Mommy Goes Green

GUEST POST:  Sophie Uliano is the author of The Gorgeously Green Diet, Founder of Gorgeously Green and Green Expert for Ask.com.

I am passionate about food and cooking – probably because I’m greedy and love eating. During this economic downturn, many of us feel afraid and completely overwhelmed by the bombardment of daily bad news. We feel powerless, as there’s little that any of us can do about it. We feel out of control. The one thing that we can however control is what and how we eat and this was very much my passion in writing my new book, The Gorgeously Green Diet – How to live lean and green.

At a time when we want to comfort eat – because we can’t indulge in retail therapy anymore, we need to be filling our bodies with beautiful foods that are good for our bodies, our pocketbooks and the planet. It was thrilling for me to realize that I could do all three of the above simultaneously and that by doing so, I would be able to maintain my ideal weight too.

Being green for me has to be practical. I’m a time-challenged mom and as much as I’d love to be Alice Waters wondering around farmer’s markets fondling heirloom tomatoes, my life just doesn’t allow me that kind of time and money. I’ll be preparing a fancy stuffed squash for dinner and then my seven year old daughter and her BFF run in and need to eat like now or they’ll die! Then my husband will saunter in and casually mention that he kind of likes eating vegetarian (while screwing his nose up in the direction of the now half-stuffed squash), but only up to a point. The kitchen is in chaos and here I find myself in the middle of it all trying to be the perfect non-toxic, organic mom/wife, but reality has hit. This is the reason why I wanted to write this diet, so that women like me could simplify their lives and find a way of eating that working for the entire family.

Often diets assume that we have the time and money to prepare fancy little servings of grilled wild salmon or buy expensive and heavily packaged diet foods that frankly fail to satisfy on every level. I wanted this diet to work even for the working girl, who has to sit in an office all day long. To this end, I created three different eating plans. The reader gets to pick the light, the bright or the dark green plan. The light green plan is the entry level for those who want to make a few dietary and lifestyle changes, the bright green plan is for those women who have already made a few key changes (perhaps introducing a few organic items into their carts and recycling etc, and the deep green is for those who want to go the whole hog (vegetarian/vegan). So the reader gets to choose.

What is key in going green and a successful diet is organization and planning. If you learn to get organized ahead of time, you can shave hours off the time you spend in the kitchen and actually save a lot of money. If you stick to an eating plan and know ahead of time what you will be going to eat for seven days ahead, it will reduce your stress and expenditure considerably. We tend to buy a lot of what we don’t really need and an eating plan together with a detailed shopping list will help you to avoid waste.

My overall philosophy is that any changes you really want to make have to be easy and practical or they are certain not to stick. A lose 30 pounds in 30 days diet is not fun and is not sustainable – never mind the detrimental effect it can have on your body. A diet needs to be holistic. We can’t just deny ourselves the things we love and expect to be happy because we’ve lost a few pounds. It’s more important to be feeling deeply happy because we’re healthy, vibrant, glowing, and that we know that our actions are making a difference.

Sophie’s second book, The Gorgeously Green Diet, is now available at Amazon.com.

FREE STUFF:  Sophie is generously giving one copy of her new book, The Gorgeously Green Diet, to a Mommy Goes Green reader!  To enter, leave a comment telling us what “beautiful foods that are good for our bodies, our pocketbooks and the planet” that YOU eat ( or plan to eat )  Leave your comment by Monday, April 20 at 11:59PST.  Contest open to all U.S. and Canadian residents, ages 18+. We will choose 1 winner, at random, and will notify them by email. Privacy Policy.

CONGRATULATIONS TO SABRINA FROM OREGON FOR WINNING THE BOOK!