pElAgUS' 

Another Week Down: Time to Update Your Plan

Congratulations! You're now nearly halfway through 30 Days to a Greener You. You should also have several more items that you can add to the Greener Life Plan you created in lesson 7:

Recycling: You should have your system in place. Now, update your plan to show activities you'll need to take on a regular basis. You'll probably need to sort daily, and deliver the sorted recyclables weekly, either to a convenient drop-off point, or to your curbside.

Eating and Drinking: You've committed a portion of your grocery budget to greener food, and will probably want to make shopping for it a weekly event. If you can make it part of your regular grocery shopping, great - add that to your plan. If not, identify a point during the week you can do your green shopping, and try to combine it with other trips you would normally make.

Energy, Transportation and Consumption: While light bulbs only need to be changed occasionally (especially now that you're using longer-lasting, more efficient bulbs), you may want to make a habit of checking other energy uses in your home: thermostat and hot water heater settings (especially if someone in your home has a tendency to adjust these!). You'll want to start replacing your furnace/AC filter monthly, as that will help those systems run more efficiently.

Have you scheduled regular trips by mass transit, bicycle or "foot power?" Have you taken note of car trips you can combine? If not, get those into your plan!

You may also want to have a standing weekly appointment with your new favorite swapping site - you never know what might show up!

Your Action for Today:
Update and Revise Your Greener Living Plan

Of course, once you've done this, you'll want to engage in another activity that should be on the plan: using your Green Journal! Put your updated plan in your journal today. Take a look at the plans others have revised. Finally, enjoy your success - you're already living a greener life!

Tomorrow: Learn to compost.

Sincerely,

The GO Team
GreenOptions.com

Simple Solution
Most people don’t think they need to worry about dehydration. To them, dehydration is something that happens to travelers in the desert when they run out of water. But there is a chronic form of dehydration that does not have the sudden and intense nature of the acute form. Chronic dehydration is widespread in the present day and affects everyone who is not drinking enough liquid.

This list of 13 symptoms will inspire you to go get a glass of water, and then another, and another. . . :

After each symptom we will show how lack of fluid affects the issue.

1. Fatigue, Energy Loss: Dehydration of the tissues causes enzymatic activity to slow down.

2. Constipation: When chewed food enters the colon, it contains too much liquid to allow stools to form properly, and the wall of the colon reduces it. In chronic dehydration, the colon takes too much water to give to other parts of the body.

3. Digestive Disorders: In chronic dehydration, the secretion of digestive juices are less.

4. High and Low Blood Pressure: The body’s blood volume is not enough to completely fill the entire set of arteries, veins, and capillaries.

5. Gastritis, Stomach Ulcers: To protect its mucous membranes from being destroyed by the acidic digestive fluid it produces, the stomach secretes a layer of mucus.

6. Respiratory Troubles: The mucous membranes of the respiratory region are slightly moist to protect the respiratory tract from substances that might be present in inhaled air.

7. Acid-Alkaline Imbalance: Dehydration activates an enzymatic slowdown producing acidification.

8. Excess Weight and Obesity: We may overeat because we crave foods rich in water. Thirst is often confused with hunger.

9. Eczema: Your body needs enough moisture to sweat 20 to 24 ounces of water, the amount necessary to dilute toxins so they do not irritate the skin.

10. Cholesterol: When dehydration causes too much liquid to be removed from inside the cells, the body tries to stop this loss by producing more cholesterol.

11. Cystitis, Urinary Infections: If toxins contained in urine are insufficiently diluted, they attack the urinary mucous membranes.

12. Rheumatism: Dehydration abnormally increases the concentration of toxins in the blood and cellular fluids, and the pains increase in proportion to the concentration of the toxins.