| TTHE CASUAL GARDENER, Shawna Coronado Reduce Your Waist And Your Waste = = = = = = = = = Dear Casual Gardener, I love your reduce, reuse and recycle messages for my home and garden. Tell me – how can we reduce the amount of food we consume during the holidays. I’m stuffed! I’m gaining weight! I need help to get healthy during this season! Signed, Not-So-Fanny-Licious = = = = = = = = = = Dear Fanny-Licious, The easiest way to avoid fattening up that fanny is to avoid preparing the fanny-fattening foods. Granted, it’s difficult to avoid when someone else prepares the food and every holiday party we attend is focused on increasingly large amounts of fats, sugars and salts. If you have control over the menu, make the choice to consume less and prepare healthier choices. My suggestion is to remember this mantra, please repeat after me - - “all things in moderation”. There’s another reason to consider preparing less. What happens to all that food at the end of the holiday party? By throwing it out we are saying that all the energy that was consumed to fly, train and drive our grocery products from all over the world is wasted. That is simply glut! Almost half the food in the US, approximately 100 billion pounds a year, goes to waste, making leftover food the second largest component of the US waste stream by weight. With food waste losses accounting for about $100 billion per year—$30 to 40 billion occurring within the commercial or retail sector—consumers and food service providers simply can’t afford to sidestep environmentally sound surplus food management. If we use the adage “all things in moderation” then we will reduce our waists and our wastes. According to Tim Jones, a University of Arizona anthropologist who has studied food waste for 15 years, reducing holiday food waste helps both the environment and your wallet. During the holidays alone, the average household of four could save $100 to $150 by reducing food waste, Jones offers these tips: • If possible, distribute leftovers to guests to take home, based on what they like. Leftovers will more likely get eaten that way. • Freezing increases the probability that leftovers will not go to waste, since they keep so much longer. For instance, you can freeze a slice of baked fruit pie for up to eight months. • Before giving cookies or candy as gifts or treats, make sure the recipients want them. • To battle that holiday bulge and reduce waste at the same time, consider buying less stocking stuffer candy. Jones' research shows that 20 percent of all candy gets tossed out uneaten. • Consider donating food you don't use. Local food banks appreciate many canned items, including juices, nuts, fruits and vegetables. Some accept prepared foods. Check your local listings. Remember, it’s not just commercial or retail groups that are wasting - individual consumers must assume responsibility for reducing food waste. Avoid excess waste in the first place by buying only what will be eaten. Start a backyard compost bin with your food preparation scraps and fall leaves. Before you throw away leftover cranberry sauce or potatoes that you didn’t cook, think of places that may be able to use those items. Finally, I’d like to give you one last waist/waste reducing tip which is a strong component in Shawna’s Health Plan. One of the most important items on my health plan list is to exercise aerobically, preferably outdoors, for at least 20 minutes every day. During the Winter Season I walk, walk, walk. It’s an easy way to keep the waist down! If you want to keep the waste down after eating a heavy dinner, take a walk to a composter and recycle as much of that food as you can. It’s good for you and it’s good for the environment! Happy “Green” Holidays!! Please send your gardening questions for Shawna Coronado, The Casual Gardener to dearshawna@thecasualgardener.com or The Casual Gardener, P.O. Box 358, Warrenville, IL 60555. www.thecasualgardener.com |
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