Want to stay young looking? What if the fountain of youth is as easy as embracing the eco-friendly lifestyle? What if being good to our planet keeps you fit and youthful looking? When you do these 5 eco-friendly actions, you keep yourself fit and youthful looking, detox your home and save time! All while saving the planet.
That’s because the surprising fact is, what’s good for the planet is also good for you.
By Jean Ong
1. Giving up disposable straws keeps premature skin aging at bay.
Ditch the disposable straw. Sipping your drinks from straws result to premature skin aging. When you repeatedly purse your lips to drink from a straw you etch your face with permanent groove lines around the mouth. That’s because, pursing your lips repeatedly helps speed up the process of breaking down the collagen in your skin, causing deep grooves to form way before it should.
Say no to straws and drink straight from the glass. It’s good for your skin, and keeps plastic straw away from the landfill.
2. Eating to save the planet keeps you fit and youthful looking.
Eat more.……fruits and vegetables that is.
Eating to save the planet means piling your plate with more fruits and vegetables instead of loading up on meat. When you do this, you cut 5x your carbon footprint (it’s the greenhouse gas that causes global warming). So by loading up on veggies, you’re already fighting global warming in a big way.
But the best part of this eating style is you end up with a healthy body. Science has proven time and again that eating more fruits and vegetables result to a fit and fab you. As a bonus, this eating style also leads to better skin (think, supple youthful glowing skin).
I’m not saying doing Meatless Mondays or going meatless entirely. This eating plan simply means adding more vegetables to your plate and replacing some portion of your meat cut with vegetables.
Eating more fruit and vegetables not only transforms you to a fitter and younger looking you, it also saves the planet.
3. Ditching the toxic health hazards for chemical free ones are eco friendly and non-toxic too.
Swap that bleach for all natural citric acid based cleaners.
We all know how bad bleach is for our health; it affects the lungs. It triggers asmtha and also causes asthma to a perfectly healthy person who is regularly exposed to it. Yet we still clean our homes using bleach, especially the toilet bowl. It’s like doing a trade off; giving up your health so you can have a clean home.
Good thing there’s an all natural non-toxic alternative to clean our bathroom with. It’s kills 99% of household germs but its so safe, its actually in your favourite juice drink and soda. It’s called citric acid. Citric acid is so safe, it’s used in make-up, skincare products and added in food and drinks.
It’s non-toxic to us but deadly on germs. It’s so effective in nuking germs, the City of San Francisco’s office recommends using citric acid based cleaners in their bathroom. If it’s potent enough for them, it’s potent enough for our homes.
Here’s a copy cat formulation of Comet Disinfecting Bathroom Cleaner, a potent bathroom cleaner and disinfectant that kills 17 strains of bacteria and 10 virus.
You’ll Need:
30g Citric Acid
500ml Water
Spray Bottle
How to Make Toilet Bowl Cleaner:
6% Citric Acid Concentration
- Using a kitchen scale, measure 61 g of Citric Acid
- Mix in 969 ml of water
- Stir the solution until it looks clear.
- Pour into a spray bottle labelled Toilet Bowl Cleaner.
To let this powerful cleaner and sanitizer work its magic, spray generously on toilet bowl and inside the rim. Leave it on for 10-15 minutes. This lets the cleaner do all the hardwork for you. With just a little scrubbing with the toilet brush, you get a sparkling clean toilet bowl.
To get rid of tough water stains; leave on overnight and scrub it in the morning.
Swapping out bleach for this makes cleaning safe and non toxic. It’s also more eco-friendly because you send less plastic bottles (from bleach) to the landfill. A pack of these citric acid powders go a long way. And they come in paper boxes not plastic containers.
4. Cleaning your bum better than toilet paper.
Spray don’t wipe, because wiping isn’t enough. Wiping with toilet paper won’t get you as clean as showering your bum with water (aka using a bidet). Nothing beats the cleaning power of a jet stream of water. It’s high pressure enough to get everything off but gentle enough so it doesn’t hurt.
Bidets do a better job than toilet paper. It also has a great side effect, it’s gentler on the planet. Making just one roll of toilet paper uses up 37 gallons of water.
5. Save time in the kitchen so you can save the planet.
Use up your leftovers and save time in the kitchen while saving the planet.
We’re all guilty of throwing out leftover meals. But if you eat that boring leftover instead of throwing it in the bin you help cut down on greenhouse gas (Earth heating gas that causes global warming). Food waste rotting in the landfill is responsible for 6% of the world’s total greenhouse gas emissions. Or equivalent to having 32.6 million cars on the road. So just by eating your leftovers, you’re already creating a huge impact in the fight against global warming.
The part I love is that using leftovers saves so much time in the kitchen as opposed to cooking from scratch. Leftovers are already seasoned, chopped up and cooked, so there is no additional cooking involved. You just microwave it and serve it as is. Or if you want to please the family (no one really likes to eat leftovers), create something new using the leftover dish.
That boring leftover stew is hardly recognizable if you turn it into chilli con carne or soup stew. All you need is a website called Allrecipes.com or the app BigOven. These sites offer creative ways to transform boring leftover into something new.
I love hacks that save time and effort in the kitchen. Even more so, when it’s eco-friendly. So this leftover hack is definitely something I’ve adopted in my home.
With these 5 eco-friendly actions you get to save the world effortlessly, all while becoming a healthier, fitter and younger looking you who’s kitchen and home savvy. These actions are even more helpful to parents with little kids. You can sleep better at night knowing you’re taking care of your little ones’ health and giving them a safe home to grow up in. A safe home and a safe planet to thrive in.
Jean Ong is the founder of Ecolover United, a movement that makes it easier for the everyday folk to live sustainably and in style.
She graduated college with a degree in Business Management major in Marketing, she currently work as a store manager by day, and an Earth Hero at night and on the weekends.
She’s a keen nature lover, maybe this came from fulfilling the prophetic nature of getting her name? Her Chinese name is Lin, meaning forest or grove of trees.
She believes that: if it’s good for Mother Earth, it’s good for you.
You can find her on Instagram at @jean.ecolover_united