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Overwhelmed.
I started small with recycling three years ago, and in that time I've now switched to unpaper towels, a dog waste bin, vermiculture, the diva cup, the oil cleansing method for my face, using vinegar as my go to cleaner and laundry softener, and using wool dryer balls. This year we even put in our own small vegetable garden.
I've started to stumble across more and more health reasons to choose wisely what you eat vs financial ones(we menu plan to curtail our "oh screw it lets just go out tonight" attitude), and while I know knowledge is power I swear there's info out there calling everything under the sun poison. Like unless I'm an activist/nutritionist I'll never be able to make informed decisions about what I eat.
I think what I'm putting in my body is pretty darn important, but I don't know where to start. Can you guys give me sites/books/documentaries to start with? I've seen Food Inc and Supersize me, and while I think they're a bit sensational I appreciated the info they presented.
Re: Overwhelmed.
Read some Michael Pollan.
http://www.michaelpollan.com/
Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.
DH & I have really enjoyed the series "Blood, Sweat, & Take Aways" on the Green channel. They did chicken, tuna, rice, and some other products as well. there's also "Blood, Sweat, & T-Shirts" and it was great too.
I agree. In Defense of Food presents food rules that aren't overwhelming.
Michael Pollen's The Omnivore's Dilemma and Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation would be my top 2 picks for books. I would also recommend The Future of Food for a documentary on GMO's. It's free on Hulu.com.
I actually haven't read Pollan's books, which I think most people would find surprising considering how 'strict' I am about foods. I LOVED Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and thought that it was a very positive, and enjoyable read and less overwhelming.
I'm currently reading Diet for a Hot Planet which in a way is a little overwhelming, but has tons of really good info on making good choices and to me has different info than some of the other books (I did skim Pollan's books), and if you skip to the end and their recommended plan/rules, I thought they were very good.
I'd also give a vote to the Future of Food documentary. The monopolization and monoculturing of our food industry, and what these food giants are doing really ticks me off!
I've made a lot of changes to my diet that for most seem really hardcore, and I'm pretty 'strict' about it, and had I made them hard rules, I think they would have been really overwhelming. I just decided to try eating all organic, all seasonal and local, etc and found that it wasn't that hard. Do I follow this perfectly? No. I'm not going to grill a host on what I'm eating when I visit friends, although I am thankfully not presented with a lot of processed foods and I generally pass on the meat unless its fish or shrimp.
Third vote for this. I *loved* the Omnivore's Dilemma and Food Rules, I'm just starting In Defense of Food. Pollan presents a very well rounded and rational explanation of eating, and a similar argument for what we should eat. Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. This is the best.advice.ever.