19: Increasing Mindfulness Around Food Sustainability as a Blogger

Listen to this episode of Mind Over Blog on the player above, or find it on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts.

Have you ever felt REALLY guilty about the amount of food you throw away as a food blogger or food photographer? Yeah me too.

Mindfulness can come in so many forms and today Loren chats with Marley Goldin from Marley’s Menu about beginner ways to create a better practice around food sustainability as a food blogger.

Marley is all about creating a super approachable path to more mindfulness around food so that we create more sustainability in our kitchen. Turns out 50% of the total food waste problem happens at home.

In this episode you will learn:

• How to start cultivating mindfulness around the food we use in our daily life
• Easy tips to encourage food sustainability for our readers (and they don’t even need to know that’s what they are!) like how to store the food and using recipes that use all parts of ingredients.
• Small things we can do that can overtime add up to a big impact
• Ideas for what to do with all the food we have leftover from recipe testing and photography shoots
• Beginner tips for composting (even if you live in an apartment)
• How to recipe test in smaller batches even for baking
• What and how to purchase foods that are smarter and better for the environment

Did you miss last weeks episode on overwhelm? If you can relate to feeling overwhelmed in your business check out Epsiode 18 18: Overwhelm is Moving You Further Away From Your Goals.

Transcript of the episode

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Loren Runion 0:20
Hello, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Mind Over blog. I am very excited about this episode today, it’s a little different, I’m going to tell you it’s not necessarily about mindset, or SEO or it’s really about being more mindful in a different way and how we as humans need to be responsible for more than just ourselves. And today, I am talking to Marley from Marley’s menu, and she is a mom, foodie and champion for living and attainable, sustainable lifestyle. She lives in Orlando, Florida with her husband, and she has the baby boy and two dogs. She is the recipe developer and food photographer and voice behind Marley’s menu. And it’s a platform that promotes balanced and sustainable eating in an easily digestible way. So she has a degree in environmental health science and a love for food. And she has been able to combine both. And I wanted to just have this conversation with her and be able to offer you guys the ability to be able to make your own choice on whether or not you want to become a more sustainable food blogger. I definitely got some takeaways from it. You know, it’s not like I heard her message and I’m going to go vegan, or I’m being vegan. I’m not I mean, I love you vegans out there who listen, but it’s an approach that is for what I mean by that it’s this approach for everyone, and that you can get a tip and you know, make one positive step towards the environment. I’m all about balance, I’m all about just taking that one tiny step, because little tiny step usually leads to bigger steps, and it doesn’t change in anything that we do. And we have, you know, this awesome ability to impact a lot of people, other than just ourselves. So I hope that you guys enjoy this conversation on how to become a more sustainable food blogger and how we can help our audience become more aware of how to do it, or even doing it without even letting your audience know in the food blog. There’s lots of ways to do it. So I hope you get some awesome tips from the episode. Don’t forget, as always, to tag us in and on Instagram at mind over blog. And then that’s it. And then if you loved the episode, I’d love for you guys to go and review it, leave it five stars and review it on your podcast listening app device. And that’s it. I hope you guys enjoy.

Loren Runion 2:42
Hello, Marley. Welcome to the show. Hi, Lauren. Thanks so much for having me. I am very excited to learn about this topic from you. Because I know very, very little about food blog sustainability, and I’m really excited to learn about it.

Marley 2:59
Oh, great. Well,Yeah, that’s why I’m here. So that makes me happy.

Loren Runion 3:03
Perfect. Well, you know, just everyone’s gonna be like, wait, this isn’t mindset. But I think that it’s gonna be a really important topic for people who are just like me that know very little about creating sustainability within our food blog, so that you have the choice, like you can’t really make a choice of yes or no, I want to participate in this unless you know more about it. So I think it’s gonna be a really helpful conversation for at least people to learn. Yea, or nay, you know, yes. Yes, I’m gonna participate.

Marley 3:34
I agree that it’s not so much a mindset, but it is about being mindful and your choices. So we’ll, we’ll make the connection right there. Yeah, perfect.

Loren Runion 3:44
Let’s just start with who you are, what you do, and kind of how you got into this whole topic, and being so passionate about it?

Marley 3:53
Sure, well, I can’t remember a time where I wasn’t super into nature. You know, when I was little, I love being outside and my son loves it so much now too. And I kind of see myself in him in that way, which is really special. But, I really started getting into sustainability. When I went to college, I actually got my degree in, environmental health science. And we really dove into a lot of like health impacts of the environment and how we treat it and how that impacts our health.

Marley 4:26
But one sector I felt like we didn’t really touch that much on which is curious to me, because they are very closely connected, is the food industry and the environment. So once I started food blogging, I knew I had to like do a lot of research on that topic, because it’s something that’s always been close to my heart. And I found that there really isn’t enough information out there that’s put in a very succinct way that like can help people make positive every day simple changes in their food choices, which kind of led me to think of Hey, there’s space here for me to have a voice that can be heard, because it’s something that’s really important. And it’s not something that’s easy to find.

Marley 5:08
So the way I integrate it into my blog is I have little green tips. And every recipe posts, different ways to source different ingredients, or even just little lifestyle tips that can help you leave, lead a greener life that aren’t very, like, you know, they’re very approachable. They’re not like, you have to change everything you’re doing right now stop what you’re doing do this, instead, it’s just small changes that I think collectively, if we all do them, over time can make a big impact.

Loren Runion 5:37
That’s awesome. And definitely think that there’s so much room for it in the United States. I think in other countries, they’re way further on the sustainability scale, like really being mindful of, you know, your everyday practices, but I feel like the United States is I mean, we are super behind. I don’t even know what it is, I don’t know what the word is, like, Just I don’t want to be mean. But like, we don’t push it as an issue, right at all. And so, and I love the fact that you approach it from something that’s really simple. Because, for me, like learning something like this, or for anyone, I think, a huge change, especially when I think it’s gonna require like a belief change and a mindset change. When it’s too big. You’re like, nope hard pass. Like, I don’t, I can’t just switch get rid of all my plastic baggies all at once. So that’s awesome that you kind of integrated smaller and then people can learn from there. So that’s a really awesome approach. Yeah, so what what is your blog for everyone to know? Like, as we get started, what is your blog, like do and what kind of foods do you do on your food blog,

Marley 6:41
So it’s Marleysmenu.com, I concentrate on, you know, mostly plant based vegetarian, I do some pescatarian recipes as well. So I do have fish on there. I personally don’t eat meat, it does have a higher environmental impact. So I don’t have it myself, but my husband does. So I will include in some posts, you know, if it’s a vegetarian dish, I might say this one you can add chicken to because I think everyone should make their own choices. And while I do concentrate on reducing some, you know, meat consumption, I don’t think again, I want people to feel like it’s an attainable goal that they can reach. I don’t want people to feel intimidated by my approach to sustainability. So um, I do have pescatarian vegetarian, and vegan recipes. And then I do also sprinkle in there, like some meat options you can add if you choose.

Loren Runion 7:40
Perfect, perfect, I love that. So let’s like, go right in, let’s talk about what food waste is and why it’s a problem.

Marley 7:52
Yes,okay. So food waste is exactly probably what you think it is. It’s any food product that is not consumed, and is instead sent to a landfill. The reason it’s a problem is because it’s a little scary, but it’s estimated that almost 40% of the food that is manufactured and made to eat is wasted in the United States, which is like a crazy, whopping number. And there’s three reasons we should really care about it.

Marley 8:21
One is that the food industry puts a lot of strain on the environment. It accounts for 25% of greenhouse gas emissions, it makes up a quarter of our global freshwater consumption annually. It contributes to deforestation to make, you know, to make space for plant and animal agriculture. It contributes to land air and water pollution, especially through fertilizers and pesticides, that you know, farmers need to use in order to meet high demand. And it contributes a ton of plastic waste in the patch in the packaging. So for all of the strain, that the food industry puts on the environment for only 60% of that to be consumed as it’s really devastating.

Marley 9:05
You know, Furthermore, the waste itself. So like, you think food or get like a banana, you think it’s organic, when it goes into landfill, it’ll just break down and turn into soil like it should. The problem is, when it’s in a landfill, it doesn’t have access to the oxygen it needs to break down. So it actually turns into methane, which is a greenhouse gas and into water. And what happens is that water actually like sinks to the bottom of the landfill, it filled it mixes with the other trash. And it forms a thing called leachate, which is you know, a toxic pollutant that can actually like leak out of landfill and pollute our environment. So even though you’re throwing out in organic material, it actually once it gets to landfill doesn’t have the capacity to break down organically. Which is something people don’t know.

Marley 9:56
I think Thirdly, it’s just ethically, if you think about like, there’s 800 million people globally that are hungry every night that go to bed hungry. And if you think about it in like the most simplest terms, food and produce is leaving countries that desperately need it, to come to countries that are going to inevitably wasted. So when you think about it from an ethical perspective, it’s really important to be mindful when you’re, you know, when you’re wasting food, because it’s food that someone else desperately needs.

Loren Runion 10:32
And then, so how does a food blogger start to cultivate mindfulness around the food that they’re using for their blog, or even just for their daily, you know, daily life that are feeding their family? How do they start being mindful of that to reduce the food waste that they’re using?

Marley 10:48
Right? So it sounds like really devastating and scary. And the good news is that like 50%, of food waste happens at home, which means we have the capacity, like we have the power to reduce food waste, by half like to cut it in half, which is like a really, really good position to be in. So as food bloggers, you know, some people don’t love the word like influencer. But we are in a position where we’re a resource to people, and we can, you know, have some influence over their food choices and things like that. So we kind of have responsibility to encourage people and educate and give them the tools they need to reduce some of that food waste. And we’re in a position where we can do so.

Marley 11:36
You know, for one, there’s small things we can do in our actual blog posts, that will help encourage people to reduce their food waste, things like encouraging the use of natural and organic ingredients. So organic and natural ingredients, you don’t use fertilizers and pesticides that actually are harmful to the environment. You know, that’s a bigger one, because I know accessibility can be an issue there. But providing tips on how to like properly store things that you’re teaching them how to make, how to reuse and reheat them, to encourage them to save leftovers instead of throwing out things like giving options to half the recipe or making recipes for single servings, developing recipes that use all parts of the ingredients, like stems of herbs and things like that. And even like linking to other recipes that have similar ingredients, so that when they buy a whole thing of strawberries for your cake, and you only call for a half of that carton, they have you know more strawberries to use up what should they do with those, that’s something that you can help them with, you can direct them to a recipe that will use more strawberries so they don’t end up wasting them.

Loren Runion 12:56
I really like that I have to be honest, I mean, I’m pretty honest and upfront. I’ll tell everybody i mean i’m not i’m we throw away a lot of food. And I don’t do it on purpose, like and it’s usually vegetables or fruit. And I’m I started composting, but I’m still not very good at it. And so I can’t I know I’m not alone. I’m no, you’re absolutely right. It’s crazy that 50 I believe that 50% happens at home because I believe that even even busier family, more vegetables probably get thrown away. Yeah, absolutely. Oh easy. And then you stick the leftovers in the back of the fridge and you forget about it, you don’t feel like eating them. So I can see how easy it is to do and how if we don’t know, maybe the impact that it could have been able to make the decision not to do that. So let’s say you let’s I mean you had a lot of really good solutions for what people can do for us and for like to encourage the readers. Let’s kind of break some of those down. So let’s say we do have a head of lettuce and it’s gone bad or you know, you know, like me that you tend to have a lot of food waste and you want to start like consider composting scraps or things like that. Do you have tips for like even beginning to compost? You know, since it’s summertime and like things like do you need a huge space? I live in an apartment, can I still do it? Or you know, I find the biggest or hardest part with composting. I literally had a compost bin for I don’t know, 10 years before I decided to get it out. I felt like every time I looked online to figure out how to do it. It was confusing. I’m like, this can’t be hard. I’m just supposed to layer things. So any tips that you have for that I

Marley 14:28
think will be helpful. I i think that you know, anyone can compost. It’s a matter of having the drive and the will to want to do it. It is easier if you have your own space because then you can compost in your own yard. A lot of people who live in incorporated cities or towns, they actually will give you a compost bin for free. So it’s worth checking on your city’s website. Like I just went on to my Orlando website and requested a compost bin and it came the next day. So That part was really easy for me, in terms of getting the compost to actually break down, you know, my best tips would be one to have a compost like bin on your kitchen counter, so you’re not constantly going in and out, because that will discourage you from actually doing it. So make it easy for yourself, put the scraps in a little bin on your kitchen counter. And then once it fills up, you can take it out, you’re gonna have to balance your organic material, like your banana peels, and your, you know, your lettuce it’s gone down and things like that with what’s called brown organic organics. And that’s just like boxes like cardboard, and brown leaves, like dried up leaves that have fallen from the trees, things like that. And then you’ll also have to keep it wet. So every now and then when you bring out your scraps to the compost, just fill up that bucket with water and pour it on top, it does take about six months to break down. So if you’re not seeing much progress progress very quickly, don’t be discouraged. You won’t see any real soil until about six months, but they also sell soil starters that you can buy like on Amazon, they’re super cheap. And it’s just a soil that has bacteria already in it that you can pour on top. If you feel like you know nothing, you need something to get it going. So those are like that’s like composting 101, if you do live in an apartment, there are all kinds of programs that will actually pick up your compost for you. And there’s also places you can drop it off. So you can buy a bin and put it somewhere. Usually, the compost bins come with like filters that help with you know, smell and stuff. So people get scared because they’re like, I don’t want something decomposing in my house. But they have really awesome bins that are affordable, that help with the smell. And then you can either bring it to a local place that does composting, or they have programs that I know here they have ones that are like $15 a month that come by weekly just like the trash just like the recycling to pick up your compost scraps. And that’s if you don’t, you know want to deal with it on your own. There are ways you can do it for, you know, a nominal fee, that will really just help your own contribution to food waste.

Loren Runion 17:17
That’s really helpful. And what so say somebody lives in an apartment or even me, I don’t have a garden, I’d love one I’d not, you know, like I don’t, I haven’t developed the patients yet to create a garden. Like what do you do with if it does break down and you have this beautiful soil? What does somebody do with the soil?

Marley 17:35
Yeah, the awesome thing about the soil is that it’s completely organic. So putting it places like won’t, won’t hurt. But if you’re in a city, and you want to get rid of your sale, there’s all kinds of like, literally just Google what to do with both. And there’s all kinds of places are, like on that note, Google what to do with extra food. There’s, there’s food share programs, like as food bloggers, we have so many like cupcakes and stuff that we can’t possibly eat them. All right. At least I can’t chocolates. And there’s actually programs online that will like help connect you to families who are happy to take your baked goods. And it’s, you know, a lot of us have just like a friend or a neighbor who we constantly bring food to, but it’s something like, we want to, you know, take it a step further as people in need of food. And there’s actual programs online that will connect you with these families. And you can tell them every time you have something that you haven’t opened, they’ll tell you if they want it. And it’s like a beautiful way to you know, deal with extra food that you don’t know what to do with, because it’s really helping someone out. So there is a lot of information about food sharing, and composting on the internet that I will say is very accessible and very easy to find. So I would definitely encourage people to look those up.

Marley 19:02
Yeah, well and then knowing what to even search, you know, if they’re new to this, and you’re like, Well, you know, I have the problem of not knowing what to do because I shoot for a lot of other food bloggers, and sometimes they don’t eat the way I eat like they eat gluten or they eat processed foods. And I’m like, Well, I don’t want this hate like, I mean, I hate throwing it away, but I know that it’s if I don’t have someone else to give it to I do have family at times to give it to but that is awesome. And I will definitely be looking at those future programs. Yeah. To see what to do with it. That’s huge because there are people even when you’re testing if you don’t, you know, that’s that’s really big. So then, so one of the other things that you recommended is that you could cook in smaller batches like for the readers for you to offer. Seeing like how to half the recipe but do you also encourage food, food bloggers to recipe test in smaller batches.

Marley 19:59
Absolutely, especially if it’s sometimes it’s hard when it’s like, it’s something that requires just one egg, you know, you can’t really have those recipes, because you can’t use like half an egg. But um, if it’s something that’s easy to like, half, or even quarter sometimes like, it’s really important, if you know, you’re going to have to test that recipe several times, you’re like, for me, everyone’s process is different. But if you know that, like this is fresh out the gate, you’ve never made it anything like it before, you’re not optimistic that it will turn out perfect the first time. Test in a smaller batch, if you have a gut feeling like it might get wasted. You know, we can’t avoid it 100% all the time. But being mindful and just wanting to reduce the amount that you’re wasting? Is it It all adds up? Right? So, yes, testing in smaller batches is huge. I think that we if we all did that, and you know, like I personally test a recipe, even if it’s something I know, I like to test it like three different times, because I just, I’m at the point in my blog, where it’s still relatively new. And I’m just very, like, you know, I want every recipe to be perfect if someone finds my blog the first time and if they don’t make something doesn’t come out good. They’re not going to come back. Right. So I know that I’m testing things at least three times, the first two times, I’ll usually make a smaller batch, because then I can assess what I need to add what I need to admit. And then I’m not wasting as much. And I’ll usually end up eating it anyway. But it’s not like a tremendous portion, like forcing down, you know,

Loren Runion 21:37
Have you successfully tested in smaller batches for baking as well.

Marley 21:42
I have Yes, because I do have like cake layered cake recipes and things like that, which are easy to have, like just make one layer, I do have like, like, I usually just make a very small amount of like butter creams and things like that at first. And then I will multiply the recipe by four, sometimes even six to get the right amount to make like a layered cake.

Loren Runion 22:07
That’s a good idea. I mean, I definitely have you know, you’re like this, you make yourself eat it. Like all for this, oh, this worked. I’ll throw this in my freezer, and then you have a freezer full of stuff and it ends up in the garbage still. True. That’s really good. So then another thing that you mentioned was the use of natural ingredients and organic ingredients. And when you say natural, do you mean stuff from the earth versus shelf stable? Or do you mean things that do not include pesticides? And I mean, what do you mean by the word natural?

Marley 22:41
Honestly, no matter which way you interpret it, it’s probably you know, natural is actually a very, like, controversial word, right? It’s not on a lot of things that maybe like people see natural, they’re like, Oh, it’s natural, just like natural gas is like one of burning natural gas is one of the biggest carbon emitters. But it’s natural, right.

Marley 23:07
What I mean by natural in terms of food is things that aren’t highly processed things that don’t have unnecessary additives. A lot of times things that have additives like I don’t know if you’ve heard about palm oil, and a lot of people are aware that it’s like very bad for the environment, there’s a lot of deforestation associated with it. And a lot of times it’s it’s put in as an additive, because it’s, you know, very cheap, for lack of a better word, cheap ingredient to use for companies. So they’ll like add in a lot of palm oil, there’s even butter, like their sticks of butter that you buy that have palm oil in it because it’s like a filler. And it’s, you know, it’s easier for them to have a bigger or make more money because they’re using a cheaper ingredient. So using making things from scratch, using natural ingredients. One, you’re most likely avoiding more plastic, because you’re getting instead of buying something that’s pre packaged, you’re using natural produce and natural ingredients to make it yourself and to you’re probably not supporting a brand that has a high environmental impact. So that’s what I mean by natural as far as organic. There’s always a lot of controversy whether or not organic is healthier for you, but from coming from a you know, sustainability kind of angle, it’s definitely better for the environment.

Marley 24:39
There’s even if it’s like a quote unquote natural pesticide or natural fertilizer, it’s still going to have an impact in like, basically what happens is its used on farms that actually it’s called runoff it mixes with the soil and it generally like leaves the farm and makes its way into our waterways. And even though it’s natural, it’s adding more fertilizer to the water, which can then you know, make more algae and more plant life that’s going to disrupt the ecosystem of the water. So even when you’re just adding, you know, a natural fertilizer and natural additive, it’s still going to disrupt an ecosystem in some way. So we just want to keep things as you know, clean, not so controversial. You know, you want to keep things simple, really, it’s just as simple and as natural as you can weigh, you know that you’re not, you know, like buying extra additives and preservatives that aren’t necessary.

Loren Runion 25:46
So what about things like if you so I have a lot of I am mostly like paleo, if I were to label my diet, it’s paleo. And I do use a lot of palm products, because there’s coconut sugar and, you know, even like palm oil, that’s just like, not like the gross kind of a healthy kind like that. But I usually try and buy something that’s like sustainably harvested. Is that something that’s also controversial? Or are there ways to purchase those products? in a better way?

Marley 26:15
Well, here’s the thing. There’s a lot. So the FDA doesn’t actually monitor like a lot of labels. So there’s a lot of companies, it’s actually there’s a whole term for it, it’s called greenwashing. And they will claim that something is sustainably sourced, even when there’s no information to back that up. So there are things you can look for, there’s different certifications you can look for. If if it’s rain forest Alliance, or u Tz certified, that’s always a really good sign, they have to go through a lot of tests to actually get that certification. So you can be sure that anything that has those certifications, is sustainably sourced. The other thing is if a company is actually sustainable, they’re really proud of it. And they will be very upfront about their practices, you can go to their website, and they will list all the reasons why they’re sustainable. companies that use green washing tend to just say sustainably sourced and that’s all you’ll see about it, you won’t see it anywhere else.

Loren Runion 27:21
Are you saying green like the color green green washing?

Marley 27:24
yeah, yeah.

Loren Runion 27:25
Okay.

Marley 27:26
And, you know, if you’re, if you’re, if you have a feeling that it may not be, you know, it may be mislabeled, just look at the, their website, if they’re sustainably sourced, you will know about it, there will be a list of different things that they do to protect the environment. And if it’s just slapped on, there is like a marketing tool. That will be very obvious because it won’t be anywhere else on their website.

Loren Runion 27:55
And so is there when you were saying, just looking at the website, I bet. Is there probably an app out there where you can scan your food. I mean, if you’re using natural foods, you might not be able to scan it or maybe because there’s barcodes on bananas like there are apps out there that you can scan and say, yeah, this was this is good for the environment. No bad. If not, maybe I should there should be.

Loren Runion 28:20
There’s your money Marley!

Marley 28:24
I’m sure there is I have not looked into that what I do is actually I frequent those websites that you do see in the rain forest Alliance. And Fairtrade is another good one. Okay. And, you know, if I know that I’m going shopping, I will actually look for brands that are already certified. Another good thing I mean, again, I don’t want to sound like tone deaf, I know that, you know, some of these things are more expensive. And there’s accessibility issues in some places, and that’s okay. But if you are able to shop at Whole Foods there 365 brand is works very closely with the rain forest Alliance. So they do a really good job of sourcing things sustainably and locally when they can which is really important. Especially if you’re getting seafood and meat. That’s like a huge part of their mission statement is to, you know, have a really good way of sourcing sustainable seafood and meat. So just a pro tip if you are able to shop at Whole Foods, there are 365 brand is really is good to go.

Loren Runion 29:32
Well, so you said fair trade. And the first thing that popped into my mind was coffee. And I mean, everyone probably, I mean, a lot of the listeners are probably, you know, coffee drinkers, what about if they were just to try and make one small change and it was to make sure that the coffee they’re drinking is that I’m guessing since its fair trade? There’s a number of reasons but as part of that, because there is such an impact to the environment, to the workers and everything else.

Marley 29:57
Exactly.

Marley 29:59
SoUTZ certifications are specifically for chocolate and coffee. So you can look for those. I personally drink Pete’s eight o’clock. Coffee is also good. But if you go to, if you just Google UTZ certification, there’s like a list of a bunch of coffees that are sourced sustainably and they are. They’re accessible. They’re not, you know, some of them are more expensive, but they are available in your grocery store, and some of them are really well priced.

Loren Runion 30:29
Perfect. What about I think one thing I haven’t really heard you speak about are like using seasonal ingredients. What about using that to help?

Marley 30:39
Yeah, so I think that there’s just because of the way we shop, our modern lifestyles, there’s a lot of disconnect between food and seasonality, you can really get anything at any time, right? So the reason you want to shop and eat seasonally, is because if you think about like, if you’re in a snowstorm, and you’re eating a summer squash, think about where that must have come from to get to your plate, right. So all of that demand extra demand for things that are out of season locally, that you can know that that piece of produce has traveled so far just to get to you. Which means there’s been refrigerants used for it to travel, it means there’s been probably a plane for it to travel, which has high greenhouse gas emissions. And if you’re eating seasonally, you’re more likely to buy produce that was just, you know, harvested from around the corner. So one year you’re supporting local, which is great. And two, you have less what’s called food miles, which is the associated miles that a food has to travel to get from the farm to your plate. And that’s just an easy, good delicious way to make sure that keep your sustainable eating and in check, is to just make sure you’re eating seasonally.

Loren Runion 32:04
Okay, that’s perfect. And even, like speaking of eating locally, there are I know that you don’t necessarily eat meat, but it’s better. You know, there’s meat practices for people who want to eat meat or continue eating meat, there are ways to support the environment and continue to eat meat. And one of those ways is to avoid like, the meat from like conventional, like factory farms, I mean that that is one of the highest impact. And you may disagree, because there may be a little I mean, I believe that there is a way to farm. Yeah, house meat in a way that is good for the environment, that’s very good for the environment, it’s good for the soil, it’s good for the earth, and eating locally and finding places who like have if it’s red meat, that have grass fed cows who are very passionate about how they raise the cows, and how they, you know, 10 the soil on their farm like that as a way that you can still consume the meat and still be responsible of how it impacts the environment.

Marley 33:09
Absolutely. And just everything in moderation. You know, like you, if you’re eating meat for three meals a day, seven days a week, that’s you know, that’s going to put a lot more stress on the environment than if you’re going to your local butcher and getting, you know, a nice cut to have for dinner three nights a week, it’s just thinking about the high impact foods as something that you reward yourself with. And something that you might spend a little extra money on to get it the right way. And then that will just automatically reset your mindset to kind of like, have it as a treat and have it as something that you respect instead of something that you take for granted and just throw on your plate every day.

Marley 33:55
So I think the whole approach of eating sustainably is just like any other holistic or healthy eating approach, which is in balance, right? And it’s being mindful of everything you’re putting in your mouth thinking about the impact that it might have on the world around you. Because it’s so, you know, sustainability as a topic has just become so politicized. And it’s just become such an issue and polarizing thing that people don’t even want to talk about or think about. And I have to believe that, you know, if people had the knowledge of the choices, they’re making the impact that it had, that they would be more mindful about them. So I think, above all, you know what, the message that I want to come through of, you know, being here today is just educating yourself and being mindful and being cognizant of the impact that you have. So every choice you make, whether it’s food or buying something that doesn’t have plastic packaging or, you know, using a toothpaste that doesn’t have micro plastics, all these tiny little things that will make you feel good about making a better decision for yourself and for your planet, like, they really add up. And if we can all get on board, and we can all make these small changes, collectively, it’s going to make a big impact. And furthermore, it’s going to kind of change the conversation. And it’s going to make you know, those bigger systemic changes that we really need be more likely to happen, because it’s a conversation that people want to have. And it’s something that everyone can get behind. Because I have to believe that everyone cares about the planet, right? Like we all live here, it’s our home. So I think that the more we talk about it, the more we make these small choices, the more we spread the word, it’s going to snowball, and it’s going to become a greater impact than just buying one organic squash the grocery store, it means something more than that to me, and I think, I think everyone if they say knew the impact they had would feel the same.

Loren Runion 36:05
Perfect, that was like a perfect wrapping up of everything. I really appreciate you sharing this information, I got a lot of takeaways and things that I definitely want to go and check out. For sure want to check out the future programs, and then look at those other websites that you said about, you know, finding more like brand awareness that that’s super helpful, even if it’s just those small things. Is there anything else that you feel like anybody needs to know, before we wrap up the conversation or anything that we didn’t touch on?

Marley 36:35
Yeah, I just think on that note that you just said right there, it’s like, you know, we as consumers of food industry, just like any other industries is run by supply and demand. So we do have power as consumers like, basically think about with your wallet, that you’re voting for something, right. So every time you pay for, you choose to buy a certain brand, or you pay for something you’re telling, you’re telling the industry that you there’s demand for that. So you know making more sustainable decisions and the brands you choose to support and things like that. It has a bigger overall impact than just what you’re bringing home to your pantry. It’s sending signals to brands that that there’s a need, and there’s a want for them to do better. And I think that we sometimes forget how much power we have with our wallets. So looking for those certifications, and making those Cognizant choices to choose brands that are doing the right things, you’re sending signals to other brands that maybe they should get on board to.

Loren Runion 37:37
And so that brought something else up for me. And I’m trying to not be too like, I don’t know, one way or the other in this conversation, because I’m very passionate about very similar things, but more with people’s health and the things that they’re consuming. And all of these things that you can do for the environment are I mean, your body is an ecosystem as well, like these things that you’re changing for the earth, they’re impacting your body, these those chemicals are impacting your body, and the government doesn’t care. They don’t care. And so I guess my question is, are there? Are you familiar with any documentaries, because there’s a ton for the food industry lay or I mean, as far as like health wise, and the food industry, like how they’re really not telling you what you need to know about the impact the food you’re consuming is doing to your body? Is there are there documentaries out there that you really like that you could share that people may want to listen to? Sure, um, you know, there’s tons, and I will maybe link them in the show notes.

Marley 38:29
Yeah, we could absolutely do that. I just want to say like, just everything you watch, including a lot of these documentaries, you do have to like, think about the fact that they do have an agenda. So a lot of times, they’re, they’re very one sided. And, and I’m aware of that, just you know, even as someone who agrees with a lot of the points they’re making, a lot of them are very extreme. Like, I love them, worked for me, like I love Forks Over Knives, I love all those, you know, documentaries that kind of really hone in on the issues with animal agriculture and things like that, but they are pushing a lot of times like a vegan agenda. Right? There are many reasons why a lot of people can’t be vegan accessibility, you know, actually health. There are things you know that they can’t eat, because they can’t digest them. Well, there’s a lot of reasons that people should have a more expansive diet. And so I would, I think we should link to them in the show notes. But I think everyone should just kind of go in with a grain of salt. I think it’s important to, you know, hear that information. But I also think it’s important to know that there’s things that are left out, there are ways that you can eat sustainably like we said, and there are ways that you can make better choices to eat higher impact foods.

Marley 39:54
So I think it’s good to listen and to educate yourself on that. But also remember that there’s always you know, an agenda behind these things. I would say more so than a documentary, The, the thing that has the best impact and bet best educational information to me is actually podcast. And it’s called How to save a planet. And it’s very approachable. It’s very realistic. It’s not, you know, at the end of every episode, they give you an actionable thing that you can do to make an impact. So sometimes these documentaries can be kind of depressing, you know, leaves you feeling hopeful and feeling good about the way we’re heading. So I would highly recommend that’s called How to save a planet.

Loren Runion 40:43
Oh, perfect. That’s good. All right, well, let’s just end with where everyone can find you. If they would like to come hang out with you a little more, read more from you about sustainability.

Marley 40:54
So you can find me on Instagram. It’s Marley’s menu, or my website, Marley’smenu.com. All of my contact information is there. And I just want to drive home that I love to be a resource to you reach out to me, don’t be shy. I will answer any question you have. And if it’s a question, I don’t know, I’m happy to research it for you. So my inbox is open. And I’m happy to help anyone with this topic in any way I can.

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