This conversation is sponsored by Silk. The opinions and text are all mine.
With summer almost behind us and kids going back to school, isn’t it time to jump start a healthier greener lifestyle? Ditching the toxins, choosing healthier food options and getting that butt off the couch sounds like a plan? Before you balk and say “been there done that,” listed below are some easy green living hacks to start moving in the right healthier direction.
I am.
Are you with me?
My Story
I think of myself as a pretty healthy person. I exercise at least three to five times a week and try to eat well. But over the last couple of years, I have noticed that I have become more and more tired and the weight just seems to be mysteriously appearing–especially around my midsection.
My holistic doctor told me I had leaky gut and wasn’t digesting my food. Then he told me that my finger nails were soft, my skin is dry and PS, my hair is starting to fall out on one side.
Okay. I am not done yet.
This healthy person is also full of toxic metals such as mercury, aluminium, lead, and antimony!
Stop gasping and take a breath. I wasn’t surprised since my whole family is filled with these toxic metals.
The Toxic Live We Lead
- We eat canned food that is lined with BPA, which has been linked to “human reproductive problems and an increased risk of cancer and diabetes.”
- We are exposed to aluminum through our deodorants, additives in our foods (flour, baking powder, etc.) aluminum cookware, and antacids.
- We eat fish that contain mercury such as swordfish.
- Our air contains toxic chemicals. (Check out USA Today’s search engine that reveals the toxicity of the air around your local schools.)
Toxic air equals toxic bodies. According to the EPA,
“Toxic air pollutants can cause health problems by interfering with normal body functions. Most commonly they change chemical reactions within individual cells, the building blocks of living things. These changes can kill cells, impair cell function, or re-direct cell activity. The results can be damaged organs, birth defects when the cells of an unborn child are damaged, or cancer that develops when cells begin to grow at an uncontrolled rate.”
- Our homes are full of flame retardants and we drink bottle water. Antimony is a flame retardant and potentially leaches from plastic water bottles.
Worse yet, don’t get me started on our toxic homes. Read about it HERE.
So how do toxins affect your health? They make you sick.
And guess what? Dr Mark Hyman, the founder of The UltraWellness Center, a four-time New York Times bestselling author and an international leader in the field of Functional Medicine, states environmental toxins make you fat.
Ready for a change?
Lifestyle Change #1–Choose an Exercise Program that You Love
Do some form of exercise that you love. Toxins are eliminated through sweat. According to Dr Hyman,
“[y]our skin is your single largest organ of elimination. Make sure you’re maximizing the detox potential of your pores by working up a sweat at least three times a week. Of course, heart-thumping exercise that gets the body sweating for 20 minutes, three times a week is ideal, since it confers other health benefits.”
I am a Zumba fanatic since I love to dance and try to dance at least 5 times a week. I sleep better and feel invigorated afterwards. And, yes I sweat. So if you want what I have (a la the movie, When Sally Met Harry) choose some form of exercise that you will stick with and do it.
P.S. If you are a gardener, gardening is considered exercising according to Weigh Watchers . Think of all the bending, reaching, and heavy lifting that you do in the garden. (And you thought weeding wasn’t a sport?)
Lifestyle Change #2–Be Honest about the Type and Amount of Food You Eat.
Do you really know how many calories you are consuming during the day? Not sure? Consider using Fitness Pal. It helps you to set goals and look at how much fat, sugar, and carbohydrates you are eating in a day. It is super easy and has an enormous database of foods to match your daily intake of foods.
In addition, you can add in your exercise routines as well.
All I ask is that you be honest when reporting your food intake. It is so easy to say you didn’t eat something when you did.
What have I found using Fitness Pal? My diet isn’t as balanced as it should be. I eat too much fruit sugar and I am working on ditching the protein bars.
Lifestyle Change #3– Eat a More Plant Based Diet. Add a Smoothie into Your Lifestyle!
I am hypoglycemic and lactose intolerant, so I need to eat a protein with every meal to balance the carbohydrates. Since I don’t like eggs, I gravitate to a green smoothie in the morning. Green smoothies help to jump-start my day.
Simply add greens, a plant based protein like Silk’s organic soymilk, and your favorite fruit and you are good to go. To learn more about plant based proteins, read HERE.
Eating more fruits and vegetable has it advantages. A recent Adventist Health Study revealed:
“People who eat a plant-based diet live longer, have less cancer and heart disease, weigh less, and have healthier diets. They even have a lower carbon footprint.”
Plus adding greens to your diet is so easy. According to WebMD:
“Greens are the No. 1 food you can eat regularly to help improve your health,” says Jill Nussinow, MS, RD, a culinary educator in Northern California and the author of The Veggie Queen.”
Looking for some delicious green smoothie recipes see HERE. I adore anything with kale and bananas as the base.
Lifestyle Change #4–Ditch the Processed Food and Get Real.
It is so much easier to buy a product at the grocery store from a box. I hear you. However Dr.Ludden, a cardiologist says processed foods not fat causes heart disease. Ludden reveals:
” [T]he heavy load of omega-6 acids vs omega-3 in corn and soybean oils – about 15:1 when it should be 3:1 – are too much for the body to process.
But he insists there’s a silver bullet, and it’s not all that surprising.
”There is but one answer to quieting inflammation and that is returning to foods closer to their natural state,’ Lundell writes.”
But promise me one thing– next time you reach for a ready made just add water type product or “simply put it” in the oven, look at the ingredients. If you don’t know every single ingredient in the box, put it back on the shelf. Processed foods can contain genetically modified ingredients, additives, MSG, loaded with sugar , salt, and chemicals you may not be able to pronounce.
Michael Pollen, NY Times best selling author, states:
“Don’t eat anything your great grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food. “When you pick up that box of portable yogurt tubes, or eat something with 15 ingredients you can’t pronounce, ask yourself, “What are those things doing there?”
Lifestyle Change #5– Ditch the GMOs and Pesticide Laden Food
While we are on the topic of ditching processed foods, start phasing in organic foods. If organic foods are too expensive, then at least buy foods listed on Environmental Working Group’s dirty dozen plus.
So why are foods grown using GMO seeds bad for you? Crops grown with GMO seeds are resistant to pesticides. So, they are sprayed with Roundup. GMO expert Jeffrey Smith states,
“Roundup is directly toxic, linked with cancer, birth defects, endocrine disruption, Parkinson’s and other diseases. A study released last month showed that rats fed Roundup in their drinking water at levels considered safe suffered massive tumors, premature death and organ damage. Other lab animals showed severe reproductive failures, such as sterility, smaller and fewer offspring, infertile offspring, huge infant mortality and even hair growing in the mouths of hamsters. Roundup also kills beneficial gut bacteria, and can render trace minerals unusable by our system.”
Read HERE about the effects of Roundup. Futhermore, Smith states:
“The American Academy of Environmental Medicine identifies the following categories of diseases and disorders as afflicting the lab animals fed genetically modified soy and corn: problems with the immune, gastrointestinal and reproductive systems, organ damage, accelerated aging and insulin and cholesterol issues.”
More than 60 countries restrict or ban the production and sale of food containing GMOs. Follow their lead and ditch the GMOs.
Find verified GMO free products HERE.
So, are you ready to jump on the healthy bandwagon?
Join the Conversation:
What healthy and green choices have you made to live a healthier lifestyle?
Kate Hlava says
I love myfitnesspal…altho I will admit to bending the truth every once in a while. 🙂 It is so easy and tempting after a long day to grab something easy to feed my family but it is so important to remind myself what I am doing to their long term health. Thanks for the reminder!
Anna@Green Talk says
Kate,
I am glad you admitted to some fudging with myfitnesspal. I think we all do it. 🙂 Anna
Marjorie says
We eat a real foods diet too. No processed stuff in this house!
Rachel @ day2dayjoys says
Love these tips! We are always telling our patients to maximize their nutrition and minimize toxins.
linda spiker says
Wow! Great tips! And it’s do-able, which I love.
Anni says
Good suggestions. If you don’t have your health, you don’t have anything. 🙂 I see more and more people trying to do things every day to live better.
Loriel @ Naturally Loriel says
real food is what it’s all about! It’s amazing how much better you start to feel once you incorporate real food into your lifestyle.
Jennifer margulis says
Tons of good advice in this post! Thank you. I’d add to read the ingredients carefully and make sure that you aren’t inadvertently buying super sugar-y foods. A lot of healthy people I know don’t realize that there is more sugar in flavored yogurt than there is in Jell-O (gross, huh?)
Trish says
Anna,
Great information and well written article! Trish
Megan Stevens says
Thanks for this great article and all the inspiration to eat whole foods and avoid gm’s!