Two topics that we all care about (well most of us anyway). Protecting our health and the environment. There was a study released by Harvard Health Publications with a few tips we can follow to do both. Now obviously these won’t work for all of us but most of them will.
1. Walk or bike to work. Combining exercise and a commute builds healthful activity into your day and reduces fuel use and vehicle emissions. Could there be a better good-for-you, good-for-the-planet twofer? (not practical for non urbanites)
2. Go to bed early. Studies have identified a correlation between short sleep and being overweight. Meanwhile, all the TVs and computers that help keep us up at night use electricity.
3. Turn down the heat and air conditioning. Humans control body temperature by adjusting their metabolisms. But when air temperatures are in the thermoneutral zone — the 70s — we burn fewer calories. So by adjusting your thermostat, you may keep your metabolism from getting lazy and also reduce your energy use.
4. Eat the right kind of fish. Eating fish is healthful in many ways. But some species are contaminated with pollutants, and others are suffering from overfishing. Making the right “eco-choice” involves homework. Find useful guides at http://www.oceansalive.org and http://www.blueocean.org/seafood.
( I found the above 2 links very helpful. We all know fish is good for our cholesterol and heart 
but which ones should we be concerned about ?)
5. Eat local fruits and vegetables. Transporting fruits and veggies long distances is energy intensive. Give some preference to locally grown food. (Check your produce section, many of them have sections devoted to local grown. Last summer during one of the E-Coli outbreaks I felt much safer buying lettuce grown locally.)
6. Don’t take more medications than you need. Our bodies only use a fraction of any drug we take; the rest gets excreted. Pharmaceuticals in waste water adversely affect ecosystems. So for your own sake and that of the water supply, don’t take unnecessary medications. (I won’t pontificate about this but Americans take way too many prescription medications and supplements. There is not a pill out there to fix every problem you have. Eat a healthy diet, maintain a normal weight and you’ll need less prescribed medications. You’re wasting your money on a handful of vitamins each day.)
Technorati Tags: Go Green – health – environment – medications – vitamins – produce – fish – energy
Go to bed early? Oh God. Being healthy is just not worth it.
Hi Elaine wow that gave me a lot of informations. You should talk to my husband about the vitamins. I keep telling him he’s wasting his money but he keeps buying them. I think he wants to live to be 150. Lol. Thanks for the nice visit. You know when I left for Florida, I had the chance to fly at 7 in the morn but I was too lazy, so I booked a flight for 11 instead. Anyway take good care dear lady, and talk to you soon. Pauline
Good Advice… I’m a Euro-Eco-Greenie!
Elaine,
Thanks, I was aware of all these, however, I was shocked when in Number 6 Fish I clicked on your link to find so many on the worst list! Is this the worst list of the fish but overall better than meat, or, are these just plain bad?
Gene
Good post, Elaine. Re: medication ~ I guess we all know one or two people who rely on vitamins to supplement poor diets. Not much common sense there at all.
As for prescription drugs… I would like to think that they are needed if prescribed by a physician. To be honest, I’d be leary of discouraging people in taking them. Whether it’s due to heredity or past abuse of our systems, they can be a vital necessity. And not a good idea, as you know, to try weaning ourselves off without consulting our doctor first.
Don’t mean to be disagreeing with you.:) Just wanted to clarify a point.
Pauline – if your husband eats a healthy diet he wouldn’t need supplements each day unless he was told to do so by his physician. Obviously a good multi-vitamin is not going to hurt anyone. What I am talking about is people who go overboard with vitamins and supplements.
Gino – seafood should be part of our diet. Fish and shellfish contain high-quality protein and other essential nutrients, are low in saturated fat, and contain omega-3 fatty acids. The concern comes in with mercury and PCB’S. For most healthy adults it’s not an issue. For pregnant women it is. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) advise women who may become pregnant, pregnant women, nursing mothers, and young children to avoid some types of fish and eat fish and shellfish that are lower in mercury. The worst offenders are Shark, Swordfish, King Mackerel, and Tilefish.
Janet – about the vitamins, see comment above to Pauline. Regarding prescription medications, I do disagree wholeheartedly. There have been numerous reports in the media lately about this very topic. We are bombarded every day with television ads for the newest and latest prescription drug. We have a pill for whatever ails you and people are going to the doctor in record numbers demanding these new wonderful drugs. I am not discouraging anyone from taking a medication they truly need and I agree heredity is a factor. I am saying with a healthy diet, healthy lifestyle, and a normal weight people would find they need less medications. Many people have the attitude I can eat whatever I want, there’s a pill to fix my cholesterol, there’s a pill for my aching knees because I am 100 lbs overweight. Pills have become like the EASY button at Staples for far too many people, they want to be fixed but don’t want to do any of the hard work. And I welcome your comments
You and I have always had good debates.
I don’t mind viewing ads on tv for cholesterol or impotence but these new sleep pills are annoying. I have a friend who had a sleep problem and her doctor told her to drink a glass of warm milk before bed. No chocolate or anything in it, of course. She hated milk and swore she would gag (lol) but it turned out that she enjoyed it and it made her sleep like a baby. Something in warm milk that affects the brain, I guess. But what a good doctor to suggest this first!
Thanks for the info, Elaine. I’m curious about what you said about vitamins, though. Also, I hadn’t thought about finding locally grown produce. I don’t even know if that is available in our local stores. I’m going to try to find out, though.
Thanks!
Hi Elaine,
As always, thanks for the great advice. I am thankful that I don’t have any medications to take on a daily basis. I do take some meds to help with allergies on the really bad days and do take a multi-vitamin. The biggest areas I have to work on is getting enough sleep and increasing my investment of time at task to maximize the benefit of regular exercise.
Tony