Win the Battle Against Colds and the Flu

The dreaded flu season is still here! The battle wages against the common cold and flu viruses. Along with the icy temperatures and the wind chill, we all need to protect ourselves from these wintry, viral foes.

All-Natural Guidelines to Fight Viruses

The best protection against any virus is a strong immune system derived from a balanced diet, including lots of fruits and vegetables, 5-9 servings each day. Also, one of the most important methods for prevention of viruses is regular hand washing. According to www.webmd.com: “viruses and bacteria can live several hours on hard surfaces [like] computer keyboards and doorknobs.”

Another commonsense guideline for avoiding viruses is regular disinfection in your housecleaning. Most people confuse basic cleaning with real disinfection. First, a surface should be cleaned (http://greenkeen.blogspot.com/) with a cleaner or soap and water then rinsed with water, immediately after a disinfectant should be applied and left on for at least ten minutes to kill 99.9% of microbes. Reading the fine print of disinfectant’s directions will help to clarify for each specific brand.
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Going Green: Conscience Not Guilt

Becoming more eco-friendly in our daily lives is not about guilt, guilt, and more guilt. It is about convictions, conscience, and consciousness. It is about daily simple steps; educating ourselves and choosing the “green” alternatives. Often these steps do not need to be time-consuming or more expensive.

For instance, recycling takes just a couple of seconds, rinse the can, then throw it in the recycling bin, versus tossing a dirty can into a trash can. Or composting, my mother has had a covered plastic bowl next to her sink for years; every few days when it gets filled with the cuttings of fruits and veggies or coffee grinds, she empties it into her compost pile out in her back yard. I carry a supply of shopping bags in my car so they are always with me when I need to run into a store. The choice to “Go Green” doesn’t need to be complex.
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Fair Trade: Green Global Love

Originally published on 11/21/2008 - 4:54 p.m. GMT

When living green, what is more important people or things? Definitely, people (with animals, a close second) are more important than things! We should guide our choices based on those priorities and in that order. I am committed to living green and protecting the planet, but people come first in my book! Gadgetry, albeit green “things”, do not. The Fair Trade Program is a way to accomplish both.

Oxfam America, an international relief and development organization committed to solving poverty, hunger, and injustice, informs us that “40% percent of the people on our planet-more than 2.5 billion-now live in poverty.” [my italics] This type of statistic appalls me. Almost half the world is living in poverty, many starving or living in a subsistent manner. The Fair Trade Program is a system of community-based businesses providing prosperity and empowerment to artisans, farmers, and other producers of developing countries to help end poverty and protect the environment in the process. What a great combination!
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All Washed-Up?

Originally published on 11/02/2008 - 7:23 a.m. GMT

After finding out “the dirt” on “soap” I came up with Plan B: Get real soap into my house in the most economical manner by making my own! David Fisher on www.about.com has very clear articles and How-To videos showing the exact steps and tips for how to make cold-pressed soap, which is the most common way that real soap is made today.

Soap is one of humankind’s earliest technologies. Around the globe, every ancient culture developed soap from their local plants, usually combining oils and sodium or potassium from ashes. Ancient Babylonians, Celts, Romans, African cultures and Native American tribes all had varying recipes for soap. Even today you can purchase Black African soap from www.eclecticlady.com handmade by women for a Fair Trade Program in Togo with the same technique as their ancestors.
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Green-Clean Gleam!

Originally published on 10/17/2008 - 6:47 a.m. GMT

I am in a process of a life-change–and no it is not the “change of life”. I am changing how I live each day to become a greater caretaker of my health, my family’s health, and our planet. “Going Green” for each of us is a step-by-step process. It takes education. It takes commitment. It takes daily choices.

We all probably have been hearing and reading about the detriment to our bodies and our environment from the numerous chemicals in household detergents and cleaners. On the website of Department of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in their article dated 1999 titled “Key Characteristics of Laundry Detergent” they warn us that the key ingredients of most laundry detergents (with such innocuous names as, colorants, brighteners, surfactants, builders) are found to be toxic to humans and animals in a range of serious issues, including giving off hazardous gases, destroying and polluting eco-systems, and causing cancer. I don’t know about you, but in my very busy family of teens and two working parents, we do a lot of laundry. Often these same chemicals and worse are in our cleaners, disinfectants, and dishwashing detergents.
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Go Green for Preschool: Using Recyclables to Teach Your Child

Originally published on 10/02/2008 - 1:27 p.m. GMT

Professional educators agree using manipulatives to teach mathematics and reading to your Preschool child is advantageous. But buying them can be expensive and unnecessary! I introduced my kids to Math and Reading using simple, homemade manipulatives from easy-to-find recyclable and inexpensive items. Under your supervision, your child’s booster seat at the kitchen table can be transformed temporarily into a “school desk”, on which fun, homemade manipulatives can be sorted and formed into letters and numbers. If you cringe at the mentioned of the word “homemade” and think only the “Martha Stewarts” of the world can handle that—be assured—my suggestions are easy with a capital “E”.
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