You are what you eat

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It's Earth Week, so let's talk about an environmental decision that everyone makes, every day -- what to eat.  Should you eat vegetarian?  vegan?  local? Fair Trade? organic?  Well, it all depends.  In an environmentally-friendly system, food should be:

• produced sustainably, meaning that producing food today won't affect future generations' ability to produce food
• produced using as few resources as possible -- how much habitat does the crop require?  how much water and energy was used to produce the food?  how many resources were needed to transport the food?
• produced causing as few externalities (ie. pollution) as possible

So what to eat?  The answer is different for each person, because we all have different dietary restrictions, budgets, and places that we live.  Here's an interesting article from CNN on the trade-offs and individual choices.

As stated previously on greenmomster, diets that are low on the food chain (that would be primarily plant-based) are most sustainable.  Whether that means eating vegetarian once a week or going totally vegan, you're helping the environment to feed 7 billion (soon to be 9 billion) people sustainably.

But here's the other area in which we all can help to decrease our food-based environmental footprint -- food waste!  By buying more frequently (so food doesn't go bad in your house), composting, and being willing to buy less-than-perfect-looking food, greenmomsters can help to reduce food waste. Save food, save money, save the environment!

So you slept through science class -- Going vegetarian!

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"But how do you get your protein?" That's the most common question people ask when they hear that you're eating vegetarian, vegan, or just cutting back on meat.  This question illustrates two common misconceptions about our diets:

• Most folks assume that they need WAY more protein in their diets than they actually do.  The Federal government's dietary guidelines recommend that an adult should have about 10% of their calories come from protein each day -- that's about 200 calories for most of us.  Examples would be 4 oz. of pork, 5 1/2 tablespoons of peanut butter, or 1 1/2 cups of black beans.  Take a look at these comparisons of what we eat and what is recommended.
• People often assume that the only way to get protein is to eat animal products -- not true!  The molecular building blocks of protein are smaller molecules called amino acids.  There are 21 amino acids needed by your body to make protein (sources cite between 20 and 22 amino acids), and your body can manufacture all but 10 of these amino acids.  These remaining 10 are what we call "essential amino acids" -- you must acquire these amino acids through your diet.  Here's where the confusion lies -- many people think you must eat animal products to have a complete protein.  It turns out, there are plant-based ways to eat all the amino acids in one sitting.  You can eat soy-based protein, or combine certain foods, like rice and beans, to get the proper nutrition.  

Environmentally, you're encouraged to reduce meat consumption.  Whether that's a meat-free Friday, meatless Monday, going vegetarian, or going vegan, the environment thanks you.  If you do decide to go vegan, be sure to supplement with niacin and B vitamins.

Still thinking that meatless will make you weak and they'll be kicking sand in your face at the beach?  Then check out this recent article in the Chicago Tribune about elite athletes who are eating vegan diets.

Urban farming

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Readers of Greenmomster know that our food choices have direct effects on the environment, as well as farm workers.  When we decide to eat less meat, the result is a smaller carbon footprint.  When we eat organic food, we decrease the pesticides used in food production (less exposure for the environment and farm workers), but we also increase the amount of land needed to produce food (decreased wildlife habitat) -- a trade-off that each consumer should consider.

Many of us also enjoy growing some of our own food!  Could the "backyard farmer" movement solve some of our food production problems?  Could we reduce use of fertilizer and water, while producing all the food that's locally needed?  According to a new study from the University of Washington published in the journal Urban Forestry and Urban Greening (reported by Sarah DeWeerdt of Conservation, 1/26/2016), while farming within city limits can produce substantial amounts of food, odds are good that we still need farmlands and lots of them.  Be sure to read the summary of the study.

What's the take-home lesson?  A few important points surface as we look at these results:

1. Greening our cities is an important goal when it comes to decreasing energy costs and cleaning water
2. Farmland preservation is also necessary to sustain an ever-increasing human population
3. Food waste should be kept to a minimum in order to reduce food production environmental impacts.  Check out the Think.Eat.Save website for more info on reducing food waste.

Black bean, kale, and hominy stew!

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Be sure to “Like” greenmomster on facebook for your weekly meat-free Friday recipes!

Here’s a great recipe I adapted from the March 2013 issue of Cooking Light (I made this version a little more chunky, a little lighter on the spices).  Serve with Phil’s Cornbread – it’s what we’re eating tonight!

Ingredients

• 11 oz jar of tomatillos, chopped very small
• 4 tblsp olive oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• the equivalent of 2 jalapeno peppers, from jarred jalapenos
• 4 tsp chopped garlic
• 4 tsp ground cumin
• 8 cups vegetable broth
• 2 cups water
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 4 cans (15 oz each) black beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 8 oz. bunches of kale, cleaned and chopped
• 1 29 oz. can hominy, rinsed and drained
• sour cream
• shredded cheddar
• cilantro

Instructions
1)  Heat olive oil in a large pot.  Add onion and jalapeno, and saute for about 5 minutes.
2)  Add garlic and cumin; saute for about 2 more minutes
3)  Add tomatillos, broth, water, salt, red pepper, black beans, and kale.  Heat for about 10 minutes, or until the kale becomes tender.
4)  Add the hominy for about 5 minutes and serve warm.
5) Garnish with sour cream, cheddar, and cilantro.
Serves a hungry family of five, with a little bit for leftovers!

Shakin’ and bacon

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Have you heard the latest announcement from the World Health Organization (WHO), stating that processed and red meats increase your risk of cancer?  Not really new news, but now WHO is making the info a little more well-known.

But if you don’t want to eat less meat for your health, how about eating less meat for the environment?  Here’s a repost on that topic:

Why Eat Low on the Food Chain?

A great environmental goal is to “eat lower on the food chain.” What exactly does this mean? Well, let’s start at the beginning. When we talk about a food chain, we’re talking about a series of plants and animals that are related to one another through predation. Food chains always start with a plant (an autotroph, in ecological terms) which converts sunlight energy into energy that can be used by plants and animals. Plants are the source of energy and nutrients for all animals. As we move up the food chain, we’re looking at animals (heterotrophs) that eat certain plants. Moving further up the food chain, we’d see animals that eat the animals that ate the plants. A sample food chain would be:

Grass ---> grasshopper ---> bird ---> hawk 

So why do we want to “eat lower on the food chain”, that is, eat more plants and less meat? The way that our food is produced in our industrialized society, much energy goes into the production of food. The higher one eats on the food chain (meat, that is), the more energy that must go into producing that meat. So, if you eat a 2,000 calorie per day diet, a diet of vegetables will require much less energy input, than a 2,000 calorie diet that contains substantial amounts of meat. Another way of thinking about it -- for the same energy input, much more plant-based food can be produced. Eating lower on the food chain can also help to reduce greenhouse gases – the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimated that meat production is responsible for 1/5 of global greenhouse gases! 

Unless you live in an area with a very short growing season, a plant-based diet is a realistic goal. But many folks say they can’t or don’t want to go totally vegetarian. How about 1 night per week? The Utah State University Cooperative Extension website states that if “1000 people replaced one meat meal per week with a vegetarian option, it would save 70,000 lbs of grain per year!” That amount of grain would really feed a lot of people, with much lower environmental impact. Our family eats meat-free in our home.  Outside of the house, the kids and my husband eat whatever they want. Why not give it a try? Once a week, I will post a recipe that has been a success at our house. I’ll also include meatless products that I like, because people often ask me which products I like best, but you can substitute any brand that you like. Good luck, and I hope you enjoy “Meat-free Friday!”

10 tips for starting seeds indoors

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It’s the first warm weather we’ve seen in a while, so all the vegetarian greenmomsters are looking longingly at their gardens.  We know there are some veggies that we should plant directly into the ground (lettuce, kale, spinach, etc), but what’s the best way to start plants indoors?  Here are my top 10 tips, gathered from the sources below.

1. Make sure your plants have enough light!  Buy grow-lights.  Without the right amount of light, your sprouts will get long and “leggy” and die immediately upon going outside.  Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.
2. Start with small containers.  Make sure you start your seeds in small containers – open flats, market packs, individual small pots (no larger than 2-3 inches in diameter), or even modified milk cartons (reduce, reuse, recycle!)
3. Use seed starting mix and potting soil.  I mix them together.  Don’t just dig soil out of your garden – it will clump and damage the veggie plant roots.
4. Make sure your plants have enough light!  14 – 16 hours daily!  Keep the lights very close to the plants, if there is no natural light.  If you have natural light, just supplement with grow lights.
5. Some seeds should start earlier than others, so follow a seed starting schedule (unless you’re like me, and hate schedules – I like surprises!)
6. Keep that soil warm!  Seeds will germinate between 65 degrees F and 80 degrees F, but I find that soil temperature in the high 70s works well for most seedlings.  Don’t try to plant okra early or in pots – be patient and wait until your garden soil is good and warm, then just sow directly into the soil.
7. Keep soil moist, not wet.  Check the moisture daily.
8. Light, light, light!
9. Be sure to thin the seedlings if many are coming up in one pot.  Choose the most hardy-looking and gently remove the other seedlings.  Do this early (before they get tangled) to avoid damaging the plants.
10. Gradually expose the plants to the outdoors.  About 1 week before you’re ready to plant, start cutting back on the watering and place the seedlings outdoors for about 1 hour per day (gradually increasing).  This procedure will keep the plants from being shocked by 24 hour exposure to your garden’s outdoor conditions. this is called “hardening off” the seedlings.

Prepare to enjoy your delicious veggies throughout the spring, summer, and fall!

Sources:

Gardener’s Supply Company.  (2015, 3/12)  How To Start Seeds, A Comprehensive Guide to Seed Starting.  Retrieved from http://www.gardeners.com/how-to/how-to-start-seeds/5062.html

Organic Gardening (2015, 3/12). Starting Seeds Indoors, Earlier Fruits and Flowers Plus Endless Variety.  Retrieved from http://www.organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/starting-seeds-indoors?page=0,0

Should we still eat low on the food chain?

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Greenmomster has posted several articles on the green aspects of eating low on the food chain (going vegetarian).  Lately, though, some folks have been making the news with talks and papers on low impact meat production and consumption.  Even NPR has been publicizing these studies!  Gasp!  Could it be that greenmomster was WRONG?  Well, let’s take a closer look. 

A TED talk by Allan Savory discussed how to avoid desertification by using grazing animals.  An article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences discussed cutting greenhouse gases on the supply side (more efficient land use in meat production; more industrialization of farming) rather than trying to change the consumption side (getting folks to eat less meat through carbon taxes).   Both of these presentations address public policy and how to decrease climate change; they make two assumptions:  1)  folks will continue to demand meat, and 2)  the demand will increase as income increases.  Both of these presentations have valuable information on the possible policy implications of their research.  Both should be studied by policy makers to ensure we get the result – decreasing greenhouse gases from agricultural production – that we want to see.  The studies don’t address individual choices. 

Greenmomster’s goal is to educate folks to make the most practical environmental decisions at an individual level.  The short answer to the question, “Should we still eat low on the food chain?” is Yes!  As you can see from the graphic below, eating low on the food chain leads to the least resource intensive diet.  While the studies referenced above address how public policy might address greenhouse gases from food production, at an individual level, it’s greenest just to reduce your meat consumption.  Unless you live in an extremely cold climate where the growing season is too short to supply enough local food for the year, eating as little meat as possible is still the greenest alternative. 

Sources:
Campbell, N.A. and J.B. Reece, M.R. Taylor, E.J. Simon, J.L. Dickey.  2008.  Biology, Concepts and Connections, 6th Edition.  Pearson, Benjamin Cummings, San Francisco.  p. 754.
Havlik, P., et al. 2014.  Climate Change Mitigation Through Livestock System Transitions.  PNAS published ahead of print February 24, 2014, doi:10.1073/pnas.1308044111.