Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 2

A week has gone by since I started my Lifestyle Change, and I think I am slowly but surely making progress!  My SMART goal was to increase my vegetable intake by 4 servings daily and to try and choose vegetables that are organic and/or not prepackaged.

I achieved my SMART goal by simply adding bits of vegetables to the "normal" things I eat.  I kept my usual diet the same and didn't necessarily cut back on certain foods, but I figured out that I could integrate vegetables into my meals.  This way, I'm trying new things and having fun about it.. I'm not just eating plain old vegetables and nothing else!

One disadvantage to this goal is trying to always have a fresh and bountiful amount of different vegetables.  I am a very busy person, so I'm not usually home a lot to make meals.  This made it difficult to find ways to put vegetables in my diet and to keep my vegetables from going bad.  One thing I did to try and solve this problem was I made a large batch of a meal that I could take to school with me and eat.  I LOVE pasta salad and making homemade dressings, so I decided to make a large batch of it.  I usually always incorporate tomatoes, olives, and cucumbers into my dish.  I decided to use less pasta and added more vegetables like green peppers and broccoli to the pasta salad.  It's an easy dish to make (if you have patience to cut up the vegetables) and it tastes awesome.  Below is a picture of what my pasta salad kind of looked like, and you can find the recipe by clicking on the picture! (I don't usually follow the recipes for the salad because you can make it however you want!  If you like "italian" tasting dressing, follow this dressing recipe!)

So, I guess you can say I learned how to be creative with my Lifestyle Change.  I plan to keep up with finding more recipes that I can use to integrate my vegetables with meals I enjoy.  I think I want to try and vegetable stir fry soon!

Eye Opener: Ecological Footprint

After taking the Ecological Footprint Quiz, I was surprised at my results and how much I depend on services on a day-to-day basis.  Food was another large part of my dependency since I don't eat as many local grown and organic foods as I should. 

I also thought the analogy of "how many worlds" we would need if everyone lived like me was shocking.  It's a good way of showing just how much some of us depend on our world (a little too much dependency).

 I think if I can conserve more everyday (like not letting water or electricity run if I don't need it), that would help make a better impact on my ecological footprint.  As for other aspects of my ecological footprint, I would like to try and eat more locally grown foods and try to eat more fresh, unprocessed foods.  Even though mobility wasn't the largest impact I had, I would still like to keep up with carpooling as often as I can and riding the bus when possible.  It definitely saves on gas and helps with pollution, too!