Sunday, October 10, 2010

Eye Opener: CSPI

For the CSPI eye opener activity I chose to do the Score Your Diet because I was curious to see what my score would be like. Score your diet asks you how many servings of animals products you eat in a typical week. The categories are pork, chicken/turkey, beef, egg yolks, yogurt/milk, fish, cheese, fruit, vegetables, whole grains, and candies. It also made sure to ask if these products were fat-free, free-range, extra lean, or organic.
These are my grand total scores:
  • Health Score=45
  • Environmental Score=-26
  • Animal Welfare Score=-13
  • Uh-Oh=6
My score is pretty low so I think that means I need help!

Some of the foods I scored highest in were milk/yogurt but only when I clicked that I always make sure it is fat-free, low-fat cheese, fruit, vegetables, whole grains, and eating some organic food. I noticed that you got a higher score if you eat foods that are extra-lean, fat-free, organic, or free-range. My highest score was a 30 with fat-free milk and yogurt. Fruit and vegetables followed with scores of 16 and 14.

Some of the lowest scores I received were with milk/yogurt (when I had not clicked fat-free), cheese, beef, and chicken/turkey. My lowest score was a -30 with milk and yogurt. Cheese followed with a score of -28. It is strange how my highest and lowest scores could be the same.

I need to make the biggest change in my environmental score. I never realized how animal products really effect the environment until I took this class and test. What I can do to improve this score is decrease how many animal products I consume. I could lower my score by reducing the intake of diary products and increasing my intake of fruits and vegetables.

I was actually very surprised by my results. My pork, chicken/turkey, and beef scores were very low because I am not a big meat eater so I just assumed my scores would be pretty good. Then I realized I consume a lot of diary products during the week. By consuming less diary and eating more locally grown, organic foods I could definitely increase my scores. After seeing how animal products take away from us and require a lot of upkeep I am considering becoming a vegetarian.



3 comments:

  1. Alicia, I don't think you're alone when it comes to eating animal products and dairy. I know that I definitely consume my fair share of meat and dairy and I could and should lessen it per week from what it is. You at least know and see now that you could reduce some of your intake in certain areas and obtain it to your diet. Good post.

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  2. Alicia its crazy how taking an assesment like this can really open our eyes to certain things. Your score by no means says that you eat unhealthy there is just different things that it seems to think that you should cut down on. ( I would be really afraid to see what my score would be). I agree with you though, I never really knew how much eating animal products actually hurt the environment before taking this class. Hopefully we can learn more about it.

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  3. I Chose to do this one too and I was shocked at my results too! I think we both realized that eating less dairy and more locally grown foods will help improve not only our quiz scores but our physical enviroment as well

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