This past Wednesday we had an informative and inspirational show all about living a healthy life. As we ramp up to launch our new Healthy Living section on June 1, we invited three of our regular contributors to share the tips and tricks we can all use to create a better environment for ourselves and our families and largely our world.
Joining us for our show was
– Dustin Bryson – Marketing Director of Envirocon Technologies
– Wendy Bradford– awesome mom, blogger & greenie newbie
– Blythe Metz– raw food expert & creator of Blythe Raw
If you missed the show and/or would like to listen to it again, you can do so below. You can also download it to listen to at a later time.
Here are some of the highlights from our show:
Tell us a bit about yourselves.
Dustin – I am the marketing director for Lemi Shine. We care very deeply about the environment and leaving it exactly how we found it. We have a bottom line that is about our environment. One of our goals is to get to one dumpster for our entire 60,000 foot facility and I’m really excited about that.
Wendy – I am definitely a new green mom. I am a writer. My background is a writer of poetry, fiction, and financial services.
Blythe – My background is an actress and a writer. A few years ago I went to a raw food retreat and I saw how grounded these people were and learned more about pesticides, etc, and I couldn’t NOT talk about it, teach about it which lead me to start a weekly raw food radio show.
What is the deal with raw foods?
Blythe: If we eat more living foods, then we will feel more alive. Live foods are raw, probiotic. If we consume more of these we feel great. Lots of studies show that plant foods do not cause illnesses, but animal foods do.
Wendy: I knew it was going to be hard for me to eat raw with having a family. Prioritizing is one of the biggest challenges starting out. I’m starting with cleaning products. Also, what am I putting in my kids bodies. So I’m starting with organic milk, cheeses, etc.
Dustin: I do like to eat raw and healthy when possible. I would much rather have a salad with lots of veggies, nuts, so we do try. I have to be honest though. Sometimes we are overwhelmed and nuggets just end up on our plate! If I start reading things I really get crazy about it. Like eating kale for a month!
Wendy: What is your kids receptability to raw foods? My kids LOVE chicken nuggets, and frozen organic pizzas.
Dustin: A show called Lazy Town really helped us. Sporticus is the hero, and he sports support candy, which is fruits! When he pins people up on a wall, he does it with carrots.
As someone who works in an environment of healthy living, does it come up a lot?
Dustin: It’s an individual choice, for sure. But when it comes to the office, we definitely have rules in place about recycling. When it comes to food (we live in west Texas – meat country) we have many people who don’t have many issues about what they eat and live. I would say they are not as progressive when it comes to the movement. Our farmers markets are very scarce so our options are limited. We don’t have a Whole Foods within 4 hours of us so we have to fight even harder to get the right products.
Given that people want to do the right thing, it’s easier to do the right thing if they know how and what could buy. Maybe each of you could name your top choices of foods that moms could start buying tomorrow.
Blythe: It’s not complicated – apples. They are great for brain development. At least one apple a day. Truly raw almonds too. If you soak them in water and eat them, they are a delicious snack. Collard green wrap with organic cheese and turkey.
Do you ever recommend meat substitutes like boca burger?
Blythe: I personally don’t like something trying to be something else! If there is a kinwaw burger, or vegetable based patty, then I will do it.
Dustin: I think the raw, organic almond butter. It’s nice and bulky and it makes you feel full. I like taking organic grapes, putting them in the freezer, and then have them for dessert. My kids love them.
Dustin: What do you think about those protein bars?
Blythe: It totally depends on where the protein comes from. If it’s a raw, organic plant based protein, then it’s good.
Wendy, have you changed your food choices?
Wendy: We go to the green market and try to load up on fruits and vegetables. We try to buy locally when we can, but I’m not even sure if they are organic! So I need to start investigating that! I now buy all organic brands. I am thinking more about my choices.
How do you properly clean produce and vegetables?
Blythe: I use Shackley – a plant based natural cleaner. I know you can use water mixed with apple vinegar.
Can you tell us about Lemi Shine and cleaning products?
Dustin: LemiShine is a dishwasher additive and it gets rid of stains on glassware. It is all natural. And we also have a rinse that is for all types and works in your rinse cycle if you have hard water. And we have LemiShine machine cleaner. You can clean your dishwasher, washing machine, etc. In the industry for a long time people used to think if it was green and natural it doesn’t work. We are phosphate free and our products work. We are in most grocery stores in the country. We’re also in Walmart and Target. On our website we have a store locator.
Wendy: I have to admit, I went back to the stuff with chemicals because the green stuff wasn’t working. But now I’m super excited to try it!
Wendy: There are many families in this country where higher cost products are not an option.
Blythe: It’s hard. Certainly with cleaning products you could make your own with vinegar. It’s a conundrum, certainly.
Elise (radio show producer): I have a friend with a daughter who is allergic to dyes. So she had to switch where she buys her food and said her grocery bill tripled. It’s very real. But people put so much research into other parts of their lives – homes they will buy, cars they will buy, but yet they are not taking care of the one thing that matters the most – their health. And as for the diapers it has actually been shown to be cheaper to use cloth diapers in the long run. I think it’s a mind set – putting the time into researching. Here is a link to make your own laundry detergent that is actually cheaper and just as good as Tide!
The takeaway I would love for our moms is that you don’t have to tackle this all at once. You can try one new thing a week. Wendy, what would you say?
Wendy: Absolutely! I’m so glad you said that. My heart started racing about all of the things I still need to switch to!
Dustin, keeping in mind that a lot of moms in our community are small business owners, can you name something that is beneficial?
Dustin: Yes, you should just be conscious of how much of stuff you are using. If you have to use paper, flip it over after you use it and use it for notes. Or throw it back into the printer and use it again. If everyone has 2 garbage cans in their office- one for plastic and one for paper and recycle it is very important. The CEO’s of the company are going to be the ones that set that example. So if they don’t do it, nobody else will do it.
About our BlogTalkRadio show:
Mommy ‘Bites’ Live is our monthly radio show where we mix things up ‘live’ with our community of moms and parenting experts. You have a lot of choices on how you can participate in our show – dial in by phone or listen via the internet. Whatever is most convenient for you! We encourage you to send in questions in advance of the show as well as ask them during the show. This is a chance for you to speak to worldwide parenting experts about every parenting topic under the sun. Sign up for more details on how to tune in to this show.
Missed any of our past shows, you can find them all here (in easy to listen and/or download format): http://www.blogtalkradio.com/mommybites. Can’t make it, you can always listen to any of our shows in playback at your leisure!
