Dr. McDougall's Online Discussion Board

rickfm,

thanks for writing about your reusable produce bags. i've been using cloth, but ordered these a few days ago:

http://www.reuseit.com/store/flip-tumbl ... ve_id=2121

this site also has really cute little sandwich bags:

http://www.reuseit.com/search?q=sandwich+bags

good company - purchased their cloth produce bags and wrap 'n go sandwich wraps about five years ago. good stuff!

lmggallagher wrote:Plastic Free Beth was interviewed today on KQED radio, the SF Bay Area's Public Radio Station.

http://www.kqed.org/a/forum/R201208011000

Thank you so much for sharing the link to the show. The audio is up now. It was so much fun to do, and kind of surreal, since I have listened to Forum and been a fan of the show for many years. Scott Shafer was a lot of fun. I'm glad you enjoyed it!

tcat wrote:I checked out Beth's book from the library and read it in one day. I loved it.

Wow. You're a trooper! One of the reviewers on Amazon said that she read it in three days and got burned out and overwelmed. I am so glad that didn't happen to you!

PlasticfreeBeth wrote:

tcat wrote:I checked out Beth's book from the library and read it in one day. I loved it.

Wow. You're a trooper! One of the reviewers on Amazon said that she read it in three days and got burned out and overwelmed. I am so glad that didn't happen to you!

Well, at least for me, being on the McDougall lifestyle already made it a lot easier. I have a co-op close to me where I can get all my staple foods in bulk, and since I don't eat meat or cheese or drink milk, I just need to go down the bulk aisle and the produce and I'm done shopping. I also had given up all sodas, juices, and other bottled beverages two years ago and have only drank tap water since then.

tcat wrote:Well, at least for me, being on the McDougall lifestyle already made it a lot easier. I have a co-op close to me where I can get all my staple foods in bulk, and since I don't eat meat or cheese or drink milk, I just need to go down the bulk aisle and the produce and I'm done shopping. I also had given up all sodas, juices, and other bottled beverages two years ago and have only drank tap water since then.

Yep. I actually wrote a post about how easy it is to be a plastic-free vegetarian/vegan: http://myplasticfreelife.com/2010/06/pl ... free-easy/ I could live quite well with foods only from the bulk bins and farmers market/produce aisle.

I am doing much better on my plastic ways. but gosh is it hard to slow the clerks down at the store. Sometimes they are bagging in plastic even with my bags right on top of the groceries in front of them.

I am really mad at all the organic veggies I see in plastic boxes & wraps at the grocery. I too am exploring bulk buying - but because I am gluten intolerant things like rice can't be bought that way. Bummer!

Got to read the vegan plastic free blog post this should give me more ideas.

Thanks again Rick for posting this thread - I think it's key to this new WOE and way of being on the earth too!

Wow, thanks for this thread, Rick! I want to watch that movie, and get rid of so much of the plastic in my life.

I have gotten many positive comments on my mesh cloth produce bags at the farmer's market I've recently started going to... from other customers, that is. The vendors all use plastic bags.

lmggallagher wrote:I too am exploring bulk buying - but because I am gluten intolerant things like rice can't be bought that way. Bummer!

Hi. Shopping from bulk bins is my biggest strategy. Can you rinse off the rice before cooking it to get rid of any possible cross contamination? How sensitive are you? Also, how about grains that are sold from up above bins that pour out via gravity? I did an interview with a Whole Foods rep while writing my book (the interview is in the book.) She explained how the bins are sanitized before being filled with any other product. It seems the biggest danger of cross contamination would be from the lower down bins where customer scoop things out themselves.

Thanks for the info Beth:

I always rinse my rice before putting it in the cooker - but when I realized that I still had about 15 pounds of rice I couldn't use I actually rinsed them like I was sprouting the rice and then cooked it. I don't get why the contamination. I have read that its due to crop rotation and that the rice actually takes it up in it's roots. This makes absolutely no sense to me as rice grows in wet fields where wheat nor any other grain would dare to tread. so I don't get that at all. but definitely the only rice that works is Lundberg which is certified gluten free.

I am so curious about this now I think I'll see if I can contact them through their webs site to see what this is about.