Mina Cash-Valdez

SOC 228 Environmental Sociology

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
223 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

70

meatless or vegan meals

consumed

Mina's actions

Food

Reduce Animal Products

I will enjoy 3 meatless meal(s) and/or 2 vegan meal(s) each day this week.

COMPLETED 14
DAILY ACTIONS

Participant Feed

Reflection, encouragement, and relationship building are all important aspects of getting a new habit to stick.
Share thoughts, encourage others, and reinforce positive new habits on the Feed.

To get started, share “your why.” Why did you join the challenge and choose the actions you did?

Mina Cash-Valdez 10/26/2018 9:18 PM

I learned that eating vegan really isn't that difficult if you just apply yourself. I still have difficulty when I'm not at home but I'm going to continue my vegan journey and hopefully I will get better at it as time goes on. This was a wonderful challenge and I'm proud of everyone that contributed!

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Mina Cash-Valdez 10/21/2018 8:35 PM

As the challenge has gone on I've found it more difficult to remember to check in, but outside of that I think this challenge has gone well and I've only slipped up a few times. I still have trouble being particularly healthy when it comes to my vegan meals but throughout this challenge I have eaten healthier than I normally would overall. Once this challenge ends, I hope that I can start having 3 vegan meals a day instead of 2 and then just be full on vegan!

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Mina Cash-Valdez 10/19/2018 12:09 AM

While I havent been posting as much recently, I would say my challenge is going fairly well. It's still a challenge for me to try to incorporate mpre vegetables into my diet but I still am having 2 vegan meals a day. I even found myself eating 3 vegan meals today without thinking about it. I think it's becoming easier to not have to try and sit and figure out my meals, it's starting to come a lot more naturally.

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Mina Cash-Valdez 10/14/2018 9:59 PM

Forgot to post and check in over the past two days because I've been quite busy but doing my challenge over the weekend away from my house was very difficult and I slipped up a lot. It's so hard to try and eat vegan options at other people's houses and when going out to eat with people. I found myself not really thinking about it at times when I was caught up with my friends and my girlfriend. I did well today though now that I'm back home but I'm going to try to push myself during this week by trying my hardest to be more conscious with my vegan meals while away from home.

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Mina Cash-Valdez 10/10/2018 9:47 PM

I've been doing a bad job at keeping up with updates on my challenge but it has been going really well! I've been looking at a lot more recipes and trying them out, yesterday I made a vegan gravy and it was amazing! I've even tried extending my goal of having 2 vegan meals a day to 3 and have been successful at least for today. I've also been keeping up with trying to include more fruits and veggies in my vegan meals. I'm going out this weekend for my girlfriend's birthday and hopefully I can find a vegan option at dinner! I'll update when I do.

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Mina Cash-Valdez 10/08/2018 7:44 PM

I've been working really hard towards my challenge. I've started to load more vegetables into my vegan meals. It can be easy to just eat unhealthy simple vegan things so I've started challenging myself with it more. I'm going to keep trying out new healthier recipes this week.

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Mina Cash-Valdez 10/07/2018 8:31 PM

I think I forgot to post yesterday but update: my challange has been going by pretty well, I did slip up once though and got food with cheese in it. I think one of my struggles with veganism has not necessarily been eating vegan, but has been that I eat out too much and just eat the vegan options they have. It's just so much easier for me to do since I'm 17 and am so busy with my home life and school. I need to try to start cooking my own recipes at home as to not create more waste. I will keep everyone posted on how that goes.

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Mina Cash-Valdez 10/05/2018 10:32 PM

Today I had vegan burrito bowl and I also made a vegan breakfast burrito with vegan chorizo. It's been so nice finding new recipes for food and exploring vegan options in food I already eat.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food Reduce Animal Products

What do you think contributes to people in North America eating more meat than in other places, and what does this say about North American values and ways of living? How do we start shifting a meat-focused food culture?

Mina Cash-Valdez 10/04/2018 9:41 PM

I think the meat industry has really become a central part of American "culture". As a Capitalist society we have made meat a very cheap option in grocery stores and in fast food. These companies profit off of those in poverty by making meat products extremely cheap. Why would I order a $7 salad when I'm struggling to pay the bills and can get a 4 for $4 deal and feed my family? Not only that but if you keep people eating meat and having health issues it makes a lot of people a lot of money. Meat is also a huge factor in misogyny. For example, ads for burgers are marketed as manly and strong and meat culture is a huge aspect of the patriarchy. There is also an extreme divide in our societys minds between human and animal. We think we are above and seperate from them. But you can see in indigenious cultures that eat meat, their mindset towards it is completely different. As much as it may seem like a reach to say this, meat in the United States is a symbol of power, of domination, and in order to shift our meat-focused food culture it would require an entire shift in our economic system.

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Mina Cash-Valdez 10/04/2018 9:28 PM

Today I did really well with my challenge! I went out to taco bell with my sister for lunch and I ordered a seven layer burrito fresco style. It's not the healthiest but it's really nice to be able to go out and get something vegan without it having to be too expensive. I also ate a vegan bean soup for dinner with a fruit salad.

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