I knew I just couldn’t lie to the intelligent ladies that you are, so I scrapped the article and came up with this.

Here are some of the worst snack options and their greener replacements to reduce your environmental impact… and your waistline. Seriously, think about this next time you go shopping; we’re all probably doing more harm than we even know.

Culprit #1: Tyson
Why it sucks: Tyson is one of the largest companies in the meat industry.  According to the movie Food, Inc. (which you all should see!), such large scale farming contributes to pollution, greenhouse gases, depletion of resources, antibiotic resistance and illness in workers and consumers, and poor employee treatment.
Don’t eat: Tyson’s fried chicken fillet sandwich. For so many reasons. Gross.
Eat instead: Gardenburger’s Original Veggie Burgers

Culprit #2: Smucker’s
Why it sucks: In environmental impact scores, Smucker’s ranks a lowly 463^rd out of 500 U.S. companies with a score of 7.8 out of 100.  I think if you got a 7.8% on a test you’d officially get an F-.
Don’t eat: Smucker’s Goober Jam/Peanut Butter sandwich
Eat instead: Trader Joe’s Organic Peanut Butter and banana sandwich

Culprit #3: Dr. Pepper Snapple Group
Why it sucks:  This beverage company, like most, use large amounts of plastic to make single-serving bottles of soda and juice.  Not only is soda linked to obesity and diabetes, but the plastic is also very energy intensive to make and often end up in landfills.  Yeah, Best Stuff on Earth, my a**.
Don’t drink: Dr. Pepper, Hawaiian Punch, Snapple, or any of that crap.
Drink instead:  Club soda with a squeeze of lime.

Culprit #4: Hormel
Why it sucks:  All of their products are heavily packaged in unnecessary amounts of plastic and glass, both of which use a lot of energy to make and never decompose.
Don’t eat: Hormel Compleats Microwave Meals
Eat instead: Amy’s Microwave Meals

Got an opinion on the food industry or specific corporations?  Have your say in the comments section!

Whenever I go to the grocery store, I always try my best to load my cart with socially responsible products.  Cage free eggs?  Uh, yeah why not?  Organic lettuce? Sure, throw that on in there.

The truth is, though, up until recently, I didn’t really know what these things meant.  They’ve just been over-marketed so that I think I’m doing good when really I may just be wasting money.  That’s why I formulated a mini label guide for all of your shopping needs.

Hint:  don’t waste your money on the “organic” Oreos!

“Organic”: Now these babies can be tricky.  In order to determine exactly what you’re eating, you have to read the package carefully.  There are 3 basic types of organic labeling that you may see in your local grocery store.
1. 100% organic:  This one is pretty straight forward.  If it says the product is 100% organic, then all of the ingredients, except water and salt, are grown and processed organically.
2. Organic:  Organic is simply the weak-sauce version of 100% organic products.  These products must contain 95% organic ingredients in order to obtain an organic label.  According to the USDA, all other ingredients must be on “the list” of foods that are unavailable in an organic form at the present time.
3. Made with organic ingredients:  This label is just a fancy way of saying “we’re just putting this on our label so you’ll buy it and think you’re doing something good for the environment.”  Under this labeling, 70% of ingredients must be made with organic ingredients, but the law leaves much for interpretation in how the product may advertise its organic-ness.  My advice? Go for the other two if you really want to make a difference.

Fair trade:  Fair trade is built on the principles of respect in trading partnerships, usually through higher wages and economic self-sufficiency for overseas workers.  However, there are no set guidelines for fair trade labeling like there are for organic products.  A fair trade inspection committee, known as FLO-CERT, inspects companies to make sure they have “a quality management system, transparency in all processes, and independence in certification decision making” before giving out a certification.  Although these are vague terms, free trade can be worth it if it has the official sticker on it.  If not, there really is no way to tell whether or not fair practices are in place.

Free range: In theory, “free range” indicates that livestock are allowed to roam freely instead of being in cages before slaughtering.  The USDA, however, does not have a set definition or any sort of regulation for free-range animals and for egg production.  Thus, free range labeling is entirely unregulated and really doesn’t mean much when it comes to your food.  Save your money on these are look for more meaningful labels, such as “grass fed” (see below).

Grass fed: Unlike free range, the USDA has actually formulated a substantial definition of what constitutes “grass fed.”  According to this definition, livestock must be grass fed for their entire lives – pasture included! That means there are no scary antibiotics or other chemicals in the food you’re about to put in your body.  Although some argue that there are loopholes in grass fed labeling, it sure is a heck of a lot better than free range!

So yeah, this is a lot of great information, but how does it relate to the environment?  It actually has everything to do with the environment!  As a rule of thumb, you can consider everything that takes a step back from our highly industrialized economy a step forward for the good of the environment.  In other words, the more natural our food production processes are and the less harmful chemicals, pesticides, and pollution are used, the happier our planet is!

Last Tuesday I saw the documentary Food, Inc. and it changed my life.  Although it had a relatively minimal environmental focus, it still reminded me how important we are as consumers and how much our food purchasing decisions actually make a difference.

Think about it – 10 years ago you couldn’t really find any substantial amount of organic produce in mainstream supermarkets.  Now, due to the demand for healthier and more sustainable products, the supermarkets are flooded with organic products from Oreos to macaroni and cheese.  And for those of you who think you can’t afford eco-friendly foods on a college budget, think again.  I will show you where, how, and what to buy to decrease your carbon “foodprint” while increasing the size of your wallet.

1. Skip the supermarket and head to your local farmer’s market.   By shopping locally, you support your neighborhood farmer and decrease the amount of fossil fuels needed to transport your food.  Most of the food sold at farmers markets is organic, and even if it’s not, you still increase the amount of in-season crops that you purchase.  Plus, by cutting out the middle man (i.e. the supermarkets) you can usually get a better price for healthier foods.  Find a farmer’s market (or two!) in your town by visiting www.localharvest.org.

2. Order delivery. If you don’t have time to hit the farmer’s market, you should check out community-supported agriculture (CSA) programs in your area.  When you subscribe to a CSA, you buy your produce directly from a farmer.  Your produce usually comes in a giant box per week that the farm delivers directly to you or to a pick-up spot near you.  The best part about the box is that all of the produce is in-season, fresh, and organic.  Each week’s box is a surprise filled with vegetables and fruits that you never knew existed.  It’s a great opportunity for you and your roommates to share the expense (and the cooking!) of eco-friendly, healthy foods.

3. Be picky. As much as we’d like to, most of us can’t afford to buy solely organic foods.  Skip the confusion at the grocery store head to www.foodnews.org.  This website lists various produce items in order of their tendency to be contaminated with pesticides.  Some of the most contaminated foods include peaches, apples, bell peppers, celery, nectarines, and strawberries.  These are foods that you should definitely buy organic if you can.  If you’re strapped for cash, don’t worry about onions, avocados, pineapples, mangoes, and asparagus – these have the lowest pesticide load of all produce.

4. Eat your vegetables. It takes far less energy to produce vegetables than meat, dairy, and produce.  Each year, livestock consume about half of the grains and oilseeds grown in the U.S., which requires huge amounts of pesticides and fertilizers to produce.  They are also constantly sprayed with insecticides and injected with antibiotics to keep them healthy despite their too-tight living quarters.  All of this requires tons of energy and produces a huge amount of pollution.  Instead, limit your consumption of meat, dairy, and seafood or buy organic meats and wild seafood if you can’t go without.  Even just adopting a “meatless Mondays” tradition can decrease your carbon “foodprint” by leaps and bounds.

5. Avoid processed foods. If you can’t do any of the above, simply choosing fresher, non-processed foods can do tons of good for the environment and your health.  Processed foods require dozens of ingredients (most of which are artificial and/or doused in pesticides) to produce and preserve the product.  Most of these ingredients are shipped in from all over to a main processing plant before the finished product is even shipped out to supermarkets.  Avoid the “mystery ingredients” and vow to only eat food made with ingredients you can actually pronounce.

Food production is one of the top sources of greenhouse gases and pollution.  Be sure to educate yourself before you put something like that in your body!  If you want more information, check out the documentary Food, Inc., go to www.coolfoodscampaign.org, or check out books like Fast Food Nation and In Defense of Food.

I have never really liked meat. The idea of a bloody (or even well-done) steak with neatly criss-crossed grill marks on my plate has never been appealing to me, and I have basically limited my carnivorous intake to the occasional chicken breast. My boyfriend is a vegetarian, and I can go for long stretches of time without eating any meat at all. So why am I not a vegetarian, too, already?

Here are the reasons I’ve come up with (while sitting over a bowl of my mom’s famous beef stew):

- It still doesn’t seem to be quite accepted. If you’re invited to dinner at someone’s house or invited to a wedding or some other bash, it’s assumed that you eat meat. If you don’t, you either have to make everyone feel bad by arranging for a special plate or you have to forage for roots and berries among the side dishes.

- Some of my favorite dishes from childhood have meat in them. Sure, I don’t eat them now, but when I go home and my mom makes them, it’s sweet (and they’re still delicious). Knowing I couldn’t eat those anymore would kind of depress me. Wait, who am I kidding? It would totally depress me.

- One of my goals is to travel around the world, and I don’t want to have to limit myself in any way when I do that. Especially when it comes to eating local fare that may or may not come from an animal.

- BACON. Need I say more?

Okay, but lately I’ve been giving these things more serious thought. World Vegetarian Day – which is happening right now! – is arriving at a perfect time for me, because I’m finally considering just making the plunge and going full veg. After all, none of my reasons from above are really relevant on an everyday basis, and here’s something else: fake meat is surprisingly good. Yeah, that’s right. I said it. That Morningstar bacon will never come from a real hog and will always look and taste just a little bit off, but honestly, it’s pretty damn good. Good enough for me to give up the real stuff.

Plus, protein is everywhere. I didn’t realize I ate so much protein on an everyday basis until I started tracking my food with The Daily Plate and saw that I usually get about 250% to 300% of my daily protein requirement – all without eating meat. These foods are just bursting with protein and I happen to eat them (in large quantities) on a daily basis:

Eggs
Milk
Soy milk
Cottage cheese
Regular cheese
Yogurt
Peanut butter
Nuts
Lentils

I don’t need some artery clogging meat to survive. I can live meat-free and still get everything I need. So here it is: October 1, 2009 just might be the onset of my own personal journey toward vegetarianism.

PETA, call me! I wanna do one of those naked ads!

What do you vegetarians think? Is it easy? What made you decide? Why should I do it?

No, I don’t have an eating disorder. I have a working disorder—I’m a total workaholic.

When I do eat, it needs to be healthy and somewhat portable. I’ve considered trying Atkins or Southbeach protein bars, Power Bars, or even Slim Fast Shakes as a snack I can pound in the car on my way to work. But, honestly, I can’t justify consuming 400 calories in the form of a little bitty rice bar that is not going to quiet my growling stomach, or 13 grams of fat in a similarly unsatisfying wannabe-milkshake concoction.

Instead, I live off of caffeine.

One morning, before work, I stopped at my favorite coffee shop to grab a skim milk, sugar-free vanilla latte, and saw a display of Vegan Energy Bars at the counter. I’m not vegan, but was hungry and I thought that those little heart-shaped bars might be crazy enough to work! I mean, the vegans are picky about what they put into their bodies and without meat or dairy, they still need nutrients, right?

I purchased a package of chocolate chip flavored (if it has chocolate it can’t be that bad), heart-shaped, soy-filled cakes of pure delight that day, and I’ve been hooked ever since.

That week, I bought out the entire stock of chocolate chip flavored Heart Thrive bars. Contrary to my carnivorous, sugar-addicted friends’ admonishment—“Vegan anything is sooo gross!”—I found these bars quite tasty. Plus, they are only three grams of fat and 230 calories each, and I can justify eating them, especially with the “Doctor Recommended” promise on the front of the package.

The following week, these tasty energy bursts were gone! Not just the chocolate chip ones, either! The apricots and apples, too! Even the date-flavored Heart Thrives were nowhere in sight. I asked the cashier if they would be selling them again, and unfortunately the café had only ordered a limited supply of Heart Thrives.

So, I turned to my trusted friends at Google and found the company website. Just yesterday I ordered a personal supply of two dozen chocolate chip Heart Thrive bars, and they should be arriving in a couple of days. During the interval between my last Heart Thrive bar and yesterday’s order placement, I scoured the grocery store shelves for an alternative snack, to no avail. Everything is either high calorie, or high carb, and most of products are over-priced anyway.

The Heart Thrives, however, are a great nutritional supplement that won’t add many calories or fat to my diet. My mouth is watering just thinking about the next time I get to sink my teeth into a glorious vegan energy bar…and I definitely never thought I would write that sentence and mean it!

To check out Heart Thrives, or parent-product, Sun Cake breakfast bars, visit http://www.suncakes.com.

Rating: 3 out 4 stars, only because they are hard to come by!

[Photo courtesy of suncakes.com - People love these bars so much they have a whole collection of these fan pictures!]

So wouldn’t it be great if you could make that rice in your own kitchen and avoid shelling out $8 for an all-you-can-eat meal of regret?

Yeah, that’s what I thought.

Here’s the good news: you can, and it’s easy. In fact, if you ever have stray vegetables or leftovers lying around (like I do almost… oh, let’s see, EVERY DAY), it’s even easier. Fried rice is incredibly forgiving—you can toss whatever you want in there, and it will still taste great.

So here’s a basic recipe, but feel free to play around with it!

To serve two, you should have:

• Rice (about 2 cups cooked)

• Oil

• Meat or tofu (I like to use chicken)

• A little sweetness, like raisins, currants, orange rinds, or pineapple bits

• Veggies (most crucial are probably onions, and I also often use carrots, cabbage, broccoli, corn, peas, bell peppers…)

• Scrambled eggs (optional but delicious)

• Seasoning—If you’re going for Indian flavor, use chili powder, cumin, and garam masala. For Chinese style, use soy sauce, stir-fry sauce, and sesame oil. Garlic is good for both kinds, and so is ginger.

Get Cookin’:

First, stir-fry your veggies and your sweetness in a frying pan with a little bit of oil. I like to fry my veggies and meat/tofu together, but you can do them separately and then combine them later, as well. Stir-fry everything on medium heat until it’s tender and beginning to brown, about 10 minutes.

Your rice should be pre-cooked before you begin stir-frying the vegetables because, otherwise, it will be too moist. So, make it ahead of time if you can; if not, try to get it done at least 15-30 minutes in advance.

When your veggies and meat/tofu are done cooking, combine them if you haven’t already. Add your seasoning, lower the heat, and continue cooking them for a minute or two until you think the spices have infused their delicious flavors into the ingredients.

Finally, add the cooked rice to the pan, and stir everything together. Turn off the heat. Add more spices if necessary, serve, and enjoy!

[Image courtesy of maona.net.]

My vegan week isn’t due to some sudden desire to save animals that would otherwise end up on the tip of my fork. I’m not opposed to saving animals –– if a cute puppy were to cross the street in front of me, I wouldn’t run it over –– but this adventure is purely an experiment. I’m doing it just to see if I can.

In preparation for my weeklong meat, dairy, and gelatin-free adventure, I searched the Internet for vegan-eating rules and information. When I Google searched “veganism,” the pull-quote from Wikipedia read: “Vegans are the result of a conspiracy among the liberal elite to create a new race of inbred, herbivores.” I’m nervous already.

Sunday

12 AM: My vegan week officially begins. I am immediately hungry. I fix myself a bowl of oatmeal. Basically, I’m eating a bowl of mush for dinner. Not satisfied.

Monday

Breakfast: Oatmeal, again, but this time I flavor it with maple syrup and it tastes a lot better. My usual skinny cinnamon dolce latte from Starbucks is replaced with a soy latte. It’s good, and because they use Vanilla Silk, I don’t need any sugar.

Lunch: I’d heard good things about Jax Vegan Café in Westwood, so I go hunting for it. I drive up and down Westwood Boulevard for thirty minutes before I find it. It’s closed on Mondays. Just my luck. I go to plan B and drive to Santa Monica to go to Real Food Daily, another vegan restaurant. It’s closed for construction. Can’t a girl catch a break? I am frustrated and downtrodden, which requires a trip to Ross to cheer me up. But finding ridiculously cheap and cute shoes ($4 for a pair of high heel sandals!) that are made of leather (definitely not vegan) just worsens the situation.

Dinner: I finally find vegan food! I go to Swingers in Santa Monica where I get a vegan burrito: tofu, beans, quinoa, and spinach inside a wheat tortilla with a chipotle-style sauce to top. The spinach is a bit odd, vegan rice would have been better than quinoa, and I get extra sauce to add some more spice and mask the odd ginger flavor (from where? Who knows?!).

Overall, the day wasn’t great, but it could have been a lot worse. I managed to get a filling vegan meal, but Swingers’ vegan burrito is a poor substitution for the real thing. My sister suggests I keep a vegan power bar in my car for the next time I can’t find a quick veg bite. I wonder if power bars are vegan?

[photos from swingersdiner.com]

Want a portable meal that’s delicious and nutritious? Forsake the chili bread bowl in favor of the stuffed pepper.

You can fill this guy with whatever suits your fancy—pork, chicken, beef, scrambled eggs—and you can also pack it with flavor and texture. Where else can you find protein, carbs, veggies, and taste all in one convenient, edible package the size of a man’s fist? Nowhere!

To make one stuffed pepper like the one in the picture, you’ll need the bell pepper (any color works, but I prefer to use green), half of one small onion, one garlic clove, a little bit of olive oil, a few ounces of ground beef, about three tablespoons of uncooked rice, 4-6 tablespoons of chicken broth, two tablespoons of tomato sauce or tomato paste, three tablespoons of parmesan or romano cheese, and seasonings to taste (basil, salt, pepper, etc.).

If you like your pepper really soft, you can boil it in water for a few minutes before you get started. Even if you don’t do that, though, you can expect it to be tender enough to cut with a fork when it comes out of the oven. Preheat your oven, by the way, to 400. Slice off the very top of the pepper, and scoop out the seeds.

Slice up your onions and garlic, dump a little bit of olive oil in a pan, and heat the oil. When it’s hot, drop in the onions and garlic. Sauté them for about five minutes, or until they are just beginning to brown. Crumble the ground beef in the pan, and cook until it’s browned but not crispy.

Pour in the uncooked rice, and add the chicken broth. Slap a cover on the pan, reduce the heat to very low, and let the mixture simmer for about 10 minutes. The broth should be pretty much gone by then, and the rice should be a little tender but not cooked through.

Add the tomato sauce/paste and two tablespoons of the cheese to the pan, and mix it in thoroughly along with the seasonings. Turn off the heat, and scoop everything you have in the pan into the bell pepper. Sprinkle the top with the remaining tablespoon of cheese. Pop the pepper into a baking dish, and cover it with a sheet of aluminum foil. Bake for 45 minutes, then savor your delicious portable dinner after it’s cooled.

At least there will still be some classics in the way of burgers, hot dogs, and chicken. But the rule of being a dinner party or barbecue guest is you can’t show up empty handed. While ordinarily I prefer to contribute something of the beverage variety, or pre-washed-and-cut fruit from the nearest grocery store, I’ve decided it’s time to man up and cook something. I don’t want to be shown up by a bunch of boys, even though without question they can cook better than me.

Barbecue essentials that the boys will be providing consist of meat. I don’t cook meat, so I’m opting to make cole slaw.

You need:

1 small bag pre-chopped cabbage/cole slaw mix

Sprinkling of celery seed for garnish/flavor

Red grapes (as many/few as you like)

Dressing:

1 half cup low-fat Miracle Whip

1 capful apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon sugar

Mix your vinegar, Miracle Whip, and sugar first in a large bowl, then add as much of the cole slaw mix as you intend to make. Add mix/your dressing as needed to get the right amount of moisture in there. If you’re making the entire bag, you’ll definitely need to add more dressing. Stir together, sprinkle with celery seed and add grapes for garnish and a little fruity goodness.

Voila, you’ve got cole slaw to write home about and it’s not horrendously fattening either.

This recipe is all approximated, by the way, because it’s one of those in-the-family, we-don’t-believe-in-measuring situations. You’ve got to stop and taste to make sure it meets your standards before sending it off to the masses.

Saving money is good; it’s really good. In fact, if you help save the planet enough, you can destroy your body with all of the alcohol you’ll be able to suddenly afford.

• UTILIZE CAR POOLS. Why drive separately? Work out car pooling whenever you can. Gas is way too expensive these days not to.

• CLOTHING/HOME GOOD EXCHANGE PARTIES. Get your girls together and swap the clothes and other things you no longer use.

• DON’T BE AFRAID OF TAP WATER. Even though bottle water is sooo cool, your tap water might not be bad for you — contrary to popular beliefs. If you start drinking your tap water, you’ll save money and reduce your plastic waste.

• HANG DRY YOUR CLOTHING. Sure, it’s sort of a pain in the ass, but you can save all of those dryer quarters for something else. Like arcades. Which are awesome.

• REDUCE YOUR MEAT INTAKE. Cut down on your meat, lose some pounds, help your heart, save some money, better the environment. Sounds good to me.

• GROW A GARDEN. Why not? You save money and eat healthier.

• USE LOW ENERGY LIGHT BULBS. They use 80% less energy and they last for 15 times as long as regular light bulbs. Why not use them?

• TURN YOUR COMPUTERS OFF. I know, I know. You’ve gotta leave your AIM on when you go to work, but realllllly….? Do your buddies all need to really know where you are? How about turning off your computer when you’re not using it?

• USE RECHARGEABLE BATTERIES. Batteries are getting expensive these days! Just use the rechargeable ones, which are cheaper in the end and better for the planet.

• ALWAYS TURN THE LIGHTS OFF. Don’t use them when you don’t need them. It’s simple.

If you’re looking for ways to save money, just try being a little more eco friendly!