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Go Green

So, you are looking for things to do to “Go Green”? You don’t have to always focus on the big things, even though they help.  We will look at the little things you can do today to help a positive impact on the environment. After all it is everyone’s responsibility to take care of this earth.

 

Water: We all need to take a look at our water usage. Of course, there are things like making sure your sprinklers are not set to water while it is raining, and make sure there are no leaks.  But did you know that that when you brush your teeth and leave the water on you could waste gallons of water?  Check your water temperature and load size when you are washing your clothes. Do you really need to wash a pair of socks on the large load setting?

 

Recycle:Most neighborhoods have recycle trash cans these days. But when you are out and about do you throw your bottled water or soda cans in the proper trash receptacle?  Also, when you are at work don’t be lazy, recycle there too.

 

Stay of the Road: Do you live in an area that has mass transit?  Did you know that if you can carpool or find another way to get to work a couple of days a week instead of driving – you will reduce gas emissions by thousands of pounds a year? Some companies like Lush Miami Limo Service in Miami, Fl give rides to and from the bus stations for free.  So check with your local limo company to see if they provide the same service. It would be even better if you were able to walk or ride your bike. Not only are you helping the earth, but you are helping keep fit as well. When you are on the road, drive slower meaning around 60 miles an hour instead of 70 or 75.  You will save gas and your breaks will not wear out as fast.  Also, give yourself some space so you aren’t on the accelerator and break all the time. 

 

Light bulbs/Energy efficient products:When you switch out your lightbulbs to energy efficient bulbs, you will save money on your utility bills as well as saving gas emissions from being released.  A lot of times you can get rebates from your utility companies when you switch out toilets and appliances that are efficient or ENERGY STAR products. Your home can be made more energy efficient when you program your thermostat and clean your filters. Last but not least and I am sure you have heard this all of your life, but turn the lights off when you aren’t in a room.  Also make sure your phones, iPad and other appliances are not plugged in when you use them.

Getting the Nutrients Your Body Needs

When it comes to living a healthy lifestyle, getting the nutrients your body needs is crucial to every aspect of your daily life. It can seem like a challenge to get the nutrients you need through balanced eating, though. With a good healthy diet plan, you can get the nutrients you need each day. Continue reading for ideas on how to get the nutrients your body needs.

Fruits and vegetables each come with their own nutritional and health benefits. Research what your favorite vegetables provide so that you can incorporate them into your diet to help with any health-related issues you may have or want to prevent. You will find the health benefits of eating right way outweigh the struggle of eating nutrient rich foods for your body needs.

The nutritional needs of someone who is pregnant or lactating are different than others. Pregnant women need to ensure they get enough protein in their diet. This can be difficult if your pregnancy causes you to not want to eat. A simple way to add protein to your diet when pregnant is to mix egg whites into a morning smoothie to get your day started off right. Eggs are always a great source of protein for pregnant women and anyone else. Also, they’re only 15 calories and no fat in egg whites. The best ones to use are pasteurized eggs.

Avoid all sugary drinks and sodas you want to have a healthy diet. If your body craves something sweet, try drinking fruit juice instead. You can purchase 100% juice products from the store or use your own fruits. Try mixing a number of different fruits and vegetables to find a flavor you love.

Getting the proper nutrients is important for everyone to maintain a healthy lifestyle and higher quality of life. Start today trying to incorporate the extra nutrients you need in your life so you can make a habit out of healthy eating. Not only will you feel better, but you will look better and enjoy life more.

 

Experiencing Acupuncture

Acupuncture is a natural way to help your body heal itself. It takes nothing away from your body nor adds anything foreign to it. Acupuncture is a completely natural ancient art form. Continue reading below to find out more about acupuncture and how it can help you live a healthier life.

Do not eat a heavy meal before you go in for an acupuncture treatment. This may not only cause disappointing results but could be quite uncomfortable as you lay on your stomach while it is full. Instead, you should try to eat a healthy snack two or three hours before you go in. You should never avoid eating before going to your treatment since an empty stomach may cause you to feel dizzy.

An acupuncturist should never be tipped. They are part of the healthcare profession in a professional position. Tipping an acupuncturist would be very similar to tipping your optometrist or family doctor.

Many people shy away from acupuncture because they think it will hurt. There are many techniques that can be used by your acupuncturist, to talk to them about painless needling. It is also good to talk to your acupuncturist about their education and experience with acupuncture. Make sure your practitioner has had many years of experience so you get the best care.

Talk with your acupuncturist about developing a treatment program. They will help you customize a program that is based on your needs and works around your schedule. It is best to schedule your appointments when you are not prone to stress you can maximize the treatment’s benefits. When you feel the maximum benefits, you will be encouraged to stick with the program.

Unfortunately, many people are still skeptical about the art of acupuncture. They choose to stick with conventional medicine instead. Acupuncture is a natural way to help relieve pain and keep you healthy, though, so it is a great alternative for those of us interested in natural therapies. And allows your body to use the resources it already has put you in control of your health and happiness.

Whales and Mourning

Throughout the years, mourning has been considered a human characteristic with the loss of a loved one. Over the years, though, scientists have observed the acts of mourning with other animals such as elephants and gorillas. In fact, one case showed wild elephants in a herd trying to move their dead matriarch. These elephants, after they finally accepted her death, use tree branches and leaves to cover her body, then stood around for two days before they dispersed. More recently, scientists are learning that whales also mourn when they lose their companion or offspring.

A university biologist observed 14 instances of whale conduct after a loss. Half of these observations showed grieving or mourning behaviors. They each had similar grieving patterns among the different types of whales studied.

In Washington, an incident was observed where a female orca balanced her dead newborn owner head to keep it from sinking. In another instance, a grieving mother and her dead infant were protected by predators by their part of short-finned pilot wells as they formed a circle around her and her calf. These behaviors can cost the animals a lot since it takes them away from their typical survival activities such as socializing, mating, and foraging for food. Therefore, it makes no sense the animals would participate in this act unless they were actually grieving. For some animals, the behavior could be merely them exploring the situation or curiosity. When the whales spend so much time and energy to clean to their dead loved one, or touch them repeatedly using their fans, it is a lot more likely to be mourning.

Whales are social animals that are very intelligent, so this finding is not a big surprise to most scientists. They are a lot like humans in that they have lifelong bonds and can form strong friendships. Hopefully, as more people understand how wells mourn and feel deeply, they will begin to treat these magnificent animals with more respect and caution.

A Healthier You by Juicing

We can help protect ourselves by having a healthy lifestyle. One way to have a healthy diet is through juicing regularly. Not only can juicing help prevent diseases and improve your health, but it can also help you to live a life that is healthier and happier. Below are some ideas to help you get started with juicing.

If you’re wanting to start a juicing for the benefits it adds to your health, make sure you are drinking all the juice at one time. Nutrients are lost from the Jews the longer it sits. Therefore, the more quickly you drink it, the more nutrients your body will receive.

Broccoli and spinach are great to add to your juice if you need to add more protein to your diet. Your body’s need for protein will be satisfied short-term by using these vegetables. The majority of Americans already get more protein in their bodies need, so it’s likely you may not need to add these extra protein sources to your juice. Only do so if your doctor says you need to add protein.

When you are looking to buy a new juicer, try to find one that extracts through a masticating process rather than centrifuge process. When you use masticating extraction, the nutrients are preserved more because you are not using heat during the process like the centrifuge process can. Research the different kinds of juicers to find a masticating one that works for you.

If you need to make a lot of juice at one time, you need to find a good way to preserve the nutrients. There are some vacuum sealed jars now available that can help with this. Removing the air from your juice preserves the vitamins and helps your juice stay fresh longer.

Now that you know more about juicing, you will be able to enjoy the health benefits that come along with juicing your own fruits and vegetables. Juicing is one of the best ways to provide the nutrients your body needs.

Making the World a Smaller Place

Being someone who cares about the earth, you may want to someday travel but could be concerned about language barriers. Technology is now coming out that makes it possible to translate languages in real time.

The company, Waverly labs, has designed a smart earpiece called the pilot that translates language instantly. This will allow people to have seamless conversations with one another even if they don’t know the language of the other. The earpiece that’s in your ear the same way an earbud would. When someone is speaking to you, the device picks up their speech, send it to an app on your smartphone that converts the words into text, translates the language for you, then whispers what was spoken back to you in your own language. This ingenious device allows you to understand what the other person is saying even when you don’t know their language.

These smart devices will focus in on the conversation and block ambient noise. When you are not using the earpiece for translations, you can use them to listen to your favorite music. The Pilot is a great option for businesses since it allows participants that speak different languages to converse. Granted, this device is not perfect, but it is a lot more accurate than any other product on the market available today.

At this time, using the device requires having a data connection. It is only able to translate conversations one on one. The developers are hopeful that future generations will be able to translate everything being spoken in the person’s environment. They also want to reduce the delay between speech and translation. The first version that is being worked on will be able to translate Portuguese, Italian, French, Spanish, and English. Over time, more languages will be added.

Many tech companies have been working to develop real-time translation programs, such as Apple, Microsoft, and Google. The Pilot will be the first translator that is wearable, though. This product has been made possible thanks to a crowdfunding campaign that raised over $3 million. Surprisingly, this earpiece will be priced at a mere $299 on its release.

 

Eating Your Water Bottle

Over the past month, I have been seeing a lot of videos about the new edible water bottle. We all know that plastic bottles are very harmful to our environment since they take hundreds of years to decompose. For years now, environmentalists have been encouraging consumers to stop buying plastic bottles but, instead, for them to switch to alternatives like reusable bottles or water fountains. Their efforts have not been very effective, though. Annually, the United States uses over 50 million plastic bottles. Of these, around 80% and their life in a landfill.

Seeing this as a problem, many people have been trying to discover a solution. The solution may have been found by three men from the Imperial College of London with their new innovation, the edible water. The edible container is made from seaweed. In encases the water which can be consumed by popping the entire blob into your mouth or simply poking a hole in the surface layer. This idea arose in 2014 and has just recently been completed thanks to their crowdfunding campaign that raised over $1 million.

There are still several challenges the inventors need to overcome before they are able to seriously contend with plastic bottles. Though the packaging is cheaper to manufacture than plastic edges two cents each, it may take a while for consumers to become accustomed to the texture of the covering. Also, since you only get a gulp of water with each edible container, you must consume multiple bubbles to fully quench your thirst. Another issue is coming up with packaging that is eco-friendly for the bubbles to be transported in that will keep them clean and intact. Consumers may also be concerned about the bubbles creating splatter as they bite into them. Hopefully, these issues can be quickly resolved so we can begin the process of eliminating plastic waste from our landfills.

Gardening the Organic Way

As we discussed in our previous post, organic gardening is the best way to help pollinators continue to help us with food production. Not only that but an organic garden gives us plants that are healthier, thus helping us to keep our bodies healthy. Many of you may be wondering how to get started with an organic garden. Continue reading this article for ideas on how to get your organic garden started and growing successfully.

Before you begin growing your organic garden, make sure you are planting it at the right time. Typically, you can find the best time to plant on the back of the seed package. Otherwise, a quick search online will give you the answers you need. When you plants your seeds at the right time, your results will be a lot better than otherwise.

Many plants will need to be started indoors. If you have seeds that require indoor planting, you will need to schedule them so they will be ready to transfer to your outdoor garden at the right time. It is typically best to write out a complete planting schedule as you plan your organic garden. That way, you make sure you stay on schedule and your plants are put in the ground at the right time.

Always keep your gardening tools organized and close by. You can use a simple tote bag to do so or purchase a gardening bag that will help you keep your tools organized. This will make your organic gardening time more effective since your tools will be easily accessible every time you go out to work in your garden.

Having enough light is important for needs that are starting to sprout. For your indoor plants, move them inside a greenhouse or near a sunny window. You can also opt to use a florescent light on these plants. Most plants need around 16 hours of light each day.

Your garden organic isn’t much more work than a typical garden. It simply takes more research up front to discover ways to provide with your plants need without using chemicals. Not using chemicals is not only better for you, but for the environment as well. You will not only be protecting pollinators but will be producing produce that is healthier for you.

 

Help Save the Bees

I’m sure we have all heard recently about how bees are being killed off by the thousands. Bees, along with other pollinators, are responsible for over 30% of the food we eat. There are some things you can do yourself to help the bees in your area thrive. Below are eight simple steps can take:

  1. Plant a habitat that is pollinator friendly: there are many native plants that attract pollinators. A quick search online will give you ideas on how to make your habitat more biodiverse while also creating areas of forage for birds, butterflies, and bees. Also, be sure to use organic methods of controlling weeds rather than chemical ones.
  2. Allow weeds to grow: there are many flowering weeds and clover growing in the typical North American yard. These areas are great for all pollinators. Never use chemical products that are meant to kill flowering weeds or clover.
  3. Manage your land organically: avoid all toxic pesticides, insecticides, and fungicides if possible. Having an organic garden supports biodiversity and life better. An organic garden also supports 50% more pollinators than nonorganic, conventional ones.
  4. Educate your community: help spread the word about practices that encourage pollinators such as bees. It may be as simple as providing educational materials to your neighborhood, or as complex as teaching classes on the importance of pollinators.
  5. If you live in the city, support green rooftops: you can create habitats for pollinators in urban areas by building green rooftops. Often times, the city Council will offer incentives for residents to build these pollinator-friendly habitats that support pollinators.
  6. Provide a place for bees to nest: one of the best ideas is to have beehives on your property. If you’re unable to do this, you can create a different sort of nesting site with sand areas where they can burrow or wood. Giving these pollinators a home is the second step in creating a great environment for the bees. There are many associations for local beekeepers in most areas of the country.
  7. Relocate beehives instead of destroying them: most local beekeeper associations are willing to remove hives from your property.
  8. Purchase only agricultural products that are certified organic: support organic gardening through your dollars. This not only supports the farms themselves but also supports the pollinators.

By working together, we can all make a difference for bees and other pollinators in our community.

Working on Personal Development

Personal development is key to learning how to protect yourself and your health. You need to understand yourself more in order to do the things that are important for your own health. You can do this through professional teachers or through your friends and family. These people can help you gain valuable insight into what makes you are.

One great way to develop yourself is through helping others. There are many benefits that come with helping, whether you are helping other people or the environment. Not only will you feel better about yourself, but helping others makes them more willing to help you in your time of need.

Having people around the support you and that you trust is also a great way to help you develop personally. You want to surround yourself with people that will be there for you and listen to you when you have problems to talk through or just need a listening ear.

Try taking up yoga as a way to develop yourself. Not only is yoga therapeutic, but it’s also a wonderful way to get fit. Some types of yoga are aimed towards helping you understand yourself better.

Regardless of what is going on in your life, always be true to yourself. Get rid of things that cause you to be unhappy or disrupt your life, and fill your life with what makes you happy and fulfilled. Treat yourself in a caring manner with love and respect always. If you have problems doing so, try to see yourself through the eyes of others that love you.

Work hard towards things that you want or need in life. This may interrupt your sleeping schedule slightly, but those extra minutes spent on your end goal are typically worth the sacrifice. Granted, you don’t want to regularly deprive yourself of sleep, the change your schedule however needed to accomplish your goals.

Personal development is always necessary as you begin the journey of protecting your body and mind. You need to know who you are, love yourself, and do what you can to reach your goals in life.