Keep It Simple Stupid

I remember learning this straight forward and to the point acronym when I was in grade school. I was working on a project and getting super frustrated when my teacher pulled me aside and wrote KISS on a piece of paper. She explained to me that keeping things simple would allow for the project to be more clear and focused, less frustrating and more enjoyable for me.

This is how I am feeling about diet, nutrition and the environment today.

KISS

Simply Whole Foods: Eat fresh foods, local and organic when possible and not processed. Meats, eggs, milk and fresh produce from local sources are better for the environment and because they have not traveled thousands of miles they contain higher levels of nutrients. Find a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farmer in your area or visit your farmers market.

Buy non-genetically modified foods. GMOs are the furthest extreme of not simple. They take vast scientific knowledge and expense. They do not provide a superior product and they do carry risk to environment and human health. There is no need for it. According to Prevention magazine, the top 8 GM food crops are corn, soybeans, canola, cottonseed, sugar beets, Hawaiian papaya, and some zucchinin and yellow squash. Read labels and if these ingredients are included, don’t buy them. Organically grown foods cannot intentionally include GMOs. www.nongmoshoppingguide.com

Shop Simply: Look for clothing that is produced from organic cotton or bamboo or other sustainable harvested materials. You may not have as many clothes in your wardrobe, but you will have the clear conscious of doing no harm for fashion. A SIMPLE wardrobe will take some of the stress out of getting ready in the morning.

There are many things that we can do to help keep ourselves and the environment healthy. If we listed them all here, I think I would soon overwhelm both you and me. If we all approach our lives and our decisions with the acronym KISS, we can make a real difference.

Keeping it simple, will alleviate waste, both of unnecessary packaging and trash and waste of time and energy. When going to the grocery store, you will spend less time looking at nutrition labels and agonizing over which chips to buy, if you just buy the most simple ingredients, it takes all of the guesswork out of food decision making. Whole fruits and vegetables have very little waste associated with them, there is no box to recycle or plastic bags to go into landfills. Buying meats and eggs from local suppliers will help to reduce transportation costs and the pollution associated with trucking products long distances. Simplify your focus, buy the necessities, clear out the clutter. Your physical and mental health will benefit, and the environment will be happier too.