Beth Terry's Blog, page 9
March 14, 2014
Truly Plastic-Free Chewing Gum in Plastic-Free Packaging!
Almost all chewing gum is made with plastic, plastic which hides in a secret ingredient called “gum base.” And with the exception of Peppersmith gum, which is only available in the U.K., the few gums that don’t contain plastic as an ingredient come in plastic packaging. Finally, there’s a U.S. company — Simply Gum — offering a completely natural, GMO-free chewing gum made with organic ingredients and without any plastic gum base or plastic packaging. And they want to give some away.
Simply...
Give Away! Truly Plastic-Free Chewing Gum in Plastic-Free Packaging!
Almost all chewing gum is made with plastic, plastic which hides in a secret ingredient called “gum base.” And with the exception of Peppersmith gum, which is only available in the U.K., the few gums that don’t contain plastic as an ingredient come in plastic packaging. Finally, there’s a U.S. company — Simply Gum — offering a completely natural, GMO-free chewing gum made with organic ingredients and without any plastic gum base or plastic packaging. And they want to give some away.
Simply...
February 27, 2014
Is It Cheating to Stock up on Restaurant Burritos?
So, I’ve talked and written a lot about how Americans seem to be addicted to the convenience that plastic packaging affords us. I know I sure was… eating frozen microwavable meals in plastic trays, energy bars in plastic wrappers, and water in plastic bottles. But I need to confess something. Just because I gave up plastic doesn’t mean I am not above a little convenience. It’s just that now, my idea of convenience looks like this:
Instead of this:
While most days, I eat whole foods that I p...
February 21, 2014
Opting Out of Toxic Checkbook Covers
Have you ever considered your checkbook cover? If you’re like me, you might be so accustomed to paying bills online that you don’t even remember where your checkbook is. But I’m thinking about mine today because of an article I just read in Environmental Health News. Apparently, Deluxe, the main provider of personal checks for most of America, has reached a settlement to remove a toxic phthalate called DEHP from its plastic checkbook covers by June 2015. According to the organization Heal...
February 19, 2014
Running with Less Plastic, Part 1
New Year’s Resolution #3: Run an official 5K race in under 30 minutes.
Sorry to have been out of touch for a month. I’ve had a lot going on. But I’m making progress on my 2014 goals. Down 18 pounds and running again. No, this picture isn’t me this year. It was taken back in 2006 during my marathon training year. But it’s a motivating image for me. This year, though, I hope to resume my running habit using a lot less plastic.
Getting Up to Speed
I’ve done this before — run 5K (3.1 miles) in u...
January 20, 2014
Eating Eggshells for Calcium?
As I mentioned in my last post, I’m trying to reduce the number of supplements I take (and hence, supplement packaging) by getting my nutrients from whole foods instead of pills. So a few weeks ago, I was wondering aloud (apparently, I’ve started talking to myself a lot lately) about how I could get more calcium, and Michael, whose mind goes all sorts of random places, said, “You eat an egg everyday. Why not eat the shell, too?” He wasn’t serious. But I wondered if eating eggshells was a...
January 16, 2014
Reducing Plastic by Staying Healthy
New Year’s Resolution #2: Generate less plastic waste from medicine and supplement packaging.
Okay, before I continue, I have to give the usual caveat: I am not a doctor and nothing I write in this post or anywhere on this blog should be construed as medical advice. I’m writing about my experience only. Your mileage may vary.
Now that that’s out of the way, check out my stash of health-related plastic waste from 2013:
Let’s examine it row by row.
Boosting My Immune System
Top 2 rows: With the...
January 11, 2014
Working Out Without Plastic, Part 1
In October, when Kathryn Palumbo first contacted me on Twitter from @YouAsAMachine, I thought, “Who the heck is this woman with the ripped abs and the funny Twitter handle? And why would someone like this be tweeting me, a totally out of shape but committed plastic-free activist?” I’m not exactly sure why I thought it was strange except that I don’t know any fitness trainer type people, and I guess I had this pre-conceived idea that they all wore Spandex, lived on bottled water and energy...
January 9, 2014
Lose Weight Through Plastic-Free Living?
New Years Resolution #1: Lose the 35 pounds I’ve gained since I went plastic-free in 2007.
Here’s me in January2007, minutes after completing my first marathon and 6 months before I decided to go plastic-free. Look at all that plastic crap, including (gasp!) bottled water. Well, I’ve lost a heck of a lot of plastic weight since then!
But instead of keeping it off, I seem to have just transferred the weight to my hips, my butt, my tummy, etc. Here’s me in March 2013 after living plastic-free...
December 21, 2013
My Favorite Airtight Stainless Steel Kitchen Container
(01/12/2014 Update: Life Without Plastic is offering a New Year’s discount code until January 15! Read to the bottom of this post to find the code. The giveaway is over. The winner is BeckyL. Congratulations!)
Three years ago, when Jay and Chantal from the online store Life Without Plastic sent me a sample of their new HUGE rectangular airtight stainless steel freezer container to review on this blog, I couldn’t think of anything I would use it for. They touted the container as useful for...
