Eye Opener: CSPI

For the eye-opener this week, I took the Score Your Diet quiz. Overall, I got an OK score that was just in the "Good" range but in some areas, I could use some improvement. My scores for the categories were the following:

• Health Score:   39
• Environmental Score:   -15
• Animal Welfare Score:   -7
• Grand Total Score:   17

I seemed to have scored the highest in vegetables and fruits. This didn't surprise me that much since I don't eat a lot of meat, fish, or dairy. Although I didn't eat as much as the recommended value, I still got a high score in those categories.

My lowest score food was cheese. This didn't surprise me either since cheese is pretty much it's own food group at my parents out. We actually have a drawer in our fridge with only cheese in it.  However, with a lot of cheese factories in my area (about 4 I believe), a lot of it is produced locally. I also do not eat nearly as much cheese when I am living in Duluth as compared to living with my parents.

The category that I need the most improvement in is environment category. This is likely from my consumption of cheese and beef, which was my second lowest score. Even though most of the beef I consume is from my local area, I realize that it still takes a toll on the environment. Decreasing my intake of both of these would greatly help the environment overall as well as my overall health considering these are both heavily saturated in fat much of the time (though I try to buy low-fat).

I really liked this eye-opener as it made me think about what goes into producing the food. When I think about what I eat, it is usually in terms of fat, calories, and how it affects my body directly. The animal welfare and environmental factors also affect my body in the long run and that is also something I need to remember when choosing what to eat.