Monday, January 4, 2010

Food buzz & Green Living

FoodBuzz

I just joined the FoodBuzz community!  Please friend me, and any advice is welcomed... I haven't figured any of it out yet!

Green Living

I've been doing lots of research this weekend, and have 2 great posts brewing.  Both of them stemmed from information I read in Green Living, which spurred changed in my real life.

I don't think I'm typically one to rave about a book, probably mostly because I only get a couple read each year.  However... I would rave about this book.  It was a resale bookstore impulse purchase when they had a sale, and I'm so grateful I got it.  The information in it is awesome, it's understandable, it leaves you with very convincing information on why you should make changes in your life and has ample resources to help you follow through.  Since we don't have tons of money to throw at these changes, I also appreciate that the information is not preachy or terrifying enough that you feel the need to fill up your dumpster at midnight and buy all new stuff.

Also, being kind of a girly girl, I am also very grateful that they offer information on how to get good quality makeup, skincare, clothing, etc.  While I strongly believe in doing what is best for my health and the environment, I don't know if I could walk around with a bare naked face and hemp-and-rope style clothing.  Thankfully, healthy environmentally-conscious options have evolved and Green Living is careful to note that.  To me, that increases the accessibility to people like me who are used to a mainstream lifestyle.

As we run out of products, we are transitioning to better options.  We have already changed shampoos, conditioners, dish soap, dish washing detergent, made a couple wiser shoe selections, and we have a few more changes in the making.  Details on two of those changes will follow in future posts.

Also, I think it's important to mention that the book supports eating vegetarian or vegan, both for health and environmental reasons.  There is a blurb on raw foods, which thus far has been my only critique of the book.  That segment criticized a raw diet as being insufficient for maintaining body weight.  The dietitian cited a specific caloric intake that she claimed was the maximum that could be achieved when eating raw.  Having researched it some myself as I became interested in becoming vegetarian/vegan/raw, I doubt that the number is accurate, and there was no explanation of how she calculated it.  Apart from this one shortfall, this has been an excellent book and resource for changing our lifestyle.

What are your favorite go-to resources and can't-live-without books?  What are your tips for learning the FoodBuzz community?

2 comments:

Averie @ Averie Cooks said...

Thanks for the great comments you left today on my blog!
Raw food and not taking in enough calories....HAHHAAA!! She clearly hasnt come to my kitchen and had any of my raw balls. They may be raw and natural, but they sure aint calorie free. Dates and nuts pack a punch of calories in very small amts. People are soo naive sometimes and they just spout off with drivel, dont they. Boy oh boy!

Anyway though I love been as green as possible without going tooo nuts. I used to be more uptight a few yrs ago about things like soaps and such but found that things werent getting as clean as i wished in the laundry so ended up switching back to convential detergents. Anyway though, great topic.

Trail (Oven Aversion) said...

No kidding! My assumption is that she added up dry salad for bfast, lunch, and dinner and came up with a number. If you eat nuts, dates, coconuts... mmmm, you'll be eating good but it won't be a rabbit food diet!

You might check back from time to time on the detergents. From our experience, they're getting better. We just got a new dishwasher detergent that's cleaning better than our conventional one. I haven't ventured into laundry detergent yet, but we started using tea tree oil and a 30 min pre-soak to disinfect and deodorize. I'm happy with the results. A good friend swears by adding a cup of vinegar to every load. I haven't tried that yet, but I'm game.

Anyway, so glad you enjoyed the post and thanks for your comments! I love to get your feedback!