Those Alternative Life Stylers Living in Costa Rica Had It Right After All…
One of the cornerstones of a healthy environment is sustainable living, a life style that promotes the use of genuine organic products and opposes the use of those things that have been manufactured or grown with the assistance of dangerous chemicals, harmful toxins and environmentally damaging ingredients and processes.
Once associated with ‘alternative life stylers’ rather than mainstream living, organic living is now enjoying the last laugh as centuries of abuse of our natural environment begin to take their toll, not only on the environment itself but also on our own species with increased incidences of life threatening diseases like cancer caused by exposure to dangerous chemicals and health problems associated with climate change.
There is now an ever-increasing awareness of the fact that our current environmentally careless western lifestyle has to change, and change fast, which has inevitably focussed attention on those previously ‘alternative’ AKA ‘hippy’ lifestyle choices like natural and organic living and turned them into exceptionally viable and attractive mainstream alternatives. Yep, seems those who embraced that ‘alternative lifestyle weirdo stuff’ all those years ago are the ones who actually made the right decision after all.
If you’re one of the many tens of thousands of people around the globe who have belatedly decided to start making more environmentally responsible choices about how to live and eat, there are a number of ways to implement these choices without totally disrupting your entire lifestyle. You can start off by simply choosing to buy genuine organically sourced products, either from your local organic farmer down the road or from a trusted organic retailer.
Organic retailers such as Samara Organics, owned and operated by Steve and Angelina Philips. Samara Organics opened its doors to the public three years ago, and are located in the Samara Health Center in the downtown commercial sector of Playa Samara, Costa Rica. Samara Organics is a market & café offering breakfast and lunch plates featuring organic produce, sandwiches, smoothies, and a large market selection of products gown locally within the region.
I particularly cannot get enough of the stores selection of goat’s cheese, greek yogurt, veggie meatloaf slices, and homemade hummus!!! Steve and Angelina’s goal “was to provide an alternative solution of food products to residents and tourists by introducing organic and locally made foods to the Samara and Carrillo area.
Their local farmer’s market held on Tuesday morning at 8am & Friday 3:30pm has become a huge success “highlighting the local artisans again with not only arts and crafts, but locally made foods” — Angelina Phillips. For additional information about Samara Organics visit .
True organically produced food being offered in markets such as Samara Organics has been grown naturally without the use of any artificial ‘aids’ like manufactured chemical pesticides, fertilizers, feeds or drugs. Everything that comes into contact with the product is entirely natural or sourced entirely from natural materials.
Start with the most important things like basic food staples — fresh fruit and vegetables, grains, dairy products and meat. Look for products that carry ‘certified organic’ labelling and be very wary of those that use impressive words like ‘organics’, ‘natural’ and ‘organically produced’ without providing a shred of evidence to back up the claims.
And, even if the whole ‘natural lifestyle’ thing doesn’t really attract you but you still want to do your bit, you can still make small but significant choices like changing what you eat, one or two things at a time, to start out with.
Living in Costa Rica Video With Angelina Phillips of Samara Organics.
Organic choices can be expensive because they’re invariably a lot more labour intensive to produce than the mass-produced alternatives so take baby steps to start out with and look at ways to economize in other areas to free up some extra dollars to invest in organic alternatives. Cutting out pre-packaged snacks is one obvious, and healthy, way to start.
Also do your research — look around for retail outlets, be it health food shops, local organic growers markets supplied by local farmers and growers, speciality certified organic lines in supermarkets or organic shops that you can trust to be delivering what they say they’re delivering, which is good quality, genuine certified organic products. And if you can’t find genuine organic products, look for alternatives that are as close to natural as possible.
This will involve a bit of additional research on your part because ‘natural’ doesn’t always mean ‘natural’ in an organic sense and many products labelled as ‘natural’ are not particularly natural at all so you’ll need to read labels and know what ingredients are best avoided.
This is also where keeping in sweet with your local primary producers can pay big dividends in the long run because buying direct from them gives you an opportunity to ask how their produce has been grown plus living in the same area you’ll know first hand what the local environment is like and what pollution issues there may be which could have had an adverse impact on what you’re about to eat or wear. Plus it’s being a good local citizen and supporting local businesses.
You can also choose to wear clothes made from natural fabrics like hemp or certified organic cotton rather than synthetic ones but as with apparently ‘natural’ food, be aware that there are fabrics out there masquerading as ‘natural’ that have in fact been processed using toxic chemicals or manufactured from plant products grown using chemical pesticides and fertilizers or processed using environmentally damaging processes.
Home is where the heart is, so make sure yours is a chemical free home. Easy enough to do and your health will certainly thank you for it. Start by cleaning out those ‘cleaning’ products — have you ever read the labels on a lot of this stuff! Scary to say the least and most homes have a myriad of them because they’re all marketed to do a certain job and no more! Or at least that’s what their manufacturers would have us believe.
The best all-round cleaners under the sun however can be made from harmless, natural products you already have in your pantry — white vinegar, detergent (organic of course), baking or bi-carb soda and water. For an acidic cleaner mix a splash of detergent in equal parts vinegar and water (up the vinegar component for a stronger cleaner) and for an alkaline cleaner mix a teaspoon or so of bi-carb soda and a splash of detergent in water.
That’s it; those 2 entirely natural, non-toxic cleaners will rip through all the grease and grime your house can throw at them, with consummate ease. You can also use lemon juice if you have it.
Beauty and personal hygiene products are next on the list — again, make a point of reading the labels on some of these commercially produced products and give yourself a good scare. There are however companies that specialize in certified organic, natural cosmetics, soaps, lotions and potions or you can turn Google into your best friend and learn how to make your own, easily, from 100% natural products. Your skin, and your hip pocket, will thank you for it.
Then step outside and take a deep breath whilst you plan where you’re going to put your organic garden. The organic compost heap will go over there and you’ll recycle that old bed frame you were going to take to the tip because it will make an ideal trellis for your future tomato plants.
Then there’s all that cardboard and the daily newspaper which normally just gets binned; they will make great mulch instead and help to conserve the rain water you’re planning on capturing and using in the garden. Any weeds that dare to poke their heads up in your garden will be speedily and lethally dealt with by steam or boiling water too.
Let your attention wander to the expanse of roof basking in the sun and picture a set of solar panels resting up there, generating 100% clean, renewable electricity and reducing your dependency on the unsustainably powered grid system. Or maybe a wind turbine whirring away in the stiff breezes…. The choices are endless.
Then hit Facebook and Twitter and spread your enthusiasm for all things natural and organic amongst family and friends. Stir up a social conscious in as many people as possible via the power of social media and help make the world a better place to live in. We owe it not only to ourselves but also to all the other species we share this world with.
Those Alternative Life Stylers Living in Costa Rica Had It Right After All…
Article/Property ID Number 5139
Andrew Makarik
to@welovecostarica.comAndrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.
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