No Impact

Well continuing with my trend to watch documentaries produced years ago I watched No Impact Man last night with my husband, using the wonderful Netflix to stream it.

As a side note I wouldn't recommend watching with children as they drop the "F" bomb several times.

                                                                        Source: Uploaded by user via Mary on Pinterest

The movie follows Colin Beavan, his wife Michelle, and their 2 year old daughter Isabella as they spend 1 year (living in New York City) attempting to make no impact on the Earth.

For this they give up, in stages mind you (they didn't go completely cold turkey):

• buying anything new
• electricity
• all forms of transportation that doesn't involve human power to get you there (i.e. walking, biking, etc)
• toilet paper
• food packaging
• creating trash
• air conditioning
• TV

I myself would have had to draw the line at toilet paper...that would have to be my luxury item if I were to do such a project.

They made sure that they ate food grown within 250 miles of their home, which meant giving up on Starbucks but eating more from the local farmer's market.

Overall I thought the film was a little extreme, but I think his point was to see what things they could live without if they tried and giving everything up all at once gave them a clean slate to start from.

In the end I think they found they enjoyed family time more and eating local foods.  It made them feel more connected to their city and more conscientious of their consumption.

I had my husband watch this with me because I thought this would appeal to him, and did it ever.

We've decided to make an action plan and see what we could do to make less of an impact.

• Make our own shampoo.  This "recipe" calls for essential oil...so I am going to make my own.  I am currently drying out some orange peels so that they can be the scent of our shampoo.
• Bake our own bread.  I am selling off some surplus items from around my house so that we don't have to spend extra funds to buy this awesome bread machine.

                                                                       Source: squidoo.com via Teresa on Pinterest

• Increase productivity from our home garden.  This weekend we are cleaning everything out and beginning our spring planting (kale, spinach, and broccoli seeds will be hitting the dirt).
• Make my own bags for produce, bulk bin items, and unwrapped baked goods.  I saw these bags on Pinterest and find the instructions easy to follow...I think even my meager sewing skills can make this happen (they have tags to write bulk bin item numbers on the side).

                                                       Source: frugalgranola.com via Rachel on Pinterest

• Make our own cleaning supplies.  You would be amazed at what white vinegar, borax, and baking soda can do for your house.
• Repurpose and reuse the items we have instead of being so quick to buy new.
• Making our own cola.  My husband loves a soda every now and then...but he doesn't love the ingredients SO we are going to try a few recipes, starting with this one.

As these projects progress I will be sure to blog about it.  Because if something is a success, or even a failure, there is bound to be something we can learn from it and by sharing with all of you who knows what you can teach me :)

What sort of suggestions for having less impact can you share?

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Happy Friday!

Hello everyone!

I hope that you are staying warm.  Here in North Carolina it is 27 degrees and it is supposed to start snowing by noon.

The accumulation isn't supposed to be more than an inch...but I don't know how much you can really trust the weather people around here.

Today, because it is so cold, I wanted to share a few warm thoughts from Pinterest:

                                       Source: destination360.com via Ashlyn on Pinterest

                                                                 Source: facebook.com via Lesley on Pinterest

                                                                    Source: search.pricebuster-travel.com via Michele on Pinterest

                                                           Source: keeps-me-crying-carolina.tumblr.com via Kelsey on Pinterest

I am very ready for summer to get here...or at least warmer weather.

Before I sign off for this balmy Friday I wanted to share something I stumbled upon.

On Etsy there is a group of vegan artisans who have come together and produce vegan items...should that be of interest to you.

You can find them here or by going to www.Etsy.com and searching veganetsy (yes all one word).

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Food Movie Reviews

I am typically a little late to the party when it comes to watching movies and reading books.

So while my opinions on the below movies is a little late I did want to share because it might prompt someone to watch one of these.

Last week I watched Food Matters:

                                                                         Source: imdb.com via Luis on Pinterest

It provides a look into naturally keeping yourself healthy, and using food as your medicine.

A thought first espoused by Hippocrates "Let food by thy medicine and medicine by thy food."

There are segments from doctors, journalists, naturopaths, and nutritionists who provide some very compelling evidence that putting nutrient rich food in your body will help it heal itself.

My favorite segments were with Dr. Andrew Saul who touts vitamins over pills.  He believes that eating vegetables and fruits doesn't get a lot of lip service because it doesn't make money for pharmaceutical companies.  Additionally he commented that most doctors don't receive training in nutrition.

That seems crazy to me.  They can learn all of the parts of the body but they don't learn how to keep them healthy without the intervention of pills?

Overall I feel I was affirmed in my decisions to eat lots of fruits and vegetables and that you don't always have to turn to something from a bottle to fix what ails you.  That pill, whatever it may be, could have some side effects that turn out to make me more sick.

I followed Food Matters up this week with Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead:

                                                                             Source: en.wikipedia.org via Heather on Pinterest

This is a documentary that follows the story of Joe Cross, and Australian entrepreneur, and his quest to heal an autoimmune disease as well as wean himself off of several medications.

At the start you meet Joe and he is 310 lbs.  He decides to come to America and spend 60 days on a diet solely made up of juice with the help of Dr. Joel Fuhrman monitoring him.

I was a little skeptical on the outset thinking that there is no way juice could be filling enough to subsist on it for 60 days...but I was wrong.

Not only did Joe change his life he also changed those he met on his journey (he traveled across the US).

What I enjoyed about this movie is that it was more about Joe and his journey.  You don't get weighed down  in facts and percentages (which I happen to love, but it isn't for everyone) instead you get a story similar to Supersize Me.

Watching both of these movies tied in nicely together.  Food Matters teaches that the body can heal itself and then Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead shows you the body healing itself and making Joe a well man.

Both movies are available through Netflix (that's how I watched them), and I would highly recommend watching.

For more information on Food Matters please their website it is a wealth of information (you can sign up for a newsletter there and get up to date information on nutrition, natural healing, and recipes) and they have a  Facebook page as well.

Joe Cross has a website dedicated to teaching anyone who wants to learn about the benefits of juicing (complete with recipes) it is called Reboot with Joe.  In addition to that there is a Facebook page and Twitter to connect with others as well as Joe.

The opinions expressed are my own and I was not compensated by anyone or asked by anyone to provide my opinion...just did that of my own free will.

I hope you will take some time to watch one, or both, of these movies.  And if you take nothing else away remember to eat a rainbow when it comes to your fruits and veggies.

Happy Thursday to you all!

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Hello! Remember Me ?

It has been quite a while since I last blogged.

With the holidays and work I just really have been too busy to bake any treats and I just lacked inspiration for what to write about.

But today, after a message from Shauna, I thought I should get back on the blogging bike.

Health has been on my mind a lot, not that mine is failing, but just trying to do the best I can for my family and ensure that we are eating the best foods we can.

This all started 3 weeks ago when my Sunday school started a series entitled The Seven Pillars of Health by Dr. Don Colbert.

Each week you discuss a new pillar:

Week 1: Water
Week 2: Sleep and Rest
Week 3: Living Food
Week 4: Exercise
Week 5: Detoxification
Week 6: Nutritional Supplements
Week 7: Coping with Stress

What I have gleaned so far is that:

• Your water should be alkaline (ph of 7 or better)
• You should drink half of your weight in ounces each day (i.e. 150 pounds should drink 75 oz of water). 
• Alkaline water keeps everything on the inside balanced.  

Well this started me to thinking stressing that I wasn't drinking enough water and that I was also drinking the wrong type of water.

I spent days researching filters (carbon, alkaline, and reverse osmosis) and then stepped back and though I should work on consuming enough water and have the water tested before I go off the deep end and buy all sorts of filters that we might not need.

The next pillar on sleep and rest didn't give me any concern as I really do get enough sleep.  So this lesson didn't add any stress to me.

Moving on to living food...well that was a different story.
 
I thought I would have this pillar licked (metaphorically speaking).

I love food and take strides to make myself more educated about it all the time, but reading about ways that you can make living nutritious food dead sent me into a panic (basically steam, stir fry, or raw is the only way to go with vegetables so that they don't lose their vitamins and minerals).

I know we can't go raw with our diet, my children would pack up and leave home, but I have been way over analyzing everything we do.

I am trying to find a way to talk myself down off this ledge so I decided to write a post on it.

Not to make you all worry more but just to share my neurotic side, who doesn't enjoy a good crazy person every now and then.

Well I feel a little better having shared this and hopefully you will come back and read future posts (I promise I will share some yummy food and a book review).

Thanks Shauna for your gentle reminder!

Have a wonderful Tuesday all of you.

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