Eco-Confessions

June 4, 2009 By 20 Comments



E-MEALZ EASY AND DELICIOUS DINNER RECIPEStruth

To confess the truth can be scary. It’s even scarier when you’re held to a standard that you don’t feel certain you deserve. It’s like being naked and everyone looking, judging and seeing exactly what there is to see without clothing hiding the imperfections. Needless to say I have many nude imperfections and the following four eco-confessions will certainly make me feel naked and exposed but will prove to you that we’re all different shades of green and imperfections are okay.

1.  White Rain Shampoo. Yes, I have a bottle of this shampoo in my guest shower downstairs. I bought it last summer when I learned we were having unexpected house guests. In a hurry I ran to the store late at night and this is what I bought because I had little money in my wallet and had to have something in the shower. A good choice, no and I wish I would have planned ahead. Now I have a stock of safer alternatives that I’m comfortable with so this won’t happen again. This includes soaps and toothpaste for those last minute phone calls from out of town family members.

2.  I Eat Meat. Yes, I know the true “greenie” should not eat meat for all sorts of reasons but I like steak, hamburgers, and chicken and if I can have prime rib with horsey sauce and a beer I’m going to do it. I’m not apologizing for this one but I will tell you when I buy meat I do my best to buy organic and hormone free meat.

3.  Diet Coke I love You. I can’t break this habit entirely. I like to alternative with the Zevia and I do drink water often throughout the day but I love the taste of Diet Coke and usually have one a day.

4.  McDonalds Why Do Your Fries Taste So Good? My children occasionally eat fast food. My face is red while I type this but remember I’m revealing it all. It isn’t often that we utilize the drive through and eat the greasy, chemical laden food but it isn’t banned from our life either.

Okay, I have been exposed. I have shown you I am not perfect and sometimes I don’t always take the green route but I have many drastic changes in our life for the better of my family’s health and the environment. I’m proud of the changes I’ve made and that I continue to make changes, alter my choices and inspire others.


Filed Under: Green Moms Carnival, Green Parenting Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,
  • http://www.organicmania.com Lynn from Organicmania.com

    Sommer, you made me laugh while reading this. Is the Diet Coke supposed to counteract the McDonald’s fries? And you do know you’re getting a daily dose of BPA with that Coke, right? :) That’s why I hope the BPA lobby is right and BPA is perfectly safe! So we can keep enjoying our Diet Cokes! I like Diet Coke Lime, actually, and just bought a 12-pack at the Giant yesterday.

    Lynn from Organicmania.com’s last blog post..Thank You, Anonymous Leaker. Now What?

  • http://www.cookingupafamily.com Courtney

    this was cute! we all have plenty of confessions, I am sure of that!

  • http://www.greenandcleanmom.org greenandcleanmom

    Actually I like fountain diet coke best so I guess I’m really guilty because I’m using packaging AND plastic straws. Is there a green hell?

  • http://www.strocel.com Amber

    I always feel a little bit better about myself when I learn I am not alone in my transgressions.

    And I hear you on the McDonald’s fries. So. Good. Yet also so bad.

    I think my biggest sin is my car use. I live in the suburbs, I drive a lot, enough said.

    Amber’s last blog post..Princess Jacob

  • http://blog.amuchbetterway.com Sheryl

    You are SO right about McDonalds fries. What is it? They are totally my weakness.

    Sheryl’s last blog post..Bianca Six Month Update

  • http://www.kellythekitchenkop.com Kelly the Kitchen Kop

    Sommer, you don’t have to apologize for eating meat!!! Just add one more thing to your criteria: “grass-fed” or “pastured” meats, and you’ll be getting super-nutrients! You can find a good, local farm at http://www.eatwellguide.org.

    I used to love McDonald’s fries until I saw that movie (Supersize Me) and it showed how those can sit out for MONTHS and never go bad, that’s how full of chemicals they are. Now we make our own fries at home fried in healthy fats like tallow (which McDonalds used to use) – these never give me that nasty coating in my mouth or a stomach ache from the unhealthy vegetable oils.

    My skeletons have to do with SWEETS, but I’m getting better…slowly…sort of …

    Kelly the Kitchen Kop’s last blog post..What’s Wrong With Breakfast Cereals? Random Reader Question

  • http://www.greenandcleanmom.org greenandcleanmom

    I know, you can ask Kara we shop at the Tannery Creek and I’ve spoken to their owners. Not perfect b/c sometimes I rush in a hurry but I’d say I try 80% of the time to do as you suggested.

    I started watching that movie and got sick. We’re like you except on the go and in travel but it is avoided. It’s hard but we try. I get tummy aches too. Damn the chemicals.

  • Caroline

    You are so funny! Hey- none of us are perfect…but at least we do our best to be green! ;)

  • http://lizzie-q-homemaker.blogspot.com Elizabeth

    I whole-heartedly confess to numbers 2, 3, and 4!!!

    It’s not easy being green.

  • http://www.greenphonebooth.com Green Bean

    I had to laugh over the White Rain! We had some in our guest shower for years. I finally gave it away to someone else to use. Not sure how green that is.

  • http://www.fakeplasticfish.com Beth Terry, aka Fake Plastic Fish

    McDonald’s fries are awesome. Let’s just say it. We know how they’re made. We know why we shouldn’t like them. We know we should be totally grossed out. But we also know that they rock and leave all other fast food fries in the dust.

    Although, honestly, I think they were better back when they were made with shortening. Mmmmm… trans fats!

    :-)

    My first job was at McDonald’s when I was 17. We would scoop big chunks of that white glop out of a metal container and plop it into the french fryer. It was always funny when a customer on a low sodium diet came in and ordered fries with no salt because the bottom of the fry bin was so caked with salt already that the fries were covered with salt before we added any more.

    Okay, I’m starting to feel nostalgic about my brown polyester uniform. Need to sign off now.

    Beth Terry, aka Fake Plastic Fish’s last blog post..Confession of a Fast Food Addict who ate at Amanda’s and forgot to BYO.

  • http://condo-blues.blogspot.com Condo Blues

    I like McDonald’s French Fries too. Even worse I like them cold, which double grosses my husband out.

    Thank goodness we don’t do fast food often.

    Condo Blues’s last blog post..What Can You Do with Mint?

  • http://www.fakeplasticfish.com Beth Terry, aka Fake Plastic Fish

    And soggy! They are best when they’ve been steaming in the paper bag for a while until they are limp, soggy, mush. I’m actually not kidding.

    Beth Terry, aka Fake Plastic Fish’s last blog post..Confession of a Fast Food Addict who ate at Amanda’s and forgot to BYO.

  • http://www.thegreenparent.com Jenn

    Sommer: I will join you in that green hell, carrying my 32 oz fountain Coke all the way!!

  • Pingback: Green Moms Eco-Confessions | The Green Parent

  • http://retrohousewife05.blogspot.com/ Lisa

    I eat meat as well! Our beef is grass-fed and the company that makes it has a sustainability policy which I have of course read and they treat the animals humanely. Our pork is all nitrate free and I know most of it is humane and more sustainable like our beef but not sure about some of the really rare stuff we get. Our chicken is free range and all that stuff.

    I still feel guilty both because of the green part and because I don’t always know how the animals are being treated.

    I don’t drink soda other than natural stuff I make at home and the rare can of natural soda. I know they most likely still have BPA but they are rare so that’s good right? lol

    And Super Size Me made skipping fast food easier. Though I still love Sonic, In-N-Out (which is four states away so that’s easy to skip), and Del Taco. Next time I go to Cali will be a disaster but while I’m in Oklahoma I just have to skip the Sonic. I have been craving a McGriddle though.

    Lisa’s last blog post..Conserving Water

  • http://www.thecrunchychicken.com Crunchy Chicken

    Am I the only one that doesn’t like McDonald’s french fries? All this mooning over them is making me queasy. But, then again, I haven’t eaten fast food in twenty years (being a long time vegetarian does that to you – no choices).

    I eat local, organic, pastured meats now, though. And the occasional Diet Coke. There. I said it.

    Crunchy Chicken’s last blog post..The Green Teen – book review

  • http://www.fakeplasticfish.com Beth Terry, aka Fake Plastic Fish

    I may have a thing for McD’s french fries, but it’s the Cokes that leave me cold. No desire for them at all. I do like carbonated water and have a Soda maker for that purpose. Otherwise, sodas are no temptation at all.

    Beth Terry, aka Fake Plastic Fish’s last blog post..Please Give Just $1 For The Charities That You Help To Choose

  • mother earth aka karen hanrahan

    I think green hell will at least have some pretty groovy people in it ! There is a certain herb “senna”, a natural laxative that I take when the road trip has us occasionally swing through a drive through, it at least gets that stuff out of my system fast !!

  • http://www.greenandcleanmom.org greenandcleanmom

    Yes, we will have fun there!