As we go about our day, clothes, food, jewellery, holidays are all being marketed to us – oh I mean advertised and we can decide if we pay attention or not.
Whether you’re watching the TV – even the channels you pay for, listening to music on Spotify, watching a YouTube video, listening to your favourite podcast, hanging out on social media or visiting your favourite website and then going to social media or to google – only to see the most recent promotion for that movie, restaurant, car etc. you were just checking out.
And you often have to see something 7-10 times before you actually click ‘buy’, so those ads are going to keep coming, but are they being honest with you?
When we see a green tick or rolling hills with a healthy looking cow on the packaging, a succulent burger with lots of veggies placed perfectly on it or an Icelandic Fiord with someone sipping a crystal clear drink next to it – be it water or alcohol, is that truly where its made and under those conditions? This is green washing.
Are they being truthful or are they telling you what you want to hear?
The meat industry is a really great example of this – how many of us want to know where our meat comes from and under what conditions? Hand up – I know I don’t but I do choose to pay more for our meat to get the organic, grass fed, RSPCA approved, Heart Smart Tick etc. I also chat to my butcher about where their meat comes from and if they can’t tell me, I don’t shop there any more.
What you may have noticed is I look for labels, certification, so I know what I’m purchasing is the real deal – and whilst its better for my body, its also better for the environment and the animal.
You can’t trust everything you see though. Just because a label’s green, doesn’t make it good for you or the environment – it just makes it green. Companies want us to look at the ‘green’ label and think ‘healthy’, which is the same for:
- All natural
- Made from natural ingredients
- Made fresh in mumma kitchen
- Sugar free
- Fat free
What you can trust is your own intuition, looking at the ingredients list – can you understand them or are there a list of chemicals and codes you don’t know? Paying attention to how you feel when you eat that food and asking yourself honestly – is this good for me and the environment? Is it sustainably sourced or is this another version of fast food?
It can seem overwhelming, but you can make simple swaps really quickly and I always tell people – you will eat less, because you’re not fuelling your body with empty calories and chemicals it then needs to get rid of.
A couple of years ago, Chris came home with the ‘cheap’ milk and I had asked him time and again not too, because I wanted to make sure we got quality milk for him and Teddy, and we paid more money back to the farmer. I asked him to do the research and he did. Turned out I was wrong. The more expensive milk is owned by a Japanese company and a supermarket milk with a red symbol sourced milk reasonably locally, although they did get in trouble when they started charging us 30c more for milk to go directly back to the farmers and were more challenged in passing it back.
Do your research, pick one thing:
- Get your nuts insecticide free
- Buy your meat from a local butcher who sources their meat locally and sustainably
- Grab your fruit and veggie from your local organic store or go to the farmers market on the weekend
- Make your own nut milk to avoid the oils
- Make your own granola to minimise the sugar content
Your health will thank you for it xo
