1. Anna King
FSHN 496B
Fall Semester 2015
CSU ID# 829672579
Conscious Eating
Voting with your dollar parallels putting your money where your mouth is. We have to
eat to live, so spending money on food is a necessity and not elective. That being said, when a
consumer has a steady income and a little bit of wiggle room in regards to their budget for food
choices, they have numerous options of products to buy and sources to buy them from.
Conscious eating is when consumers base their food purchases (both products and/or sources of
food) off external factors or variables other than the visual appeal of products. Some consumers
buy products from specific sources based off the food products’ impact on the environment and
sustainability, or based off brands’ standards in regards to how produce and livestock are treated;
others choose to shop at selective places because their chosen sources have agendas and policies
supporting or opposing other organizations/movements.
In my personal life, conscious eating would resemble a change in my intentions when I
shop. Right now, because I am a broke college kid, I look for the cheapest apples and fresh
produce on sale when I go to shop (I even drive out to Sprouts if I’m already running errands in
my car because their apples are half the price of the cheapest apples at King Soopers!), I look for
the daily and weekly deals throughout the grocery store, and the clearance sections are my
favorite sections in any kind of store I enter. If I were to become more food conscious, I would

2. spend the extra money on organic apples, I would take the time and extra money to support local
farms like Native Hill so I could eat locally fresh vegetables, I wouldn’t eat bacon from
Minnesota and I wouldn’t go to Chick­fil­A who is known to have controversial conservative
political stances. I know lots of people, especially my peers in school wish they could afford to
eat more consciously but do not have the financial resources to do so. I think this is a fairly
common stance for Americans and certainly for consumers in our statewide economy, where
locally­grown food is promoted throughout stores and other sources continuously.
Professionally, I would counsel clients to first educate themselves on the reality of our
food system. Proper and unbiased information (influenced by the industry big­wigs themselves)
is inconvenient for consumers to become educated on, much less merely stumble upon (which is
the level of expected effort consumers put forth). I would give them reliable means, such as the
articles and resources provided in this class, for them to become more informed. Based off their
new understanding, then I would be able to help guide them to living more conscious lifestyles.
Ideally, if finances didn’t have to dictate the majority of business decisions, I would love
to be able to own or run a business that could support agriculturally viable companies and
promote sustainability in any capacity. If I don’t end up owning my own business, community
and environmental sustainability always has been (and always will) be a factor in my interests
for applying for jobs; I would love to find a career with a company whose mission (or value)
includes something greater than just their own company, alone.
Conscious eating is something that our society should take into greater consideration
when buying food because we fund more production of food with our choices we make at the

3. consumer level. I hope to get to a point in my life soon where I can live up to the expectations I
have of myself and other consumers, prioritizing renewable and viable sources for food.