17 Smart Steps for a Sustainable Life

By switching to sustainable products we can scale back waste and our impact on the surroundings. Some of our habits ought to be adopted to live a sustainable life. This post is for those people who are acutely aware of the environment and their ecological footprint. Just have a look at some easy and smart steps to improve your sustainable life:

1. Stainless steel water bottles: We regularly use plastic water bottles for storing water in the refrigerator and carrying water to drink. Water when kept for a long time in plastic bottles are harmful to health. In ancient days people use to store water in copper and mud vessels. It is troublesome to carry copper or mud vessels, stainless steel water bottles are the best alternative to plastic water bottles. They last longer when taken proper care and also water can be stored in stainless steel utensils for a longer time.

3. Steel lunch box: Storing food in a stainless steel utensil keeps the food intact for a long hour. We mostly prefer using plastic tiffin box for kids over stainless steel box because of its attractive designs. But, now steel boxes are also found in various designs and are more convenient to carry.

4. Using beeswax: Switching beeswax wrap paper over aluminium foil is the best way of reducing waste. These wraps are reusable and easy to use. These wraps are affordable and handmade.

5. Reusable straws: Plastic straws contribute to a lot of waste generation. Switching to reusable straws is a better option to reduce waste and also it can be used over and over again. For people who use a lot of straws, carry your own reusable straw or you can just drink without a straw when you are an adult.

6. Reusable grocery bag: Stop accepting plastic grocery bags and switch to reusable ones. You can just prepare it yourself out of waste cloth or buy a cloth bag for groceries.

7. Tea strainer: Replace tea bags to a tea strainer. We know when drink green tea the tea bags contribute to a large number of wastes. Tea strainers are good option to replace tea bags. The traditional way of making tea generated less waste you can just switch to it or start using tea stainer.

8. Compostable loofah: The old loofah vegetable is a natural loofah. The plastic loofah we use is not degradable and also doesn't lasts long. The natural loofah is an excellent exfoliator and is biodegradable. You can just grow some loofahs in your backyard and use it when its old and completely dried.

9. Use bar soap: Using bar soap for bath, washing clothes and washing utensils is highly recommended to nature lovers. When we buy bottle packaged washes we have to throw the bottle contributing to plastic waste.

10. Bamboo toothbrush: Bamboo toothbrushes are eco-friendly and naturally antimicrobial. They are biodegradable and can also be available at lower prices.

11. Solar lantern: Solar lanterns are available at affordable places now. We can replace battery torches with solar lanterns.

12. Prepare your own cleaning products: Try preparing your own cleaning products with some ingredients available at home.

13. Buy things in bulk: It was a common thing to buy things in bulk earlier. Now we often buy packaged foods more but buying local products will definitely have a positive impact on the environment.

14. Buy refurbished products: Buying refurbished products are easy now. As most of them provide quality assurance online and are also available at a cheaper price.

15. Compost: Search for nearby municipality compost stations and dump your waste there.

16. Reuse products as much as you can: You can reuse the candy jars, pickle jars, even some packets. Use them multiple times to reduce plastic waste.

17. Buy less stuff: Don't stuff your home with unnecessary products. Sometimes we buy some products and they expire before we can utilize them. Act smart and buy only necessary products.

Try adopting more sustainable habits to have a positive impact on the surroundings.

21 Super Easy Diet Tips to Boost Immunity this Monsoon

21 Super Easy Tips to Boost Immunity this Monsoon

With the arrival of monsoon, we get more susceptible to infections and viruses. Catching cold and influenza are common problems to face throughout the monsoon. By having a proper diet setup we can boost immunity this monsoon through some home remedies.

Let us grasp some easy immunity-boosting tips:

Tip1:

Consuming lukewarm water or boiled water will help us eliminate many infections. In this pandemic situation lot of us have adopted taking hot water. But increased warm weather has forced us to switch to cold water. Drinking hot water is the most essential habit we need to follow every day.

Tip2:

Increase the intake of citrus fruits. Citrus fruits like lemon, grape, tangerine, are required to incorporate within the diet. Citrus fruits are loaded with vitamin C. Vitamin C plays a vital role in increasing our immunity.

Tip3:

Add turmeric to dishes. Most Indian households use turmeric in dishes. If you have not yet included turmeric in your diet, Start today. Turmeric has anti-inflammatory properties and thus avoids inflammation.

Tip4:

Add ginger to dishes. Crushed ginger can be added to cooked vegetables. Ginger tea or adding ginger to the tea you usually intake.

Peel some ginger grind them and add to boiling water boil for 5min and add some honey to the drink. Enjoy the ginger tea.

Tip5:

Add black pepper to diet.

Boil some tulsi leaves, cinnamon, black pepper, big cardamon and clove in water. Boil till it is reduced to half of its initial volume.

Tip6:

Drink Herbal tree. Herbal tea made from a mixture of cinnamon, pepper, tulsi leaves.

Boil turmeric, ginger and cinnamon in a cup of water and drink this concoction like tea. Adding a spoon of honey to sweeten is preferred.

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Tip7:

Avoid junk foods. Junk foods mostly weaken our immune system. Avoid packaged foods and prepare your own meal at home.

Tip8:

Avoid cold food or stale food. Consume warm and freshly prepared food.

Tip9:

Avoid smoking or smokers around.

Tip10:

Do not overeat. Overeating is a root cause of many diseases. Overeating makes us lady and also harms the immune system.

Tip11:

Wash vegetables in warm water before cooking. Steaming vegetables can also be helpful.

Tip12:

Eat Chyawanprash. Chyawanprash is loaded with the goodness of minerals and vitamins. It boosts our immunity. taking a spoonful of chyawanprash daily aids to strengthen the immune system.

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Tip13:

Red bell peppers are rich in Vitamin C and Beta-carotene. It can reduce inflammation and helps in boosting immunity. Sweet potatoes, carrots, and green leafy vegetables are also rich in Vitamin C.

Tip14:

Consume Broccoli, it is rich in Vitamin A, C & E. It is also rich in antioxidants. It is preferable not to overcook it to retain its quality.

Tip15:

Almost every day we consume garlic. Consuming garlic helps in fighting infections. It is very much essential ingredient for boosting immunity. Garlic also has anti-inflammatory properties.

Tip16:

To balance the mineral intake in the body take nuts. Nuts. beans, oilseeds and dairy products should be taken on an everyday basis in the proper amount.

Tip 17:

Papaya is also loaded with Vitamin C. It has anti-inflammatory properties and also helps in boosting immunity. Ripe papayas eliminate phlegm from the body. You can just steam raw papayas or consume it raw.

Tip18:

Cabbage is also rich in Vitamin C. Including cabbage in the diet will boost immunity. Do not overcook the vegetable. It can also be taken as a salad.

Tip19:

Coconut has antimicrobial properties and is rich in Vitamin C. Including Coconut and Coconut oil in the diet will surely boost immunity.

Tip20:

Including berries in diet such as blueberries. Taking berry juices are also helpful.

Tip21:

Apple is the best fruit in keeping the doctor away. Eating an apple daily maintains a good balance of vitamins in our body.

Bonus Tip: It is advised to perform some physical activities at home. Doing Yoga, playing with kids at home and walking inside the house for at least half an hour. Physical activities clear the airway passage and strengthen the lung.

5 Amazing Multipurpose Flowers

India is a home of millions of different beautiful flowers. Our country is well known for its Ayurvedic remedies. Since ancient days the role of flowers are noteworthy.

Flowers are found in almost all houses. Flowers are beautiful and add beauty to our garden. They are used as natural ingredient in many cosmetics. They have a pleasant fragrance and have multipurpose uses.

Flowers have many benefits for our skin and health. They are used in soaps, shampoos and perfumes. Many medicines are also made from flower extracts since ancient days. Some are also edible and some are harmful as well.

Let us see uses of 5 amazing multipurpose flowers found in India:

Hibiscus Flower Benefits:

· Hibiscus flowers are available in red, yellow and white colour. They are also important in religious offerings.

· For hair loss: Pluck 8-10 new leaves and flowers and add it to 100gm coconut oil. Boil it until the leaves and the flower turns black. Strain the oil and store it in a bottle. You can apply it to scalp daily. Effective results are seen within few days.

· Anaemia: Boil 8-10 leaves in 1 litre of water. Boil it until it is 1/4th of the initial volume. Strain it and sip it as tea. Weakness and low blood problems can be cured by this remedy.

· Mouth Ulcer: Chew 3-4 leaves and rotate it inside the mouth and spit it out. It can be used up to 40 times a day.

· Male infertility: Consuming equal amounts of flower and hibiscus leaves can amazingly cure male infertility.

· Stomach ailments: Make a juice of 4-5 leaves or flower. All stomach ailments can be cured through it.

Periwinkle Flower Benefits:

The periwinkle flower has several medicinal benefits. The whole plant body has medicinal importance.

The medicines used in treatment of cancer in both Homeopathy and Allopathy is made from periwinkle flowers.

· For Diabetes: Take 1 bitter gourd, 1 tomato and a small cucumber make juice of these things and add 3-4 periwinkle leaves. Drink one glass regularly for 3 months for better results.

· For Cancer: To prevent cancer chew 2-3 leaves every day.

Marigold Flower Benefits:

Marigold flower are available in different shades of yellow and orange. In India a wedding function is dull without marigold. It is used in decoration and offering prayers. Marigold has antiseptic properties as such used in several cosmetics.

· For skin: Marigold flower can heal cuts, wounds, itchiness, rashes and burns. In emergency aid we can just crush 4-5 leaves by hands and apply the juice to minor cuts. It can be as effective as an antiseptic ointment.

· For Hair: Add some marigold petals (dried or fresh) to a cup of hot water. Strain it when it cools down. It is beneficial to oily hair and adds volume to hair.

· Dried marigold petals are also used as spice in some Indian dishes.

Benefits of Chrysanthemum:

Chrysanthemum is preety flower available in different shades. The flower is used in many soaps and shampoo. The plant is filled with many medicinal benefits.

Chrysanthemum tea has many health benefits

It lowers body temperature.
Helps in curing skin problems like acne and pimple.
It detoxifies liver.
Boosts immunity due to presence of Vitamin A & C.
Increases metabolism, thus helps in weight loss.

Tip: To prepare chrysanthemum tea, we need some dried flowers of chrysanthemum and make a tea bag and add in a cup of hot water.

Benefits of Jasmine:

Jasmine is beautiful white flower with strong fragnance. It is traditionally used by Indian women as a hair ornament called gajra. The flower also has several medicinal values:

Paste of crushed jasmine flowers can cure ringworm and other skin itchiness.
Chewing leaves of this flower is helpful in curing mouth ulcers.
Jasmine flower in oil can help in retaining moisture in hair.
Scalp infections can be treated by adding some crushed jasmine flower in hot coconut oil. Let it cool and apply into infected areas.

Conclusion: We use many beautiful flowers to decorate our garden. Imported flowers have replaced our endemic flower species in many houses. By planting more indigeneous flower plants we can help improving the surrounding. Many indigeneous flower plants have several home remedies we have heard or learnt by our older generation.

Ecological footprint

In our daily life we use many resources for our survival and luxury. The resources we use in the long run depart a mark within the environment.

What is an ecological footprint?

The measure of the assets we use for the duration of our life impacts the environment. Directly or in a roundabout way we use lots of assets from the environment. By the usage of sources more than our requirement we deploit the surroundings.

Ecological footprint is the measure of our call for from nature i.e. the region of land and water required to sustainably offer us all the resources consumed by an individual.

What contributes to our footprint?

Things just like the meals we consume, the energy sources we use, the transportation means, goods and services contribute towards our footprint.

For a household the quantity of family members, the land we aquire the furniture we've got stored, the waste we generate etc. contributes to footprint of our residence.

How is the ecological footprint measure?

It is measured in area per person more convieniently global hectares or GHA per person.

What is the use of ecological footprint?

Ecological footprint offers us the idea approximately how an awful lot resources we are using and where precisely we want to stop or lessen. It also offers us the concept how tons strain we're driving towards the surroundings. This helps us to manipulate our property wisely.

It represents sustainability or exceeding the value of sustainability.

What are the various sorts of ecological footprint?

We calculate ecological footprint for a single man or woman however, it is also calculated for a family, industry, product and country.

Where can we calculate our footprint?

Many websites provide the ecological footprint calculator precisely. We can just gain our footprint by answering a few questions available with few clicks.

What is biocapacity?

Biocapacity is the quantity of resources nature can provide to humans at a specific time to a selected population.

The biocapacity of each country is different depending on the vicinity of production of that country.

Most of us exploit the biocapacity of the earth which results in large ecological footprint.

What is the end result of the footprint?

When our ecological footprint is greater than the biocapacity we're generating greater stress to the environment.

At first you'll be stunned with the end result. Although we may be environment conscious however, we become worse or make the most of many resources available.

Most people use greater resoucres that more than 2 earth will be required to fulfil our demands during our life.

You will only apprehend this once you undergo every query of the calculation. This gives us the real truth that we're taking greater than the earth would sustain.

Which country has the largest ecological footprint?

China has the highest observed by way of USA at second and India at third position a number of the worst ecological footprint countries.

Which country has the smallest ecological footprint?

Montserrat has smallest ecological footprint thus, creating lesser stress to the environment .

What is the difference among ecological and carbon footprint?

Ecological footprint offers us the idea of the quantity of nature someone calls for to sustainably sustain and also to take in his waste.

Carbon footprint is calculated on the basis of emission of green house gases someone emits immediately or circuitously at some stage in his life.

How can we lessen our footprint?

We can lessen our ecological footprint with the aid of following a few good conducts and encouraging others doing so, like to:

· Adopt organic conduct like eating organic food, purchasing and the usage of organic cleaning products.

· Reuse and recycle as a whole lot as possible.

· Use public transport.

· Use more solar home equipment and utilizing sun power.

· Generate much less waste.

· Switch off home equipment when no longer in use.

By adopting some small changes in our habit we can bring a major change.

Insect Repellent Plants

Heavy rainfall causes many outdoor insects to invade our houses. We use severe chemical pesticides to keep away the insects. There are harmful chemicals found in pest repellents that are dangerous to us. There are many plants that are known to repel bugs, spiders, ants etc.

Many plants are available in this world as a natural insect repellent. The natural insect repellent plants contain organic chemicals which drives away pests.

Let us see some readily available plants those annoys pests:

1. Citronella grass: Citronella or lemongrass is propagated through slips, obtained by dividing healthy mature clumps. The oil from citronella plants is very effective in keeping away mosquitoes and houseflies.

To prepare Citronelle solution boil it and let it sit overnight. Transfer the solution in a spray bottle. Spray the solution in affected areas. Ants and housefly hate the smell of citronella.

2. Petunia: Petunia is a beautiful flower plant with vibrant purple colour flowers. They secrete alkaloid like substance which repels bugs.

3. Basil: Basil is used in a wide range of dishes. It has a lot of medicinal uses. The basil plants also have the ability to keep away mosquitoes.

Add some basil leaves to some boiling water and add little vodka to the mixture. Let it cool and transfer in a spray bottle. The solution can be spread wherever mosquitoes are found.

4. Lavender: The pleasant aroma of lavender is offensive to mosquitoes and is best harnessed by planting it in the garden. Pots situated near doors, windows and entertainment areas are best for planting lavender.

We can prepare small bags of dried lavender in corners of the home to keep away some insects.

5. Mint: The smell of mint is refreshing. Mint leaves are used in many dishes. The mint plants grow rapidly and preferred to be planted in pots.

Take a handful of mint leaves, crush them and set them in any insect affected areas. The smell of mint is not liked by spiders.

We can get rid of creepy-crawly bugs wit a mixture of water and mint. Scents of mint irritates mice noses and blocks their trail pheromones.

6. Chrysanthemum: Chrysanthemum are beautiful flowers with lots of color variation. They are grown in gardens and also indoor. Chrysanthemum plants repel mosquitoes, beetles, cockroaches.

We can dry the flowers and store for a long time.

7. Rosemary: It is a good insect repellent plant and comes with different species. It can be planted in garden as well as indoor.

Add a cup of dried rosemary leaves to water to be boiled. Let it cool and squeeze in the water solution in spray bottles.

8. Marigold: The beautiful flower has many medicinal purpose. The scent secreted by marigolds keep mosquitoes away.

Planting marigold plants in gardens and indoor can help reduction in mosquito numbers.

The plants will reduce insects and repel them. They will also add beauty to the garden and house. Proper care of these plants will help a lot in reducing the dependence on chemicals for insect control.

10 Indian Organic Beauty Brands

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10 Indian Organic Beauty Brands

Most of the beauty products we tend to use are packed with lot of chemicals. By switching to organic beauty products the quality of our skin is improved inflicting less damage to ourself. Most of the organic beauty products are purely organic and prepared from plant extracts. The products are also certified by national and international standards and are animal cruelty free.

Some Organic beauty product brands of India are:

Forest Essentials: Forest Essential follows the concept of ancient beauty rituals of Ayurveda with a mixture of modern beauty care. The products are made with plant extracts and are perfect for skin. The products are purely organic and do miracles for skin. Forest Essential produces facial care, body care, hair care and other wellness products.

Organic Food Brands in India

Organic products are in high demand these days. With people growing more conscious towards environment related issues. People are trying to replace organic products with the chemical products. Massive growth in several organic brands are seen in market these days. Most of them are certified by the National customary and with International standard furthermore.

For a product to be labeled organic tons of experiments are performed at the farm as well as for the merchandise. Organic food are chemical free and good for our health. Some organic food available brands in India which take orders online are:

1.      Farm2Kitchen: Farm2kitchen comes with a tagline “India’s Good Food Store” which is an online store where we can find most of our edible organic products. They have authentic and certified organic food in India and deliver across India.
It is one of the largest organic food producing organization. It has a network of more than 1 lakh small farmers across India.
Farm2Kitchen conjointly operates organic food stores and distribute food by orders in online mode. They receive both Cash on delivery and online payment. They have a minimum order amount of INR 500. Organic rice, flours pulses, spices, grains , nuts, dry fruits and juices etc. are available in Farm2Kitchen.

2.      Organic tattva: Organic Tattva works with the principles of Health, Ecology and Care. The food are certified as per USDA, NOP(National Organic Program) and Indian Organic Standards. Organic Tattva ensures that the products are 100% organic.
It produces Organic groceries and Organic staples. Organic tattva also exports to USA, Middle East, Singapore and the UK.

3.      Organic Garden: Organic Garden provides organically grown fruits and vegetables in Mumbai and organic groceries all over India. Organic Garden allows customer to place order via a phone call and online mode each.
The products are organic certified by authorized Government body.
Organic Garden produces fruits, vegetables, spices, beverages, groceries, natural seeds and oats and also beauty products.

4.      Mygreenmart: It is an internet based organic company. It is certified under India’s National Program for Organic Production Standards (NPOP), National Organic Program (NOP) and technical standards (USA). They also provide fresh fruits and vegetables.
Mygreenmart also provides some recipes of salads.
Grocery, imported vegetables and fruits, local vegetables and fruits, organic cosmetics, ecofriendly cooking utensils, traditional seeds, organic clothing, salads and juices are available in mygreenmart.

5.      24mantra: 24mantra encourages organic farming for farmers to have a sustainable living. It is one of the largest organic producing organization in India. 45,000 farmers are linked with it from 15 states.
24mantra has more than 1500 outlets and own stores in across India and abroad as well.
24 mantra products are also available online. Groceries and most of the edibles are available in 24mart.