I’m not going to lie to you guys. The past 3-4 hours were spent with me sitting in front of the computer and analyzing the list of ingredients of some of my old products which I have decided to ditch in favor of 100% to 98% natural/organic, vegan and cruelty free products. If you have read my Top 10 Toxic Ingredients found in our Cosmetics today, you know what I’m referencing. If not, well it’s high time to read it. The saddest part of this was, that I had to ditch my freshly bought costly L’Oréal face masks (both the red AND the green) because they contain above 3 among some of the most toxic ingredients enlisted previously.
After this cosmetic detox which costed me quite a few bucks (yes, living healthy will always costs 10 times as much and it’s absolutely unfair) I’ve decided to switch to healthy eating/lifestyle articles. And I have realized there is still a long way to go for me to live healthy. Actually all this healthy-living lifestyle can drive us city people all nuts. It’s because those of us who live in the city are so used to living as we do, that switching would cost a lot of time and energy and also a great deal of lifestyle change not all of us can handle at this point. Let’s therefore get started with baby steps before we go totally crazy. Total lifestyle switches do not work because they make no sense. All they are worth is, that we spend tons of money, end up unhappy and therefore switch back short thereafter.
Change, if there will be should be voluntary AND gradual. Let’s therefore try some of the easiest ways to start switching to living a more conscious life.
Nr. 1: Try to save on plastic bags as much as possible – bring a shopping bag with you at all times: Shopping sometimes comes in the worst times possible and in countries like mine people still use plastic bags. In order to cut back the amount of plastic bags used unnecessarily try to bring a bag with you at all times. IKEA sells great pocket shopping bags but if that doesn’t work you can fold any small plastic bag into becoming tiny and hide it in one of your bag pocket.
Nr. 2: Drink water instead of Coke or any other sugar and artificial flavored drinks, especially energy drinks Water is the best when it comes to ending being thirsty. Let’s get to drink more water or 100% natural juices/smoothies instead.
Nr. 3: Try to cut down your artificial sweetener consumptions
I’m a big artificial sweetener junkie and so it won’t be easy for me to switch. But it’s something that’s necessary as all these sweeteners are absolutely unhealthy.
Nr. 4: Try to switch to natural cleansers instead of chemicals
Now, this is a tougher one. But there are more and more stores which sell economically less harmful cleaning products (this will be my challenge tomorrow). There are others who swear by the power of soda and vinegar (I also regularly clean some stuff with vinegar, salt and lemon).
Nr. 5: Try to ditch plastic in favor of glass
If you bring your water with you try glass. If you are cooling water in the fridge, switch plastic to glass. It’s way healthier for everyone. This is true for all the food storage options.
Nr. 6: Recycle as much as you can
There is a fair change if we all do it, things will get better. Especially when it comes to reproducing and not newly producing two of the most important materials used in our everyday lives: plastic or paper. And you will feel better too. If recycling is actually a habit everyone is doing in your country – it’s all the better.
Nr. 7: Try switching to more organic products
In my case, I will be trying to switch flour (from white to whole grained) and sugar on the first place and get glass holders for most of the things. Switching to marine salt, brown rice and cooking with extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil are also good alternates which are easy to make come true. Also try to ditch canned and processed products and much as fast-food meals as much as possible. I might even be investing to a water cleanser, although I believe if I boiled it that would be enough.
Nr. 8: Try to buy clothes which are more natural
Try to ditch all the plastic „poly” products in favor or more natural ones, such as wool or cotton. There are several brands which have a conscious line like L.o.g.g for H&M.
Nr. 9: Try to be more energy conscious
Try to save energy such as electricity, water and gas as much as you can. There is nothing much to add to this. We all know shower is better than bath, however if you prefer bath, opt to having it once or twice a week instead of daily and switch to shower every other day. Change your lightbulbs to LEDs because they are so much more energy conscious. Same goes for the fridge. If yours is old, chances are it hasn’t got an A++ or A +++ label, which are currently the most energy saving ones on the market. Same goes for washing machines too.
Nr 10: Avoid breathing in synthetics as much as you can
This goes for everything that’s synthetic, from perfume ( containing over 30-40 chemicals not all of which are harmless) to bleach or air fresheners, try to avoid these as much as possible Opt for more natural products or essential oils when it comes to making your home smell better.
ANND FOR THE 10+1th
Avoid reading too much of healthy lifestyle or visit healthy lifestyle websites or you will go crazy and will feel you will never ever meet the standards. Unfortunately this lifestyle is made a competition by many of the “health-gurus”. Do not listen to them only of your guts. I will do my best to put together a list of the silliest things I’ve ever read on health conscious websites too just to make us all laugh a bit.
I think these steps will do for me for a while as a city creature. As I have my life I won’t be able to make abhorrent changes all of a sudden and I am sure most of you are in the same shoes. But once we are on the way, to make our lives healthier I believe we are on the good way.
Hope you enjoyed my blog, follow me for more to come. Share with me your baby steps if you feel like I will be more than glad to share experiences. More on my bio-adventures (including organic tried and tested) and so much more coming up soon!
Karas Blog 