Organised for a Stress-free Xmas?
December 19, 2008 by rosie
Filed under Holistic Wellbeing, Life & Relationships
Do you want to be more organised this Christmas?
Make Christmas lists!
Make a present list now and keep it in your purse/wallet so you have it to hand whenever you are in town. Remember the current local campaign – Shop Local. Shopping local keeps the money in town for the town, to employ people so they can remain in town. Shopping local makes sense.
Start planning your meals for the festive season now. Consider meals that are quick yet interesting and can be a joint effort, so you have more time to enjoy with friends and relatives. Make a list of the meals and then allocate the meals to actual dates. Don’t you get tired of thinking what to have for tea? Well, having all the meals planned in advance makes this busy time of year so much more enjoyable.
Thirdly, make grocery lists, one for each store. Be careful, it’s so easy to over indulge at this time of year, so only buy what you need with perhaps a few extra treats! Grocery lists cut the cost of your shopping bill, so get in the habit of only shopping with a list. Start to get the basics in now and avoid the last minute crowds!
You can even start by making a list of the lists you have to prepare!!!
Author – Contact Katy Macpherson today to see how Kinetica can help you organise your office and home: 03 443 6224, 021 154 5511 or get organising tips directly into your emailbox, just email katy@kinetica.co.nz
Top Ten Tips For a Waste Free Christmas
December 5, 2008 by rosie
Filed under Sustainable Living
- Buy services or experiences as presents such as memberships, event tickets, vouchers or donations to a favourite charity.
- Buy quality products with zero or minimal packaging. Buy locally made with natural materials that last for years, not just until the end of the holidays.
- Write I.O.U.s. Dust off your babysitting, dog walking, housecleaning, gardening or haircutting skills – whatever you’ve got – and make someone’s day just a little bit easier.
- Get crafty and make your own presents. Home made chutneys, cakes or chocolates make a thoughtful and low impact present.
- Plan your menu around seasonal and local food and drinks. Buy nudevegetables with no packaging and no plastic bag.
- Avoid serving food and drink on disposable plates and cups. Borrow what you don’t have from neighbours or get a spare set from the recycle centre.
- If you buy a real tree consider buying a living native tree that you can plant afterwards. Or give your tree a second life by taking it to the green waste depot.
- Use recyclable paper, newspaper, ribbon or string to wrap presents. Take care when opening gifts so you can reuse the wrapping paper.
- Vent your festive frustration by crushing your tins and plastic bottles before putting them in your crate.
- Spare some festive cheer for the good folk that collect you recycling who hand sort all of your empties by giving them a quick rinse out before putting in your crate – especially milk bottles please.
Author - Wanaka Wastebusters was set up by the local community with the goal of achieving zero waste. See www.wanakawastebusters.co.nz.
Healthy Holidays – Good Christmas Food Options
December 3, 2008 by hamish
Filed under Holistic Wellbeing, Nutrition
With the summer holiday season upon us, it is typically a time of excesses and indulgence. For most people this is not a time for controlled diets and limited consumption, especially alcohol consumption – no means no fun, right? But there are good healthy christmas food options; you just need to plan your food carefully…
Festive Season Indulgence Has a Health Cost
The festive season poses even more difficulty. if you have specific food requirements. More and more people have food allergies and sensitivities -these are an adverse reaction to a food or food ingredient, the immune system perceives a particular substance (allergen) as foreign and acts to destroy it.
During the holiday season we all want to feel our very best yet our healthy habits often take a break when it comes Christmas food.
This is all very well at the time, but this approach can incur a serious health backlash, resulting in a post season hangover of extreme diet restrictions and intense health measures in order to eradicate the demons and to get your health and wellbeing back on track.
Plan Christmas Food To Avoid Indulgence
A great way to ensure you can have fun and stay on track with your diet is to plan well. Fresh Choice is Queenstown’s local supermarket and they are working with the local community to ensure everyone can enjoy the festive season and have healthy holidays full of vitality.
Shopping online is very convenient, helps you stick to your plan and allows you to enjoy doing the things that you want to do, visit www.freshchoiceqt.co.nz. If you do venture out, Fresh Choice have ‘Shopper Aide Tags’ clearly identifying gluten free, organic or even food in 15 minutes or less to help you find what you are looking for.
Here are some tips to help you get the best of both worlds, enjoy the season, but reduce its negative affects.
1. Shop online so you can plan ahead (www.freshchoiceqt.co.nz!)
2. Always have good fresh stocks of fresh fruit and vegetables on hand and enjoy these as snacks between meals — summer brings with it an abundance of fresh produce.
3. Restrict your indulgences to occasions, when you are with family and friends. Fresh Choice has an extensive wine and beer selection for those occasions.
4. Keep hydrated – drink plenty of water.
5. Consider healthier indulgent options – there is a good range of low fat, low carb, low GI, organic, gluten free items available that are healthy and taste great.
6. Shop wisely – think before you shop. If you don’t have it with you, you won’t eat it.
7. Shop often – so that your fresh products remain fresh and that you do not rely on heavily processed, convenience options.
8. Shop cost effectively – shop at a Supermarket to avoid a festive season financial hangover.
Author – Fresh Choice Queenstown offers organic produce on and offline – see www.freshchoiceqt.co.nz
