Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 1: My SMART Goal

Allright- I know I put this goal up on the chalkboard in class and it wasn’t very “SMART” at the time, but I think I’ve perfected it now. 
My SMART lifestyle change goal:
I will eat/drink no more than 1 serving of dairy (serving = 2 oz cheese, 1 cup milk, 1 yogurt,  2 tablespoons of cream-based sauces/condiments etc.) 1 time/ week (7 days). 







I consider this change to be quite eco-chic. As we’ve learned in this course, animal products are mass produced and this production bears a hefty cost for the environment and the wellbeing of people (not to mention the poor animals). Many large industrial farms provide horrible conditions for their animals, use harmful chemicals, and use unnecessarily large amounts of land. Cutting out dairy products from my diet will help me personally reduce my impact on the animals and communities that are negatively affected by industrial dairy farming.
I just don’t think dairy makes a great contribution to my life and my diet. Sure, cheese tastes GREAT but when I think about the health of cows and the pesticides and other chemicals that they ingest it doesn’t seem to make that yummy taste worth it. think this will be a great change for me because my roommate stopped eating dairy recently and I think it will be much easier to really achieve this goal with a friend on board. Cutting out cheese and milk and other products from my diet will also help me eat healthier (this will definitely be a plus with the holiday season practically upon us) since dairy products tend to be pretty high in fat and calories. 
I ate a yogurt today so I guess that’s my dairy for the WEEK. This might be tougher than I thought. I’ll keep you guys posted.

6 comments:

  1. Good SMART goal Emily! I can't believe that you are cutting down to only 1 serving of dairy a week. More power to you!

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  2. Emily, very interesting smart goal. You are so right that animal products being processed bears a heavy burden on our environment and by choosing not to eat much of it you will definitely be helping to cut down on its production. I'm not sure if I could go very long without eating or drinking dairy/animal products but I hope you fulfill your goal. Nice post.

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  3. Good goal Emily. I give you props for only doing diary products once a week! I can go without meat but cheese, yogurt, and milk are just too hard to resist for me. Since you have a roommate doing this too it should make it much easier to stay on task and get good ideas on how to substitute the diary. Good luck!

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  4. I really support you in this decision and think you are a strong person! I was just thinking that this might be hard during the holidays, but I know you can do it. Great job on tweaking your goal to make it SMART. I cannot wait to see how this goes for you!

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  5. Right on, Emily! This is a great SMART goal! It's great to cut down on animal products for the environment, PLUS it forces you to expand your palate a little (fresh fruits and veggies, anyone? :) Nice job!

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  6. Oh you got this, I totally believe in you! But I know what you mean about it being a challange because I too have tried to cut out dairy and its really hard... I have opted to buy Organic dairy since I think yogurt has some good benifits and I LOVE a cold glass of skim milk with dinner. I'm sure youll meet your goal but incase you slip the above ideas may be a good option for you too!

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