Going Green — Small Steps Can Make a Big Difference in Your Health and Home
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If you’re trying to go completely green or just make small green changes, sometimes it can feel a bit overwhelming. I know that when I started making changes it did, but I found breaking my “greening” into 3 distinct categories made a huge difference. I broke the categories into: food (what I ingest); body (hygiene and cosmetics); and home (cleaning products and recycling). Just writing that out makes me feel more organized.
FOOD
Food is a big one for people, especially when they feel eating organic is too expensive or inconvenient to locate. I’ve referenced them before — Local Harvest is a great way to start. They link you to local farms and organic food that’s near you. Just put in your zip code on their home page and see what pops up. Then, if you can’t find a location that’s convenient to you, their online store is amazing. Also Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s sell organic food as well as Fresh Direct. Really great news for my families that are on assisted food allotments, Trader Joe’s honors the Food Stamp Program accepting the EBT card from recipients. This makes my heart sing.
BODY
Ah the body! Just keep reminding yourself that your skin is the largest organ of your body and your body’s first defense. I, long ago, prescribed to: “Don’t put anything on my body that I couldn’t potentially eat.” Many of the chemicals in traditional cosmetics are known carcinogens. But just try finding beauty products that are SLS and petroleum free — true organic or natural products — can be daunting. But they are out there, are excellent and need to be supported and incorporated into your healthy regime. Some of my favorites are Weleda, Dr. Hauschka, Suki (I will review this line for you soon), and Pangea which I recently wrote about.
HOME
Home is sometimes easier for people to tackle, but again, non-toxic or organic based cleaning products have in the past been hard to find. I was slow to make this switch until I continuously got a headache after using noxious cleaning products in my bathroom. (The steam from my shower exacerbated the smell.) Well lo and behold, the King of Clean Clorox has come out with an affordable and accessible line of household cleaning products Green Works. I am so thrilled to see a big corporation answering a call with the average consumer in mind. Planet Natural, Seventh Generation and Mrs. Meyers. All these companies have great products. The scents of Mrs. Meyers products are highly addictive and a bit pricey, so be careful.
Finally, if you’re not recycling, PLEASE go to Earth911.org. Recycling should be as normal as taking out the garbage and as routine as brushing your teeth. We waited too long with nationwide recycling, but it’s never too late to start. The Earth can’t recycle our waste for us.
Happy Greening!
Namaste,
I’ve actually been thinking about implementing the same practices in my home and residential cleaning business. Great thoughts and thank you for the helpful information.