My Fourth Week of MANGETOUT MOMENTUM

Hello, 👋

This week is the fourth week since I started my mangetout momentum.

From previous entry, I had mention about finding out the reason why I always end up having leftovers. One of the reason is that I always have something to munch when I'm doing my assignments, or whenever I don't have anything to do. I don't really feel hungry but I just feel like munching snacks or something light.

So, this time, I tried not to have snacks before having a proper meal. The outcome from this perseverance is that I tend not to have leftover anymore. Thus, I think having snacks before meals can make you eat less than you suppose to eat. Then, I did some research on why snacks is bad on empty stomach and this is what I got:

Source: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/worst-foods-to-eat-when-hungry_us_55e8bac5e4b002d5c0757d05

From the source:

Why you shouldn’t eat it right now: Despite what we all want to believe, 100 calories of anything isn’t likely to satisfy when you’re really hungry, which is the main problem with these types of mini-pack snacks, says Melton. They’re usually foods like crackers or chips, made with simple carbohydrates, which get digested the fastest, leaving you hungrier soon after. 

Make it better: You’re better off eating a little bit less at your next meal and having a satisfying 250-to-300-calorie mini-meal right now, with a mix of carbs and protein, like half a turkey sandwich on whole-grain bread.

Therefore, it is just right to avoid taking any snacks before having a proper meal which is good for our health and also can avoid leaving any food behind that leads to food waste.

My Third Week of MANGETOUT MOMENTUM

Hello, 👋

this is the third week of my Mangetout Momentum.

For this third week, I applied the fourth tip (I have wrote the tips in my previous entry), 'Donate'. It is not the exact term to emphasise what I do but basically has the similar act. During this whole week, I frequently eat together with my friends. I do eat with friends everyday but they are one of least eater as me. Thus, I cannot really offer them my food since they are also struggling to finish their own.😅

This time, I frequently have meals in a large group which include friends that can eat a lot. It does help in order to achieve my mission which is not to have any leftover food.

I managed to avoid food waste this time 👏👏👏. But later I'll try other methods and find out the reason why I always have leftover food.

My Second Week of MANGETOUT MOMENTUM

Hello, 👋

this is the second week for my mangetout momentum.
During this week, other than reducing my quantity of my food on my plates (I have wrote about this in my previous entry), I also do some research on how to avoid wastage of food as a student.

One of The Articles Found:
Source: https://spoonuniversity.com/how-to/4-easy-ways-to-reduce-food-waste-as-a-college-student

The tips in reducing food waste are:

1. Take it home
2. Eat leftovers first
3. Don't overbuy
4. Donate

The first tip which is 'Take It Home' is very effective as I just pay 20￠ for a biodegradable plastic container and got to take my leftover food back to hostel. By using this method, I can kill two birds using one stone which are cost-wise and avoid producing food waste.

For the second tip, 'Eat Leftovers First', of course I would do it to avoid my leftovers from spoilt. This way, I bought lesser than I usually did and thus, I practically applied the third tip as well which is 'Don't Overbuy'. This three tips are very doable and simple yet cost effective and food waste preventable.

Even by doing these, I still face some failure where I had to dispose my leftover since I sometimes, still full from earlier meal and did not finished my leftovers. Also, the amount of food served is just too much since I sometimes ordered fried dish which I just cannot predict the amount.

Therefore, I need to come up with solution for next meals.😕

My First Week of MANGETOUT MOMENTUM

Let me first introduce the meaning of mangetout moment and what is my mangetout moment about.

Mangetout Moment is the moment of rush of guilt that tell you what you've been doing which is somehow a negative force on the world. But it quickly passes as you realise that.

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My mangetout moment is about the things that I have been doing all the time which is wasting food or simply have leftover food on my plate. The moment that i felt guilty towards my own doing is during my learning session.

As an environmental student, I know that my doing contribute to a lot of problems regarding food waste. From my learning in Integrated Waste Management, in Malaysia, food wastage is a growing problem where Malaysia generate around 15,000 tonnes of food waste out of about 38,000 tonnes of waste generated per day.

Even though this problem seems small and always being disregard by certain people, it actually lead to some serious matters such as increasing land use, the release of dangerous gases where we need proper management in handling food waste disposal, also, land, smell, air and water pollution. Especially, the food waste in Malaysia has higher water content where it can leads to leakage into underground water thus, resulting in water pollution.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/22/business/energy-environment/the-economic-and-environmental-costs-of-wasted-food.html

Around the world, food waste is increasingly seen as a serious environmental and economic issue. With many families on tight budgets and the global population growing every year, there is increasing awareness of the resources squandered to produce food that is never eaten. Businesses, governments and activists are working to get more of what is grown onto tables, and less into garbage cans.

Source: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/earth-talk-waste-land/

Besides, from the source that I found, once the leftover food gets to the landfill, it then generates methane, a greenhouse gas 23 times as potent as carbon dioxide in trapping heat within our atmosphere.

Source: https://www.sustainablebusinesstoolkit.com/the-economics-of-food-waste/

From the source, it mentioned that by reducing consumption by just 15% will feed 25 million Americans in a time where one in six Americans lack a secure supply of food to their tables.

On a global scale, there are about 868 million people who are considered undernourished. This is not the time to waste resources. So let’s address an issue that brings people together regardless of nationality, beliefs, or socioeconomic levels, the one thing we all have in common; food.

Thus, as an individual and an environmental student, I believe that a simple action from a person gives a lot of meanings in terms of reducing food wastage.

During the first week, the thing that I did everyday is reducing the quantity of food than I usually I took. The thing is even if I took lesser amount, sometimes, I still tend to not finished up my food on plate. Therefore, I took even lesser the next meal and so forth until the quantity is just enough depends on my level of hungriness.

For more safety measure, I told my friends about my concern and they just simply remind me to take lesser amount. We definitely need someone or some people in order to discipline ourselves.😊😊😊