All Up On My High Horse!

As my closest friends can contest, I am super judgmental, and upitty! I do try to keep it in my head, but I don’t always succeed. My husband says that I have “judgment eyes”. He can always tell when I am judging something or someone harshly, even in silence. (He also does a fairly humorous impression of me:) I can’t help it!!! People give me so many reasons (girl talking AT her phone and then holding against her head to listen on the bus)!

I really just hold everyone to a very high standard. I know that people make mistakes, but I do expect them to learn from them. I want people to try. That’s all. Just make some sort of an effort! (Is that demanding? Too much to ask?) I digress.

I’m on one of my many documentary kicks. I blame Kristen Bell. I got hooked on KBell when Veronica Mars started, and quickly realized that she was my kind of girl. She became a veghead when she was 11 because she loves animals. Pure and simple. ME TOO! (except I was 13:) We are practically BFF’s! So when she was on the cover of Women’s Health April, I had to pick it up. Inside she talked about chocolate “buns” cake and going vegan. She say’s that watching the doc. ‘Forks Over Knives’ is what drove her (and Crosby;) to go vegan. I was intrigued. And as some of you know, a lover of cool docs about food!

So here are my top 3 recent documentary favourites:
1. Forks Over Knives: SO GOOD! It’s about the correlation between illness and the food we eat. It follows the lives and careers of two doctors. How they were taught one way of life and doctoring, and through their own research (and not bs animal research, but human study) came to some amazing revelations about food and the human body. If you want the tools to save your own life, take this movie to heart.

2. Food Inc.: I saw this when it first came out, and re-watched it the other day. This one gets into the logistics of the food industry in the united states. How it works, how it runs, and who they have in their pockets. Eye opening, and heart breaking, this doc is very informative. A must see no-matter what kind of eater you are. (On Netflix right now)

3. Tapped: You will never buy bottled water again! Did you know that bottled water doesn’t have to be FDA approved? Exactly! Watch this one.(On Netflix right now)

I don’t usually get on my high horse about vegetarianism. Not out loud anyway. I will argue with people that think they know better than me, or that they claim to be healthier than I am. I ain’t playin’! I do, however, wish that we lived in a meat free society. A girl can dream. Knowing that we don’t, I still think that there are many things we can all do to save ourselves, our children, and our planet. So here are my (more than pet) pet-peeves and how I think we can be better. Me included. Take it or leave it, that’s up to you.

1. Go Veg! I know, I know, but it’s awesome! If you are inclined, go Vegan. Even if it’s just a few days a week. We are adopting MeatOut Mondays, where we eat Vegan all day every monday. If you are a meat-eater, do Meatless Monday. You can still have cheese, just give up the meat. Forgo meat in your lunch 3 days a week. Anything! I promise you, it will do you (and an animal) good:)

2. If you are a Meaty, know where it came from! Buy locally. Now that summer is almost here the markets will be opening up. You can find organic meat from animals that were allowed to graze and enjoy the short lives they had. The person selling at the market, usually works on the farm, so you can ask them all the questions you want.

3. Don’t buy bottled water. It’s SO unnecessary! We live in a country where we can get our water from a tap in our houses. Take advantage, not everyone has such luxuries. Plus, there are so many rad bottles you can get. Why tacky up your outfit by carrying around trash? (My husdand bought jugs of water for the cottage last year, and I vowed then to get big re-usable ones for this year. Learning from our mistakes. That’s how we do!)

4. Recycle! It’s just as much (if not less) work to drag huge bags of garbage out to the curb as it is your recycling bins. Grow up!

5. Unless you are hard up for some garbage bags, use your cloth bags to shop. I know you have them. YOU ALL HAVE THEM! Just try not to forget them:)

I could go on forever about my gripes (scrunchie wearers,jogging pants with elastic ankle wearers,girls who’s weave tracks aren’t even trying to hide, litterers, spitters…), but I won’t. I hope you all take a minute to think about what difference you can make in this world, in your family, and in your own lives.
xxo
C

p.s. Canadian Tire recycles your old batteries, Ikea recycles light bulbs, Lenscrafters (and many other glasses stores) recycle eyeglasses, and Lablaws has a plastic bag bin. Click here to find out where you can recycle various things in Ottawa: City Of Ottawa