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Five Little Steps to Healthy

2013 January 10
by WWGD

As you know, I didn’t make any real resolutions this year, but for some reason the first week and a half of 2013 has been nothing but green-washed for me.

There are my friends who are sticking to a mainly superfood-based diet after the sudden passing of a family member long before his time. My girlfriend whose baby son just went through a battery of tests to reveal sky-high toxicity levels, very possibly due to routine pesticide spraying in their community (he is on the mend, thankfully!). And then I happened to come across this post from a new blog reader of mine that does a great job of describing the eternal struggle we all face as moms to raise happy, healthy families in a not so happy and healthy world.

So just like that, I have been thinking especially green the past few days (sometimes maybe the universe handles that pesky resolution list for you?). I try to be a conscious consumer, particularly when it comes to my kids and the products they interact with, but I am certainly not perfect. Kai wears disposable diapers and their milk may be organic but their berries are sometimes not and once in a while, we go to In N Out. And we love it.

But I have decided to take on five little immediate steps to healthy – because as with all things, every step counts – to set us on a greener track in 2013. Or at least until our next double-double ๐Ÿ˜‰

1) Use a fruit and veggie wash spray. My friend above on the superfoods swears by them. I honestly always felt it was a marketing gimmick, but hey, so are most face creams and I use those, so…?

2) Canceled our ant spray service. Any of you living in Southern California know the agony of fighting off ants in your home. We tried green options that never worked and eventually gave in to a real treatment. But at this point, I would rather the green guy comes back five times than having the chemical guy here once.

3) Buying organic. I try my best, I really do. But sometimes the sheer sticker shock leads me away from organic choices that I know are better for my family. Now I can’t promise I will always opt for the “o” option, but I have made a conscious choice to not let money be a deciding factor in it. And I will research which foods are worth the investment and keep them on an iPhone list for handy reference in-store.

4) I will stick to my menu planning. Each and every week. I have already shared how much I love menu planning but the busy holiday season quickly made it passรฉ instead of a priority. And it showed in what we ate and how we felt. Planning out our meals makes it so much easier for us to focus on real foods rather than opting for quick fixes that do a body bad…except for the occasional In N Out trip, of course.

5) Get more plants. This has been a BIG issue in our lives forever. We killed a cactus once. True story. So…we have no plants. Wait, scratch that. I have one on my front porch that has done surprisingly well (and if I could remember for the life of me what kind it is, I would be happy to share it). But that’s it. And I know the amazing effects, both physical and design-wise, they can have on a home, so I am rushing out this weekend to stock up. Please feel free to share your recommendations for EASY ones to look out for!

So there you have it. I am no doctor, I have no idea if these small changes will make any difference in our lives at all. But it will make a difference in my mind – and sometimes quieting that down is simply reason enough.

*image above via here*

 

12 Responses
  1. Jenn permalink
    January 10, 2013

    The gals from Green Your Air in Cardiff have some fabulous plants. I cannot keep plants live but my 3 from them are over a yr and thriving.

    • WWGD permalink*
      January 10, 2013

      Ooh, awesome, thank you! Never heard of it, will check it out!

  2. January 10, 2013

    I have plants all over our house but the ones that seem to do best are the ones in my kitchen… since I’m always in there and remember to water them more frequently. It’s also an easy/green way to get rid of old teapot water, other unfinished drinking glass water or even ice cubes! I am great with cacti and succulents but I did recently kill a cactus because I forgot about it down in our office. My advice is to keep your plants in areas where you can’t forget to water them. Then once you’ve trained yourself to water frequently, you can branch (pun!) out and put them in other rooms:)

    Something I read a long time ago to help with the organic hunt is to check the stickers… 5 digit numbers are organic and everything else is not. That definitely helps when things aren’t very clearly marked. Here’s a link to the “dirty dozen” foods that you should keep on that iPhone list: http://www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/eat-safe/dirty-dozen-foods#slide-1

    I just wrote a blog post within your blog post, sorry! ๐Ÿ˜‰

    • WWGD permalink*
      January 10, 2013

      Ha ha ha – mi blog es su blog. Thanks for the tips! xx

  3. January 10, 2013

    gasp! i started reading this and thought, “oooh, a post about the struggle of raising happy/healthy families. interesting!” then i clicked and saw some familiar faces! thanks, lady. so sweet of you to read and so sweet of you to mention it here.

    i could have written this post myself. okay, probably not as eloquently but dude. same here.

    i was on such a roll with meal planning there for a while… then the holidays came, out went the planning and in came the figuring-it-out-on-the-fly which is never as good and is certainly never as healthy.

    last night we ate hamburger habit (which is like โ€“ย dare i say even better?! โ€“ย than in n’ out here in santa barbara and maybe a few other places in cali) and i was thinking to myself, while dipping my fries in ketchup, that i HAVE to get it together and get back to planning.

    oh, life.

    loved the post… thanks again… xx

  4. Jennifer permalink
    January 10, 2013

    Funny you should mention plants because I looked around the house and thought that needed to be a 2013 goal- let me know what you go with. I figure if all else fails I can ask the nanny to also help remember to water ๐Ÿ˜‰

    I have to second The Habit for burgers. Nothing replaces In-n-Out but Habit burger is a new fav and I recommed getting the fries done “crispy.” It is also one of the few places I opt for regular fries over sweet potato fries!

    PS- Honest Company makes a fruit and veggie wash ๐Ÿ™‚

  5. January 11, 2013

    A constant pre-occupation/ guilt trip thing with me – and pleased to hear it’s not just me from the sounds of things. I guess 80/20 is about as good as one can get with these things, more than that makes me feel like i am losing my mind. You’ve made me think with the plant thing though, so definitely going to head out to the plant nursery this weekend. One thing on the eating organic thing though: here in the UK that often means accepting you food has major airmiles. So this deliberation often drives me bonkers in the aisles: non organic and local, or organic with airmiles?

  6. January 23, 2013

    i love succulents
    they’re like cactuses, don’t require much care, but they’re really pretty. I have three next to each other, and they’re such a nice decoration ๐Ÿ™‚

    • WWGD permalink*
      January 23, 2013

      Yes! Have had my eye on those as well, great idea to cluster them.

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