Earth Love

Picture by smashingapps.com

It's Earth Day! Earth Day encourages us to be more conscious of how our choices impact the health of our planet. The cool thing is that most of these choices also impact our own health. 

Here are a few small changes that you can make to decrease your carbon footprint and boost your health in a big way.

Choose organic and local:

By choosing organic foods we are making the choice to support farms that do not use harmful pesticides. In return we also reduce the amount of pesticides we ingest and therefore have to process and eliminate (or potentially store long term).  Organic foods are also more nutrient dense than their conventional counter part. 

By buying local foods you are reducing the amount the food has to travel to get to you. In turn it is typically fresher and therefore retains more nutrients. 

Ditch plastic water bottles:

Plastic water bottles contain harmful chemicals that are know as endocrine disrupters (our endocrine system is responsible for hormone regulation) and lead to increased waste. Switch to a BPA free reusable water bottle. I recommend glass water bottles and drinking from glass glasses whenever possible. 

Put down those keys: Walk or Ride

When was the last time you drove right down the street? Probably not too long ago, become more aware of how often you get in the car to drive short distances to run errands or swing by the neighbor’s house. Choosing to bike or walk increases your physical activity (you don't need me to tell you moving your body is good for you) and decreases vehicle emissions- a win win situation! If you are a biker consider getting a basket or saddle bags to carry goods when you’re out and about to make running errand easier.

Switch to natural cleaning and beauty products: 

Many cleaning and beauty products contain chemicals that are harmful to you and the environment. The environmental working group has an awesome website to help you find out if your products are doing more harm than good. It has two applications, one for beauty products (http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/) and one for cleaning products (http://www.ewg.org/guides/cleaners). I encourage you to check them out.   

Another great option is to make your own! Here is simple recipe for a DIY all purpose cleaner: 

Ingredients:

1. 1 tsp of baking soda
2. ½ tsp of castile soap
3. 2 tablespoons of white vinegar
4. Essential oil such as lavender, lemon, rosemary or tea tree to add scent. 

Directions:

Using a funnel place all ingredients except for the essential oil into a spray bottle. Shake it up, let it sit for 1 minute then fill the bottle the rest of the way with warm water. Let it set for 2-3 more minutes ad add essential oil (5-10) drops or until desired scent is achieved.