Reading and…. is a new semi-weekly posting of recommended books. These will include books on health, nutrition, cooking, alternative living, environmental issues, spirituality, or anything else I think helpful, inspiring, enjoyable, or smile inducing. If you have a book you would like me to review, please contact me at meghan (at) meghantelpner (dot) com.
Day 7 of Green Week and the Green Smoothie Cleanse starts tomorrow. Not too late to sign up and get your greens in order. And since you will have some spare time since you won’t have to cook for the next three days, might I recommend a little green reading? Comment below and you can win a copy! (Details of entry at the bottom)
How do I go about writing an unbiased review of a book written by one of my best friends where I come in on page five, am scattered throughout as a main character, and am listed third in the acknowledgments section (3. “Meghan for supporting me from the get-go and feeding me organic lentils when I was down”)?
In early 2007, I had just begun nutrition school and Vanessa had been scarred by the image of drowning polar bears. This is how we found ourselves with a mutual interest in an anti-Styrofoam party and on the look out for what we termed the eco-hipster. A guy who was into the environment, knew how to pronounce quinoa, rode a bicycle, didn’t litter, bathed, and was hot.
One thing led to another and I got a call from Vanessa the night before she was set to launch her big green challenge freaking out about joining the blog world. I talked her down from the ledge and she hit publish for what would be a roller coaster of 366 days as she made a green change each day to help save the drowning polar bears (and reduce her impact on the environment in general). Once a change was made, she had to stick to it for the rest of the year. She unplugged her fridge on day 78.
As an amazing writer (and journalist with The National Post) her blog Green As a Thistle, of course, took off. This book is a memoir of her green year. And it’s not just a play-by-play of having to figure out how to go without anything that comes in plastic, or how to avoid condoms and birth control pills. The book is funny. Really funny. The kind of funny that had me laughing out loud with tears rolling down my cheeks. The kind of funny that made me want to call people up and read passages to them. I read my family chapter 10. We starred in it.
By the end of the book, you will be inspired. You will realize that you don’t have to make great big changes in order to make great big differences in the world- whether relating to the environment, your health, your community, or anything else. The book reveals the great impact of the butterfly effect. Where one small thing can have far-reaching effects. Of course Vanessa doesn’t get all preachy about it. She is wonderfully sarcastic, cynical and humble about the fact that she is inspiring countless people to do great things.
We make a great eco-nutrition team. Vanessa describes us as follows: “I’m tall and fair skinned, she’s petite and tanned… I drink red wine, she doesn’t drink; I do the strong, silent bit, she works the cute, giggly thing. We cover all the demographics. There’s something for everyone”.
Having lived through Vanessa’s green year with her (and the fourteen or so that came before that), there were many things I changed as a result of reading her blog. I no longer have any paper towel or paper napkins in my kitchen, I gave up plastic wrap, buy all my spices, grains, nuts and seeds in bulk, refill my detergent bottles, store things in mason jars instead of plastic containers, keep leafy greens in vases of water, and use the water from steaming veggies to water my plants.
Want to win a copy of Sleeping Naked Is Green? That is actually a rhetorical question. Of course you do!
All you have to do is post a comment below listing a simple green change you have either made, would like to make or have heard about that relates to something that goes on in your kitchen, in your grocery cart, in your restaurant habits… something relating to the kitchen, eating, food and/or nutrition. You have until next Saturday to enter and if you mention this contest on your blog and post the link here, you get an extra chance to win.
And since only one of you gets to win the book. How about buying a copy.
Canadian Shoppers
American Shoppers
Tomorrow is G-Day! Get to sleep early and be ready to start cleansing tomorrow. Follow me on twitter for live cleanse coaching over the next three days.
I would LOVE to read this book! I might even start sleeping naked. My husband would be thrilled! hahaha
We have started recycling as much as possible.
We bought metal water bottles to refill instead of plastic ones.
In the process of getting reusable grocery bags. Buying them one at a time.
I’d love to win the book. Sounds interesting and funny and educational.
We compost our kitchen scraps!
I love Vanessa’s blog. When she was doing the challenge I would read it daily and and be amazed. I never thought of treating greens like flowers and putting them in cold water, but currently there is a huge bunch of kale sitting in my fridge just like that, and until last night there was a bunch of parsley too! I love how fresh it keeps things.
I read Vanessa’s column religiously during that year and really enjoyed it. I’d love the book! I also gave up using plastic wrap to store leftovers–I use containers now or just a regular bowl with a small plate on top, in the fridge. The biggest green revelation for me, though, was self-care products like shampoo, soap, or deodorant. I now use more natural alternatives like pure olive oil soap. Haven’t got to the powder-for-toothpaste yet, though!
I would love to win this book. My husband and I recently bought bar towels to replace paper towels and we now use glass containers for storage instead of plastic.
Thank you for introducing us all to another great blog!
Loving all the green kitchen ideas! And for whoever is doing the green smoothie challenge… you know you’re kitchen’s will be super green for the next three days. As Vanessa wrote on her blog- green smoothies make no waste
so i am sitting here trying my first smoothie for breakfast. Have to admit it’s not that tasty, but not bad either. I tried the Green mojito…kinda gritty, and beige rather than green .
I really want the book!!! so here goes:
I rent a room in my home to students, and have noticed a big change in them over the years. I saw how their eating habits were so different fom mine. I don’t know if I just attracted the ‘greenies’, but I pondered on how ‘this generation’ eat so differently from what I thought of as normal. I noticed that they rarely used plates, preferring bowls: over fifty percent were vegetarians or healthy eaters of some sort: they ate stir fries kinda things instead of meat and two veg. Anything pasta was ‘brown’. Plastic shopping bags were verboeten!. I noticed how our shared fridge bulged with green things and strange condiment bottles.
Me??? I was an obese, red meat eating, chocolate and ice cream loving cookie indulging, salad intolerant oldie!
But they finally got to me, especially the last two! Halley left behind a small garden full of Kale and other interesting winter greens (which I am now harvesting) and Reenie built me a compost bin, and converted me to filling it regularily. My small back porch is full of veggies and salad greens instead of flowers…except for nasturtiums, which are yummy on salad.
I now scour blue boxes as I walk the dog for large glass containers I can use (as a single person, i tend buy things in small jars) and am phasing out plastics.
I have committed to ‘trying’ to get through the Green Purge…
And as the person who pprobably come furthest and had the most to change (give 70 years of bad eating)….. I DERSERVE THE BOOK!
Besides composting, we wash all our fruits and veggies over a big bowl in the sink then pour that water onto our plants. And we sleep au naturel — saves on laundry
Would love to win the book! Enjoy your blog!!
Hey Megs!
I just saw your nice comment on my blog, thanks
Wow, thanks for the review! I also read Ashley’s review on this book and I am convinced I need to pick up a copy.
I have made SO many changes over the past year as I’ve become more aware…. I bought all re-useable grocery bags and produce bags (those little plastic bags for the greens, apples, etc, were TAKING OVER my kitchen), dumped the plastic wrap and ziploc bags to replace them with recyclable brown paper bags and use glassware for leftovers and traveling with food. I buy in bulk as much as possible…. Ok this is getting too long– but my favorite is I buy all my produce locally, HUGE difference in taste and freshness and all that other good stuff.
Hope you are well too, I am rooting you on for the smoothie cleanse! whoop whoop!
That book sounds like so much–as does your friend! I laughed pretty loud when I got to your “eco hipster” mention–aren’t we all on the lookout for one?! Especially the bathing kind!
I’ve made so many changes in my life because of my environmental ethic–becoming a vegan two years ago, getting rid of plastic wrap, buying almost all local and organic veggies, buying wheat cat litter instead of the mined clay litter, cutting my coffee habit to one cup a day–it’s just such an on-going process!
And I’m definitely going to have to find that book. It sounds like the perfect, inspiring, summer reading book I’ve been browsing for!
We compost, only air dry our laundry, don’t use air conditioning, grow vegetables, can tomatoes, make our own laundry detergent, etc! I think Vanessa is adorable, and you too!
Oh! I’d love to win this book! We use the farmers market, reusable grocery bags, and eat vegetarian several times a week!
I’d LOVE to read this book – I wonder if they’ll carry it at my local library?
I’ve started using mason jars for my grains, buying in bulk, using recyclable bags, always washing my clothes in cold water, and have cut out plastic baggies. Up next- no more paper towels or saran wrap!
I have been riding my bike or taking the bus instead of driving. I have also been using an metal water bottle when I go out instead of plastic. I am also beginning to use glass jars instead of plastic containers.
I would love to read this book. My husband and I are vegetarians who have a worm bin for composting foods for our organic garden and use recyclable bags for the remaining items we need from the local farmers market.
I always have at least one reusable grocery bag stored away in my purse. I never use produce bags, pssshawww, I know it’s cutting down on the cashier’s efficiency but I always pile them accordingly at the checkout.
I am slowly converting over to glass containers for my food.
I’ve given up bottled water, not only is it green but monopolizing and profiting off an actual necessity is just plain twisted.
I compost, hurray, this makes my garden very happy. My goal is to find an affordable and feasible way to do this in the city when I move back.
Ah, I am sure there are others, these are just the ones that stick out the most.
Yes, I’d love to read this book!
Going vegan is one of the best things you can do for the planet and I have been transitioning to a vegan diet for some time and I think I am finally there! It has been weeks since i consumed any kind of animal product but for months now I have been 95% vegan.
It started by cutting out dairy, gluten, eggs, yeast etc 4-5 years ago for health reasons. Then a year ago I started having daily green smoothies after reading “Green for Life” and meeting with a raw foods coach. Since starting my day with delicious greens, I just wanted to keep eating a plant-based diet all day.
It takes 2,500 gallons of water to produce a single pound of meat, and 4,000 gallons to provide a day’s worth of food for someone with a meat-centered diet vs. 300 gallons for a vegan diet! So being vegan, or even just having some vegan days, definitely helps the planet. reading those stats in “Vegan World Fusion Cuisine” really enlightened me.
Vanessa’s book sounds great!
Vanessa’s book sounds awesome!
I always carry a reusable bag in my purse and it has been really handy. I whip it out of my purse and feel wonderful that I am able to say no to the grocery bag offered. I also carry around a reusable ceramic container. Whenever possible I will put takeout food in it.
Wonderful weekend to all!!
I would LOVE to win this book. I followed along for most of Vanessa’s year. She inspired me to try making jam, and there was no looking back after that. I now make chutneys, tomato sauce, bread. I started a garden and grow most of my own veges and have planted several fruit trees in my garden.
We’ve started composting, we recycle and most of our food comes from the farmers market.
I love reading your book reviews!
Wow, thanks for such a glowing review, Meg!! And it’s so heart-warming to see everyone’s comments, too — by the way, if any of the above folks have a blog and want to read and review Sleeping Naked is Green on it, I can send them a complementary review copy. I’ll be updating the blog this weekend with a link (and probably a post, too) that explains how that works, so check in soon!
I’m just about to make some organic kale chips with my plugged-in oven (I know, shame)… yum
I live in a third-floor apartment so I haven’t figured out a system for composting yet, but I am keeping my kitchen scraps in my freezer until I do. I’ve read that a full freezer works more efficiently than an empty one, so hopefully I’m reducing energy use there. I use reusable grocery sacks, and use my produce bags to scoop waste from the cat box into. Oh, and I bike to work! I love it. It’s good for me, the environment and my budget!
Did you see Vanessa’s (aka gettinggreen) comment my blogging peeps? Review her book and get a copy! And great kitchen greening…Keep it coming.
i just finished reading this and absolutely LOVED it. it took me until “october” to figure out that you were the meghan character
and then i was like hey wait, weird. small world (since i found your blog from a completely different place on the interwebs)
i didn’t actually start reading green as a thistle until after the year was up, but i made it through all the archives and thoroughly enjoyed the book (and would like my very own copy. i managed to be one of the first to get the toronto public library copies) and am in the process of going through the list to see what i already do (approximately 70 things) and what more i *could* be doing.
**i would do a review on my blog!!**
Okay, I’ll try this again…my comment disappeared into the web abyss earlier, lol.
I have a copy of the book already and it is on my pile of “must reads” for the summer ;o)
So I’d like to share some of the changes I’ve made to help the environment and to lessen mine and my family’s carbon footprint: installed an under counter water filtration system (www.aquasana.com), ordered several stainless steel water bottles from the Tickle Trunk with the sports cap, and finally, ordered “no more excuses bags” from here http://www.http://lioli.ca/
No more heaps and heaps of water bottles for us!
Thanks, you’ve got me interested in this book
This book sounds like an interesting read! Over the last couple of years I have slowly become more aware of the choices I make and how small things can make a big difference. First I started using cloth grocery bags, then reusable menstrual products, then grew my own garden, then made my own laundry detergent…. It’s on ongoing process and one that I have enjoyed. I can’t wait to read this book and come up with more ideas on how to live a better life.
I’m still working on my transition to a vegan from a vegetarian diet, which is tough, but so worth it. Reading “The Face on Your Plate” was the final push.
Also, no disposable plastic water bottles, organic and local produce as much as possible, no air conditioning, no dishwasher, and growing my own herb garden.
And finally, encouraging my office to all shut down their computers AND computer monitors at the end of the day. It didn’t seem like enough that I was the only one doing it, when it should be something we just do, like turning off the lights.
I would love a copy of your book. I try to bike to work as much as possible and I have been composting, not me, but my kitchen vegie scraps and burying meat and fish scraps since 1989, since the soil is very poor where I live, it has been a win win tranformation. We also recycle paper, metal, glass and plastics, but then everyone does that.
I have had my eye on this book, but have stopped buying new stuff for awhile. Ironic, huh?
I am also growing my own lettuce and kale for my smoothies and later in the season will have lots of homegrown veggies. What I don’t grow myself I but at our weekly farmer’s market.
Hey Meghan!
Have you read In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan…it’s been really popular here in the US, thought you might be interested!
Back to basics! Isn’t it what this era is all about? To be aware and to teach awareness… so where does one start??!!
In my daughter’s lunch bag: healthy lunch and snacks, reusable containers, stainless steel water/juice bottle… such simple changes now brings a young child to realise we must! be kind to our home, our planet.
In the kitchen with close to ”zero tolerance” plastic container/wrap usage… in the bathroom with conscious awareness of paper and soap usage… our appliances being turned off and unplugged when not in use… in our garden and lawns; to simply be kind, sow and grow.
Like so many pertinent changes, it starts from within.
Really looking forward to reading your book and being further guided as to how one can go the extra distance for the sake of our planet and humanity.
Congrats on making a difference!
A few things I do is make my own household cleaner, laundry soup, and dishwasher soap; air-dry some of the laundry (not all of it…with 3 kids and my personality I’m just not organized enough for that); recycle (always have); buy 100% recycled toilet paper; grow a garden and forage more; participate in a CSA; and I also have started keeping greens fresh in a vase on the counter. Recently the bouquet was Egyptian walking onions, they made a nice and different arrangement.
This book sounds fabulous. I have been using a refillable water bottle for about a year now and over the past few months started bringing my own bags to the grocery store and mall. I have a long way to go but would love to work towards doing more.
you know – when i first started reading your review i was all like… i think someone did this already, i remembering reading articles in the post that sound just like this.
doh! same person.
as the articles rocked i’m sure the whole book would be a great read.
I’m definitely not the world’s greenest girl, but I try to do a few things… I compost everything compostable (made easier by the fact that our city gave everyone composting bins that are picked up every second week, and kitchen compost bins). I use a refillable water bottle, and recycle any other plastic, glass or tetra-pack container I use. I use glass containers instead of plastic. And in the winter, I try to bundle up a bit more instead so as to keep the furnace temperature a little lower (Although this is also an economical move – heating oil is expensive!)
I’m always trying to amp up the “green” habits in my life, and make them truly habitual. The more I adopt, the more I learn about and realize we can all do better. So I’ll share a few of the things I practice and have even gotten my family to practice as well… re-useable bags for all types of shopping or simply forgoing a bag altogether, buying in bulk, buying local, composting all kitchen scraps at my house, ditching the dryer and hang-drying all our clothes, and of course biking whenever possible instead of driving. It’s fun, and really not so hard.
This book sounds amazing and like it should be in the waiting room of all dentist, doctor, orthodontist, etc. for all patients to discover.