I will start by giving you a little update on my challenge for the week. For anyone who didn't read my previous post, I decided to cut out artificial sweeteners for a week to try to lessen my dependence on them and see how I would feel overall. Well, I think it is already making a difference. I don't wake up with that bloated feeling I have often had in the past and since a lot of the sweet treats I used to eat have artificial sweeteners in them, I have noticed that I am more likely to reach for whole foods when I want a snack.
Also, since I am not touching any diet drinks and am drinking less tea, I have challenged myself to drink a lot more water than I am used to. I have to say, I pee a lot and sometimes it makes me feel a little bloated, but it is the kind of bloat that goes away quickly, unlike the kind that comes from ingesting too much aspartame, sucralose and maltitol. I also find that drinking lots of water is helping with my nighttime hunger pangs, suggesting that I might be more dehydrated than anything when my "hunger" is keeping me up.
Anyway, I am going to see how I feel at the end of the week and I will probably keep challenging myself with these two things the week after!
Speaking of water...
I know this is a "healthy living blog" and lots of people want to read all about vegetables and yoga, but I think that a big part of healthy living is also being good to the planet.
This week is Canada Water Week and as a huge advocate for water conservation, I have been trying my best to spread a positive message. Canadians are the second highest consumers of fresh water on earth, rivaled only by the United States. Sorry guys, you didn't think I would let you off the hook, did you?
Since Canada has such an abundant water supply, we have built our culture around abusing this resource. Think about it: in many developing countries, people walk for hours a day to get 10 litres of fresh water for their entire families to use for all of their needs. In Canada, you flush 4-13 litres of fresh drinking water down the toilet every time you...go.
We take long showers, which use 7 litres/minute IF you have a water efficient shower head and more if you don't. Even worse, filling up your tub for a bath uses about 200 litres of clean drinking water.
There are countless more examples of waste in our direct water consumption and that is not even including the food we eat and products we buy! It takes about 2500 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef, 700 gallons of water to make a cotton shirt and almost 2000 gallons of water to refine one barrel of crude oil. So everything you do, eat and buy has a water footprint.
I'm going on a bit of a rant here, but I haven't even talked about the devil itself, bottled water; possibly the dumbest and most wasteful invention on the planet. Really, I know it isn't my business to tell people how to live their lives, but if you're caught drinking bottled water around me, you may get an earful....
Most Canadians have access to clean, accessible well or tap water. If you live in a city, your water either comes from an aquifer (the freshest sources of water on earth) or a large lake or river. This water is treated to ensure it is safe for drinking and then tested every few minutes for any sign of contamination. This is the EXACT SAME water that is bottled in plastic, transported thousands of kilometers and sold to consumers for about 100x more than they would pay for it out of the tap.
I am not saying you can't flush the toilet, wear cotton or shower. We all need to live our lives and I myself am not perfect. However, this is an issue that is extremely important and I think we all have a responsibility to do what we can to help conserve our water supply. Here are just a few things you can do:
- Eat less meat (especially red meat)
- Turn off the tap when washing hands or brushing teeth
- Let it mellow...
- Use a dishwasher instead of hand-washing and only run full loads
- If you don't have a dishwasher, fill the sink and be conservative with rinsing
- Only run full loads of laundry and adjust water level settings if possible
- Plug the sink to wash fruits and veggies instead of letting the water run
- Take showers instead of baths and try to keep them to 5 minutes or less (10 minutes tops)
- Use water from cooking or dehumidifiers to water plants
- Invest in a rain barrel or greywater reuse system
Those are just a few of many things you can do to reduce your water footprint.
Again, I hate preaching, but this is an issue that is extremely important to me and I think sometimes we all need a reminder to be more conscious of our water use.
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| This is the cannon on my campus. It is painted as something different everyday. This is advocating for a bottled water free campus. Love it. |
Thank you for anyone who read through to the end of this post, you are my favourite!
Toodles :)
xoxo
