Ella Hirata

I must admit; mindful eating was a difficult habit to implement in my daily life. On days when I feel stressed out, often scrambling to finish an assignment last minute, I am not willing to sacrifice the precious time. However, I have made a conscious effort to take the time, at least once daily, to sit and enjoy a meal mindfully, even if it is my morning coffee before class. I value the time when I can take a step back from life and reflect: how was my day, what made me excited about my day, what was maybe not so great about my day, and just generally, what has been on my mind? Aside from granting me the time and space to take time for myself, I have also found a positive impact on my relationship with food. Sometimes I cannot tell the difference between being full or still hungry with distractions around. By reducing the number of distractions, I am more in tune with signs given by my body. Additionally, in one of the articles I read regarding food waste for my paper, I have also started to take smaller portions to start as you can always go back for more. Eating mindfully has been a beneficial addition to my life which I hope to continue and integrate further, making time for myself each day.

I watched a documentary once during high school about palm oil and deforestation. Subsequently, during my next grocery run, I started to look for added palm oil in foods; it is crazy how many foods are filled with this additive! To this day, I have continued to avoid the product to the best of my abilities, although I have not investigated the other main contributors. It was shocking to hear that other central contributors to deforestation are beef and soy due to their high demand. While I cannot remember the last time I ate beef or palm oil, I do frequently consume soy. I love tofu as a meat alternative, and among the large push for transitioning to plant-based products, this makes me question if this is a positive or negative shift; perhaps in terms of soy, a little bit of both. However, most shocking was learning that coffee, cocoa, and sugar are secondary contributors to deforestation -- pivotal parts of my diet! Although these are foods I consume daily, I cannot imagine living in a world comprised of desertified, barren land, a looming outcome of deforestation. Furthermore, deforestation of these crops, has also caused harm to endangered animals by destroying their natural habitats.

I started to research alternatives for these food groups central to my diet, hoping to decrease my alarming negative impact. In terms of sugar, I can switch to other alternatives such a honey and maple syrup, hoping to help with both deforestation and my sugar addiction. Although I do not think I can give up coffee during my last few quarters of college, I hope to try other alternatives, such as matcha. I already enjoy matcha, especially for the flavor and slow release of caffeine, but it is currently not a convenient option. As the quarters get busy, I find that my main priority centers around convenience and efficiency. After graduation, with more time on my hands, I hope to make this switch alongside eliminating these other harmful products.

In my last post, I talked about ways with which I try to, and hope to continue, reduce my food waste. I distinctly remember my grandma, when I was in middle school, telling me not to throw away the two-day past due carton of 2%. Skeptically, I placed the carton back in the fridge as she expressed, “That date is just a suggestion!” Even the other day, I threw away a can of beans that were past due but was questioning to my roommates, “Do these smell bad?” So, when I saw this action, I knew I had to investigate more to truly understand the meaning behind these labels, granting me the knowledge and power to make educated choices regarding, so-called "expired," food labels. Launching my investigation, I learned that best-by signifies the date correlating to best quality/flavor, sell-by refers to store inventory/shelf-life display time, and use-by relates to the date with which the product should be used for highest quality. The commonality between them all? None of the phrases relate to the safety of the product, but rather a timeline for when the products will be of upmost quality. Initially, I was shocked! To this day, I have been disposing of products which I considered spoiled, solely based on the phrasing of the language. However, now equipped with this knowledge, I will start to shift my behavior and decisions. Instead of throwing out that carton of yogurt with a best-buy date one day past, I’ll evaluate the product and save it for a snack! I will also spread the knowledge to my numerous roommates, hopefully saving me a few trips down to the trash room. Knowing this now, I believe I can continue to make conscious food decisions and efforts that result in a net reduction and positive impact.