How to Lose Weight and Save the World

In the past month I have lost three pounds. This may not seem like a lot to you, however, if you want to take off weight and keep it off, your goals need to be realistic and ones you can achieve without adding undue stress to your daily life. Over the past four years I have lost 50 pounds.

I shed this unwanted weight by burning off more calories than I consume. This was accomplished by eating fresh, seasonal foods and through exercise mostly walking. I walk daily, except in extreme weather. Walking is not just my means of exercise but my principal mode of transportation. This means that I do not drive, own a car but rely on my feet to get me from place to place.

Walking is healthy for me and can lead to weight reduction but it is also good for the environment as I am not pumping any noticeable amount of fossil fuels into the environment as I travel from place to place so my means of transportation sheds pounds but little in the way of greenhouse gases. So is help save the planet while losing some weight.

This may sound facetious to you but think about it for a minute, if more people left their cars at home and walked, rode a bicycle or took public transport to work the cumulative effect of their actions could be significant, so I set an example. This is a win-win scenario good for me and good for the environment which is good for me and my neighbours.

The other part of my weight loss scenario is the food I consume. I eat little that comes in packages or cans and recycle what items I buy that way, cereals and canned tomatoes for the most part.

I produce little garbage and compost the food scraps in a backyard composter which feeds my landlady's garden.

Recycling and composting reduce my impact on the earth; help build soil and potentially create economic opportunities.

I buy products when they are in season, blueberries, strawberries, apples and am able to purchase these items from a small shop that buys from growers which are for the most part located within 100 miles of where I live. This means that the food I buy does not travel thousands of miles to get to the store but under 100, sometimes much less. We do not have a farmers market so can't use it but I grow my own tomatoes and a few herbs.

I have almost reduced my bread intake and am working on reducing my overall gluten consumption, why, I feel healthier and it will aid my weight loss. Feeling healthy and strong encourages me to walk more, pay closer attention to my food sources and to gather more information about the connection between personal choices and global consequences. What you eat and do does matter.

So if you want to lose weight you can do so and also help save the world at the same time, give it a try, all you have to lose is some weight.