Can sustainable living benefit your health?

The sustainability trend keeps growing, and that’s great news for the planet! Here I’m asking…what are the health benefits of living sustainably?

The earth and humanity need saving…from humanity. Luckily, sustainability is a trend that is growing, growing, and growing some more.

Everyone talks about how this can lead to a healthier home planet for us, but what about our bodies?

You’ll be eating a lot of fresh, unprocessed food

Most processed foods are wrapped in plastic. When you’re avoiding plastic at the supermarket, you’re left with picking your own from the fruit, vegetable, bakery, deli and meat sections.

This means that you can find yourself eating a lot more unprocessed food. Now, some plastic wrapped foods, such as frozen fruits and veggies are still packed full of nutrients as they’re frozen just after they’re picked. But, if it’s fresh, it’ll still be nutritious.

If you want some tips and tricks, look no further! I’ve consulted with my sustainability guru, AKA my best friend Jo. Here are her supermarket tips:

• Some supermarkets (such as Morrisons in the UK) give you points for bringing in your own containers on the counters
• Try and shop on restock days as they have a greater variety of loose goods
• Source local milk and butter – some dairy farms make their own butter and it tastes AMAZING
• Give making your own yogurt a go – you can get bacteria from Amazon and it’s better that supermarket yogurt
• Shop for local meat from butchers as they’ll be more likely to let you bring in your own containers, and can also hold onto them for you to come back later
• If you get the supermarket when they’re bringing out freshly baked bread, you can ask for a loaf/rolls without packaging…making your own is also great!

Ladies, you may be less at risk from toxic shock

Period pads and tampons are pretty wasteful. Pads tend to have plastic for adhesion, and a lot of tampons have single use plastic applicators.

Menstrual cups are growing in popularity, and while they may not be for everyone (I tried, failed and haven’t tried again yet) they are great for the environment and potentially, our bodies.

If you’ve used sanitary products, you’ve probably heard of toxic shock syndrome (TSS). It’s the warning we’re given when we start using tampons, and its rare cases can lead to shocking results.

Because menstrual cups are made from medical grade silicone, harmful bacteria can’t grow in them. So, if they can’t grow and multiply, the risk of TSS!

You’ll be exposed to less harmful chemicals

Plastic containers, especially single use ones that aren’t meant to be used again (water bottles, takeaway containers etc), are made with chemicals that can eek out into your food and drink.

One of the most well known of these problematic chemicals is BPA. BPA exposure (at high enough levels) is considered to have possible effects on the brain, behavioural patterns and foetal development.

Luckily, there are ways to avoid this:

• Buy BPA free food containers – I got this pack of 10 (as a Christmas present from Jo and our friend Megan) and they make every lunch look amazing…people at work keep asking me where I’m buying my lunches from!
• Don’t reheat BPA containing plastics as the heat can break down the plastic, meaning that BPA can leak out
• If you want to ditch plastic entirely, opt for glass, silicone or stainless steel containers.

A healthy planet, and healthy you

I hope you enjoyed this short and sweet guide! Sustainability is a trend that I fully support, and if it can be a bonus to our health too…then what more could you ask for?

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