A Toxic-Free Easter: 7 Tips to Hop into Health!

Isn’t it time to bid your toxic Easters goodbye and welcome organic eggs & brighter dyes? After all, even Dr. Seuss recommends green eggs!  Today, we are revealing Our 7 Tips to a Toxic-Free Easter:

1.)  Dyeing for color?  Who says your Easter egg dyes should contain a plethora of chemicals?  This Easter, try some natural egg dying techniques and get clever with your color names.   There exist numerous simple stovetop techniques to create vivid colors from fruits & veggies including:

• beets & red onion skins to create ravishing red
• grape juice and blueberries to make boyish blue
• boiled ground lemon or orange peels for a splash of yellow
• boiled spinach leaves for  groovy green
• cooked carrots or paprika for zesty orange
• crushed raspberries for pleasant pink

2.)  Buy from happy hens!  Do you know where your eggs are really from?  These results will surely surprise you:

• “Free-Range” eggs:
  • The hens have daily outdoor access, but no specified time or space is required.

• “Cage-Free” eggs:
  • The hens are not confined to cages, but may or may not have had access to the outdoors.

• “Pasture-raised” eggs:
  • the hens eat feed from pastures, but may not roam free.

3.) Swig down your chocolate safely!  Spring is in the air and that means extra hydration is needed after church or before your egg hunt!  Did you know plastic containers accumulate in landfills and can take up to 1000 years to degrade?  Add to this, research that reveals 40% of bottled water is actually just plain ‘ol tap water. This year, choose a home water filtration system to guarantee clean, healthy water while doing your part to help the environment by reducing your plastic bottle consumption.

4.) Even Dr. Seuss recommends green eggs!  Are you aware of the difference between organic and non-organic eggs?  Look for the USDA’s national organic program certification to ensure your eggs come from chickens kept in a cage-free environment and allowed access to the outdoors, fed organic feed (grown without commercial fertilizers or pesticides) and not given hormones or antibiotics.

5.)  Looking for healthy chocolate eggs?   Conventional cocoa crops are heavily sprayed with harmful pesticides, adversely impacting the cocoa, soil, water and the farmers and laborers who work the fields?  Choose Fair Trade chocolate instead. Purchasing all-natural and certified organic chocolate is healthier for the earth, the farmers, and you!  For vegans and vegetarians, look for raw chocolate, like Chocolotl; a raw cacao superfood.  Or, Divine Chocolatewhich contains no artificial flavorings, colorings, preservatives, milk, milk derivatives, wheat, or wheat derivatives, and is gluten free.

6.)  Scrap the Plastic! Plastic Easter baskets and grass contribute to pollution in production because they use non renewable petroleum resources.  Did you know it is estimated each plastic item could last in the environment anywhere between 400 to 1,000 years?  Or, that the world produces 200 million tons of plastic a year and 96% of it isn’t recycled?  The world’s plastic manufacturing doubles in quantity every 20 years! Support local artisans by choosing beautiful options such as handmade, wooden, or ceramic baskets than can be repurposed.  Also, looks for raffia, shredded newspaper/cartoons & moss as alternatives to plastic grass that can be used again & again.

7.)   Let your fingers do the hopping!  You’ve heard of recycle, precycle and upcycle.  But have your heard of UPCRAFT?   Did you know that the world consumption of paper has grown 400% in the last 40 years and that; today, nearly 4 billion trees or 35% of the total trees cut around the world are used in paper industries?  Channel your inner-Martha Stewart this year by making do-it-yourself Easter cards and crafts using fabric, newspaper, and eco tape made from 75% renewable or recycled materials.  This will secure your Easter crafts with plant based adhesives.  Also, be sure to visit us on Pinterest for additional creative holiday ideas!

For more ideas, pick up a copy of our book, Just GREEN It!  Not only will our book make a great, green addition your Easter basket, but it’s chock-full of healthy alternatives and resources that will have you hopping your way to a healthier and happier holiday.