"I Wanna Be A Hippie!" Sunday

As I mentioned in this post, I am in the process of educating myself on "natural" living. I'm not sure yet how I personally am going to define that for myself and my family, hence why I am doing research.

What I learned this week.

For the month of February, I've been concentrating on researching organic food and the benefits of eating organic. I've been reading some books on the subject (I'll share which ones I think are most helpful later) and researching online.

Something I've found extremely useful are two lists: The Dirty Dozen and The Clean Fifteen. Several sources produce similar lists, so there are a few foods that vary depending on whose list you look at, but this is what I like the most (combined from all lists):

THE DIRTY DOZEN

These are food items you should purchase organic whenever possible.

1). Peaches

2). Apples

3). Strawberries

4). Pears

5). Grapes

6). Raspberries

7). Spinach

8). Bell peppers

9). Tomatoes

10). Celery

11). Potatoes

12). Cherries

THE CLEAN FIFTEEN

These items are typically OK to purchase conventionally.

1). Asparagus

2). Avocados

3). Frozen corn

4). Blueberries

5). Frozen peas

6). Cabbage

7). Garlic

8). Kiwi

9). Mango

10). Onion

11). Pineapple

12). Bananas

13) Broccoli

14). Watermelon

15). Papaya

I hope that helps as you do your grocery shopping! I carry the two lists with me when shopping.

How I was a hippie this week.

Keat might have made fun of me this week for doing these things, but I felt good about them.

I used an avocado masque for the first time this week. My skin felt so good and so soft afterwards! It's really simple:

Mash 1/2 avocado with 2 tablespoons olive oil

Apply to face and rinse once dry. You can also use it on your hair. Apply, then wrap hair in a hot towel and rinse after 20 minutes.

Make sure that you use an avocado that is room temperature. I used my avocado straight from the fridge, so at first it wouldn't blend very well on my face. Once it started to warm up it went a lot smoother. If avocados weren't so expensive I would do this a lot more often! (They were on sale last week.)

I also made kale chips last week! They were SO DELICIOUS!!! If you like kale and you've never had these, you must stop everything and make them immediately. They are awesome!

Just tear your kale into pieces (I just used bagged organic kale greens), then spread on a baking sheet in a single layer. Sprinkle with olive oil and fresh ground sea salt. Bake at 400 degrees for about 15-20 minutes or until crisp.

Keat doesn't eat kale, so the batch lasted me several days as I was the only one eating on it. The chips started getting a little soggy after a couple of days, so next time I make them I will probably do it fresh every couple of days.

That's it for this week! The next two weeks I'll talk more about organic food. Then in March I am going to talk about natural health products that I use!

Please post any information you'd like to share about your experiences with organic food!

"I Wanna Be a Hippie!" Sunday

Keaton calls me a hippie.

Not a "free love", joint-smoking type of hippie. Just a natural, healthy, organic hippie.

We are not at a financial state where the ONLY items I purchase for our home are organic. Plus, I don't think organic is always necessary. But when I have the choice and it seems logical, affordable, and reasonable, I do try to make choices that I think are more healthy. Thankfully, living in Florida where produce is very fresh (and we have Publix and New Leaf Market!) it is easy to obtain natural or organic items.

At first I had a tough time convincing Keat that it was okay for him to eat organic things, use natural products, or try homeopathic remedies instead of prescriptions. He used to laugh at me when I brought home organic milk (or, as he says, "hippie milk"), but now he actually prefers it! He says it's very creamy. He actually admits he likes a lot of the food he used to make fun of. He's coming around. He even asked me for echinacea the other day!

On my blog, I'll be writing about "natural" things as I figure them out. Not just food things, but all kinds of things - cleaning, personal care, gardening, homeopathy. My hope in writing it all down is two-fold. First, it will help keep me on track! I tend to be very forgetful, so if I have all my research and ideas in one place it will be much easier for me to remember everything I've learned. Second, it would be great if I could help other "new hippies" out there - people like me who are not experts, just normal people trying to live a healthy life.

Now let me offer a warning: I do not have it all figured out. I'm sure that all of the natural things I will be sharing are kind of "duh" tidbits for people who have been living the organic life for awhile. This is a new journey for me, though, so every miniscule little thing I learn and every new product I find useful are going to be amazing to me! If you'd rather read from people who have "been there, done that" for a lot longer, try going here, or here.

For the rest of you, who are still in the process of learning what it means to live "naturally", please come along on my ride! We'll have some fun, and hopefully help each other learn some things along the way.

If (according to Keat) living naturally is being a hippie, and everything I've learned so far about natural living is true, then sign me up! I wanna be a hippie!