Browsing: organic

Is there such a thing as a healthy tan?  When my husband returned to work recently after a few days away climbing Ben Nevis, he was greeted with a wave of compliments - “You look so well”, “That tan really suits you”, “What a healthy glow you have”. He couldn’t help but marvel that exposing his skin to the sun without protection thus increasing his chances of suffering from skin cancer actually gave the impression to others that he looked more healthy.

We just can’t help it, can we? We know all the statistics; we hear all the horror stories. And yet we worship the sun; we crave a tan. There is a tanning salon in every row of shops; gyms that promote health and fitness also boast a couple of sunbeds.

The first hint of the sun appearing from behind the clouds, we are out, baring all and soaking up the rays. We slap the sun cream on the kids and trust the chemical concoction to shield our little treasures from all harm. And do we care what the cream contains; if it has been tested on animals; what effect it has when it is washed away into the rivers and oceans? Probably less about those issues than how long the cream guarantees it is safe to stay out in the midday sun, if we’re honest.

Of course, we could resist the pressure from society to bare as much flesh as possible from May to September regardless of the temperature and state of the weather. We could dress for protection and not as a fashion statement. People who live in the Mediterranean climate do tend to cover up more than us Brits. They stay indoors in the heat of the day. After all, it is only “mad dogs and Englishmen” who “go out in the midday sun.”. Maybe we should look more to challenging and amending our habits than finding ways of accommodating and preserving them. Maybe we should respect the sun and its effects rather than worshipping it full-on. Or maybe we really are running the risk of heading towards the kind of society predicted by Ben Elton in “Blind Faith” where climate change has increased the temperature all year round and everyone regardless of their size and shape has the right to wear the skimpiest of outfits on all occasions - “So much flesh. So much sweating near-naked flesh. Huge women in the tiniest of crop tops and panties, combinations that were basically little more than bikinis…Men in short shorts and trainers, in vests, or bare to the waist. It was often the largest bellies that were the most exposed, thrust forward like great battering rams, proud bellies, bellies of size, topped off with pendulous, quivering, hairy man breasts.” (p23)
Sound familiar? Reminiscent of the beach on a Bank Holiday Monday?

Maybe covering up and staying indoors does not feel like an attractive option. You can’t face even entertaining the notion. The good news for sun worshippers is that a huge choice of ethical sun protection is available.

Green People offer a range of natural and organic skin care products, including a variety of sun care products. These contain a veritable cornucopia of natural ingredients - aloe vera, edelweiss, purple cone flower, green tea and beeswax, providing natural protection from UVA and UVB radiation…. with avocado, olive and carrot seed oils rich in antioxidants to protect against cell damage. Green People sun tan lotions are guaranteed to be free from alcohol, artificial perfumes, petrochemicals, parabens and all other unnecessary synthetic ingredients - so the only potentially unsafe factor in the equation is the sun itself. Their range also includes sun lotion for children, sun lotion with tan accelerant and self tan lotion - all organic, all with the same natural credentials.

You could also check out Lavera’s sun care range. I plan to.

Living in the North East of England and with a holiday planned in the Lake District, sun care is not high on my list of priorities. I am no expert on protection from the sun. I don’t need to be. But for many of my friends, I know it is a cause for concern.. A friend who has suffered from skin cancer herself is now perturbed to hear the latest reports that too much sun tan lotion can damage the skin’s natural defences and be harmful in the long term. Maybe more natural sun protection offers a safer option. Have any of you tried and tested these products? Sharing your comments about them could really help others in their ethical choices. I look forward to hearing from you.

I have been a regular consumer for many years. I have faced the supermarket weekly for well over twenty years. I have bought all the food and household products for seven people for over five years. I have been swayed by some ad campaigns and special offers. I have seen through others. I thought I had seen it all.

But what I saw last week in the supermarket in-store magazine topped it all. The news that 17-24 May was officially National Watercress Week filled me with horror, ridicule and despair. Not that I have anything particularly against watercress - but why have a week formally designated to it?

Flicking through the magazine, I was also made aware of other such ‘Weeks’. Did you know that 10-16 May was British Sandwich Week and National Breastfeeding Awareness Week? Sorry if you are disappointed that those have passed you by. The bad news is you also missed National Bread Week from the 4-10 May, so you may now have to wait a while for another bread-related week. The 18-22 May is also Walk to School Week and National Allergy Week. I guess for some, those two may be related.

Why do we do it? To raise awareness? As an advertising opportunity? To promote healthy living? As a chance for real fans to celebrate? Will National Watercress Week really have made some quantifiable difference?

Who comes up with these ’Weeks’ anyway? How do they become official? Can anyone have a go? I would like to propose 23-30 May as National Muesli Week and this is my pitch.

We all know the importance of eating a healthy breakfast. It’s a great start to the day, activating your brain and giving you the energy to give your best until lunch. And what better than muesli, the healthiest of all healthy breakfasts? Muesli was developed for just that reason. In around 1900, a Swiss physician saw muesli as a great way to boost the health of patients in his hospital. It became popular in western countries in the 1960s as people became increasingly interested in healthy eating and recognised the combination of beneficial ingredients found in a bowl of muesli. Fresh fruit, oats, nuts…..ingredients high in fibre and omega-3 fatty acids, with a low glycaemic index, shown to reduce high cholesterol and the risk of cancer…all served up with either fresh or soya milk. Perfect.

The only way to make it more perfect would be to buy Fair Trade or organic muesli. Then the benefit would not only be yours, but also the environment, and the growers and the producers of the ingredients. I’m a fan of Traidcraft muesli, especially now they have released an Apricot and Cranberry variety. I like to be able to read the information about the farmers on the back of the box. I like to know that what is improving the quality of my life is improving the quality of life for others as well. I like to be able to offer my family a choice of varieties to suit all tastes and with brands like Traidcraft, Rude Health and Alara; we’re spoilt for choice!

So are you with me on this? Will you join me in making 23-30 May National Muesli Week? Let me know your thoughts.

Happy munching!

Like all couples, we have our differences. We argue about the kids, money, whose turn it is to load the dishwasher, all the usual stuff. But sometimes the argument focuses on something a little less ordinary and today, we invite you to eavesdrop on our issue of the moment and join our great debate.

Is it better to buy supermarket own label fair trade goods or to support fairtrade pioneer brands like Cafedirect and Divine.

My argument for supermarket own label fair trade goods:-

Since my husband rarely visits a supermarket (daggers drawn early on!) and I frequent the same supermarket at the same time on the same day every week, I feel I am in more of a position to comment on what actually appears on and disappears off the supermarket shelves from a consumer perspective.

In our early days as fair trade supporters, we could never have envisaged being able to buy fair trade products in a local supermarket, let alone the advent of own label fair trade goods. I therefore feel the need to support any steps in the right direction taken by the supermarket chains. I take pride in buying own label fairly traded coffee, chocolate spread, honey, fresh fruit and veg, and the latest new addition to their range, banana cake and chocolate cake.

As I have discovered with the own label organic products, these items are launched with a great deal of hype but removed very quietly and without comment. If the consumers do not buy them, then the lines will be withdrawn. Simple as that. Surely the ethical consumer needs to buy these products to ensure their place on the shelves.

Read the rest of Supermarket own label fair trade V Fairtrade pioneers »

Our friends at Divine Chocolate have come up with a fantastically novel way to encourage people to send an email to politicians to keep fair trade on the agenda at next week’s G20. It’s a simple game – Egg a Politician. You get to throw a chocolate egg at one of  five world leaders — Barack Obama, Nicolas Sarkozy, Gordon Brown, Manmohan Singh or Wen Jiabao — who are all attending the G20 summit, where finance ministers and central bank governors of 19 countries and the European Union will meet to discuss “key issues related to global economic stability”.

As well as the therapy of hurling the egg at your leader of choice, you then get the opportunity to send an email to that leader – direct from the page – just as soon as they’ve devoured the chocolate.

When I first read about this idea I had visions similar to the incident that saw the

Read the rest of Have You ever Wanted to Egg a Politician? »

I like clothes and I like shopping for them but over Christmas I looked at my wardrobe and decided enough was enough; no more fast fashion, and I’ve been looking for guilt free shopping alternatives ever since.

I’ve adopted the following Fashion rules

• Do I really need a new…..?
• Will I wear it more then once?
• Is it really worth the cash?
• Is it well made?
• And no more fast fashion-stores; Primark being at top of my list.

In January my first initiative was actually selling old clothes which I no longer wear on ebay and using the money to either buy vintage items that I couldn’t usually afford, expanding the organic fibres in my wardrobe or saving the money for a rainy day. This has been working brilliantly as I’ve sold in total 22 items and made some shrewd purchases including a pair of Vintage Terry de Havilland wedges. I’ve only had to make a couple of trips to the post office and in the process cleared space in my wardrobe and am now the proud owner of a great pair of shoes with some cash put aside for that rainy day.

In February I attended a

Read the rest of I wish to… Swish! »

Whilst enjoying my tea and toast this morning, I was pleased to hear the news announcer declaring that America anticipates pulling itself out of the recession by the end of the year. This headline was music to my ears, as surely global recovery will eventually follow. I’m sure everyone is as sick of hearing about ‘the current economic climate’ as I am, so an end to this Credit Crunch will be a huge relief.

With so much doom and gloom in the media, one would be forgiven for thinking that everything in our economy has ground entirely to a halt. However here at Ethical Superstore we’re absolutely delighted that even in this current economic climate (sorry – I couldn’t resist using the phrase!), people are still staying true to their beliefs and their ethics and continuing to buy what they believe.

Beliefs and principles are important to all of us, but the good news for consumers is that often products that are easy on the environment don’t need to cost you a fortune - We’ve got plenty of energy saving gadgets which will help you to reduce your fuel bills, and many of our household and cleaning selection are great money savers too. But beyond these items, we are so pleased that so many of you are staying faithful to your loyalty to fair trade and organic products amongst other beliefs, despite their (often unfounded) reputations for being slightly more expensive.

Read the rest of Credit Crunch Defying Ethics »

Mothers are great. They do so much for us every day, but sometimes we forget to say thank you quite as much as we ought to.

This is where Mother’s Day steps in - it’s a chance for us all to think about our Mums, and most importantly, it’s a chance to say a great big Thank You.

Here at EthicalSuperstore we’ve got loads to thank our Mum’s for…

But what is the best way to say thank you?

Our number one tip is to make sure you put thought into it - after all, whether you can be with your Mother on Mother’s Day or not, they definitely deserve recognition and some top notch looking after - they’ve certainly earned it.

We’ve got lots of Mother’s Day gifts here at EthicalSuperstore which might help you out on your quest for the perfect thank you. Flowers are lovely (especially fair trade flowers), organic pampering and natural beauty products are pure luxury, and ethical jewellery can’t fail to hit the spot, but I do feel like something a little more would be a good idea.

So we’ve racked our brains and come up with a masterplan…

…just click the promise voucher above, print it out, then fill it in as appropriate and deliver. Don’t limit yourself to Mother’s Day with this one - You could give a voucher any day of the year as it doesn’t actually need to cost you a penny - it’s definitely a case of ‘the thought that counts’, making it a perfect Credit Crunch busting Mother’s Day gift idea.

It’s the perfect way to treat your Mother, because you can tailor it perfectly - and even better for your Mum, she can cash in your gift whenever she fancies.

This is a gift that keeps on giving - it’s a surefire Mother’s Day winner!

So we are now in week 3 of Lent and still the Ethical Superstore diet is going pretty well (in summary, for six weeks I’m only going to eat what we sell in the Ethical Superstore range).

At first my biggest problem was giving up milk in tea and coffee. I really didn’t like the taste without milk and the various substitutes work well for most things apart from in tea and coffee. However, I think I’ve become acclimatised to no milk in my hot drinks now – in fact I accidentally put it in my tea on Tuesday morning and couldn’t understand why my tea tasted so horrible. Maybe black tea and coffee will be a change for life….

Bread making continues to be the high point using the Doves Farm bread kit. Experimented with adding a little sugar and vegetable fat (around a teaspoon of each) and ended up with a bigger loaf and a more even “rise”.  There is a chocolate cake in the range too – so I think I’ll make that my treat this weekend.

I guess that the biggest challenge of eating only from the Ethical Superstore range for anyone with a  busy life, is the lack of ready meals. The Just Wholefoods range comes close and has allowed me to make meals with cous cous and biriyani without too much effort. The veggie bangers are lovely too. Also at £1.35 for  a pack that serves two people – they are good value too.

However, the only reason why the challenge can work at all is the fantastic

Read the rest of A Change for Life? »

Having messed around with my family’s food and drink options during Fairtrade Fortnight, I’ve decided to sneakily introduce Meat Free Mondays at a time when their defences are low.

Before I move on to that, my fair trade education went down a storm. As expected, there was outrage when one member of the family got a bar of chocolate and the rest got none. Not sure how much the message got through their own seething sense of injustice at that stage. Then the emotional pressure exerted on the most fortunate one worked and we experienced a family bonding moment as he broke the chocolate into pieces into the fondue pot and let us all dip fair trade fruit into it. Touching. Memorable. An insight into fair trade? Time will tell…

Back to Meat Free Mondays. This idea has been brewing for a while, having read about it in a magazine. My husband is back to being a full-time vegetarian; my ten year old daughter is toying with the idea; and we are definitely eating more vegetables since joining the organic veg box scheme. Even my oldest son is being pressured by his girlfriend to eat

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It was with some sadness that I realised that after having feasted on a variety of incredible slow cooked lunches, today I’d be returning to sandwiches.

The week had been a real voyage of discovery for me. I’ll be forever grateful to Elaine for introducing me to harrissa relish and appreciate both Analisa and Twanna who have opened my eyes to cooking in drinks rather than stock.

However it was probably Analisa’s demonstration that the slow cooker is worthy of kitchen worktop space in the summer as well as the winter, that got me thinking most. I’d mentally pigeon holed the slow cooker as simply a hot comfort food provider on cold, dark winter evenings, but now I know better!

A slow cooker isn’t just for dinner; it can kick start the day too – as a hot comfort food provider on cold, dark winter mornings! With the unwelcome return of icy weather I decided to experiment. I left  the slow cooker on its low setting (the versatile Ecolectric slow cooker has a choice of three heat settings)  over night to see if what I’d heard was true – that - slow cooked porridge is amazing.

Last week we welcomed Rude Health Organic Foods to the shelves of Ethical Superstore. With a ‘Rude’ brand name it may not surprise you to learn that some of their product names sound a little cheeky too,

Read the rest of Rude Awakening! »