Our Trash is Killing Us

Small Steps Make A Big Change

7 Ways to make a positive environmental impact

                              Our culture has become a disposable one. When something’s broken, we get a new one. Our food is shipped from across the country wrapped in plastic that’s disposable. The thing about this disposable plastic is that it’s meant to last forever. This plastic is harming our world more than we could fathom. It’s polluting our water ways, killing our fish, leaching chemicals into our soil, and killing birds. Humans have created 900 million tons of plastic waste. This isn’t decomposing. This is a one of the big problems facing our generation. So, what can we do? A lot of things. I have compiled a list of videos that I love, infographics that can help explain what we’re doing to this planet, and my own observations. I hope that it can help someone make a change in their daily lifestyle. 

Plastic Bags are Hurting More The Environment

Flip Flops are Polluting Our Ocean
Plastic free products can be hard to find or expensive, but lots of companies are taking the initiative to package items with less harmful plastics. These are a few of my favorites though.

I live in a small town in Missouri. We have three grocery stores; one ma & pop legacy store, one discount store, and Walmart. This doesn’t leave me with a whole lot of options when it comes to natural or recyclable materials. I was still able to find two options when it comes to garbage bags. Walmart has a line of bags made of recyclable plastic and my discount store sells these wonderful Full Circle brand that decomposes faster than most. 

Good "Plastic" Bags

Reusable products           

                              I am guilty of drinking a fountain soda from a gas station every day. The amount of plastic straws and Styrofoam cups that I have contributed to this planet’s problems, sickens me. This is a solvable problem though. Reusable cups! The Queen of England has realized that this a serious problem and has banned all plastic straws and Styrofoam cups from palace grounds.

                              Reusable shopping bags are a very easy way to assist in limiting the amount of plastic produced. I’ve been regularly using mine for years. I was still irked though by the fact that I had to use plastic bags for my produce. When I stumbled upon these at Target, I was so happy. I have gotten so many compliments on them too. It gets people to think about how they can make an impact as well.

I’m not perfect. Sometimes I forget my trustee totes at home and have to use plastic bags. If you’re trying to make a positive impact, don’t beat yourself up when you have to do this as well. Having some plastic bags around the house is a good thing sometimes. Reusing them gives them another life and keeps them out of the landfill for a little while. I use mine for poop patrol of my two large dogs.

Ok, so you can’t recycle or reuse every single plastic thing in your home. So what can you do to lessen your trash impact on our Earth? I use mine to fill the bottoms of my planters. Styrofoam cups, plastic fruit containers, etc. You can get creative with your uses too. Below are just a few that I found on Pinterest.

Humans Have Made 9 Billion Tons of Plastic

Another huge way our trash is hurting the planet is food waste. Food waste is another huge issue hurting our environment. 1.3 Billion tons of food waste go into landfills each year. The average American wastes 254 pounds of edible food every year. In 2010, Americans threw away enough food to fill the Empire State Building 91 times. That’s 33.79 million tons of food. 40% of landfills are taken up by food that could be decaying in a compost bin. 25% of all water consumed every year, goes to producing food that ends up in the landfill.  

 



Recycling Food Waste at Home

Put Food Waste to Work For You

I didn’t even know what a big problem it was when I first started researching compost. I was living with my parents and sister. So, four adults and one child. We were creating so much food waste that it was making me sick. I researched what you could compost, how it worked, what kind of bin you needed. I had my heart set on a pretty little DIY number. After I realized though, that I’m kind of shit when it comes to building things, I decided to go another route and look at bins you could buy. As a single mother, living at her parent’s house, I thought my parents would think I was crazy. I kept all my research to myself and held onto it for the right moment. About a year later, my mom mentioned in passing that she wished we had a compost bin because of all of our food waste. I sprang into action! “We can mom! And there’s a really good bin at Menards for $50.00. If you’re ok with it, I’ll go get it now.” I was in the car before she said yes. I brought it home, put it together, put a year’s worth of food in there, and let it sit. It has been full for almost a year, so we are expecting to get our first batch of compost this summer. About a year ago, I moved from Chicagoland to Missouri. When I got settled in, I bought the same bin. It is easy to set up, use, and everything. What I do, is keep a paper grocery bag in my fridge and throw in any fruit or veggie scraps, coffee grounds, egg shells, yard scraps, etc. When it’s full, I take it out to my bin and throw it in. This bin says it doesn’t need to be mixed due to the air holes all around it. Since I use the bags though, I have a “garden knife” that I stab the bags with every month or so. It’s a really good anger release method. I just stab like crazy to let the air in.
My Favorite Compost bin               

                            

12 Days of Fitmas day 6: Healthy Families

Healthy Mom = Healthy Families

My life motto

My Saturday / Sunday routines

The weekend is for family.

It doesn't always go as planned, but we always try to get in one workout and go on an adventure. When I say "we", I mean me and my four year old son. Instead of watching cartoons, he loves to workout with me in the morning. Instead of asking him to leave me alone, we I let him lead the workout. It usually looks something like this. 

Depending on weather, and our schedule, we ALWAYS go on an adventure on the weekend. Sometimes it's saturday, sometimes SUnday, but it always gets done. This is usually just a hike in the woods, but the moments we have together in the woods are truly amazing. Why do I like hiking in the forest so much? This is why I benefit from it, but read on below to find out how it benefits the whole family. 

Why encouraging your kids to be active with you is important

Our kids watch everything we do. They learn from everything we do. Why wouldn't you want them to see you having a healthy relationship with exercise, your body, and nutrition. These observances are what form the foundation for becoming healthy adults. 

Active Kids 

All moms want the best for their children. This, of course, applies to health too. Families can be active together anywhere; indoors or out. I prefer outdoors, but we've made memories indoors too. Being active together only enhances and strengthens our family bonds. 

Some ideas for being an active family indoors: inflatable house, trampoline park, indoor swimming, indoor playground, and more. The key to these activities though is THAT YOU DO THEM AS WELL. GET UP, GET MOVING, AND HAVE FUN.

One of my biggest pet peeves is the mom at the park who tells me she wished she had a body like mine after having kids, then sits at the park while her kid plays and sits on her phone. I'm not saying I NEVER do this, but a playground is really just workout equipment designed to look like fun. Here's a link to a blog post I wrote about getting a full body workout whilt at the park. Get kiddy with it

Why do I love taking my son on hikes?

Besides the great workout I get when we walk three miles together, it is truly magical to see him explore.  This photo below pretty much sums up what I see when I watch him go off the trail and climb a tree or whatever. I see it all, everyday. There is nothing more magical than that. 

Raising healthy eaters

This is the hard part. I'm not always successful, but I've got a few tricks up my sleeve that I think are my secret weapons.

1. Hiding veggies in EVERYTHING! 

1. Spinach hidden in smoothies. J thinks it's his special "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle shake" cause it's green. I told him it probably will turn him into a ninja
2. Hidden veggie noodles. Enough said. Barilla has two good kinds. 
3. This is my favorite trick. I call it the Cauliflower Cheese Switcheroo. I have an old parmeseasn cheese shaker I save. Once a week, I steam cualiflower then run it through the food processor, and put it in the shaker. My son thinks it's his special cheese. He adds it to everything. He has no idea. 

2. Family Dinner

These are so important. You can call me old fashioned, but I don't care. Having a time when we all prepare a meal, then sit down to eat and talk together was huge for me growing up and I love that I can do that for my son. It doesn't happen every night, and he doesn't always like what we have, but we all sit and talk about our day. I believe that this encourages even healthier habits in our children.

 

The 12 Days of Fitmas day 4!

 The 12 Days of Fitmas day 4!

Yoga, Yoga, Yoga. 

Why should you be doing yoga?

How Yoga Saved My Life

Yoga is what started me on my health and fitness journey. 

I will never forget the night I decided I should try yoga. 

I was living with my bf and his brother and going to college. It was the Sunday before midterms. It was also our neighbor's birthday. I couldn't find the book, or the materials, or whatever that I needed to finish a take home test that was due the next morning. The boys were watching a movie for the neighbor's birthday. I think it was Green Lantern. I don't remember. All I know is that it was a superhero movie and there lots of guns and fighting. This is when I had my first, and only true, panic attack. Heart racing, felt like I was being held under water, couldn't breath, crying. It was horrible. The next day I signed up for a yoga class and fell in love. I did it on and off for the next year until I got pregnant. 

After I had my son, I developed restless leg syndrome. It was horrible. I was surviving on three hours of sleep a night. It wasn't healthy. I cried to my doctors. The only way to give me the real medicine for restless leg syndrome, I had to do a 3 day sleep study. Meaning, I had to go to the hospital and sit in a room for three days. I was a working mother and student. Nobody has time for that shit! They gave me sleeping pills, which worked sometimes, but I hated them. I wouldn't wake up if my son cried, I was a monster in the mornings, it didn't work for me. I was at my wits end when I found Tara Stiles on youtube. Her night time yoga was absolutely amazing. Three years later, I have no trouble sleeping. 

My yoga schedule

I do yoga at least 14 times a week; a morning routine to wake me up & a bed time routine so I fall asleep quickly, every day. I will never give those up. I also do one cardio yoga workout a week, as well as a half hour stretch session weekly. Here are some links to the Tara Stiles workouts that I can not live without. There are also a lot of other ideas for a good yoga workout on there. 

Click here for all sorts of ideas on how you can get your sweat on today with a good stretch session. 

Yoga that I love

The 12 Days of Fitmas!

Hey Internet universe, I’ve posted on my social media accounts about celebrating something I’m calling, “The 12 Days of Fitmas”.  

Last week, I had a horrible stomach ache. Thought it was the worst menstrual cramps ever and that it would pass. Long story short, it didn’t. I had an emergency appendectomy. The surgery wasn’t too bad, and I am recovering well. While I’m enjoying a little rest, I am not happy that I still have another 12 DAYS UNTIL I CAN PICK UP ANY WEIGHTS. I am going a little stir crazy about it, so I thought I’d share workouts I would want to be doing.  

The 12 Days of Fitmas is like a sneak peak into what the programs I plan for my clients are like. 

I do most of my workouts at home. I have a full set of dumbells that I use, but they can be adapted for the gym as well. 

Plan organization  

3 days cardio 

2 days of yoga 

3 workouts/week that are a mixture of full body, weighted and body weight exercises. 

They are done in circuits. 

I don’t focus on arms, abs, or legs, like most people do. Instead, I focus each of these workouts on one of the three planes of movement; transverse, sagittal, and frontal.  I’ll go into detail about why I do it this way in a later blog post. 

The schedule will look like this:

These workouts for The 12 Days of Fitmas are general. For myself and clients, the workouts are more tailored to meet specific goals. 

There will be a blog post to accompany each picture containing insights on to how exercise affects the body, explaining the workout, and maybe including some recipes. 

My fitness journey, so far. 

A little information before you start:  

If you are a beginner exerciser, have any health precautions/worries, or are just unsure, PLEASE CONTACT ME. Exercise is good for your health, but like all activity, there is a potential of injury. Without assessments and medical history, I will not take responsibility for any injuries that occur while doing these workouts. 

  

A leap of faith

When the consequences of taking a leap of faith, and failing, are diminished by the consequences of not taking the leap, your minds already made up. TAKE THAT LEAP. 

I met my son's father while we were both in college in Missouri. I'm from Chicago. I left him when my son was a year old. My parents, "stayed together for the kids," and I respect them so much for that. At the same time though, their unhappiness has caused emotional issues for me, and my siblings, into adulthood. I never wanted my son to deal with that. The house is full of love 75% of the time, but there are moments. A year after I left, I graduated and I had a lease ending, plus no job lined up, so we moved in with my parents back in chicago. That was my only choice. 

Three years later, and we're still living with them. I was offered the opportunity to return to my alma mater to study for my master's degree. I keep telling everyone that's the plan. "Moving back to Missouri. Going to grad school." I haven't submitted the paperwork though. I was terrified, until today. 

What if I fail and have to move back to Chicago? What will that do to my son? Will he hate me forever? Will he be emotionally scarred cause of my failure? Can I even do this without my parents? 

I noticed something today though while my mom was yelling at my dad cause he put coffee in her cup before the creamer, which is ~obviously~ incorrect. I noticed my son's whole body language change. He had woken up happy, full of energy. As this went down he kind of curled up in his seat; head down, shoulders in, eyes on the table. I knew right then and there that we were moving. At that moment, my failure didnt mean shit if it stopped his emotional wreckage from happening. 

Some things still amaze me about becoming a parent, and how quickly my feeling change based on his well being, will always be one of them. I saw his reaction and knew that I wasn't going to fail because of him. All of my selfish fears disappeared cause he needed this opportunity just as much as i did. If, by some weird fluke, I totally bomb, at least he'll know mommy tried. I'm not saying that I won't hit a bump or two, or that I won't emotionally damage him in other ways, but at least they'll be my own, different ways. Hahahaha

So, my message today is that I wish you inner peace with your decisions. Don't stress yourself too much about making the right decision. If you work hard, and make the most of every speed bump you hit, you'll be just fine.