There’s also nicotine – most people believe this is a harmless aspect of a cigarette, but actually the addictive substance increases the levels of cholesterol within the body.

According to netdoctor.co.uk, 300 people a day die thanks to smoking-related illnesses, and a good number of them are actually younger smokers. Each cigarette you smoke can shorten your life by 10 minutes.

Major diseases caused by smoking include cardiovascular disease, which comes as a result of the hardening of arteries, making blood clots likely to form. Depending on which arteries in your body are affected, you could be looking at a range of potentially fatal conditions.

There’s also cancer, and it’s not just lung cancer. Mouth cancer is caused by smoking – you’re four times more likely to contract it if you smoke.

But smoking doesn’t just hurt smokers – it hurts the environment too.

Breathing smoke

According to this article, the air pollution which is emitted by 10 cigarettes is greater than that emitted by a diesel car exhaust.

An experiment was conducted in which a 2 litre turbo diesel engine was revved up and left to run for 30 minutes in a closed garage, and then the doors were left open for four hours. Then, three filter cigarettes were lit up one after the other. Readings of pollution levels were taken every 2 minutes.

The readings revealed that in the first hour after the engine had started, combined particulate (the pollutants which make up cigarette smoke) levels were 88ug/m3. In the first hour after the cigarettes had been lit, it measured 830 ug/m3. That’s around ten times greater.

Surely one cigarette won’t hurt?

A cigarette typically emits between 7 and 23 milligrams of PM2.5 during smoking time. A PM2.5 is a particulate matter which is less than 2.5 mm across, and enter deep into the lungs to cause some serious health problems.

This is why passive smoking is such an issue. It’s something that needs to be considered by anyone looking to quit.

Taking an electronic cigarette is a much better alternative, as there are no harmful emissions that hurt the environment. Also, the batteries are rechargeable so you don’t have to worry about adding to landfill. And what are they usually made of? Recyclable material.

James Dunworth from ecigarettedirect.co.uk said:  “Research has shown that cigarette smoke causes 10 times more pollution than diesel fumes. In contrast to cigarettes, no combustion takes place in electronic cigarettes, and no smoke is produced, what is produced is vapour which is estimated to be around 99% safer than tobacco smoke.”

It’s definitely something to think about.

Climate

In the majority of the cases the fruits and vegetables that we buy during the winter travel about 21,000 km before they get to us. Think about all the greenhouse gases that are emitted in that time. It also takes a lot of energy to refrigerate the goods, to prepare them and to package them. The non-seasonal products need a lot of energy to get from the fields to the table of your family.

Flavor

As it has been mentioned, food that isn’t seasonal doesn’t have such a good flavor. Why? In the majority of the cases the goods have to be picked earlier, and so they don’t go through the transit period.

Since they are harvested too early, the flavor nutrients don’t develop as they should. This is the reason for which the tomatoes that you get during winter are paler and they don’t have such a rich flavor.

In case you eat seasonal food produced by local farmers, the products are picked right before they are sold, and so they contain more nutrients and flavors, and the color is also more appetizing.

Financial aspects

Have you ever wondered why products that aren’t seasonal are more expensive than the others? This is because the price of the food that you buy also contains the costs of storage and transportation. Most probably you know what we are talking about in case you bought some tomatoes in the winter or mandarins in the summer.

What should you buy?

As winter comes, you could be thinking about which products are worth to be bought. Although there aren’t millions of possibilities, you could be thinking about apples, broad beans, beetroot, broccoli, brussel sprouts, carrot, cabbage, cauliflower, grapefruit, celery, kiwi fruit, Jerusalem artichokes, leeks, lettuce, lemons, mandarins, lime, oranges, parsnips, parsley, pears, rhubarb, potatoes, snow peas, silverbeet, spinach, turnips and also spring onion.

These products are less expensive than the rest, not to mention that they are healthier because they have more nutrients, and since they are produced locally, they have a smaller impact in the environment that the ones brought from far away.

Chilean bass is actually MSC-labeled. MSC is the abbreviation for Marine Stewardship Council, and organization known for rewarding and recognizing sustainable fishing. In this case the MSC label should indicate that the fish has been harvested from the only recognized Chilean bass fishery.

According to the team, the fish that they have purchased belonged to an entirely different species that it should have. Of all the fish that has been analyzed, about 15% differed genetically from the ones collected from the certified fishery.

It is even more interesting that one of the found samples carried a haplotype that can only be found on the other part of the globe, in the Indian Ocean.

Other haplotypes that have been found belonged to fishes living in the South American waters, but some of them have never been recorded in previous genetic surveys.

All this means that other species have also been added to the supply chain of the MSC-certified Chilean bass. It is true that the researchers have been prepared for such findings but it is still shocking. There are a lot of people who have recognized the amount of income that can be generated through mislabeling in the seafood industry.

At the moment it isn’t entirely clear who is to blame for the mislabeling, because there are numerous people involved in the process starting with the catching of the fish and ending with the process that  gets it labeled and shipped to its destination.

It is clear that different organizations such as the MSC are trying to guide the consumers towards those products that are made of sustainable harvested seafood, but at this moment it is very difficult to guarantee the geographical origins of the food. These organizations are working on different kinds of ways to verify the source of the food.

At the moment the only thing that the responsible consumers can do is to keep the Chilean sea bass out of their dinner menu, because according to the researchers of the study, on the plate the Chilean sea bass from South Georgia looks just like Chilean sea bass from any other part of the world.

The use of having breakfast ranges from reducing obesity to fending off diabetes and avoiding getting heart diseases. According to statistics, those children who have breakfast on a regular basis have by 15% less lead in their blood than the others.

Although having breakfast is healthy for the individuals, it might not be as healthy for the planet. Let’s take bacon for example. It is an important part of the British breakfast, and over 80% of it comes from abroad.

The world’s biggest pig products exporter is Denmark. About 9% of the farms have more than 4000 animals and the world’s largest slaughterhouse, Danepak that belongs to the company Danish Crown which dispatches about 78,000 pigs every week.

The pig products are not the only ones that have problems. It has been found that about 68% of those 29 million eggs that are consumed by the British customers on a daily basis are produced by battery hens.

Crops also have their hazards. There is a form of agriculture that relies on heavy use of pesticides, known as monocropping, which offers the majority of the crops, including barley, wheat and oats. Not only the pesticide use is the problem of monocropping, but it also has a huge carbon footprint. According to studies, a packet of cornflakes that might be found in the supermarkets could have a carbon footprint of 94g.

The way to have green breakfast is to start having organic food. The organic eggs, meat and cereal produce less carbon. It might be a good idea to opt for outdoor bred, free range eggs and bacon.

In case you choose to have meat that has been produced in the country, you might ensure that you won’t find that the source of the meat is a Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO). Organic bread and cereals are also important and they aren’t as expensive as you might think.

Also you could make your own bread for toast, to reduce the carbon footprint and the costs too. Another good idea for having green breakfast is to make your own jam. All you need is foraged fruits, and you could grow these in your own garden and pick them yourself. This way you could be sure that there have been no pesticides used on the fruits that you eat.

Sometimes people have to make some financial sacrifice in order to have a healthy life, and this way they also have an indirect effect on the planet. We are all struggling to have healthy lives, but it all starts with eating healthy food, and not trying to reduce the costs by making compromises between the price and the quality. Before you buy something, check where the product in question came from.

In case of London this means that the commodity prices have risen by 20 percent. Some part of the problems that have been caused by the climate change have been made up for by the advancements that technology made and all the advantages that have been offered by the new breeds and the improvement in the practices.

A study has been conducted with the name of ‘Climate Trends and Global Crop Production” since 1980. This has found that the wheat output fell by 5.5 percent, while the corn output fell by 3.8 percent in the period of 1980-2008 because of the climate change.

One of the biggest effects of this phenomenon has been observed in Russia, while the production of the United States hasn’t been affected. In case of soybean and rice the advantages and disadvantages created a balance. For example in case of rice there have been some advantages in case of the cooler, higher altitude countries.

According to the studies that have been conducted there is need to adapt the agriculture to the new circumstances causing the changes in the climate, in order to achieve a production that could ensure an acceptable level of satisfaction regarding the needs of people for these products.

The commodity prices have risen in the period that has been studied, and we have to add that the changes have been quite big. If you would like to see the situation in numbers this means 6.4 percent higher commodity prices.

Like it or not, the global warming has a negative effect on the food production and there are some people who are already talking about food crisis. Nonetheless there are some events that nobody could foresee, and these just happen, because the natural course calls for them, without having anything to do with global warming and other kinds of climate changes.

There have been a lot of studies done regarding this matter and they have all found that the productions have been lower because of the above described factors, and as a consequence the price of the majority of food types has increased.

The low quality of the conventional milk comes from the fact that the farms have relied mainly on chemically treated fodder rather than standard grazing which changed considerably the nutritional value of the milk.

The result is even more worrying because this practice is something extremely frequent all over the world.

The result of the British study concluded that the organic milk is rich in essential Omega 3 amino acids, antioxidants and vitamin E which help fighting infections. The studies concluded that the organic milk is also rich in vitamin A and beta-carotene.

You should know that the organic milk is treated at very high temperatures in order to increase the storage capability.

This type of milk must keep for long because it is not produced on the entire territory of a country, so it must survive the storage and the transport.

Because of the fact that the cows are not treated with antibiotics or hormones, and the main fodder consists in organic grass, the milk does not carry any chemicals. However…the market is facing a saturation of conventional milk sold for a lower price than the organic one and that price is directly responsible for the low impact it has on the market.

The cause behind this is none other than a high economical tendency of making harder the introduction of organics as high rated products. The mass production of milk is mainly covering the mass production suppliers. The mass suppliers are those farm chains able to deliver a high quantity of milk for a very low price.

The low price is a direct result of treating the cows with antibiotics, using genetically modified fodder and most of all the accelerated growth of the life stock.

The organic milk is influenced by the time allocated for grazing, the quality of the pasture which also has to be organic and of course the natural growth course of the life stock which takes longer.

All the above require investment, time and patience but also a lot of certifications which increase the cost of the end products which are milk and derivatives.

The flower essences are not only healthy, but also improve the child’s moods and tonus. For instance, the borage essence is useful to increase the self esteem.

The experts claim that the borage will help you to deal with everything in your life. The walnut essence is recommendable for kids that have issues finding themselves.

The wild garlic aromatherapy should be practiced in cases of children that are not feeling secure.

Teenagers often have issues with self love. We know many of them don’t like themselves and do not accept any professional help on this subject. Therefore, the Potentilla and the Buttercup aromatherapy will be the best for such cases.

The self confidence can be raised significantly if your teenager is practicing aromatherapy with peppermint. It is also a therapy that helps balancing the brain and easy concentrating. In case your kid has problems in school, then you should take him to a Pennyroyal aromatherapy.

Many of the therapists will suggest you an adequate treatment and special package of essences. For instance, many aromatherapy salons are offering the “Focus, Energize, Create” treatment that includes the right essences for your kid.

In case you want to do some home aromatherapy, there are many options. The lavender oil is perfect for healing headaches, earaches and insect bites. The hair loss also can be prevented with an essence.

The chamomile and the peppermint oils are perfect for this matter. For a smooth and soft skin, you can mix geranium and rose oils. This mixture will tone your kid’s skin.

In case there are some skin burns, the tea tree oil is perfect as it soothes the burned skin. The old method for healing coughs is to mix cedar wood, eucalyptus and tea tree.

The sore throats can be treated with ginger, lavender and thyme oil as they are perfect for respiratory issues.

In case your kid can’t sleep, try the lavender and roman chamomile oil. For refreshing the tonus of your child, prepare a tub with warm water and lemon oil.

Before having your daily snack, always check out the label. If you don’t have enough information about certain snacks or cereals, consult with a diet specialist or check online.  Here is more information about the snacks, which should be consumed often, in order to follow healthy diet regime.

The so called cultured vegetables should be included more often in our daily menu. They are rich in vitamins that keep our immune system in a good condition.

The low-starch veggies should be consumed without any exception. Consume more collards, kale, mustard greens, bok choy and sea vegetables. The cabbage, mushrooms and herbs are a must, especially for people that are having health issues. Try to consume vegetables at least once in a day, for this will insure your daily vitamin doze.

Yogurt is another useful and healthy snack that should be consumed more often. The so called kefir is strongly recommended, for it is contains healthy nutrition elements. Try to consume yogurt for breakfast, for it very useful for your digestive tract and gastric system.

The nuts make an excellent snack, because they have many health advantages. The almonds are the best choice, for they are least acidic. Try to eat raw nuts, for they are perfect for cleansing your body and contain ingredients that support your bone system.

Nowadays the market is full with organic foods, but of late, the trend for eating organic bars is growing.

Therefore, try eating healthy snack bars, because they will refresh your strength and protect your immune system. These bars are made out of organically clean ingredients. Instead of having chips, go for organic food bars. The Perfect Weight America FucoProtein Bars are the favorite snacks of many Hollywood dieters, for they contain chia seeds, nuts, raw honey, coconut oil and proteins.

In case you want to lose some weight, this bar is the right one for you. Another popular organic food bar is Garden of Life. It increases the metabolism and provides the daily dose of proteins your body needs. This bar is made out of organic fruits, nuts, sprouted grains and many nutritive elements, which help your immune system fight the bad viruses and bacteria.

Check out for more organic food bars and choose those that will help you to follow your diet regime.

Tea as a beverage itself is not very unfriendly to the environment as it is very close to its natural state and not much processing is required to bring it to the table. Still there is no doubt about the inherent disadvantages of any crop that needs to be grown on a large scale, especially if it is grown in specific regions of Asia, Africa and the Indian Subcontinent. The cultivation of tea is concentrated in these regions, thus it means that huge pieces of land (in this case hill slopes) are dedicated for its cultivation.

Tea plantations are generally huge and need much maintenance. Huge plantations result in displacement of local species of animals and plants. Huge tracts are cleared of the local ecosystems to create space for these plantations.

Tea plantations need to be fertilized regularly and also protected from infestations of any kind.

This results in the use of plenty of chemicals. This chemical not only degrades the soil but also runs off into water sources. The degraded soil is then further fortified with more chemicals thus compounding the problem over and over again.

The beverage is derived from the dried tender tea leaves and buds; this means that unlike other crops the entire plant is not uprooted each time. In fact an individual tea tree can provide with tea leaves for multiple decades.

Tea leaves and buds are snipped off from the top of the bush and allowed to dry naturally for sometime. The duration would depend on the type of tea being manufactured.

The withered leaves are then pressed in rollers and then dried again with the help of heat generated with the help of wood, oil or gas or a combination of these fuels.

Mostly they use wood for the purpose. Depending on the wood source it could mean depletion of the forests.

Packaging and transportation also lead to environmental concerns. The loose leaves are usually packed in lined packages which are comparatively less of a threat. It is the tea bags that cause concern. Earlier the tea bags were made of special paper from the banana tree making them biodegradable but now the tea industry is increasingly using nylon which is causing concern among the greener population.

Include vegetables in your daily menus. You should eat unlimited non-starchy vegetables. Raw vegetables are better, because they contain more vitamins, but if you can’t eat them, stick to the cooked ones.

The leafy dark green vegetables are a must, because they are high on minerals like calcium, magnesium and iron. These types of vegetables are the kale, the chard, the mustard greens, the collard green and the spinach. Try to include them in your menu at least two times a week.

The drinks are also part of your diet regimen. Forget about the coke, even if it is diet. Avoid fizzy drinks and go for freshly squeezed, home made, fruit juices. The green lemonade is also a popular healthy drink, so consume it without limitations.

The popular green tea is a must in your menu, because it is a valuable antioxidant and contains lots of useful substances.

The fruits are the second important part of your diet. The more fruits you consume, the healthier is the diet you are following. The only limitation, when it comes to fruits is to avoid the very sweet fruits such as bananas.

The consumption of fruits is important for your body, because the fruits contain carbohydrates, which are useful, in case you want to lose some weight.

The seafood is extremely important. By consuming seafood, you are cleansing your body of the bad substances, not to mention that the seafood is rich on omega-3 fatty acids, which are very important for a healthy life. Try to eat sardines and salmon at least once in a week.

The experts recommend cutting the consumption of fried and fast food. Forget about the snacks and the chips, in case you want to change your diet.

Organic food is a must for such a green diet; and so is the limitation of certain food elements. Avoid too salty foods and try to limit the salt to minimum. The sweets also should be reduced. The good news is that a piece of chocolate once in a week is allowed.

Consume more honey, for it is extremely useful and healthy. Don’t forget that nuts are major part of the green diet, so include them too.