Q. Beth, you seem to consider yourself a Smarty Pants. Tell me, what do I need to do to save money, be more "green", and be more healthy--all at the same time?
A. Become an avid label scanner.
Notice that I didn't say label reader. You don't need to be able to read through, pronounce, or understand what all those chemical names are--even folks I know who took classes on how to read those 400-syllable 3-word names struggle with them. What you need to be able to do is look for key words based on the product.
Knowing what you're buying will help you make better consumer choices:
1. You'll find you spend less money on products that say they do one thing but indicate (via the ingredients list) they do something else entirely. As pertains to health: understanding what, exactly, goes in or on your body and how it reacts with your body is a huge step in having a healthy body.
2. You'll discover that "different" products you may have been buying are really the same thing marketed and packaged to appear specific to one application--don't buy multiple products when one will do. Buying fewer products is a leg-up on consuming less and, later, throwing away less.
Example 1: FOOD
In many cases pre-packaged foods have added sweeteners, preservatives, vitamins or minerals in them that have both common easy-to-read names and a chemical scientific name. Vitamins are perfect examples (e.g., vitamin E has EIGHT different chemical names!), but artificial and "alternative natural" sweeteners are a great one to start with here. Anything that ends in "-ose" is a sugar, whether natural, artificial, or processed. Now go amuse yourself by reading labels for things like applesauce or any "no added sugar" product and count how many "-oses" you can find.
Example 2: SKIN CARE
Your skin is your first (and largest) defense against illness, and its health depends on staying hydrated both inside the cells and out on the surface. Alcohols are the natural enemy of healthy skin--regular use causes dry, flaky skin and can even promote conditions like contact dermatitis; dry skin is, literally, a cracked door for bacterial, fungal, and viral infections. In my recent search for a low- or no-alcohol lotion, I've found that most commercial skin care products contain multiple types of alcohol.
The two examples above are only a couple of the easy ones to find. It takes just a little memorization to really get going, but the important part is to get into the habit of checking out labels before you toss something into the grocery cart.
I'll be adding specific posts as I go forward with this blog, so check back in from time-to-time and learn yerself sumptin new. In the meantime, get into the habit by looking for sneaky sugars and alcohols. Goest forth, my people, and scan some labels!
No comments:
Post a Comment