Eco-chic Lifestyle Change reflection continued

There were a couple things I didn't fully address in my previous post regarding looking over the full SMART goal, local eating process.

My SMART goal didn't change very much over time.  I did add another local meal towards the end.  I didn't change it for a few reasons. I didn't come up with any great ideas to add besides frequency. I didn't want to overload myself in adding too may meals that, with my schedule, wasn't going to work well. I knew I had particular times to cook and didn't want to over stress that. I made an effort to make left overs for myself and was enjoying feeling the success of being able to do that and add to my local meal count, or partial count, with the left overs.  I also enjoyed focusing on local eating, being aware of what I purchased every time I purchased food, but not being pressured to force meals in. I think, for me, this created less stress but more enjoyment of the process and allowed me to see what I could do without molding meals to fit criteria, I was able to notice what was or could be possible. Challenging oneself is great sometimes, but there are times when being real, sticking to what is working and adding to that more organically as opposed to structurally, has it's place. That was one thing about behavior change this helped me get in touch with.  Getting to a good place in a goal and not just pushing for pushing sake.  There are times when you can benefit from maintaining and not needing to top myself. I relaxed into new thought processes instead of blowing past them.

I certainly benefited in learning how GOOD some of the root veggies are in soup and in general. It reminded me that I need and really want to incorporate things like turnips and parsnips. I also learned that, if I focus on seeing what is at the farmers market and making a meal out of that, it makes it easier to take advantage of the local foods. That was a great benefit.

Benefits that were gained by my eating locally, as somewhat mentioned above, the food I ate traveled less fossil fuel miles. Did I have a grand effect on the planet?  probably not, the other food that I would have eaten had I not eaten this way still traveled. However, hopefully if I vote with my dollar for local, and other do as well, the scales will tip regarding demand and thus more local will be demanded and available.

(Side note - I was at a conference last night about local food and sustainability and some farmers said that there is a lot of underutilized farm land here that farmers own and if farmers have the demand for local food, they will plant more and make more available to us.  )

I enjoyed this process. It was good for my body, as I probably ingested less pesticides from talking to some of the farmers. I ate some very fresh food which has it's benefits in nutrients. I enjoyed not having my money
funnel through Cub foods, then their supplier and who knows how many others to get to the farmer.  It is really cool,  I get to support this person's livelihood in a real and direct way. And, hopefully making that person feel good as well directly knowing that they and their work are appreciated.