My Experience With A Whole Foods Plant Based Diet (WFPBD)

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On Tuesday our guest speaker, Justin McGonigal, came in to discuss sustainable nutrition and his personal experiences. Throughout my 3 years of being a Public Health Major whose about to graduate this spring, I have learned the importance of a healthy, balanced diet. Last year one of my Professor’s, Professor Lavelle presented us with a project that I thought was not only ridiculous, but difficult being a college student.  She had us, for a whole week experience a whole foods plant based diet and consume 2 to 3 meals a day that were strictly plant based. When she said no meat, including fish I thought that this would be the hardest thing to experience. I decided in that moment that I was not going to participate in this project, I would fake it till the end, how would she know? Well, that’s where my story begins.

When I read over the syllabus for this project I realized that not only did we have a partner, but we had to take pictures of our meals, “accountability is important for this project”…I and my bank account were officially screwed. The first of this project she wanted us and our partner to go to the grocery store and find a meal under $10; which was our budget. Que selfie with partner on aisle 7! Once we figured out what meal we wanted to make; thank you Pinterest, we were able to find all the ingredients and to my surprise we only spent $2 over our budget which wasn’t too bad. After my experience with the grocery store I started thinking that this project might actually be interesting, so I decided to actually put effort into it and ignore my doubts. Over the course of the week I learned about a whole foods plant based diet. I not only lost weight, but I looked and felt incredible, my energy levels were through the roof and my mental state was completely different, but for the better. I no longer felt depressed and anxious, I’m usually the girl that tends to “overthink” everything that goes on in my life and that even seemed to fade as well. My personal experience with this diet was overwhelming and such an incredible journey in a matter of 1 week. That summer after Junior year, I was able to share my experience and actually help someone using this knowledge that I have learned. I just didn’t expect it to be someone that was extremely close to me…that someone was my father.

The summer of 2017 my father had a blocked artery in his heart and he caught it before a heart attack could. The doctors at MUSC were incredible and saved his life by placing a stent in his heart, he say’s that he feels like a new man! All my life he’s always had elevated cholesterol levels. My father has been placed on a diet plan, but he slips up like any normal human; more so than he should. He has become a very athletic 55 year old man. He runs almost everyday, participating in marathons such as the Kiawah and Myrtle Beach marathon alongside my 26 year old sister and boy can he keep up; chicken legs! He’s even joined the Park West, Men’s Tennis League. a bunch of old men playing tennis is definitely a funny sight to see, but I’ll give it to my dad he’s the best one out on that court! I have mentioned to him lately, especially after this lecture with Justin  McGonigal that he needs to be implementing a whole foods plant based diet. I practically retold the whole lecture to him. Like any adult now a days and parent, he laughs at me and say’s that his Paleo diet is “doing just fine”! I guess I can’t blame him, no parent wants advice from their kids and he most definitely doesn’t want to say that I’m right (maybe I should email him the lecture on YouTube!). I love him and he loves me, and I will always keep bringing it up till I’m blue in the face whether he wants to listen or not. I am his daughter after all and you know what they say, the apple does not fall from the tree!

If anyone would like any information on recipes or general information I have a public Pinterest board dedicated strictly for a whole foods plant based diet! I am lactose intolerant and there’s even a recipe for vegan mac and cheese and it’s INCREDIBLE! Here is my link https://www.pinterest.com/lostgirls13/plant-based-diet-recipes/  ENJOY 🙂

Not Just Water

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The text is “Not just water” and the subtext would be more about what is in the water and how we, the people, are contaminating water and how it is affecting society (baby bottle) and the severity of the issue. I found this image on Pinterest and I do not have anymore information from where the image was taken from, but I believe their goal was to make people really think and see this image emotionally and see that pollution is a real issue. I also believe this poster may have a correlation with the Flint, Michigan Water Crisis of 2014. Where because of the river water corroded city pipes, the pipes leached lead into drinking water and almost a 100,000 people were potentially affected by the contamination. The motherly point of view is portrayed in this poster to pull on heart strings and draw towards an ethical point of view. The value of life is demonstrated, and a common lifestyle of using regular drinking water to add to formula for bottles. I found this image to be extremely powerful and eye-catching.

Link to picture: www.pinterest.com/pin/148126275215558896
“Ads & Publicity.” Pinterest, www.pinterest.com/pin/148126275215558896.

News Report- Overfishing

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The article that I came across was titled “Ending overfishing would stop the population declines of endangered bycatch species about half the time”. The source of the article came from a study conducted by the University of California- Santa Barbra and was published on the 15th of March 2018. The study mainly focuses on the issue of overfishing and the negative affects that come along with it. The article also makes a point to mention what/who is affected. The concept of overfishing is when fishers/fisheries are excessively fishing, which is ultimately causing decline in populations of fish and other species that are caught during fishing. It is an unsustainable use of the ocean! However, overfishing does not only occur in the ocean. Other areas that are affected are ponds, rivers, and lakes. An important question to ask is: why is overfishing happening? Today, fishing fleets are 2-3 times larger than what is actually necessary to catch fish. They are catching fish more than its ecosystem is able to recover/reproduce these fish and other species. There is also a lack of protection for these areas, which could regulate how large fisheries operate. Another problem is the mindset of fisheries who believe in open access, which refers to catching as much as possible neglecting the idea of leaving fish in the ocean. During fishing there are other species such as: mammals, turtles, and birds, that are unintentionally caught. They are known as bycatch. The article mentions that by ending overfishing populations that are on the verge of being endangered have the ability to make recoveries. When these marine species are endangered, it not only effects that population, but the oceans biodiversity as well. The article was very interesting because it had many associations with what we discuss in class. For example, the concept of the ecological footprint. Also, how unsustainable practices, like overfishing, is causing populations to deplete. If overfishing continues there will be several things that will be impacted. Certain species of fish will become endangered or extinct, which will ultimately create an endless trend. Therefore, when one species becomes extinct fisherman and fisheries will venture to other species. Eventually there won’t be anything left to fish for. Once this occurs fishers will go out of business, leaving behind a major problem that could have been regulated and prevented. After learning about this issue, I had other concerns and questions. I wanted to know what areas, city and state wise, are mainly impacted by overfishing. I also question whether these areas had any policies that could regulate the problem. The article suggests that in order to save endangered bycatch populations the fisheries would have to choose between two things. The first idea was that they would have to limit their amount of fishing, however they would be sacrificing profits that they receive. Another idea is to improve their technology that is used to fish with the aim of avoiding bycatch. The co-author of the experiment Rebecca Lewison, stated that, “Recognizing the benefits of rebuilding fisheries to endangered populations allows us to also focus attention on other key sources of endangered species mortality, like egg poaching, invasive species, pollution and habitat loss.” The article wasn’t biased at all, it simply focuses on the effects of overfishing as well as the benefits of ending it.  The article was very informing and eye opening to me.

Image result for overfishing bycatch

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180315155449.htm

What’s Cookin’ ?

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Good evening ya’ll! My post is about my new found love for cooking and whole food plant-based meals! Professor Saunder’s boyfriend really inspired this interest – I began looking up recipes right after the lecture on Tuesday. I found a website: http://forksoverknives.com, where I found numerous recipes to help me transition to a whole-food, plant-based diet. So far I have cooked/prepared four meals including the ones shown below and Apple Oat Pancakes (yum). I have been pleasantly surprised at how the meals have turned out because I’m a newbie at best when it comes to cooking, but the recipes are so outrageously delicious that it’s hard to mess up. One cool thing is that Forks over Knives has even gotten me to consume Apple Cider Vinegar, a product I never thought I would swallow due to the smell alone.

I highly recommend checking out what a whole-food, plant-based diet has to offer if you haven’t already. http://forksoverknives.com is a great place to begin because the recipes are easy to follow and the ingredients are conveniently listed for each meal. In addition, there is a documentary on Netflix titled Forks Over Knives that should be interesting to watch, I know I’m going to. Enjoy the pictures I captured from tonight and let me know if you plan to get cooking, maybe we can together! 🙂

Sweet potato with chick pea chili! 

Raw Apple Crumble cake from Forks Over Knives! SOOO GOOD

Gina helped cook tonight’s dinner 🙂 Friends make it so much easier.

 

Here’s What I’ve Made So Far:

https://www.forksoverknives.com/recipes/raw-apple-crumble/#gs.2mXlLs0

https://www.forksoverknives.com/recipes/baked-sweet-potatoes-stuffed-chickpea-chili/#gs.7GWQGvk

https://my.forksmealplanner.com/#!/recipe/593/apple-oat-pancakes

https://my.forksmealplanner.com/#!/recipe/643/quinoa-green-goddess-bowl

 

Thank you:)

Wall-e; the environmentally woke robot.

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I want to use this blog to discuss how the Pixar movie Wall-e was not only cute, but an environmentally woke film. In the movie Wall-e; an empty, waste filled earth is shown as the current state of the planet. I feel this is one example (extreme perhaps) of what the future of our planet could look like. I believe this movie is a good representation of the result of our actions if we don’t get on the right track of reducing the damage that we do every day to the only Earth we have.

Not only does it show a polluted, trashed Earth, but they show in other aspects of the movie how we as a society live the lives of consumers. During the movie the humans are shown as overly obese people who ride in floating chairs on a space ship that they live inside of instead of Earth. The Spaceship is run by a brand “Buy N Large” that keeps the people on an endless cycle of buying their products and living in and off of everything Buy N Large. The food is junk and keeps the people fat and lazy and continuously living of off these products. This is a good representation of how our society is run off of consumerism. We keep these big businesses like McDonald’s and Burger King running, when all they are doing is putting bad food into us. This cycle is not just affecting our health and the way we live but, it’s effecting the health of the earth by all the waste these companies produce. In Wall-e the earth is full of piles of metal and garbage, much like our landfills are. If we don’t change our waste to Biodegradable or something of that nature, eventually our planet will fill up too, and we will have to find our own ship to live on.

It also goes along with the nutrition discussion we had because everyone was obese and the ship ran off of their cravings for junk food. Americans today are overly obese and our society runs off of these cravings, like I said above. Although the movie is obviously exaggerated, it still gives an idea of the future of our health if we don’t get it together in the next few centuries. If we don’t stop our pollution and consumption of bad products and fast food, we will all be obese and living on an aircraft floating above an abandoned, and damaged earth.

Towards the end of the movie, Wall-e finds a small sprout from a plant and protects it in order to show it to the people, which eventually leads to hope; a hope that there is a future to live on earth again. However, I don’t think we should have to get to that point. If we as a society can continue to put forth the effort in making changes that prevent more harm being done to our planet, I believe that we can eventually make the earth a better, more livable place for us and the other creatures we share it with. And just maybe, we can stall the building of large Spaceships.

SoFi

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Last Wednesday, scientists of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology revealed SoFi, a soft robotic fish. The New York Times claims that its purpose is to observe the life and habitat of fish, which scientists believe to be conceivable because of SoFi’s ability to mimic a real fish. Scientists across the globe have experimented with robot fish in the past, but SoFi is noted as a more advanced robot fish. PhD Robert Katzschmann stated that, to his knowledge, SoFi is the first robotic fish to swim untethered in 3D for extended periods of time. SoFi is water proof, runs off of battery power similar to smartphones, and has the ability to control its own buoyancy and weight distributions. This fish also has a camera, a two-way hydrophone, environmental sensors, an operating system, and a communication system. SoFi is relevant to society in part that it may become more prevalent in the future. Scientists foresee SoFi being a pollution tracker, environmental monitor, and a piece of collective intelligence. Scientists also believe that it can be essential to understanding and protecting marine life, therefore, future investments in robotic fish are highly possible. In relevance to our class, SoFi is a great demonstration of the assumptions made within mainstream economics. The first assumption being that environmental issues that arise can always be fixed with technological innovations. Secondly, the economy uses the environment as a supply depot to better equip the economy. For instance the majority of the New York Times article brags about how flattering and informative this experiment will be as humans get to explore the habitat and behavior of fish species from the perspective of a fish and “uncover the mysteries of marine life”. Scientists are taking advantage of marine life for their own entertainment and technological advancement without thinking of the repercussions to marine species. For instance, the lead scientists of the SoFi experiment stated, “If a shark would have come and ate our fish, that would have been the most amazing footage”. What about the shark’s health after ingesting this high-tech device? Will this robotic fish make matters more complicated in its potential efforts in benefiting endangered environments? Why spend tons of money on an unsustainable piece of technology that’s bound to have malfunctions? I don’t see robotic fish being dependable solutions for environmental endangerments. There’s a possibility that SoFi may be making these environments more vulnerable all while stealing the attention of scientists from environmental health concerns and steering them towards making more efficient robotic fish. The first time I read through this article I became greatly biased against SoFi and did not see any reason for investing in such a thing. One reason for becoming biased came about after making the connection with mainstream economics and its heavy intrinsic value in the economy over the environment. The main reason was due to the author’s ironic title choice, “Robotic Fish to Keep a Fishy Eye on the Health of the Oceans”. The title gave me the impression that SoFi was made with the intent of protecting and resolving endangerments of marine environments, which is not the case. Katzschmann admits that the primary goal of the robotic fish was to provide an advanced tool for biologists.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/21/science/robot-fish.html

MIT reveals soft robotic fish for documenting marine life

Event Blog- Service Opportunity MEDLIFE

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As many of you may have seen via social media or heard from your friends, the College of Charleston MEDLIFE chapter sent 47 students to Lima, Peru to work on community development projects. MEDLIFE stands for Medicine, education, and development for low income families everywhere. The trip consisted of a reality tour (in which we toured the villages surrounding lima to understand their access to basic needs such as sanitation, plumbing, electricity, water, etc.). Four days of mobile clinics in which CofC students assisted on everything from general doctors’ visits, pap smears and mammograms, and filling cavities and extractions. And on one other day students built a staircase so people could access their homes safely and transport items up and down without the worry of falling. In addition to this building stair cases helps these people access land titles which in turn can help them break the cycle of poverty since a large majority of them are illegally squatting. These Immigrants come from areas of rural Peru and Venezuela where they are fleeing in hope to gain access to education, medicine, and an all-around better life in Lima. Poverty is a wicked problem which MEDLIFE actively works to solve through the holistic approach of working hand in hand with the community to provide education, medicine, and development. At the core, MEDLIFE believes working with the community side by side will prove to be a more sustainable relationship rather than relying on donations and aid alone. This is especially critical when local governments change all the time cutting funding and access. There is environmental resistance such as access to food, shelter, and disease which limit the amount of people able to live in these areas sustainably. Carrying Capacity varies from village to village which reflects the access to resources, standards of living, technology and electricity, and waste generation. These villages currently have no waste disposal system in place so they bury their garbage or leave it to disintegrate which negatively impacts their health. MEDLIFE’s mission has similar aspects to that of Hans Rosling’s teachings. That in order to improve child survival allowing developing countries or regions need to have access to resources, medicine, and education and the western worlds role to lead by example. One huge influence that MEDLIFE also draws their inspiration from is a man named Paul Farmer. He is most known from the term coined ‘Structural Violence’ which in an essence means the systems we have in place inadvertently create barriers to access fundamental needs such as education, medicine, and development. It is my hope that by reading this you all become more interested in issues in development and the importance of becoming a global citizen to combat these complex system problems we have. Paul Farmer has lots of wonderful work and I encourage you to research him more. Also linked is the MEDLIFE website. You do not have to be a member to attend a service learning trip and they happen every year. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to reach out to me (hesskr@g.cofc.edu) if you’re craving to have your eyes opened to the world. https://www.medlifemovement.org/ You can also follow MEDLIFE on social media: (Instagram)@medlifecofc . Our next meeting is April 4th 7-8pm in SSMB 203 in which students will be sharing their experiences. I highly recommend you attend if interested there will be food.

 

A Blue Vision: A Bright Future For Our Oceans Lecture

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On February 12th, the South Carolina Aquarium hosted a lecture called “A Blue Vision: A Bright Future for Our Oceans”. The lecture was given by David Helvarg, an author of several books including “Blue Frontier: Dispatches from America’s Ocean Wilderness”, a journalist, and the executive director of a marine conservationist activist organization called Blue Frontier Campaign. Upon arriving, guests were guided to the Great Ocean Tank where the lecture took place. The room featured a variety of sea creatures including eels and fish. The setting of the lecture was moving, given that the lecture was about issues endangering the ecosystems in which the animals around us that are in the wild rely on. Guests were also provided with complementary food and refreshments upon their arrival. The food selection mainly included healthy and organic options. The food was served on biodegradable plates while the refreshments were served using recycled and plastic-free cups.

During the time when guests were arriving to the aquarium and many of us were enjoying our refreshments, I had a chance to talk with a few of the attendees who regularly attend the environmental lectures hosted at the aquarium. It was interesting to talk with some of them, as I got to understand some of their backgrounds and why environmental activism was so significant to them. The audience contained approximately 30 people varying in age. Though age is not important in this context, it was encouraging to see how environmental activism can appeal to people of all different ages.

Roughly half-an-hour after providing guests with food and refreshments, Helvarg was introduced to the podium to give his lecture. Helvarg, an environmentalist who specializes in marine conservation, gave an hour-long presentation discussing critical issues that are impacting the sustainability of the oceans. His presentation was effective at conveying his passion, as he shared stories about how the oceans have impacted him and others. He also shared how human impacts have disrupted many of the functions of the oceans. As discussed in class, for example, the bleaching of coral reefs has had damaging effects on many parts of the world in recent years, and without change this may as well continue to happen. Other issues discussed included offshore drilling (as that is a hot-topic here in South Carolina) and rising sea water levels. The large take-away from his lecture was that the ocean impacts people and other species all throughout the world, and without its functions, future life on Earth could be jeopardized.

Promotional Picture for the March for the Ocean Walk

As the abundance and significance of impacts impacting the world’s oceans mount, Helvarg and other organizations have been driven to sponsor and arrange a walk in Washington, DC called March for the Ocean. The purpose of the walk is to influence Congress to enact policies that would guard our oceans, as the sustainability of the Earth’s oceans is fundamental. The walk is set to occur on Saturday, June 9th 2018. June 9th is a significant date for marine conversationalists as it marks the start to World Ocean Weekend. If you are interested in becoming involved, you can visit the campaign’s website by clicking this link: https://marchfortheocean.org/. If you also want to participate but cannot travel to Washington DC, there are other ways you can contribute to their cause listed on their website.

Water Missions Tour

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For my global health class this semester, we had the opportunity to tour the Water Missions facility here in Charleston. Water Missions is based on Christian Values and they provide water treatment systems to developing countries that don’t have access to clean water. It was founded in 1998 right after Hurricane Mitch hit Honduras. Upon receiving requests for multiple water treatment systems for Honduras, two environmental engineers, Molly & George Green, took action to build a water treatment system. Upon arrival to Honduras, they were shocked by what they saw. The river that went through the village was contaminated with feces and harmful bacteria. The people had come to call it “The River of Death” due to the fact that everybody who drank from it, died. After the Greene’s had installed the new water system, people were still hesitant to try it which caused Molly to drink from the hose herself to prove to the people that it was safe.

Going to this place was inspiring. My Professor had actually worked for this company by conducting research for many years on the effects of their systems on different developing countries. When you go into the facility where they build these systems, the room is covered in flags of all the countries that Water Missions has helped. To date, they have helped 3,000 communities internationally.

Following every natural disaster, Water Missions partners up with FedEx to ship their water treatment systems to the countries in need. Many people don’t realize how extreme the global water crisis is. Billions of people are forced to drink dirty water everyday. This foundation is working to provide as many people as possible, clean water sources.

 

Event- CSA Presentation

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A few weeks ago in class we were introduced to Brian from Lowcountry Local First. He shared the idea of “CSAs” to us. I also recently had the opportunity to create a presentation with my internship with MUSC Sustainability on CSAs available in the Lowcountry! I will link the presentation below if you want to watch me in action!
So, what is a CSA? CSA is an acronym for Community Supported Agriculture, where members of the community purchase a “share” of a farm in order to support a local farmer. In return, the farmer gives the community member fresh produce that was grown directly from the farm.
CSA’s are a great way to support local agriculture while getting extremely fresh produce, sometimes even straight to your door. With a CSA, you are subscribing to a produce box which you can customize to your needs. Many farms have various sizes and time ranges for their boxes. While most CSAs are fruit and vegetable focused, there are even a few in the Lowcountry that provide meat and fish like Abundant Seafood!
CSA’s are sustainable for many reasons. First, you are supporting local farmers! This keeps local economy thriving and makes you feel good about where your money is going. Second, you know what’s going into your food. You are able to visit the place that your food is being grown and see the care going towards it. Third, your food will be traveling much less than produce grown in a grocery store, which is a big contender of pollution. Lastly, you are getting food at the peak of its freshness. Sure, you may not be getting your favorite berries in the middle of summer, but you will be getting the most incredible tomatoes at peak freshness!
Two of my favorite CSAs that I researched were Compost in my Shoe and Hudson Family Farm Bounty Box. Compost in my Shoe has an extensive list of drop-off areas, along with many add-on items to their already large boxes! These add-on items include honey and eggs straight from their farms as well. The Hudson Family Farm Bounty Box also has a ton of options for how big of a box you may want!
If you would like more information on CSAs or would like a recommendation on what share would suit you and your budget best, please do not hesitate to reach out!