Sustainable Eating

Plant-based eating: It's one of the most important facets of environmental sustainability, but I've hesitated to write this for many months. Most of us tend to be very defensive of our food choices and habits. Food is an important part of our culture.  Eating is one of the most important things that we do each day, and it's so ingrained in our lives that it's difficult for many of us to think about larger implications. But - we must. It would be negligent to never use this space  to discuss the extremely wasteful dietary practices that have consumed our society.

You may not know this (many do not), but eating meat not only sucks for animals, it's also terrible for the planet. Here are some facts about animal agriculture that you may not be aware of:

1. Animal agriculture is responsible for 18% of greenhouse gas emissions, more than the exhaust from all combined transportation systems (which is responsible for approx.13%). It is therefore one of the biggest contributors to climate change.

2. Livestock is responsible for 65% of all human-related emissions of nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas with 296X the global warming potential of carbon dioxide. It stays in the atmosphere for 150 years.

3. US methane emissions from livestock and natural gas are nearly equal.

4. Animal agriculture water consumption ranges from 34-76 trillion gallons annually.

5. Growing feed crops for livestock consumes 56% of water in the US.

6. 2500 gallons of water are needed to product one pound of beef.

7. 5% of water consumed in the US is by private homes. 55% of water consumed in the US is for animal agriculture.

8. Livestock or livestock feed occupies 1/3 of the earth's ice-free land.

9. A farm with 2,500 dairy cows produces the same amount of waste as a city of 411,000 people.

10. Animal agriculture is responsible for 91% of Amazon destruction (and 1/2 acres of rainforest are cleared every second).

11. Humans are currently growing enough food to feed 10 billion people (the entire planet plus some!), but we are feeding much of this food to livestock instead. It is much more efficient to feed the food directly to people - According to the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification, it takes up to 10 pounds of grain to produce just 1 pound of meat.

12. 82% of starving children live in countries where food is fed to animals, and the animals are eaten by western countries.

The Standard American Diet (SAD), high in sugar, refined carbohydrates, and meat, is responsible for alarming (and increasing) rates of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and obesity. We are not only straining the planet with our over-consumption of meat, we are straining our bodies as well. High meat and dairy consumption is directly tied to increased rates of cancer and other diseases. Plant-based diets are called "extreme;" meanwhile, 1/3 of Americans are obese, cardiac and bariatric surgeries are becoming more and more common treatments for problems that can be prevented with dietary changes, and 50% of adults can expect to be diagnosed with cancer within our lifetimes. We are what we eat - that is, refined grains, sugar, and dead animal tissue.And yet we expect this will have little to no affect on our health - or that healthcare will fix any and all symptoms and diseases. It will not - it does not.

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics states:


It is the position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics that appropriately planned vegetarian, including vegan, diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate and may provide health benefits for the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. These diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, adolescence, older adulthood and for athletes. Plant-based diets are more environmentally sustainable than diets rich in animal products because they use fewer natural resources and are associated with much less environmental damage. Vegetarians and vegans are at reduced risk of certain health conditions, including ischemic heart disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, certain types of cancer, and obesity.

This is not to say that every person must switch to a 100% vegan diet to make a difference in health and sustainability.  However, it's important to recognize that the American diet has become very unhealthy and that we are not eating foods that nourish us. The majority of Americans take multivitamins instead of eating foods that contain essential vitamins and minerals. We think of fruits and vegetables as "side dishes" to a "real meal" of meat and bread, when it should be the other way around! What about protein, you say? Beans, rice, oatmeal, peas, nuts, lentils, and spinach are all great sources of living protein. They can, and should, make up the majority of one's protein consumption.

Austin and I used to be full vegan, but both of us have other medical issues that make it challenging to cook entirely egg and dairy free. We have tried a few variations of veganism/vegetarianism with the overall goal of maximizing health while minimizing our carbon footprint. Here's what works for us:

1. We eat no land animals, period. No cows, no pigs, no chickens, no lamb. Reducing our consumption of land animals in particular reduces our carbon footprint immensely.  From a strictly ethical standpoint, I do not eat anything that I wouldn't kill myself. We occasionally eat fish, but as I am learning more about how toxic the ocean and its inhabitants have become due to pollution (fish and shellfish are high in PCBs, a carcinogen), I am trying to phase out fish entirely as well. What about sushi, you ask?? We can still make delicious sushi using vegetables like carrots, peppers, cucumbers, etc. and really don't even miss the fish too much.

2. We do eat eggs in moderation, primarily because it is very hard to make things gluten free, dairy free, AND egg free. However, everyone can benefit from some research on the egg industry and why it is so important to obtain eggs as ethically sourced as possible. The egg industry is incredibly abusive, not only to egg laying hens, but also to their offspring.  Finding friends with backyard chickens is a great solution. You can also buy cage free, roaming chicken eggs at more and more grocery stores as the public is becoming more informed about how ugly this industry can be.

3. We try to eat seasonally and locally. Eating plant foods is far less environmentally friendly if the plant foods you're eating are shipped by freight! Try the farmer's market. We buy large quantities of foods while they are in season and freeze them for when they're not (I still like strawberry smoothies in the winter!). Eating seasonally increases appreciation of the food, too - a peach tastes so much better when I haven't had it for 8 months! Eating local food obviously boosts the local economy and supports small businesses, while reducing the carbon footprint of meals. It also means we're getting the freshest food available!

Everyone can make changes here and there that will benefit personal health and the environment.

If being vegan is too restrictive, be vegetarian!
If being vegetarian is too intimidating, be pescetarian!
If being pescetarian is too intimidating, be a "no red meat" eater!
If cutting anything out completely is too intimidating, just commit to eating less meat; e.g. having a couple of meatless dinners each week (or only a couple of meat-based meals per week!).

Reducing consumption of meat is an essential, though too often overlooked, facet of environmentalism. It's not just about the animals. It's about our health.  It's about responsible and sustainable consumption for the earth. America's meat addiction has become very hard on our bodies, and on the planet. Reducing consumption reduces environmental impact.

Changing our diets isn't easy. It's much harder given that every media source is constantly barking at us to buy lattes, unicorn drinks, Big Macs, sodas, donuts, candy, etc. - as well as telling us that eating junk food makes for an interesting, spontaneous, and fun-filled life.  It will also put us on the path to debilitating, expensive, and fatal diseases. We need to change the way we look at food - yes, it's a part of our daily lives, and a source of enjoyment, but should it not also be a way to honor our bodies, and the Earth our provider?

Some documentaries and books that are great informational sources about the American diet and plant-based eating:

Documentaries:
Forks Over Knives - discusses Diet for Health. Watch if you are looking to improve your overall health and wellness.
Cowspiracy - discusses Diet for Environment. Watch if you want reduce your carbon footprint & resource consumption.
Earthlings - discusses ethics & animal agriculture. Watch if you are motivated by compassion for animals.
Super Size Me - (a classic!) discusses Fast Food and Health. If you eat fast food on a regular basis, start here!

Books:
The China Study - a study of Diet for Health
Eating Animals - discusses sustainable and non-sustainable agriculture
The World Peace Diet - Diet/Lifestyle as it relates to Spiritual, Ethical, and Social Harmony

Changing our diets has radically changed our lives. Our daily (and seemingly innocuous) choices affect not only ourselves, but the rest of the world. We eat 3 times a day. Let these meals become a practice of gratitude, and not abuse.

End of May

Apologies for the lack of updates lately. There are a couple reasons – first being that this is pretty routine now, so things don’t often stand out to us – and the other reason being that I’ve just been very busy with other projects other than blogging lately. We did NOT quit zero waste, it’s just becoming harder to think of things to write that don’t take a whole lot of time. So if anyone has ideas or questions to be discussed, I’m all ears!

We’re not perfect by any stretch of the imagination.. Sometimes we fail on purpose and sometimes on accident, and we’re okay with that. We’re still cutting our trash down to a tiny fraction of what it was last year. But in the spirit of honesty, I want to talk about some things that are difficult with Zero Waste.

The biggest source of trash for us, right now, is unfortunately the garden. The fact is that not everything can be purchased in sustainable packaging. Every time we buy soil (we don’t have enough compost to fill our garden), it comes in a bag. Every time we buy mulch, it comes in a bag. Every time we buy bird seed, it comes in a bag. We believe it’s important to nurture our own little ecosystem and the benefits of growing our own food and feeding the birds outweigh the burden of the trash. We are still keeping our garden trash, but separate from our household trash because it is adding up. We will probably have a full trash can of garden trash by the end of the year, but the sustainability of maintaining our garden is a worthy trade. I believe it’s important to grow food because it fosters appreciation of the time and resources that go into growing what we eat. It’s easy to forget the long journey our food takes from seed to plate but hard to forget it you pick it yourself from your backyard! :) 

There are some things that we simply won’t buy in bulk because they are too expensive. Chocolate chips are about 3x cheaper in a bag than in bulk. Same for pasta. We try to buy in sustainable packaging, but sometimes we know when we buy things that we’ll be adding trash to our pile. Last week we bought a bag of salt and vinegar chips, promptly devoured it, and added the trash to our collection.  It may be a lie to call this challenge “zero waste” because it’s obviously not ZERO, but we are going for minimal waste. Our goal is still to produce one trash can of household garbage for the year and other than garden trash, I expect we'll be successful. 

Before you assume that something isn’t recycled, make sure to check!! We thought we wouldn’t be able to buy cherries or grapes this year because they come in plastic, but it turns out the plastic is recyclable. Do some research on plastic types, what the numbers mean, and what is recyclable curbside in your area.  Some types of plastic cannot be recycled curbside, but can be recycled at convenient drop-off locations like the front of the grocery store where they take #2 and #4 bags. Any other #2 and #4 plastics can be recycled there too!

I was asked several months ago to post about composting. I am BY NO MEANS an expert on composting, and there are many ways you can do it, and I encourage everyone to do research on types of composting to figure out what’s right for you. You can compost from anywhere, without anything fancy, and even without a yard. People compost in their garages, kitchens, patios, etc. We do vermicomposting with a tumbling bin. There is a lot of literature out there about the appropriate carbon to nitrogen (e.g. brown to green) ratio for compost, but the fact is that kitchen scraps will compost even with a less-than-ideal C:N ratio is, just at varying speeds. We keep worms in our compost to speed up the process and they turn our scraps into dirt lickety-split. Obviously since we have worms, our compost is kept in the shade, whereas if you do not have worms and want quick composting, you should keep it in a sunny place.  This is our first summer with worms, so it’ll be interesting to see how they adapt to the heat. 

Here’s an EPA link that discusses the different types of composting. Take a peek and see if one of them is right for you! The biggest advantage to composting is that you are keeping food waste out of the landfill. In the landfill, food cannot break down properly due to the sheer amount of waste, and so it releases toxic greenhouse gases like methane as it sits and ferments. By composting, you’re taking over 50% of your waste out of the “waste management” cycle of weekly pickup, dumping, incineration, burial, and gas emission. You can then turn your compost into nutrient-rich soil for your own garden. Composting takes very little effort, but makes a HUGE difference. Please try it!!

Since we haven’t done a trash update in awhile, here we go. Our bag is about half full (or half empty??). We like to treat ourselves once in awhile, even if it will create some trash, because we are far from perfect and we also like to enjoy ourselves. But we are also enjoying NEVER having to drag the trash can out to the road on Tuesdays, and eating whole plant foods most of the time, and learning new things about sustainability and how we can do our part to alleviate the strain that our consumption has on the planet. Thanks for following along guys.

Numbers

Welcome to Planet Earth where we have:

45,000 Subways

23,000 Starbucks

36,000 McDonalds

30,000 African Lions

20,000 Polar Bears

5,000 Snow Leopards

3,500 Tigers

1,800 Grizzly bears

700 Mountain gorillas

SAD. Maybe we should all try to value life a little more, and commodities a little less. 

7 Days of Chia

I've mentioned before that ZW has forced us to get more creative in the kitchen. We have a lot of staple "new age" ingredients that we use in almost all our recipes, but we are learning more and more ways to use them to diversify our palates.

My parents (a financial planner + a bankruptcy paralegal) raised me to be extremely frugal and so one of the things I CANNOT STAND is wasted food. It's also terrible that the earth produces all of the resources to feed every single person on earth (GO EARTH!!) if we weren't so bad at resource allocation and waste. We try our hardest not to throw food away, so I start acting like a madwoman when I see that something is nearing expiration because we MUST USE IT ALL UP IMMEDIATELY. (We experienced this with almond meal last month so we ate a lot of grain-free muffins.)

CHIA SEEDS are extremely nutrient dense, full of fiber, protein, Omega 3s, calcium (great source for vegans!), manganese, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, B vitamins, potassium, and antioxidants. They're extremely versatile and can be added to tons of dishes, beverages, and desserts.

I noticed that our chia seeds were expiring and so my mission was to use them up in a week. Here's our 7 days of chia (click for recipe or ingredients listed if no recipe.):


Day 1: Chia Energy Bites

<-Day 2: Chickpea and Beet Bowl with Cilantro Chia Pesto
Chickpeas and red onion sautéed in olive oil + turmeric, spiralized beets, and pesto (cilantro, olive oil, parmesan, chia, spirulina, salt + pepper)

Day 3: Chia and Fruit Smoothie ->
Frozen strawberries, pineapple or banana, almond milk, 1 tsp. honey, 2 tbsp. chia seeds, 1 tbsp. hemp seeds - blend! (find reusable straws here.)



<- Day 4: Chia and Spirulina Popcorn  
Chia, spirulina, nutritional yeast, salt & pepper - blend in food processor and mix with popcorn as seasoning. Superfood popcorn!

Day 5: Chia Fruit Leather (AKA natural fruit roll ups) ->
blend 4 cups strawberries with 3 tbsp. chia, pour into baking sheet and cook 3-4 hrs @ 220 degrees. cut into strips.


Day 6: Gluten Free Chia Pancakes

<-Day 7: Peanut Butter & Chocolate Chia Pudding 







CHIA OUT.

End of February

 Today it is March and it is also the beginning of Lent. I'm not giving anything up for Lent (although I do want to scale down my Facebook usage) but instead I am trying to take on some things that bring glory to God like...LEARNING SPANISH!! I had 5+ years of Spanish instruction in school but haven't used it conversationally in nearly 10 years, which is sad, especially considering my profession. I think that the ability to communicate with someone in their native language is a powerful and selfless way to show respect and understanding, and it deepens relationships. Sometimes I'll have clients who don't even know each other in the office at the same time and they will speak to each other in their common language because at the most basic level, they have that in common. It's a beautiful way to forge relationships with people and I wish I had made this a priority earlier. I feel that learning a second language in a world where everyone else is expected to speak English is a way to tell people that they matter, their culture, histories, and legacies matter. Language learning has always been tough for me, but Austin had classes more recently than me and so we are going to try to improve together. We also want our children to be bilingual, so we need to get a head start!

We have settled into a pretty natural rhythm with our Zero Waste efforts and are finding what works for us and what doesn't, like:

1. New breakfast item: Chocolate Banana Muffins. I've made these for Austin for the past month on Sundays and they last him the whole week. Trick for ripening bananas quickly so they are ready for bread: Put the bananas in a paper bag and close the bag. They will release ethylene that quickens the ripening process (putting an apple in there will also ripen them faster). This trick works for other fruits like avocados, peaches, and pears as well!

2. Up til now, we have been buying bread (for Austin; I can't eat bread) at the bakery and wrapping it in a towel so we don't get a bag. Fresh bakery bread is pretty expensive. A few weeks ago, though, my parents gave us their bread machine since they don't use it anymore. Austin has been pumping out loaves ever since and they are turning out really well! The first thing he made with it was a grilled cheese, and when he was eating it I mentioned that it looks like Zaxby's bread. He said it tastes like Zaxby's bread. (How I miss Zaxby's bread). It ends up costing about $1.50 per loaf with all of the ingredients. This was super cool and we are enjoying not having to buy bread anymore!

3. We finished toilet training our cat, FINALLY!!!  I'm so excited and proud of her because we've been working on this for a loooong time. (Yes, I know this is one of those things that makes a person "weird," but I invite you to be weird with us because this is pretty cool and convenient). We stopped using clay kitty litter over 2 years ago because it gave me terrible migraines (clay cat litter is also non-decompostable and filled with toxic chemicals that are harmful to both humans and kitties). We used a toilet training kit and since we have an extra toilet in our house, we just let her take her sweet time in getting used to it.  It's also really funny listening to our cat use the toilet like a human. If you don't want to toilet train your cat but want to use an eco-friendly cat litter, there are corn, wheat, paper, and even walnut based litters on the market that do the job without creating hazardous waste. If I can catch her on the toilet one of these days, I'll post a photo, but here she is at our old apartment when we began training her. (No, she doesn't wipe. No, she doesn't flush. Rude.)

Invasion of Privacy

4.  Zero Waste Fail: TOOTHPASTE.  When I made our second batch of toothpaste, we used it for about a week before I said to Austin, "This isn't really working for me. What do you think?" He agreed that our homemade toothpaste was not really cutting it and we weren't brushing our teeth for long enough and that we wanted to use toothpaste again. So, we researched brands and bought some Kiss My Face toothpaste. The first time I used it, after months of using coconut oil, I said to Austin "This is the most amazing  experience" and he agreed. We have decided toothpaste is something we're not willing to compromise on, but now we have a newfound appreciation for toothpaste and almost every day we remark on how amazing our teeth feel and how grateful we are for toothpaste. I never had such appreciation for toothpaste before (it's something we've always taken for granted), but this challenge has done that for us.

5. A few people have asked about our diet and how what we eat is related to Zero Waste. Austin eats a pretty normal pescetarian diet heavy on carbs, nuts, and fish. I eat a lot of vegetables, fruits, and eggs. We both drink an inordinate amount of tea. I'll share a post soon that goes into more detail on what we eat and how we keep the earth in mind when we buy our food :)

6. Here is all of our trash so far this year (January and February). It seems like a lot to us, but at this rate we should achieve our goal of only one trash bag for 2017.

January+February trash

Happy March! Hopefully we can all discover new ways to be kind to each other and the earth this month.

Dish Soap

We ran out of dish soap a couple of weeks ago and, since we are trying our hardest not to buy plastics (even recyclable ones!), I made a new batch of dish soap. Other good reasons not to use commercially produced dish soap: Most contain toxic chemicals, fragrances, preservatives, and even pesticides that are potential or known carcinogens. The toxic ingredients can leave a film on your plate, which touches your food, but you also absorb them through your skins whenever you wash dishes by hand. So for health and eco reasons, we've decided to go natural and homemade. 

This DIY uses few ingredients and only takes about 10 minutes.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup bar soap, grated (Ivory, castille, goat milk soap, etc. - any kind of soap will do. Natural grocery stores sell homemade soaps without the wrapping. Many farmer's markets do as well). We use lavender goat's milk soap and it smells amazing!
2 cups water
1 tsp. vinegar or lemon juice
1 tbsp. Dr Bronner's liquid castille soap (optional but I find this increases potency)
10-20 drops essential oil (optional)

Heat the grated soap and water in a saucepan over low or medium heat until it is all melted. Remove from heat and let cool. Add essential oil and vinegar. Pour into an old soap dispenser (this is great for foaming!). 

Make sure that the soap is completely cool before transferring to a container, especially if you are using a plastic soap dispenser. We all know that plastic seeps into liquid when heated and you don't want any petrochemical toxins in your dish soap (that's why you've gone to this trouble in the first place!). Also, there is some evidence that essential oils erode plastic. While this is usually with undiluted oils, it's always safer to skip the plastic if possible. If you're looking for glass soap dispensers, try this one or these. 

This soap smells AMAZING and gets dishes clean without any trouble. It's also so gentle on your hands that you can use it as a regular hand soap. 2 in 1 space saver, money saver, and health saver! Badabing, Badaboom.

Zero Waste Tempeh Recipe

• Tempeh is a great meat substitute (my favorite!) but it comes in two layers of non-recyclable plastic, so a no-go for our ZW challenge. I tried to make it myself and was pleasantly surprised. It turned out REALLY WELL and was not hard to make at all. I could not find a full recipe that included ZW instructions, so here's the complete run-down of how I did it:
• 
  
• 2 cups dried soybeans
• 4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• ¾ teaspoon rhizopus mould (tempeh starter) - you can purchase it here or here. One package is enough for 4 batches, which produces 4 large blocks of tempeh (e.g. 16 blocks of tempeh come from this tiny package). 

1. Soak the soybeans in water for at least 8 hours or overnight. 
2. You can dehull or not dehull (the texture is a little better if you dehull at least half. I found the easiest way is to leave them in the water and squeeze handfuls of the beans in between your fingers to dehull many at once. The husks will float to the top and you can just skim them out. 
3. After dehulling (or not), rinse the beans, put them in a large pot on the store and cover with water about an inch over the beans. 
4. Cover and cook on medium heat for about 1 hr.
5. If water level goes below the beans, refill again to about an inch above.
6. Taste test the beans - when they are almost done, add in the vinegar and continue to cook. They are done when they are soft but not mushy.
7. Drain the beans and return to heat to evaporate any remaining liquid. They should be dry to the touch. 
8. Turn off heat and cool the beans to approx. 95°Fahrenheit.
9. Add the rhizopus mould and mix thoroughly. 
10. Prepare banana leaves by cutting to the desired size.
11. Scoop out approx. 1/4 of the beans onto each banana leaf, fold the ends in, and pin shut with toothpicks. The beans should be piled about 1-1.5 in high.
    
12. After all banana pouches are filled and secured shut, place them on a flat surface (i.e. baking sheet or wood cutting board) and place a flat, heavy object on top (another wood cutting board, ceramic baking dish, etc.). Place in the oven and turn the light on but DO NOT TURN ON THE HEAT.
13. Keep in oven with light on for 12-18 hours. 
14. Then turn the light off but keep the tempeh in the oven for another 24-48 hours. Open the banana leaves every 6-12 hours during this period to check mold progress. When the mold appears solid and fills all spaces between the beans, it's ready.
15. Remove the tempeh from the banana leaves. One by one, place the block in about an inch of boiling water. Boil the block for about 1 minute on each side.
16. DONE - tempeh will keep for 1 week in the fridge or 6 months in the freezer.
    

Making tempeh, unlike making tofu, is actually FUN and it's really cool to watch the mold form. If you think eating mold or fermented food is gross, make sure to cut out cheese and sour cream, alcohol, pickles, mushrooms, most breads, and pickled/smoked meats (e.g. sausage, bacon, etc.). Eating fermented foods is natural and healthy and humans have been doing it for years! Fermentation allows natural bacterias to feed on the starches, which not only preserves the food but produces probiotics and other healthy nutrients. It is also said to make foods more digestible. Fermented plant proteins are a addition to your diet (and as an occasional substitution to meat, if you are a committed carnivore). 

If you are wondering how to cook tempeh for dishes - Here are some ways they can be seasoned and added to dishes. My favorite way to use tempeh is to cook it in 1 tsp. of soy sauce on the stove (about 2 min. each side) and use it in a wrap, with salad, etc. It can be marinated and used in any dish you would typically use chicken or beef in. 

The guidelines I followed to create my recipe are here and here. The first link provides instructions for making tempeh in plastic bags, if you don't have access to banana leaves (If you don't have a banana tree, ask family/friend/neighbor if you can have a leaf off their tree! You can also buy banana leaves at Asian grocery markets.)

Happy fermenting!