Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 2: Weekly Update

Last week was the beginning of my attempts to achieve my SMART goal. The goal, which stated that I will eat/drink no more than 1 serving (2 oz cheese, 1 cup milk, 1 yogurt, etc) of dairy once a week, proved to be about as difficult as I thought it would be. Yeah, it was pretty tough. I might have slipped a couple of times here and there, mostly with cheese. For the most part I did really well and used salt, hot sauce, salsa and spices to provide more flavor in my attempts to avoid cheese. This made me feel a lot healthier but was difficult to keep up for very long, especially when eating with other people.

mmmm cheese

Luckily, I've devised a method to prevent this from happening again- For each time I eat dairy when I'm not supposed to, I will put one dollar in a "no-dairy jar". Hopefully this will give me some more motivation not to slip up.

I'd really like to continue this SMART goal and see the changes in my health as time goes on. Hopefully with the help of my friends and my trusty no-dairy jar I will make progress towards achieving my goal.

Blogged for the Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 2 hosted by Amy@Amy in the Rain

Advocacy Project: Healthy People/THOMAS

Healthy People Goal: Reduce the number of new cancer cases as well as the illness, disability, and death caused by cancer (Focus area 3. Cancer).

Objective 3-1: Reduce the overall cancer death rate.
(There are no sub-objectives for Objective 3-1)

According to the Progress Quotient Chart for objective Objective 3-1, there has been a 17% improvement towards the objective. Considering this objective is by far the most all-encompassing objective in Focus area 3, this improvement is exceptional. Several of the other objectives did have higher improvement rates and some have already been met (Reducing incidence of prostate cancer deaths, for example). Overall it seems there has been improvement towards meeting most objectives in focus area 3- reducing the number of new cancer cases.

Progress: The progress made towards objective 3-1 can be largely attributed to tobacco control efforts made during the 1980's and 90's. Increased screening for colorectal, cervical, and breast cancer also accounted for progress towards meeting objective 3-1.

Disparities: Unfortunately there were some disparities regarding the extent to which this objective was met across various populations. In terms of race and ethnicity, the overall cancer rate was reduced the most for those of Asian, native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander descent while black non-hispanics were the farthest from this rate by 100% or more. Females with at least some college education also saw the highest rates of improvement compared to Males (who differed by up to 50%) and those who only completed some high school or graduated high school alone (up to 99% difference). No information was available regarding income or disability disparities for objective 3-1.

Opportunities/Challenges: There wasn't much information provided regarding challenges to obtaining objective 3-1. Opportunities however, seem to rely on the collaboration of Federal agencies, State and local health departments, primary care providers, large employers and health care companies. Uniting these different agencies and increasing collaboration will create more opportunities to decrease disparities and provide the needed support for cancer prevention. Attaining objective 3-1 also depends upon progress in many other focus areas as well (Access to Quality Health Services, Education and Community-based Programs, Health Communication, etc).

Emerging Issues: The biggest issue regarding objective 3-1 is related to determining which methods of cancer prevention are the most successful. Monitoring the effects of different interventions on reduction of death rates related to cancer will assist in pinpointing which methods deserve the most attention in upcoming years in the ongoing battle against cancer related illness death and disability.

THOMAS
H.R. 1927- Assuring and Improving Cancer Treatment Education and Cancer Symptom Management Act 2009.


Title: To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide comprehensive cancer patient treatment education under the Medicare Program and to provide for research to improve cancer symptom management.  


Sponsor: Rep Israel, Steve [NY-2] (introduced 4/2/2009)


Latest Major Action: 4/2/2009 referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned


Recommendation: Vote YES for H.R. 1927 Assuring and Improving Cancer Treatment Education and Cancer Symptom management act 2009. 


My Political Representatives:  Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken

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.

Advocacy Project: My Political Representatives

President: 

Barack Obama (DFL)

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20500

(202) 456-1111

Congresspeople:

House:

Keith Ellison (DFL)

2100 Plymouth Avenue N
Minneapolis, MN 55411
Phone: (612) 522-1212

Senate:

Amy Klobuchar (DFL)

302 Hart Senate Office Building

Washington, DC 20510

(202) 224-3244

Al Franken (DFL)

60 East Plato Blvd

Suite 220

Saint Paul, MN 55107

(651) 221-1016

Governor (Due to a mandatory recall, this result is merely hypothetical at this point): 

Mark Dayton (DFL)

800 Minnehaha Avenue East, Suite 201

St. Paul, MN 55106

(651) 797-3600

State Legislators:

House:

Jim Davnie (DFL)

545 State Office Building
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Saint Paul, Minnesota 55155
651-296-0173 

Senate:

Patricia Torres Ray (DFL)

75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

Capitol Building, Room 124

St. Paul, MN 55155-1606

(651)296-4274

County Board President (Hennepin County):

Mike Opat

300 S. 6th St. 

A2400 Government Center 

Minneapolis, MN 55487-0241

(612)348-7881

Mayor (Minneapolis, MN):

R.T. Rybak

City Hall, Room 331
350 South Fifth Street
Minneapolis, MN 55415
(612) 673-2100

Share and Voice: Urban Bike Rentals

Earlier today while I was thinking of putting my bike away for the year (It's too chilly for me, I'm a wimp) I remembered this cool program I read about a while ago and thought I'd share with all of you.

Photo Courtesy of http://www.niceridemn.org/explore_by_bike/

In Minneapolis this past June an organization called Nice Ride Minnesota opened 65 bike rental locations throughout the metro area. I think this is such a great idea because it provides people with healthier more eco-friendly (yet easily accessible) transportation options.


This bike rental system requires a subscription ($60/year or $50/year for students) and once you have subscribed you can rent a bike any time day or night. If you return the bike to another bike station within 30 minutes, you incur no additional charge. For trips longer than that (or if you somehow forget to return your bike) additional charges apply.

With a variety of bike rental locations all over the place, this system would be a great cost-effective and environmentally friendly way to get around town (especially for students).

I'm not sure how well this would go over in Duluth (even though I know everyone loves biking uphill) but I just thought I'd share this really cool idea with you all.

Reflection: Weeks 5-8

It’s hard to believe we’re all done with the second portion of this course already! I found these past few weeks to be really interesting and fun. Here’s a summary of the things I learned these past few weeks:

We all had a chance to finish the books we chose for our Read N’ Seed assignments by week 7. I think we all had the opportunity to learn a lot from this experience, not only from reading our own books but by following our group members posts as well. The book I chose, The Organic Food Guide: How to Shop Smarter and Eat Healthier, helped me learn a lot about organic foods (why they’re better for you, how to incorporate it into your diet, how to find good prices, etc). 

We also had the opportunity to learn from several eye-opener activities. First, we all looked up one or more cosmetic products we use frequently and entered it in the environmental working group’s cosmetic safety data base. The website then calculates the relative safety of any of the products you enter (in my case, Aveeno moisturizing lotion) by telling you the toxic ingredients, and what possible health risks may be associated with the contents of the cosmetics. Overall I learned a lot from this activity and I think it encouraged many of us to change the products we use on our body every day. 

The other eye opening activity was related to junking/reusing old products for new purposes. For this assignment, we began by looking up local resources where we could find used clothing, goods and services. I found this aspect of the assignment particularly interesting and practical because many of these resources we can all put to practical use (I plan on checking out a few new thrift stores and shops in the near future). For this assignment we also had the opportunity to access the junkmarketstyle webpage peruse the variety of projects posted there. We then got to choose at least 3 projects that interested or inspired us which I’m sure gave many of us a lot of excellent ideas regarding how we can reuse things we would normally throw away (and it probably helped us get ideas for our junking projects). 

The videos we watched in class were also very interesting and I felt like I learned a great deal from them. We watched the documentary Fresh in week 6, which discussed industrial farming and agricultural practices in the United States. I learned a lot from this film about the harmful aspects of this type of farming and mass industry, and also had the opportunity to learn about the benefits of local, more sustainable farming practices. We also watched the documentary Tapped which discussed the detrimental aspects of the bottled water industry in the United States. This movie basically opened my eyes to the fact that the bottled water idea is actually really way too expensive, toxic, harmful to small communities, unregulated (for the most part, by the FDA), and CRAZY. 

Overall I learned a great deal the past few weeks, from the course material, eye opening activities, and my fellow blogmates. I think these environmental health topics are really exciting and inspiring and I look forward to learning more throughout the rest of the course. 

Eye Opener: Junk on the Brain

Part I

Antiquing: Antiquing is a process of seeking out, shopping for, buying, selling, or trading antiques. This can be done at garage sales, estate sales, etc. Antiques themselves are older decorative objects or household items.

Junk: Any old or discarded material such as metal, paper, rags, etc.

Flea Market: A flea market is a place where a collection of used or inexpensive goods can be sold or traded.

Thrift Shop: A retail store that sells used or secondhand products at bargain prices.

Upcycling: A process that attempts to convert older useless or damaged products into higher quality more environmentally friendly products.

Resale shops: A store or shop (consignment shops, resale stores, or thrift shops) that sells gently used clothing or goods.

Part II

The terms listed above describe different ways of shopping that have less of an impact on the environment and on your wallet. By purchasing antiques, junking, or checking out a thrift store, you're helping eliminate waste that could possibly accrue if these products were not re-used. Reusing or upgrading old products is also a great way to shop more cost effectively.

To partake in this sort of shopping, here's a few options:

Antiquing: Father Time Antiques- 395 S Lake Ave #1 Duluth, MN 

(218) 625-2379

Junking: Andy’s Auto Recycling- 1040 State highway 45 Old, Carlton, MN 

(218) 384-3930

Flea Market: Hinckley Flea Market- 701 Fire Monument Road Hinckley, MN

(320) 282-6096

Thrift Shop: Savers- 1740 Mall Dr, Duluth, MN 

(218) 722-1894

Upcycling: Unable to find an upcycling resource for Duluth, MN

Resale Shop: Dannie Duluth- 932 East 4th street, Duluth, MN

(218)724-8507






Of the resources I listed I've only personally been to Savers and Dannie Duluth. Savers is great if you're looking for halloween costumes, for example, or need to dress up for any other occasions. It's also great for finding furniture and other odds and ends. Dannie Duluth is a pretty nice store for finding every day clothes at a great price. I've found lots of great brand name clothes there for fairly cheap and I highly recommend it.






Part III

I thought this was a really cool project I found on the website junkmarketstyle. I always wear hats and I also love gardening, so using old garden trowels to make a hat hanger seemed like an awesome idea to me!

I also really like this picture frame/ window project. I have a lot of photos and finding frames or thinking of clever ways to hang them up is always a challenge for me. I thought this was very creative and I plan to spice up my photos using similar framing techniques. 

Lastly, I thought this was a really cool idea for a coffee table. Having the old buckets built right in seems like a good plan to me. Coffee table + storage is great and I love the bright colors.