Subscribe
Here’s an ingenious way to turn trash into something useful. Guess where this beautiful pond is located?
Yup … this beautiful pond is in the trunk of an old car.
Last year this same neighbour grew a productive garden in the back of an old truck.
Happy Friday!
Contrary to what your mother might have told you, you do not have to eat meat every day to get enough protein in your diet. In fact there is plenty of protein in non-animal food products to keep you healthy… just ask any vegan and they will tell you it is possible to live meat free. For example 1 cup of walnuts has the same amount of protein as a chicken drumstick; and 1 cup of quiona has a little more protein than 1/4 pound of lean ground beef.*
But Meat Free Mondays isn’t asking us to all become vegan. It is simply asking us to cut our meat consumption by about 14% to help lessen the impact that we have on our environment … and that fits beautifully with the low crap diet.
This movement is growing quickly. A Google search for “meat free Monday” returns over 20 million hits. Even Sir Paul McCartney has, not surprisingly, joined the movement and if you visit supportMFM.org you can watch Sir Paul strumming his guitar and singing a little song to get everyone in the spirit: “Meat free Monday… It’s a fun day… And its happ’nin …All around the world.”
Making Mondays meat free makes a lot of sense. To learn more watch the video below, or click here to watch on You Tube.
*Nutrition Facts Source: Dunne, Lavon J., Nutritional Almanac Fifth Edition, 2002 McGraw-Hill
BYOB has taken on a whole new meaning.
My local organic store, Sunnyside Market, carries quite a few things in bulk … including dish soap. And they are quite delighted when you bring your own container … or in this case, bottle.
My last plastic bottle of dish soap had a big crack in it, so it had to go to recycling.
I went looking through my cupboards for a suitable replacement and discovered this cleaned out glass olive oil bottle.
I should tell you that I am a bit of a glass bottle hoarder … meaning I have a hard time sending any glass bottle to recycling if I think there is a remote possibility that it may one day come in handy.
I remember cleaning out this bottle and if you have ever tried to clean out an olive oil bottle you will understand my pain because it takes a lot of hot water and dish soap to get that bottle oil free. I remember asking myself if my efforts, along with the extra hot water and soap were worth it.
Today I was feeling kind of smug … yes my efforts were absolutely worth it.
The great thing about reusing an olive oil bottle is that it has a ‘spout’ attachment that slows down the speed that liquid pours out. This little feature makes it quite suitable for refilling with dish soap … and the bottle looks much prettier than plastic.
A British study on the nutritional value of organic foods was released yesterday. (source National Post: “No nutritional value added in organics: study.” Thur. July 31, 2009 http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1842708)
The study concluded that “Organically produced foods have no more nutritional value than conventionally grown products and consumers who pay a premium for organic foods are doing so based on perception, not fact” [my emphasis]
Are they daft?
Do they think that people who purchase organic food are daft?
I purchase organic products because I care about my health and the health of my planet.
I purchase organic products because of what it doesn’t contain . I personally do not want to eat residue from pesticides such as:
- Iprodione*. A known carcinogen used in the conventional production of almonds, Iprodione is also a potential ground water contaminant and suspected endocrine disruptor.
- o-Phenylphenol*. A known carcinogen used in the conventional productions of apples, o-Phenylphenol is also a developmental or reproductive toxin and a suspected endocrine disruptor.
- Chlorothalonil*, a known carcinogen used in the conventional production of tomatoes, that also has the potential to be a ground water contaminant.
By purchasing organic products I support biodiversity, environmental stewardship, clean water, clean air, safe work environments for farm workers, preservation of heirloom plants, soil nutrition, small-scale family farms, ethical treatment of animals, sustainable agriculture and the list goes on.
Purchasing organic isn’t about better nutrition.
Purchasing organic is a non-selfish way of saying “I care.”
*Information sourced from PAN Pesticide Database http://www.pesticideinfo.org and What’s on my food? http://www.whatsonmyfood.org/index.jsp. Retrieved July 31, 2009.
Here’s a mid-month treat for you.
Organic Apricots in all their glory ready to serve up their low crap goodness to all who care.
These beauties are from Abbott Acres in Cawston, British Columbia.
The 1st Annual Buy-No-Food-In-Plastic Day has come and gone and I’ve heard some great stories from friends and family about how their plastic awareness was ignited.
The best story comes from someone I won’t name … She tells me she was having lunch with a coworker at a food court and enthusiastically talking about it being the 1st Annual Buy-No-Food-In-Plastic Day. As she was speaking she suddenly noticed that her food court food had been served in Styrofoam containers … oops …
When she sheepishly told me the story I cheered! Hooray! That tells me that the 1st Annual Buy-No-Food-In-Plastic Day succeeded in raising both her and her coworker’s plastic-awareness. Plastic is so integrated into daily life that we hardly even notice.
They then discussed how they could have easily brought down reusable plates and cutlery from the office kitchen.
Maybe next week they will.
It doesn’t matter if you succeeded in going 24 hours without purchasing plastic or not. What matters is that you became a little more plastic-aware.
Congratulations!
Today is my birthday and you can wish me well by participating in the first annual Buy-No-Food-In-Plastic day. All you have to do is pay attention to how the food you purchase is packaged. And when you have a choice, choose food products that are self-packaged or in non-plastic containers.
Before a problem can be solved, we must first be aware that there is a problem. Do you remember when Big Mac’s and Quarter Pounders were served up in cancer-causing polystyrene aka Styrofoam?
More than 20 years ago McDonald’s assistant vice president was quoted in the New York Times: ”We use foam packaging for the same reasons that schools, hospitals and other restaurants do. It keeps our products hot, it keeps them fresh, its portable and it’s a safe and sanitary way to serve our product.” (http://www.nytimes.com/1987/11/11/nyregion/mcdonald-s-is-urged-to-alter-packaging.html Accessed: July 16, 2009).
Today, McDonald’s no longer uses foam packaging for its sandwiches and the change in packaging hasn’t seemed to hurt their business. Their sandwiches are still delivered hot, fresh, safe and sanitary … in benign paper-based wrapping.
Change can happen. It starts with awareness.
Its fairly rare to see food in Styrofoam packaging these days. But the packaging of choice is still predominately other types of plastic. Plastic keeps food fresh. Its portable. Its sanitary. It’s a wonder product. But is it safe? The evidence is mounting that it is not; not for lab rats, not for babies, not for adults, not for fish; not for water, not for landfills.
Today is the day to raise your plastic awareness. Can you go the whole day without purchasing food wrapped in plastic?
It’s a difficult challenge, but its not impossible.
Since there are so many new readers this week, I thought I’d give you a quick catch-up on what’s going on at LowCrapDiet.com and then we’ll talk about ketchup.
Low Crap Diet is about cutting ‘crap food’ out of our diet … improve our health; improve the health of the earth.
Lately I’ve been cranky about plastic and other throw away packaging. In fact I became so frustrated with all the low crap food in high crap packaging that I decided to try a 30 day buy-no-food-in-plastic experiment. Feeling a little lonely in my experiment, I invited you to join me by declaring Friday, July 17, 2009 to be the first annual “Buy No Food in Plastic” day. (Better start getting organized … Friday is only two days away.)
Now that you are all caught up, here’s the promised ‘ketchup’ bit.
I’ve always wondered why “returnable glass bottles” didn’t catch on for more products. It’s a brilliantly sustainable system. When I purchase milk in a glass bottle, I pay a ‘deposit’ on the bottle as incentive to bring it back to the store so it can be refilled. When I return the bottle the deposit is refunded. It works for milk and pop and there is no reason it couldn’t work for other consumable products.
I’d like to see the following products in returnable glass bottles:
- yogurt
- feta cheese
- olives
- cooking oil
- vinegar
- mayonnaise
- nut butters
- stewed tomatoes
- bar-b-que sauce
- spices
- honey
- juice
- ice cream
- ketchup
I think you get the picture and you can probably add other products that you regularly purchase.
The ability to purchase ketchup in a refillable glass bottle would remove a huge amount of ketchup’s crap-factor.
Did you know that:
- plastic is collecting in the ocean
- the plastic in the ocean breaks down into tiny colourful bits
- fish and birds eat those colourful bits thinking they are eating food
- you can be part of the solution.
Raise your “plastic-awareness”. On Friday July 17 purchase only plastic-free-food.
Click here for a poster that you can forward to your friends.
A marketing guru blogger guy named Seth came onto my radar a few months ago when I was setting up Low Crap Diet.
Recently Seth wrote about his birthday wish, asking people to “… start a project, launch an idea …” … create a “Make a difference day.”
Today Seth’s post challenged me to go farther: “Go ahead, do something impossible.”
I like challenges.
I am in the midst of an impossible challenge.
I have a birthday coming up.
I want to make a difference.
In fact, I know you want to make a difference too, so I’m answering Seth’s birthday wish with a birthday wish of my own.
On Friday July 17, my birthday, I invite you to take part in the first annual No-Food-Purchased-In-Plastic Day
The purpose of No-Food-Purchased-In-Plastic Day is to raise our ‘plastic-awareness’, especially in the area of food packaging.
Did you know that:
- plastic never goes away.
- not all plastic is recyclable.
- not all recyclable plastic is recycled.
- plastic leaches toxins into our bodies, our water, our air, and our earth creating havoc in ways we are only just beginning to understand.
My 30 day experiment is teaching me that it is difficult to avoid food with plastic packaging. But I am learning that it is possible to drastically cut down on how much plastic garbage I generate.
Here’s just a few ideas of how you can participate:
1. Pay attention to how your favourite foods are packaged. (Do you really need your sandwich wrapped if you are going to eat it right away?)
2. When you do purchase food wrapped in plastic, be sure to reuse or recycle the packaging.
3. Bring your own knife, fork and coffee cup (BYOKFCC)
4. Bring your own reusable bags (BYORB)
5. Whenever possible purchase plastic-free-food (PFF)
Can you go 24 hours purchasing only plastic-free-food? Leave a comment and let me know your ideas and thoughts.
Stay tuned for more details … and Happy Birthday Seth!
