variety, in comparision with people who buy from local farmers markets.  I never recognized this issue until I read this book, but it seems so obvious to me now.  This is because large food industries want to make large quantities of food at a time (to make large profits), so they do not have the resources, money, or time to give their consumers the different options and varieties of the products.

3.)  By eating locally we avoid consuming processed foods, which in reality we are watching out for out health and reducing our chance of obesity and preventable health related diseases, such as heart disease and hypertension.  This foods produced by large companies do not have the same nutrious value as those products that come from a local market. 

*New terminology:  Locavore: a person who eats only locally grown food that is usually grown 50, 100, or 150 miles away from their home.



WHAT DOES THIS BOOK MEAN TO MYSELF AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT:

This book is so important for everyone to read, because it brings about the idea that there needs to be a collaborative effort to build more locally based and self-reliant food economies.  This needs to be done so we can flip the trend of large food corporations taking over and steadily gaining more power, every time a consumer purchases one of their items.  The people who manage the distribution of food should take into the considerations of air polluntion, water pollution, fossil fuels, global warming, and green house gases being released into our environment, while shipping food many, many miles.  Buying groceries from big corporations aren't only damaging our planet, but people should also be understand that there are drastic quaility characteristics in comparision to local markets.  This comes about because of the way the food is produced, leading to lesser quality of food coming from the large corporations.



DO YOU RECOMMEND THIS BOOK? WHY OR WHY NOT:

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to become more informed on the idea of eating locally.  I had no idea about organic food, local food, and large food industries until I got ahold of this book.  I now feel very informed on the choices of food I have, and realize that what I select that I am going to eat effects much more than myself.

Pictures of Farmer's Markets in Duluth MN!

Read 'n' Seed 5: Fourth Quater of 100 Mile Diet

CHAPTERS AND PAGES: 

I read chapters December, January and Feburary, which led me up to the last page 252.

MAIN TOPICS:

*In December a main point the narrators highlighted was that when Alisa went to visit her grandmother, she was fed microwaved pasta and accepted it.  It was the first food not included in the diet and she almost vomitted because she wasn't used to the processed ingredients and taste, but choked it down to make her grandmother happy.
*In January the couple finds a resturaunt near by their home and figures out that everything sold there is completely locally grown.  They love the food so much, that they even try the beef there and love it.  It was their first time eating beef in countless years, since they have been vegetarians up until then.
*In Feburary the couple is invited to a wedding in Mexico.  While there, the couple realizes how the locals of Mexico eat and realize there needs to be a huge change in the way America's food organizations and distributors are organized.
*The couple also brings about the fact that by going on this diet made them realize what foods are seasonal and when they are optimal
*At the end of the book, the couple emphasize that they hope this story influences people to try to go on the localized diet, or try to mainly buy localized products to stop the big corporations from taking over.

SIGNIFICANT THINGS LEARNED:

*I decided to google how this book influenced the way food stores and markets changed after this book came out.  I found a website that found out that serveral farmers, gardeners, and food producers began offering services to deliver produce or urban farming or gardening services in the Vancouver area.  It just goes to show that once an important issue is made aware to the people of the public, that even if it's only a few people who make changes, we are still making our way to a large societal change.
*This section of the book also made aware that the average person in the United States meals consists of at least 1500 miles (at each ingrediant.)
*The January chapter brought about the idea why it can be a challenge to provide local food to consumers, such as:
-Weather conditions
-Seasonal foods
-Expensive
-Do not have machinary, so have to hand pick most produce-can be time consuming
*On the positive side, they also list some advantages for eating locally:
-help local economy
-locally grown food is almost always better for you and also tastes better
-Reduce global warming
-Local produce is much fresher
-Better for air quality and pollution
-More variety when eating local food
-Local fruits and veggies have longer to ripen

WHY SHOULD WE CARE??

*Like I've said plenty times, we should care about this to realize that huge food corporations are steadily taking over America's food corportion and distribution center.
*By eating locally we are reducing our carbon footprint, by lessening the amount of foods that have to travel over sea to reach our plate.
*By eating locally we are avoiding processed foods, which in reality we are watching out for our health and reducing our chance of obesity and preventable health related diseases such as heart disease and hypertension.

Read 'n' Seed 4: Third Quater of "100 Mile Diet"

Chapters and Pages:

I read chapters September, October and November, which led me up to page 193.


Main Topics:

*Throughout these three chapters it continues to bring up the idea that the couple could barely find anything in their neighborhood's grocery stores and relied greatly on Farmers' Markets.  The story goes in depth about the foods they were able to find there and the experiences that go along with their trips to the Markets.
*Main foods that they could not eat (because they couldn't be found within the 100 mile radius) were cooking oils, rice and sugar, which they found to be very challenging, because before this lifestyle change Alisa stated that they would have rice with their meals at least three or four times a week.
*The couple also highlights that before this book the couple started writing entries about their experiences and feelings of the 100 Mile Diet on Tyee.
*The most common food Alisa and her husband bought from the Famers' Markets were root vegetables, corn, berries, chicken, seafood and chicken.
*The September harvest provided them with peppers, eggplant, grapes, melons, and tomatoes, which added more flavor to their meals.  Since they knew winter was coming, they tried to save and freeze some of these items, so they could last throughout the cold months.
*In November the couple faced family problems and the husband totally stopped engaging in the 100 Mile Diet, but got back on track after a week or so.

Significant Things Learned and New Terminology:

*Within these three chapters the couple uses a new word called locavore, which is the definition of a person who eats only locally grown food that is usually grown 50, 100, or 150 miles away from their home.
*I should also mention that this couple actually started their own website called The 100 Mile Diet: Local Eating for Global Change.  If you visit the website it will give the reader tips on how to eat locally, what their book is about, gives a URL to their blog, and local resources that one can become familiar with.
*During the chapter of November, I realized that even after 9 months of being successful with a goal, that one trigger or bad incident can influence failure to reach that goal.  I thought the couple would have much more troubles in the beginning and that once they got in the swing of things, they would never want to leave their new lifestyle.  But it just goes to show that even after maintaining a goal of 9 months, challenges may still come up in the future and will have to make modifications to get back on track.


Why Should We Care About This:

*Like I have said before in my previous posts, this book makes aware how important it is to eat locally.  First of all, almost all of local foods are more nutritious and taste better.  It is also critical for people to realize that by buying local food you are making a change, because locally grown food is environmentally safe.  This is because most food found in grocery stores are shipped to the corporation, causing more fossil fuels to pollute the air.
*The book brings about the idea that there needs to be a "collaborative effort to build more locally based, self-reliant food economies-one in which sustainable food production, processing, distribution, and consumption is integrated to enhance the economic, environmental and social health of a particular place."
*I feel that it is important for people to understand that the population needs to start buying food from local systems so that global corporations do not keep gaining more and more power.
*It is also vital to know that there are drastic quality characteristics in comparison to local markets and big food corporations, being the product of the food and the way the food is being produced.

People shopping at a farmer's market

Read 'n' Seed 3: Second quater of: "Plenty, Eating Locally on the 100 Mile Diet"

I read the three chapters titled June, July and August, which led me up to page 126.

June:

-There is a scene in this chapter when the deli man helping out Alisa gets frusterated because she keeps asking if specific items are local or not.  The deli man also did not get what local means, because he specified some beef being local that was delivered from over 600 miles away.  This showed the readers that people who are pressed for information who are paid to provide exactly that service tend to get annoyed if they are not their average customer.  This showed me how America is becoming-that the best answer comes the fastest.
-The couple narratoring this book have been vegetarians for 15 years, so they wanted to highlight how hard it was to find alternative foods that would give them protein that weren't of meat within their 100 mile radius.  They realized that their vegetarian lifestyle was greatly dependent upton the distance food system.
-Near the end of this chapter Alisa states "The exercise had begun to feel pointless." on page 75.  She had the feeling that there was no point in living the 100 mile diet anymore because she was getting sick and tired of the limited amounts of what they had to eat.  She also thought about how this 100 mile diet would be if they lived in Spain, instead of Vancouver.  Alisa said that they would probably have to make fewer changes and have lots of different choices in they were in Spain, which goes to show how America's agriculture is very industrialized.

July:

-I just realized that I have forgotten to tell you guys that at the beginning of every new chapter of this book is listed a recipe that have some sentimental importance to the authors.
-During this month the couple decided to post a article about their 100 mile diet on the web.  They got more than imagined feedback that showed interest about their diet, and the repeated question of, "is your new diet boring?"
-This chapter also gives great detail on how the countries of the world started to swap foods with each other, which in reality was not even needed.  They believe the countries started doing so, to feel as if they were getting more variety in their diets, which in reality variety was available to them already in their own lands. 
-It highlights the sadness that many family farms are getting shut down because of big farming organizations.  Family farms will ask other farms to keep their a few of their crops growing and give them seeds, because it's been in their family for several generations.
-This chapter also brings up the idea that the varities of food are slimming.  The authors give the example of radish, that there used to be 436 different kinds, while now the grocery stores seldom carry more than a couple different types.
-On page 99 it states, "The daily food supply in America now contains enough calories to feed almost double the U.S. population, without  reducing food exports by one itoa.  People spend 7% of their disposable income on food, down from 22% in 1950."

August:

-In this chapter the couple takes a 16 hour road trip to vacation at a cabin they rent out for a month each summer.  This chapter basically explains their new territory they have to deal with and goes into depth about their visits at some local farmers' markets.  Alisa goes on to tell about what the couple usually does for fun while staying out there for a few weeks and says that the place has a very naturalistic feel to it.  While getting comfortable in their cabin, they meet a man named Roy and they end up having a fire together.  They sit around the fire all night and listen to Roy's stories about the woods they rest in.
-Alisa points out that everyday she and her husband would search for berries of such in the woods and that would usually be their breakfast.  There was a cherry orchard near by so they would visit there often, too.  There were many apple trees near by, so nearing the end of the month they picked apples and made many apple pies.
-This chapter was more of a "story telling" chapter, rather than having much informational aspect to it.



*I feel that by putting in the scene of the deli man becoming frusterated with Alisa when she was asking if certain products were local was showing the readers that America is becoming greatly industrialized and that the best answer comes the fastest.
*I also believe that it is important to highlight the fact that the variety of foods are lessing due to the big farming cooperations that are taking over.  They are only producing large quantities of specific types of food, causing customers to loose their once many options of a food choice.
*These chapters also highlight that some people don't even know what "local" means.  I mean, one worker in this story said a certain type of meat was "local" when really it was sent to that location from 600 miles away.
*It also brings up the fact that the calories in the American diet could feed double the population of the US right now.  That is showing us that people in the United States are eating double than what they actually should be eating.  That is crazy to me!
*I liked how Alisa brought up the idea that this 100 mile diet would be extremely easier if she lived in Spain, rather than Vancouver.  It goes to show that countries all over the world are still living mainly locally, and that America's agriculture is becoming industrialized and that most people rely on far distance food shipping more than ever.

Read 'n' Seed 2: First quarter of "Plenty, Eating Locally on the 100 Mile Diet"

 I covered the first three chapters (March, April, May), which led me up to page 63.

Chapter 1:  March

-The Vancouver couple decided to start their 100 mile diet basically because of one night while on vacation in British Columbia.  They were at a cabin up in the mountains while there was very bad weather, so they had to dig around the cabin to figure out what they could make for dinner.  They only had one head of cabbage, butter, and a bottle of wine.  They ended up making a delicious salad and it got them thinking about what it would be like to live off foods like such for one year.
-While I was reading, the narrator actually brought up the fact of what an ecological footprint is.  I thought it was cool that I actually knew what this was because of last weeks eye opener assignment.  This book states that the average number of planets a person from America would need is nine!  That is insane! 
-During this chapter they also figure out their boundaries they have to stay within, made the rule that they were "off the hook" when they went to eat at friends/family's houses, and that they could use up any unlocal products left in the house.
-They made their first dinner consisting of spring salmon, free-range eggs, grated potatoes, and turnips covered in organic yogurt which were all local products, leaving the only unlocal product to be salt.  The meal costed them $128.87

Chapter 2:  April

-The narrator switches from the husband to the wife in this chapter.  Alisa (the narrator) goes in depth about how she never learned how to cook and always has relied on her husbands capabilities.  She brings her grandmother into the story, who was known to be the best cook ever, but was never willing to teach.  The grandmother ends up dying so her character is very short lived, and only was part of this chapter to give us readers more insight into who Alisa is.
-This chapter included many statistics, such as:
In Ontario the typical distance from farm to plate is 2,500 miles, as it states on page 30.  The narrators believe that food travels because oil is cheap and they can gain great profits even at far distances.  Some milk from Iowa "weighted total source distance" turned out to be 2,216 miles without taking into consideration the plastic container, foil, or box.  In 1970, Pirog noted only 21% of America's fresh fruit was imported.  And according to a 2001 study, shipping food nationally uses seventeen times more fuel than a regional food system.
-Near the end of the chapter, Alisa really wanted a sandwich that she usually gets from a coffee shop, but the bits of the sandwich itself are further than 100 miles away, so she had to improvise.  Her husband made a sandwich consisting of turnips instead of bread with locally bought cheese in the middle.  She said it was great.

Chapter 3: May

-In this chapter the couple becomes a bit more hopeful since the winter months are fading away.  They decide to plant a garden in the community garden (since they reside in an apartment complex).  They end up planting beets, broccoli, carrots, cilantro, fennel, leeks, lettuce, onions, parsley, peas, spinich and turnips.
-The local farmer's market finally opened after the long summer months, so they finally can have more of a variety to their meals again.
-They highlight some facts, such as that 300,000 Americans are hospitilized each year because of food they eat and even certified organic food now can not be wholly trusted because many include factory farmed meat and dairy products and artificial flavors.
-The main point of this chapter is that it is important to be able to relate each item you eat to a place or face.

*Why should we care about all of this??
I believe that there is a bunch of valuable information in these three chapters, whether it being the facts/statistics or the real life experiences of the narrators.  The most profound thing that I have taken away from these three chapters would have to be the idea that it is important to be able to relate each item you eat to a place or face.  Obviously if people are consuming their foods from big corporations such as Cub, one does not know the exact place where that bag of salad came from or who grew the tomatoes.  That is why it is ideal for people to eat their foods from a farmer's market, so the consumer knows how exactly the food is grown.  I feel that it is very important for this type of information to be made aware to the public, because before I read this book or was in this class I knew slim to none about organic vs processed foods.  If the public knows about it, then they have the choice to do something about it!

Read 'n' Seed 1: Plenty, Eating Locally on the 100 Mile Diet

1.)  Plenty, Eating Locally on the 100 Mile Diet

2.)  A couple decides to only eat food produced 100 miles of their Vancouver home for one year.  This book shares their story as the authors reconnect with the people and places that produce what they eat.  This story is known to be a humorous, heart-warming, challenging, and enlightening read that will change the way you experience the world.

3.)  I heard of this book through a friend and she said that her mother really enjoyed it, so I thought I'd see if I thought the same.  I could never imagine myself doing such a thing because I usually eat out at least twice a week and know that resturaunts' foods are most likely shipped from elsewhere.  I guess I wanted to see how hard of a challenge this was for the authors.

4.)  Links for more information:

http://www.amazon.com/Plenty-Eating-Locally-100-Mile-Diet/dp/0307347338
http://100milediet.org/book
http://www.powells.com/biblio/17-9780307347336-0

5.)  There are 264 pages in this book, so I figure I will write about the reading after every 66 pages.  There are twelve chapters, so that equals out to be 3 chapters I will have read every time I do a Read 'n' Seed post.

Intro Post

Welcome to Paige's E Health Blog!  I thought of something a little more creative, but now I can't figure out how to change it, so I guess I'm sticking with this title.

My name is Paige and I turned 20 years old in July.  I transferred to UMD last fall from a community college down in the cities.  I am majoring in Psychology, but not quite sure what I want to do after I graduate, I guess time will tell.  I have two younger sisters and a dog named Scout back at home in Plymouth MN.  I don't know much about Environmental Health, but I'm hoping my blog covers a variety of topics of how we can make the planet a greener place.

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

-Advocacy Project

-Eye Openers

-Reflections

-Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change

-Read 'n' Seed

-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.  You will also see the number of each kind of post in my Labels Gadget at the top of the page.  All post titles from now on will begin with one of the categories above.

The members of my web group are:

1. http://mediterraneanmelissa.blogspot.com/


2. http://ashleysgreenlilypad.blogspot.com/

3. http://paigesehealthblog.blogspot.com/

4. http://malsrainforest.blogspot.com/


You can subscribe to my blog by clicking the subscribe gadget in the gadget column. You can also follow my blog by clicking "Follow this Blog" in the gadget column. I am subscribed to all the blogs in my blog list gadget. You can see my complete profile and all the blogs I am following by clicking on "See Complete Profile."


I am looking forward to this course and hoping to become more environmental friendly throughout the semester.  I want to gain knowledge on the environmental troubles the world is facing and become familiar with ideas of how people can change their habits to make the world a cleaner place.  Happy blogging and have a good day everyone!

Blogged for the Welcome Linky Party hosted by http://ecochicwithamy.blogspot.com/.