“Eat Your Vegetables Day” on Friday!

According to my calendar, Friday, June 17 is “Eat Your Vegetables Day” (who designates these days?!) While everyday should be “eat your vegetables (and fruit) day”, it’s always good to bring awareness to the importance of healthy, seasonal eating.

By eating with the rhythms of the season, Mother Nature provides us with just about everything we need. Take watermelon, tomatoes and strawberries for example. Their high water content helps to keep us hydrated and protects and preserves skin cells so the skin is tighter, smoother and better able to retain moisture.  Their high lycopene content is a powerful antioxidant and helps ward off sunburn. A health and wellness coach I know calls these fruits “edible sunscreen”. When are watermelons, strawberries, and tomatoes in season?  In summer, when we need it most!

Nectarines and cherries are also summer fruits, which contain nutrients that help correct sun damage from the inside out.  They contain vitamins and minerals that control inflammation and free radical damage. Cherries contain inflammation-fighting anthocyanins and melatonin, which may boost UV protection and encourage cell growth.

Cucumbers are 96% water and contain most of the vitamins and minerals you need everyday. Take them along on your kayak or bicycle outing – they make a great energy boosting snack and help keep you hydrated even better than sports drinks. Cucumber is especially beneficial for the skin when eaten or put directly on your skin.  (Rub a slice of cucumber on your cellulite and wrinkles to tighten the skin.) Celery is another nutrient rich summer vegetable high in water content.  Green leafy vegetables are full of powerful beneficial nutrients that are good for just about everything! Loaded with potent anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory proprieties, it’s important to eat them everyday.

In this abundant time of year, summer fruits and vegetables are the perfect way to stay hydrated and cool and maybe ward off a sunburn! And nothing tastes better or is better for you than fresh, local fruits and vegetables. Make everyday “eat your vegetables day”.

 

For more green living tips, visit greenwithbetsy.com.

CUCUMBER AND VODKA – NOT A COCKTAIL BUT A GREEN ALTERNATIVE!

Many foods and spirits can be used as green alternatives to conventional household and personal care products.  Below are some ideas sent to me from a couple of readers.

Cucumber is a nutritious vegetable with many more medicinal uses than listed here.

• Cucumbers are loaded with vitamins and minerals and make an energy-boosting snack.
• Rubbing a cucumber slice on a fogged up mirror will eliminate the fog and provide aromatherapy at the same time.
• Cucumber slices in an aluminum pie tin will repel grubs and slugs from your garden.  The chemicals in the cucumber react with the aluminum to give off an undetectable scent to humans but not to garden pests.
• Cucumber is especially beneficial for the skin.  Rub a slice of cucumber on your cellulite and wrinkles to tighten the skin. Cucumber also reduces eye puffiness.
  

  Image by Betsy Wild

• Eating a few cucumber slices after over imbibing and before going to bed helps to eliminate a hangover.  The sugar, B vitamins and electrolytes in the cucumber replenish essential nutrients.
• Shine your shoes with cucumber – the chemicals provide a quick shine that also repels water.
• A cucumber slice pressed on the roof of your mouth for 30 seconds kills bad breath germs.
• Clean your faucets and stainless steel with cucumber slices – it safely removes tarnish and leaves a shine.

Vodka has the same antiseptic properties as rubbing alcohol.  It’s expensive, but in a pinch you can:

• Clean windows with diluted vodka as an alternative to chemical cleansers.
• Shine chrome with a cloth soaked in vodka.
• Preserve cut flowers by mixing a few drops of vodka with a teaspoon of sugar.
• Remove stains like ink, grass and some foods from upholstery.  Dip a clean cloth in vodka and rub it on the fabric.
• Kill broadleaf weeds – Mix 1 ounce of vodka, a few drops of liquid dish soap and 2 cups of water in a spray bottle.  Apply on a sunny day to cause the weeds to dry out.
• Clean mold and mildew – spray tiles and caulk with vodka and let stand for 20 minutes.  Scrub with a brush and rinse thoroughly.
• Soothe sore muscles with a cold pack made from equal parts vodka and water.  Put in a resealable bag and freeze.
• Spritz the insides of your shoes with vodka to eliminate the odor.

 

Vodka information compiled from THISOLDHOUSE.COM (Jan/Feb.2012). 

Cucumber information compiled from: www.cropking.com/cucumberbenefit