Tag Archives: earth-friendly food

Plastic Bags: Use Less at the Grocery Store

April 16, 2010

FROM BLOG OF LOUISE ROSS, BOULDER, CO, APRIL 9, 2010

MARKET TO MOUTH PLASTIC BAGS Amy 015It was almost a year ago that I wrote a post titled Re-Use Your Plastic Bags. Around that time, as a way to gather data for a book proposal based on this blog, I was sharing my expertise as a grocery shopping-cum-cooking consultant. One of glaring things I noticed shopping with people is the consistent and unnecessary over-use of plastic bags at the grocery store. Above is a pic of one of my client friends looking very sheepish because I had gently admonished her; every time she picked up an item of fresh produce, she grabbed a plastic bag.Whether it was ears of corn, a pound of apples, oranges or heads of lettuce, Amy, like so many people I’d shopped with, put her fruits and vegetables into plastic bags before depositing them into her shopping cart. Now, you’re probably thinking, “What’s wrong with that?! I do it; I put all my fruit and veggies in plastic bags.”

In response, I’m going to ask that you ponder why?!  I’m guessing your answer might be something along lines of “because they’re there!”  Right above the vegetables, or over by the fruit, it’s easy and it’s convenient to grab a plastic bag from one of the dispensers for your lettuce, potatoes, lemons etc.  In fact, one of my clients said that the reason she used plastic bags is because she thought it would be more convenient for the check out person! Yet, I’ve never found loose, un-bagged produce to be an issue at the check out. In other words, I’ve never had a check-out person say, “Excuse ma’am, we need you to put all your fruits and vegetables in individual plastic bags; it makes our job easier.” Of course, the reality is it’s not my responsibility to make the check out person’s job easier or more difficult (and I don’t believe grocery stores require that of me).

But waste, in particular plastic bag waste, is my responsibility. In fact, it’s everyone’s responsibility, including the check-out person at the grocery store, to reduce the number of plastic bags going into landfills. The title of the post I linked to above is Re-Use Your Plastic Bags, and if you read that post you’ll note that I’m not suggesting you do away with bagging your groceries in the small plastic produce bags or the large plastic carry bags.

Rather, I’m advocating using recycled plastic, and fewer plastic bags altogether, and then keeping your plastic bags and reusing them again and again, in fact, until they fall apart. As we move closer to Earth Day 2010 “use less plastic” will be the re-occurring message in this blog. If like me, you’re a visual person, and if you’re serious about wanting to change your relationship to plastic bags, and thus your relationship to the environment, watch “Plastic Bag,” an 18-minute indie film narrated by German film director, Werner Herzog. Reminiscent of the French film “Red Balloon,” it’s a poignant story on the vortex in the Pacific Ocean where plastic bags swirl about for eternity.

http://markettomouth.blogspot.com/2010/04/plastic-bags-grocery-shop-without-them.html

http://markettomouth.blogspot.com/2009/05/reuse-your-plastic-bags-other-earth.html

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Kitchen Coach

May 2, 2009

“What happens on our plate is the most profound effect we have on our natural world.” Michael Pollan

Yellow tulips in kitchen window against evergreen

HEALTHY KITCHEN

HEALTHY EATING

HEALTHY YOU

HEALTHY EARTH

How many ways and for how long have you promised yourself that you will eat healthier? Are you frustrated that you can’t seem to find your way to all you imagine and desire for yourself? Is your kitchen encouraging and inspiring healthy eating or is it diminishing the health of yourself and your family as well as the health of the planet?

You have most likely heard, “You are what you eat.” Can you also believe “You are as healthy as your kitchen?” You and your family embody and reflect the energy of your kitchen. If all within your kitchen is pulsing with life force, you will embody and be a reflection of that empowering energy. As you nurture, honor, and feed your body what it truly needs and desires for optimum health, you also nurture and care for the health of the earth and our planet. What we eat makes a big difference to our waistlines, our wallets, and our planet.

loris-crate-barrel-21I use Beautiful Necessity Alignment (TM) to align your desire for a lifetime of healthy eating with your inner healing wisdom, your kitchen, and the conscious field of energy within and around you. This process starts with clarifying your desires and intentions for you, your body, and your health. I then take you on a deeply-relaxing guided tour of your kitchen so that you can see, feel, and sense all that is enhancing or diminishing your and your family’s health. This process results in a list of powerful action steps that is created from your own intuitive healing wisdom. I offer “Healthy Kitchen/ Healthy You” personalized coaching to artfully support you in bringing your inner wisdom fully grounded in your home and your life.

My health coaching program is based on a scientifically-researched model that reveals that action is the fourth step of six stages of change, starting with pre-contemplation and ending with changing for good. This process of changing for good takes clear intentions and practice over time in continually choosing to change long-established choices, habits and routines. One of the dramatic differences about my coaching is that I know how you can create your own radiant health inside and out. I also have the passion and the tools to support and applaud you as you choose one empowering successful step at a time.  How do I know this is all possible? Because I have chosen and recreated my own radiant health and emotional wellness from inside out and you can do the same.

Large group of foodsWITHIN ONE BEAUTIFUL NECESSITY ALIGNMENT SESSION, YOU WILL:

DISCOVER foods and household toxins in your kitchen that are diminishing your health and the health of the earth.

SEE and FEEL the foods that your body craves for radiant health, as well as the individualized foods that will support each member of your family.

BE INSPIRED towards creating a healthy kitchen.

IMAGINE eating intuitively based on ever-present inner wisdom.

VISUALIZE emotion-free eating and your radiant body at optimum weight without dieting.

RECEIVE new ideas to nourish and comfort yourself without food.

“HEALTHY KITCHEN / HEALTHY YOU” ALIGNMENT SESSION $150/90 min. (phone or in person; this is a stand-alone session or the initial session required for my coaching packages.)



“GET STARTED:  HEALTHY KITCHEN / HEALTHY YOU” REPORT & ARTICLES $150 includes a personalized written summary of all that is discovered within our Beautiful Necessity Alignment session, with prioritized suggestions for what is diminishing the health of you and your family in your kitchen, how to move towards buying and eating for optimum health, and cutting-edge insightful reports that will propel you towards an inspiring healthy kitchen and healthy eating:

Spring Cleaning for Your Health: 10 Things You Can Live Without

Inspiring Kitchen: 12 Things Everyone Can Thrive With

Releasing the Old: New Healthy Stories to Tell Yourself

Eating Healthy for You and the Earth



BOTH BEAUTIFUL NECESSITY ALIGNMENT &  “GET STARTED” REPORT & ARTICLES $275 prepay discount ($25 savings)



Following your initial Beautiful Necessity Alignment session, you may choose one of my personalized coaching packages to reclaim your true radiance and make optimum eating and health a reality in your life.

healthy-foods-in-open-refrigeratorFREE SAMPLE OF HEALTH COACHING: Review of your satisfaction with eight aspects of your health plus a little more depth on one area you would like to improve. (30-minute phone conversation…use my CONTACT page or call me at 952.431.5586)

WITHIN 1 MONTH OF ONE-ON-ONE COACHING AND SUPPORT, YOU WILL:

1) Refine your intentions and choose inspiring healthy goals for yourself.

2) Start to cleanse, clean, and detox towards a healthy, earth-friendly kitchen that is aligned with your inner healing wisdom.

3) Start to create a kitchen that inspires and encourages healthy eating.

4) Gain new awareness and insights about your food choices.

5) Learn a simple technique to test individual foods and products that will tell you what your body needs and what it does not.

6) Start to clear toxic emotions and thoughts that keep you tied to emotional and habitual eating rather than using food as nourishment.

ONE-MONTH PHONE COACHING PACKAGE $200 prepay (four 30-minute sessions or two one-hour sessions)



WITHIN 4 MONTHS OF ONE-ON-ONE COACHING AND SUPPORT,  YOU WILL:

1) Start to turn your health goals into new healthy eating habits and routines.  

2) Continue to refine your kitchen as an earth healthy/body healthy space that is always working for you, supporting all you desire and visualize for your health.

3) Feel real health and emotional improvements as the energy within and around you transforms and uplifts you.

4) Experience effortless weight loss through healthier eating aligned with your body wisdom.

5) Receive deeper internal and external inspiration and encouragement for healthy eating.

6) Continue to release toxic emotions and thoughts that keep you tied to emotional and habitual eating.

FOUR-MONTH PHONE COACHING PACKAGE $750 prepay ($50 savings if prepaid in full or prepay $200 monthly; 16 30-minute weekly sessions or eight one-hour sessions every other week)


Payment Options


hands holding a green globeWITHIN 6 MONTHS OF ONE-ON-ONE COACHING AND SUPPORT, YOU WILL:

1) Clean, cleanse, clear, and detox yourself and your kitchen at a deep level.

2) Be free of toxic emotions and thoughts around food and eating.

3) Consciously practice earth-friendly, healthy eating habits and routines daily for life-long success.

4) Claim healthy food shopping and healthy eating as second nature.

5) Feel a deeper alignment and connectedness with your body, mind, and spirit as well as your home, the earth, and all that sustains you.

6) Feel confident and empowered to continually make eating choices aligned with your own body wisdom, a healthy kitchen, and a healthy earth.

SIX-MONTH PHONE COACHING PACKAGE $1,100 prepay ($100 savings if prepaid in full or prepay $200 monthly; 24 30-minute weekly sessions or 12 one-hour sessions every other week)


Payment Options


ADDITIONAL “HEALTHY KITCHEN/HEALTHY EATING” COACHING $75/hour ($25/hour savings for four and six-month clients only)


Payment Options


CLUTTER CLEARING & ORGANIZING IN YOUR KITCHEN $75/hour (two-hour minimum in person)


Payment Options

Please use my CONTACT page or call me at 952.431.5586. All phone sessions and reports are payable in advance.

Free estimates and discounts on larger projects. Mileage fees may apply.

 

 

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Spring Planting for Your Kitchen: 12 Things Everyone Can Thrive With

April 5, 2009

Farmer's Market - Organic VegetablesFocus and tune in every day to what foods make you feel vibrant, radiant and healthy. These will also be the foods that will create and maintain your perfect healthy body at its ideal weight and shape. Release diet mentality and the need for periodic detoxing so you can splurge in between. When you create a healthy kitchen that encourages and inspires healthy eating every day, there is nothing to “fall off of.”

Here are 12 things that everyone can truly thrive with:

1) Commit whole-heartedly to eating only whole real healthy food.

2) Drink pure filtered water throughout your day, flavored with real lemon if desired.

3) Nourish and detoxify daily through eating plenty of these veggies, ideally fresh, raw, and organically grown:  artichokes, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, chorella (a nourishing sea vegetable that is great for detoxifying the brain) cilantro, garlic, green tea, kale, parsley, and watercress. You can eat great volumes of these healthy veggies and not gain a pound!

4) One teaspoon of any of these spices will boost your antioxidant power:  cinnamon, ginger, oregano, red peppers, rosemary, thyme, turmeric, and yellow curry.

5) Eat enough plant-based fiber and protein throughout the day to keep your blood sugar stabilized, including some low-fat protein with breakfast every day.

6) Use extra virgin olive oil as your main oil and boost your metabolism at the same time.

7) Take whole food supplements and consider working with someone who is trained in Nutritional Response Testing to find out what supplements your body really needs. (Contact me for a recommendation.)

8)  Eat early and often. Eat something healthy every three to four hours. Avoid eating two to three hours before bedtime.

9) Don’t eat much when you aren’t truly hungry. Eat just enough to avoid swings in blood sugar. Eat only until you are gently satisfied, not full. Wait 20 minutes before taking seconds. Check inside:  are you still hungry?

10) Reduce anxiety and stress with walks, naps, baths, movement, dance, meditation, music, play with your kids or pet, or enjoyable conversations. Keep a ready mental list of whatever makes you feel good and nourished without unconsciously grabbing food for comfort.

11) Intend to move 15 to 45 minutes per day to keep your blood circulating and help to shrink your fat cells. Search for movement and exercise that feels fun to you.

12) Plan to get seven to eight hours of essential sleep every night. Don’t plan on “making up” sleep on the weekends or on your vacation. It’s not possible. Your body will keep struggling to “make do” and will put on a happy face but sooner or later your body will force you to rest and restore through an accident, illness, or disease. That is not the preferred path!

A good way to enjoy the food you eat and to avoid overeating is to pay attention to the present moment. Take a moment for gratitude and life-enhancing conscious breathing before eating or drinking anything. Eat and digest consciously. Choose to eat food that you enjoy and that will provide true and lasting nourishment for your body. Honor your body today for all it does for you moment by moment, often without encouragement or support!

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