Christmas is over.
We are still on vacation, though, visiting family. It’s cold in Seattle, but it’s wonderful to be with our family.
I’m thinking about goals for the new year.
1. My first goal is to lose the extra 30 pounds of baby weight by her one-year birthday, April 13th.
2. I also want to get all my finances and paperwork in order (nothing short of monumental).
3. And get out of debt. This one is totally do-able. (I mean for all my credit card debt. The student loans don’t count.) And once I’m out of debt, I get to start investing in real estate, which I am really excited about.
4. Spring cleaning — I want to sell all of the accumulated junk in the garage on eBay and the like.
Those are the main things. I have lots of other smaller goals. Like expanding my vegetable and herb garden and composting and making more of my household cleaners…
Here is my question to you… Do you have any New Year’s resolutions that are related to your health and the environment? No?
Maybe you could add one or two. Here are some simple things you can do that would make healthy and/or green resolutions for 2008…
1. Stop eating high fructose syrup. It’s industrial corn soaked in battery acid. Read the labels and stop eating this.
2. Use cloth shopping bags. You can get them for a coupla bucks at Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s. I take them with me everywhere in my car these days — and I even use them at Target.
3. Stop eating soy or vegetable oil. It causes heart disease and cancer. Cook with butter, lard, coconut oil, palm oil, and/or olive oil (make sure it’s real olive oil — not the faux olive oil you buy at Costco or Trader Joe’s).
4. Start taking probiotics. Take a supplement. Drink raw milk. Make your own kombucha or kefir or kvass or sauerkraut.
5. Use cloth diapers. It’s really not so hard. I made the switch; so can you. If you don’t know how to do it, email me and I’ll post all the tricks.
6. Limit bread and refined flour. If you want bread, eat any of the following kinds:
whole grain (like Mestemacher German rye breads: http://www.germandeli.com/mebr.html)
sprouted (like Ezekiel or Alvarado St. Bakery)
REAL sourdough bread
best of all, freshly milled, soaked and sprouted homemade whole grain bread.
7. Eat grass-fed beef and dairy products. Grain-fed cows are sickly and pumped full of antibiotics. Grass-fed cows live 3-4 times longer and live happy, full lives.
8. Eat raw dairy products — NOT pasteurized! Pasteurization exists mostly to mask bad milk from unhealthy cows. Buy raw dairy products from trusted dairy farms. They are healthier and much more nutritious, since they have all the enzymes and probiotics intact.
9. Make your own cleaning products. All you need is Borax, baking soda, white vinegar, some Dr. Bronner’s, some essential oils, and some citric acid. If you don’t want to make your own, buy the healthy kind at Whole Foods.
10. Try to buy local. Is it really necessary to buy that foodstuff that comes from New Jersey when you live in San Diego? Think about all the miles traveled, all the wasted gas and energy. Buy local for the environment.
11. Join a CSA. It’s great to buy organic produce but when you join a CSA, you are actually making a pledge to the farm. Letting them know that they can count on you to support them for the next season. I believe everyone in America should be supporting a local farm through a CSA subscription. To find a CSA near you, go to http://www.localharvest.org.
12. Start taking cod liver oil. Dr. Oz called it the supplement that everyone should take. I agree. Not only does it prevent osteoporosis but it also prevents — and even reverses — cavities. I started my baby on cod liver oil when she was 5 months old. (Not all cod liver oil is the same. We buy ours here: http://www.radiantlifecatalog.com/)
13. Avoid genetically modified foods. Yes, this means most packaged and processed foods. You should give them up anyway because most of them contain soy oil and high fructose corn syrup and other toxic crap you don’t want in your body.
14. Buy non-Monsanto seeds. See my blogroll to the right for sources of seeds that are not tampered with by Monsanto.
15. Eat more organ meats. Don’t like liver and onions? Have some foie gras. Or take cod liver oil and desiccated liver tablets. But make sure you get your organs.
16. Stop eating soy. It’s an endocrine distrupter and seriously messes up your thyroid. It can make you infertile. Stop now.
17. Make bone broths. Beef broth, chicken broth, fish broth. Simmer in a big stockpot and freeze for later use. This is one of the healthiest things you can do.
18. Reuse and recycle. Don’t throw away plastic yogurt containers. Or glass mayonnaise jars. Or paper bags. Reuse them for something else. And recycle everything you can.
19. Stop brushing with toothpaste. The fluoride and glycerin are giving you cavities. Use Tooth Soap or Dr. Bronner’s — or sea salt.
20. Filter your water using a reverse-osmosis water filtering system.
Enough for now. That should give you some ideas. (The ones on this list that I have not done yet I am committed to doing in the new year.)
Wonderful post. A note, however: while fois gras might be good for you organ-wise, the process through which the goose has to go in order to OBTAIN that extra smooth, fatty liver is less than ideal. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foie_gras#Fattening) You can, though, scour around for non-force-fed fois gras - which sounds delicious, albeit prolly not wallet-friendly (but what fois gras is?!).
Uddern’ that, AWESOME list! This looks a lot like my NY resolutions list (that is currently in my head). What water filtration system do you use? Tap-attachment?
A friend of mine started a company selling make-your-own cleaning product kits after discovering that the “natural” cleaning products are still not really all natural: http://www.eco-me.com/.
Something to note, however, is that bed bugs are on the rise (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/18/nyregion/19bedbugscnd.html) and some speculate it is due to the decline in toxic chemicals in people’s homes. Most of the awful chemicals we’re subjected to were developed with good intentions, it’s just that no one is monitoring the big picture where we are bombarded by thousands of chemicals on a daily basis with unknown consequences.
Good list!
I do some (buy local, use real fats) but I the water filter one. Our tap water here is pretty good. AND the diaper thing. I quite like using the toilet.
We don’t have our water filtration system yet. I’m about to order one.
I had foie gras last night. It was good but you know, I don’t love it more than chicken liver or duck liver pate.
Angelique, I don’t think the bed bugs are due to a reduction in toxic chemicals. I think they’re due to people buying filthy used beds from the Goodwill.
Oh, I HEART duck pate. I really do. And most confits, tho I know they’re not liver, are also heavenly.
PS. You have a source for the soy stuff? I am researching ups/downs of soy products for my mom, who swears by soy stuff. If you have anything on hand, that would be totally awesome. Thanks!
http://www.westonaprice.org/soy/soy_controversy.html
Where I live its illegal to sell unpasteurized milk and cannot be purchased at any price. I can’t buy locally produced things except at harvest time because we have winter here (real winter with snow when nothing is growing - it lasts about 6 months). I drink tap water because its quite inexpensive and perfectly safe. I don’t drink Soy anything because I find it unpleasant. I don’t take cod liver oil because there are really very few cod left. The Atlantic fishery is closed due to overfishing. I can’t avoid genetically modified foods because there is no way to tell which ones they are since labeling them as such is not legal here. The organic labeling requirements allow for genetically modified seed as long as no chemicals are used on them. Its a difficult situation although I appreciate your list. It just isn’t possible in my situation.
You’re on the right track for healthy living. I’m over 50 and don’t have cavities and have used fluoride toothpaste all my life. Being a dental hygienist of many years-please don’t use salt as it is too abrasive. Baking soda would be very effective and very safe for your teeth. Stay away from the foods with added acids, sugars, etc. for the healthiest teeth. And use that dental floss! My children have grown up with beautiful skelatal structure we attribute to wild game, fresh vegetables and minimal junk food. Keep up your research!