Small, easy changes can have big results. Replace single use plastic bags for family groceries with reusable ones, sit down together for dinnertime meals (without your phone!) and eat a few almonds a day grown in wild soil.
1/ THE NEW WAY TO GROCERY SHOP
Pulling a single-use plastic bag from a roll at the grocery store is easy, convenient and even, second nature. But, there are green options!
Cloth bags allow you to see those all-important stickers, and their mesh design means that produce that needs to breathe can go straight from the store into the crisper. Gently wash them when necessary.
All you need to do is remember to stash them in your purse or trunk.
CSL PICK? Ecobags offers a range of bags for produce, bulk items and for carrying groceries. ecobags.com
2/ BRING BACK FAMILY DINNERTIME
Providing structure and boundaries is crucial for children, both to protect them and to foster learning and growth advises Dr. Gary Malone an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Texas Southwestern and author of What’s Wrong with My Family?
This could include a set dinnertime, with everyone at the table. Dinnertime is busy for families everywhere but it’s also a great way to reconnect.
Cut out all distractions (no devices, no social media, no texting) and focus on real conversation. Grab a large bucket or jar and make everyone place their devices inside.
Then go old school with a corded telephone and voicemail. For one hour, let all calls go to your landline and just catch up with your family. It is a daily practice with big results!
CSL PICK? AT&T ML17929 2-Line Corded Phone with Speakerphone, gianttiger.com
3/ A WILD ALMOND A DAY (MORE LIKE 3-4)
Eating 3-4 almonds a day is a healthy routine providing protein, antioxidants, fibre, good fat, vitamins and minerals.
Even better are direct farm-estate, sustainable almonds grown with an organic farming practice called Wild Soil. By eliminating the use of pesticides and using compost (and other organic matter) to restore the soil, these almond trees grow healthy roots.
The resulting raw almonds are plump with a light brown colour. CSL testers liked the size, and texture, “slightly softer as if soaked” (they are steamed instead of treated with propylene oxide) and noted that they “had a fresher, almost grassier taste than conventional.”
CSL PICK? Raw Almonds, 3lb bag, $22.99; wildsoilalmonds.com
This original healthy living article first appeared in the Spring 2020 issue of City Style and Living Magazine.
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