It's Easy Being Green

You are what you eat. We’ve all heard the phrase before but have you ever wondered if there is actually any truth to it? Believe it or not, your diet is the key to your overall health and well-being. Good, healthy foods can promote the growth of healthy cells throughout your body, repairing damage. Bad foods, mainly those that are processed and far from what you’d pluck out of your garden, can actually injure your body’s cells, causing damage and disease.

As you pull out of that fast food drive through or pull the frozen dinner from your oven, have you ever stopped to wonder how your grandparents ate? Over the course of the past 100 years our diet has rapidly changed to include processed food, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and a host of additives and preservatives not known until recently. Eating has become less about keeping us happy and healthy and more about the pleasure of quick and tasty foods. Take a look at this scary comparison:

Here is what the average person ate over the course of the year in 1900:
- 131 pounds of homegrown vegetables
- 5 pounds of sugar
- Consumed small amounts of oil
- Didn’t drink soda

Now compare that to the average diet of a person in the year 2000:
- 11 pounds of homegrown vegetables
- 200 pounds of sugar
- 30 pounds of refined oils
- 53 gallons of soda

Evansville was recently named the "Fattest City in America" and its no wonder why. This town loves its fried food and even hosts a week-long festival based on two city blocks of fried food booths.

If that comparison doesn’t just make your stomach reel I don’t think there is much hope for you or your future health. The Western diet is out of control. We see it on our once a month trips to Sam’s Club where the fattest of the fat are lined up at each sample cart, stuffing their faces. Then they waddle down the aisle and throw in the most processed box of junk they can lay their pudgy little fingers on. With each bite, Americans are killing their families more and more.

Evansville, the city closest to our Half-Acre Homestead, just received the most glamorous title of the “Fattest City in America” in 2011. That’s right, we have more overweight citizens per capita than any other city in the United States. No wonder its so hard to find good, wholesome food in this town. With a McDonald’s on every corner (and literally I’ve never seen so many fast food joints in my life), the food conglomerates just keep raking in the dough while they make people fatter and sicker.

If you haven’t watched the documentary Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, you should. During our recent trip to visit family in Arizona, we sat down to watch this with my in-laws. It was shocking but inspiring all at the same time. If you’re worried it might be dry, don’t worry. The creators made sure to punctuate their points with entertaining snippets of animation. It proves that you can make changes to your diet and see almost immediate improvements in your health and well-being.

We need to make some serious changes in this country. Food needs to be more than just a passing thought better left to big agribusiness and corporate conglomerates that devise ways to generate the most amount of “food” for the least amount of money. We don’t have a lot of land on which to grow real food here at the Half-Acre Homestead. The little bit that we do have is productive and this year the goal is to make it even more so. Homestead Hottie and I are at a loss with our winter diet right now.

We introduced Everly to fresh fruits and vegetables from the moment she started on solid foods. She has grown to appreciate fresh, homegrown foods even more, often acting revolted with processed foods.

We can’t wait for the bounty of fresh fruits and vegetables that will soon be bursting at the seams out back and spilling onto the dinner table in our kitchen. Our life and our health depends on it and yours should too.

Will you be growing some of your own food this year? What do you plan to grow?

Popularity: 5% [?]

I ran across this cool video thanks to the folks over at Brain Pickings. The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts is known for their pretty remarkable sketchnote animations drawn to illustrate points being made by well-known writers and researchers. To further encourage budding filmmakers, the RSA is currently sponsoring a contest to bring some of their talks new life with new animations.

I of course have to share the film based on Michael Pollan’sFood Rules. Make sure to check out the other animations in the competition and vote while you’re there.

Popularity: 7% [?]

I’m so enamored with a Christmas card we just received in our office at work today. It’s from our friends at the San Diego Zoo and their pachyderms who also took part in the crafting errr I mean excreting of the card. That’s right, your mind is headed in the right direction.

The PooPooPaper card stock and envelope are crafted from a giant heap of steaming elephant poo, recycled without one whiff or clue to its origin and now resting between your fingers. Some co-workers were disgusted. I was delighted and now I’ll share the poopy greeting with you!

The envelope, giving only the slightest of hint as to the contents inside

The front...

The inside...

The reveal on the back...

A closeup of the logo

Popularity: 5% [?]

Here at the Half-Acre Homestead we take a lot of time to watch what we eat. Organic products get the green light to jump into our shopping cart at the store but we’re very mindful of everything else, especially foods that contain Genetically Engineered or “Modified” ingredients (often labeled as “GE” or “GM”).

Based on our research, we firmly believe GM or GE foods are not only a danger to our health but also to our ecosystem. The contamination issues alone are worrisome as genetically modified strains of plants begin interacting with the natural environment and with non-GM varieties. I don’t eat food with pesticides applied to it so why on earth would I want to eat food that creates its own pesticide inside the very plant I’m consuming? It’s abhorrent to think about. Add to that the track record of big agribusinesses who tinker with nature for their own profitability (like Monsanto) and you begin to see the big picture.

Here is a funny little video out right now encouraging consumers to contact the FDA and let them know you’d like your food to be labeled properly, alerting you if you’re buying something with GE or GM ingredients. I have no problem believing a majority of consumers will just continue down their blind pathway, buying a cart full of crap-tastic food and not thinking about the future consequences. I however would like to know what is going into my family’s body and would hope you do too.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Is it truly possible that a tide of change is surging in to the fattest city in the nation? I think it might just be possible with the addition of local farm markets, a new Fresh Market boutique grocery and one of the most shocking signs of change I’ve seen yet: a vending machine with healthier snack options.

A new, healthier vending machine located at Eastland Mall

This new Fresh! vending machine is located in the eastern entrance portal to Eastland Mall, right next to the Old Navy store. It also happens to be placed right next to the new electric train that will drive you and your kids around for a pretty penny, talk about a captive audience! However, the fact that this machine contains some healthy options such as Cliff Bars for Kids, fruit juice pouches, fruit snacks and Stacys Pita Chips makes this granola dad happy.

Sure, I know what you purists are saying: this isn’t good enough and its still processed food and what about those Kettle brand potato chips! What I have to say in response to that is this is a good solid move and I hope to see more trends in this direction here in Evansville. Only then will we begin the road to recovery as the fattest city in the United States…that and eliminating the McDonalds or other fast food outlet on every corner

Popularity: 6% [?]

I’m absolutely blown away by the amount of paper Victoria’s Secret wastes on their catalogs.  I think we must receive a new catalog at least once every week in our mailbox and it’s because we order from them, not because we want the catalog.  What’s even more frustrating is that there’s no indication on the catalog that they use any form of recycled paper for the printing.  Thinking about the amount of paper they use and the amount of gasoline it must take to transport their catalogs to the masses around this country makes my head spin!  Maybe I’ll just tell them not to ship the darn thing to us anymore.  In the meantime, I’ll continue doing my part by throwing them into the recycling bin.

On the flip side, we just bought new print cartridges for our HP printer.  I’m impressed with the steps HP goes to make recycling printer cartridges an easy process.  I know our toner cartridges at work come with prepaid UPS labels to ship the empty cartridges right back to them for recycling.  Here at home, it’s super easy by going onto their website and requesting free, postage-paid envelopes to be sent to you so you can drop in your cartridges and send them back too.  I’ve also noticed most of the packaging for their products is recyclable.  They use cardboard boxes with none of those annoying, non-recyclable plastic bubbles.  Plus, the plastic they use to hold the cartridges securely in the box is a #1…making them totally recyclable in my area.

It’s funny how once you start recycling at home, you really begin to pay attention to the packaging of everyday products.  I’ve even formed some purchasing decisions around the packaging that the item comes in.  But, those purchasing decisions have led to our recycling bin overflowing every couple of days while we really only generate about one bag of trash per week.  That makes me feel great!

Popularity: 3% [?]

There’s been a lot of talk about how harsh our everyday, household cleaners really are.  Not only to ourselves but also to our environment.  We’re beginning to see some, commercially produced cleaners that are more natural and biodegradable.  It’s a small niche market right now but as the green movement picks up, more and more companies are turning to more sustainable options.  Not only will it be better for our environment in the long run, it will also protect our children from allergic reactions, poisonings and illnesses in kids associated with chemical-laden cleaning products.

Smaller companies like Seventh Generation are working to produce more natural cleaners and more sustainable lifestyles.  The Burlington, Vermont company lends its employees up to $5,000 to buy a hybrid car or make energy-efficient upgrades to their homes.  They also reimburse employees up to $500 for alternative commuting costs and gives them another $500 to buy energy efficient appliances.  The company also participates in a reforestation program in New Orleans.   Another company making environmentally friendly cleaning products is Method.

Even cleaning giants like Clorox are entering the green age.  This month they’re releasing their new line of cleaners called Greenworks.  The eco-friendly products will be sold right alongside their normal line and will apparently cost about 20% to 25% more.  As part of their move to get on the green movement, the Clorox company also purchased Burt’s Bees for $950 million back in November.

I’ve been interested in making some environmentally friendly cleaners at home.  I recently bought two different books that have different formulas and recipes for homemade cleaners.  I picked up Homemade: How to Make Hundreds of Everyday Products Fast, Fresh and More Naturally and 1,001 Secret Household Hints and Formulas.  I’ll of course post my thoughts on these books when they finally arrive.  I’m hoping they turn out to be helpful in our pursuit to continue living in a more sustainable way in 2008.

Do you have a homemade or store-bought cleaner that’s environmentally friendly and works great?  Post a comment and let us know about it!