Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 5: Final Weekly Review & Overall Project Reflection

Image Courtesy of Google Images

Weekly Overview
1. What was your SMART goal? How did you do in achieving your SMART goal?

• My SMART goal: I will eat at least 4 servings (1/2 cup) of fruits or vegetables (or a mix) every day for the next 10 weeks.
• This was my best week yet falling short only once, and it was primarily because I really wasn’t that hungry and didn’t want to eat another serving of vegetables or fruit on top of my large dinner.

2. Address successes & challenges. What strategies helped you to be successful? What challenges did you face? How did you deal with them?

• I have found a really good system of balancing my servings throughout the day, starting with a good breakfast in the morning. I am usually not very hungry in the morning so I usually just eat some fruit before I begin my day.
• The only real challenge I faced was eating too big of meals and not wanting to add a serving of fruits or vegetables to simply meet my goal.

3. What feelings did you experience? When did you feel them?

• I am still feeling about the same as the weeks prior, minus the stresses of the semester winding to an end. However instead of surrounding myself with comfort food this time around, I am instead going to resort to fruit!!

4. What did you learn this week?

• I learned that this goal is very attainable, I have also learned some neat ways to incorporate fruits and vegetables into the types of meals that I usually eat.

5. What are your plans for next week? Will you continue with the change as is? Will you modify to make it more achievable or more challenging?

• My challenges for this upcoming week are actually beginning to decrease because I am back in the swing-of-things with school. I now have some time to prepare meals and snacks the night before so I can receive the proper amount to fruit and vegetables that I am shooting for. For this week I plan to continue to do what I am doing and if all goes well, even exceed my goal.

Overview of Project

1. What was your SMART goal? Did it change at all during the project? Explain.

• My SMART goal: I will eat at least 4 servings (1/2 cup) of fruits or vegetables (or a mix) every day for the next 10 weeks.
• My smart goal remained the same throughout this project, the only exception was that I did not stop once I achieved my goal, I allowed myself to exceed it.

2. What helped you be successful? What things got in your way? How can you address these in the future?

• The things that made me successful throughout this process were making fruits and vegetables easily available to myself. When I had them attainable, I found myself snacking on them instead of junk food with out even realizing it
• The biggest thing that got in the way was, in the beginning I didn’t do a very good job of keeping fruits and vegetables around the house and I ran out on a regular basis. Also, Thanksgiving and the Wisconsin deer-hunting season provided a few bumps in the road as well.
• I am going to continue to keep fresh fruits and vegetables around the house and easily accessible as healthy snacks. I believe this is a behavior that can become a habit in no time at all

3. How did you benefit from this project? What did you learn about yourself? What did you learn about behavior change?

• In the beginning I felt like I had a bet more energy during the day and slept a bit better at night, I then kind of hit a plateau and the feeling felt natural. However now I am tired and a bit irritated, but I think that is to be expected with the semester winding down.
• Through this process I learned that I can definitely change a personal behavior as long as I completely buy into it. By supporting the behavior and surrounding myself with the means of achieving this goal it was pretty easy for me to continue my path of success.
• I learned that behavior change is completely about truly embracing the change and doing your absolute best to support that change by surrounding yourself with a positive environment.

4. How did others and/or the environment benefit from you changing this behavior?

• I’m not quite sure how others benefited from my behavior change; maybe I was a bit less irritable. But as for the environment, I believe this change can make a significant impact because it greatly reduced the amount of garbage I produced by lowering the amount of processed and packaged foods I consumed. I also could use the remains of my excess fruits and vegetables as compost.

5. Will you continue this behavior? Why or why not?
What recommendations do you have for others about making a lifestyle change?

• I will continue this behavior because there are nothing but positives that surround it. It is beneficial both from a health aspect and from an environmental aspect.
• I recommend to others seeking to make a lifestyle change, to completely buy into this change and want to make it for themselves before they decide to begin. This is so because without the support of yourself this change will continue to be nothing but a personal battle.

Blogged for the Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 5 hosted by Amy@Amy in the Rain

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 4: Weekly Update

Image Courtesy of Google Images

1. What was your SMART goal? How did you do in achieving your SMART goal?

• My SMART goal: I will eat at least 4 servings (1/2 cup) of fruits or vegetables (or a mix) every day for the next 10 weeks.
• This was my best week yet falling short only once, and it was primarily because I really wasn’t that hungry and didn’t want to eat another serving of vegetables or fruit on top of my large dinner.

2. Address successes & challenges. What strategies helped you to be successful? What challenges did you face? How did you deal with them?

• I have found a really good system of balancing my servings throughout the day, starting with a good breakfast in the morning. I am usually not very hungry in the morning so I usually just eat some fruit before I begin my day.
• The only real challenge I faced was eating too big of meals and not wanting to add a serving of fruits or vegetables to simply meet my goal.

3. What feelings did you experience? When did you feel them?

• I am still feeling about the same as the weeks prior, minus the stresses of the semester winding to an end. However instead of surrounding myself with comfort food this time around, I am instead going to resort to fruit!!

4. What did you learn this week?

• I learned that this goal is very attainable, I have also learned some neat ways to incorporate fruits and vegetables into the types of meals that I usually eat.

5. What are your plans for next week? Will you continue with the change as is? Will you modify to make it more achievable or more challenging?

• My challenges for this upcoming week are actually beginning to decrease because I am back in the swing-of-things with school. I now have some time to prepare meals and snacks the night before so I can receive the proper amount to fruit and vegetables that I am shooting for. For this week I plan to continue to do what I am doing and if all goes well, even exceed my goal.

Blogged for the Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 4 hosted by Amy@Amy in the Rain

Eye Opener: Photo Essay

Triple Valley Farms

For my photo essay I have choose to share some photos I had taken this fall on my grandparents farm.  Since we have already discussed organic farming and the issues surrounding farming in general, I thought it would pertain to this class very well.

All of the crops on the farm are raised and harvested organically, and maintained independently by my grandfather and other family members.

The farm covers between about 400 acres, and is located just outside Pigeon Falls, Wisconsin.

The acreage on this farm does not only include crop land, it is also plus in hardwoods and provides an excellent for wildlife.

All of the crops harvested are fertilized by the cattle on the farm, these cattle are raised from birth on the farm and fed only a natural diet containing zero hormonally enhanced food.

The farm has been in the family for well over 100 years and has been the livelihood for my grandparents and their parents before them.  A majority of my childhood has been spent here as well, whether it was hunting, family gatherings, or just helping out.  The farm is without a doubt my favorite place to be, and I consider it my own little getaway.

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 3: Weekly Update

1. What was your SMART goal? How did you do in achieving your SMART goal?

• My SMART goal: I will eat at least 4 servings (1/2 cup) of fruits or vegetables (or a mix) every day for the next 10 weeks.
• I once again fell short of my goal for this week, however I have not been eating unhealthy snacks I just haven’t been eating as many fruits and vegetables

2. Address successes & challenges. What strategies helped you to be successful? What challenges did you face? How did you deal with them?

• I have been back home since Friday and I am limited to what is here at my parent’s house and at my grandparent’s farm. Since I have been deer hunting for the past 5 days I really don’t spend much time at home and kind of disregard what I have been eating.
• I have been trying to bring fruits and vegetables with me hunting and keeping them in the car, however I have still fallen short of my goal 3 days.

3. What feelings did you experience? When did you feel them?

• I really haven’t felt any different this week; other than being tired all of the time. Feeling tired isn’t a result of my diet change it is due to my sleep schedule.

4. What did you learn this week?

• I learned that this goal is still attainable, I just need to make a better attempt to eat fruits and vegetables. I feel like I have been a bit lazy over this week in trying to make this gal a reality.

5. What are your plans for next week? Will you continue with the change as is? Will you modify to make it more achievable or more challenging?

• My challenges for this upcoming week continues to be the fact that I will be deer hunting until Sunday. Also with thanksgiving approaching fast I will have the temptations of a plethora of tasty deserts and snacks. It will be interesting to see how this next week plays out, but all in all I need to become more responsible for attaining this goal.

Blogged for the Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 3 hosted by Amy@Amy in the Rain

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 2: Weekly Update

1. What was your SMART goal? How did you do in achieving your SMART goal?

• My SMART goal: I will eat at least 4 servings (1/2 cup) of fruits or vegetables (or a mix) every day for the next 10 weeks. 
• I nearly achieved my goal throughout the first week, I managed to hit a couple of snags throughout the weekend.

2. Address successes & challenges. What strategies helped you to be successful? What challenges did you face? How did you deal with them?

• At the beginning of the week I went grocery shopping and purchased a good amount of fresh fruits and vegetables so I would have them readily accessible throughout the week.
• I varied the different types of fruits and vegetables I ate throughout the week so I would not be overwhelmed with one thing so early on in my change.
• Challenges: This weekend I ran out of fruit and with my girlfriend being up for the weekend I never made an attempt to run and get more.  So Saturday and Sunday I fell about 2 servings short of my goal.

3. What feelings did you experience? When did you feel them?

• I felt a lot better after only a few days of eating fresh fruits and vegetables.  I felt less full throughout the day, I found myself with less of an urge to snack, and I had more energy.

4. What did you learn this week?

• I learned that this goal is very attainable for myself, I just have to stick to my plan and be committed.  I cannot find myself falling outside of the pattern I have developed and by making fruits and vegetables easily available when I am at home will make this goal much more attainable.

5. What are your plans for next week? Will you continue with the change as is? Will you modify to make it more achievable or more challenging?

• My challenges for this upcoming week will be about the same as the last.  I will be going home for Wisconsin gun hunting, so I will have fruits and vegetables easily available  at my parents house.  The one problem that I might run into is the amount of time I will be spending in the woods and short amount of time I will have for meals.  I am going to pack fruits in my vehicle and make those my first priority of a snack through the nine day deer hunting season ahead.

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

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 1: My SMART Goal

My SMART Goal:

I will eat at least 4 servings (1/2 cup) of fruits or vegetables (or a mix) every day for the next 10 weeks.

Image Courtesy of Google Images

How is this change is Eco-Chic?

This change is Eco-Chic because it not only is beneficial for my personal health and nutrition, but it also reduces the amount of processed food and trash I create from eating packaged food items.  Also, I am going to do my best to purchase locally grown fruits and vegetables.

Why I chose this behavior?

I chose this specific behavior because I realize that I do not consume nearly enough fresh fruits and vegetables on a daily basis.  I constantly find myself eating what ever is quick and easy, primarily during the day, in order to continue through my busy schedule.  I also realize that eating these packaged food items contributes to the negative food production that we have been covering in class as well as creating way more waste than I should be as a environmentally aware citizen.

Blogged for the Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 1 hosted by Amy@Amy in the Rain

New Blog Header

Here is the new blog header I have created using Picnik, and a sample photo that was already on my computer.  It is extremly fast and easy to use, I hope you all enjoy!