The Need for Green Living

A reader wrote to me and asked to do a guest post. I thought that was a great idea. If you are interested in doing a guest post feel free to email me. Fivemorebunnies@gmail.com

A Need for Green Living, a guest post by Eric Stevenson


Driving less, a healthier diet,
less use of water bottles, and gardening are just a few examples of some aspects
of living green.  With a high number of diseases resulting from environmental
exposure to toxins in the home, the benefit of pursuing a holistic approach to
everyday life is becoming more and more valuable. Patients of these illnesses
are helping to extend their life expectancy through a series of green-related
approaches, as well as seeing some of the other benefits of these changes, such
as increased financial and energy efficiency.

Driving less, a healthier diet,
less use of water bottles, and gardening are just a few examples of some aspects
of living green.  With a high number of diseases resulting from environmental
exposure to toxins in the home, the benefit of pursuing a holistic approach to
everyday life is becoming more and more valuable. Patients of these illnesses
are helping to extend their life expectancy through a series of green-related
approaches, as well as seeing some of the other benefits of these changes, such
as increased financial and energy efficiency.

Another way green living can be
particularly beneficial is within the lower amount of toxins being taken in.
This will also help to prevent things like irregular heartbeat or shortness of
breath, two common mesothelioma  symptoms.
There are green alternatives to everyday items that will be more beneficial to
the body, whether it's a household item like a cleaner or a hardware item like
paint.


A healthy diet will be one of the
major positives of adapting a green outlook on living.  The use of organically
grown food coupled with lowering red meat intake will result in addition by
subtraction. Organic food will help the body in preparation to fight illness and
improve physically. Many cancer patients alike are using this holistic, organic
approach to the fighting of their diseases. This type of lifestyle can be
particularly important towards a positive outlook in different cases of cancer
and mesothelioma life expectancy.
When the body is nurtured right, it will be better equipped in dealing

Another way to ensure the use of
fresh and organically grown produce is to garden them yourselves. Gardening will
ensure that the food is chemical free and will also add to everyday physical
activity by providing yourself with a consistent routine of being outside to
work in the garden.

When taking a holistic and organic
approach, the consumption and use of water is an important factor. Removing use
of bottled water will take away the chance of consuming chemicals, which can
sometimes be found on the bottles. Using tap water with the proper filtering
system will always make for the healthiest option for drinking water.

There are also some health benefits
to using natural light in the home. Not only will using natural light during the
day cost less financially and save some energy, it can also help the body. The
body’s production of Vitamin D will increase with a little more exposure to
sunlight. The natural light can also improve overall mood, specifically in the
winter time.

All of these aspects of green
living are helping to improve a number of facets within people’s lives, but are
also helping patients of terminal illnesses improve their own outlook and life
expectancy. These examples also help to show why living this type of lifestyle
can be very beneficial to anybody’s long term overall
health.

Heart shapped mini cake gluten free

This recipe is a combination of the Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen and Martha Stewart. It's a bit old now, as I made these for valentines, but still worth sharing!

This valentines treat was also to be a birthday cake so I wanted to do something a bit different. I wasn't finding what I wanted, as I needed to have something gluten free and dairy free, and the birthday goer did not. I was looking at Martha Stewart's website for ideas. She has such pretty food pictures it can be inspiring. Though I don't use her recipes much...

The cut out heart cakes came from Martha Stewart, which also suggested stacking them in twos with frosting in the middle.

Did I mention the frosting I used has no powdered sugar?! Or food coloring for that matter?



BTW, this cake, despite being "free" of so many things (no eggs, milk, refined sugar, no gluten) , it still tastes great. It is a very good cake for cutting into hearts because it is firm. I was worried about my cake falling apart when using a cookie cutter to make it into hearts but this recipe is great for cutting into shapes because it holds up so well! You could get rather creative if you wanted to. Stars could be fun.

The cake recipe comes from this site , which is my favorite recipe site.

Here is the recipe:
2 cups brown rice flour or sorghum flour
½ cup tapioca flour
¾ cup
unsweetened cocoa powder
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
1 ½ teaspoons xanthan gum or guar gum
½ teaspoon sea salt
1 ½ cups boiling water
1 cup
prunes
½ cup virgin coconut oil
1 cup maple syrup
tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Take one large cookie sheet and line it with parchment paper.
In a
medium sized bowl place the brown rice flour, tapioca flour, cocoa powder,
baking soda, xanthan gum, and sea salt; mix together well with a fork or wire
whisk.

Place the prunes in a small bowl and pour the boiling water over
them. Let stand for about 10 minutes.

Place the prunes and water into a
blender and add the coconut oil, maple syrup, water, apple cider vinegar, and
vanilla. Blend until very smooth. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix
well, though be careful not to over mix.

Immediately pour batter onto the cookie sheet, using your spoon to spread. I did not fill the cookie sheet to the edges. It held it's shape without "melting." Bake for about 20 minutes.
© Alissa Segersten 2008

Okay, so now the fun part!  Wait until your cake cools completely, then take a heart shaped cookie cutter, I'm not exactly sure how big mine is but maybe three inches? And cut as many hearts as you can out of it. What you do with the left over cake pieces is up to you :)

The frosting recipe also comes from Ali over at the Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen, with some small changes that I made. The trick is to use raw beet juice to make the frosting pink. Ali suggests using a garlic press but that did not work at all for me, so I grated some beet, which lets out ALOT of juice easily, and squeezed the grated beet into my frosting. Don't worry your frosting will not taste like beets! A small amount of juice turns the frosting pink quick.

2 cups organic coconut oil (Ali used palm shorting) (make sure it is room temp!)
1 cup arrowroot powder
1 cup maple syrup
4 teaspoons non-alcoholic
vanilla
2 to 4 teaspoons beet juice
(optional)

Beat all ingredients with an electric mixer, or a electric hand mixer, which is what I used. This frosting tastes excellent Btw! I was very happy with how it turned out as I have been looking for a good alternative to powered sugar.

Now frost your cute heart cake and enjoy.

Here is a picture of me and Leo at the Birthday Party where we enjoyed this cake. This is in Drayton Harbor, WA. We went out of town for valentines weekend and it was great to get some quiet time.

This post linked to Friday potluck

This post linked to Decidedly Healthy or Horridly Decadent Blog Hop