In theory, winter is a great time to gain weight.  It’s cold outside, which makes our cravings for warm, heavy foods that much stronger—and those frigid temperatures make it easier to rationalize lying bundled up on the couch watching TV instead of going to the gym. But it is possible to stay in shape over the winter, without increasing your carbon footprint. Here are a few tips:

1. Use your own body strength. Again, you don’t need a pricey gym membership to stay in shape. Tricep dips can be done on the back of your couch or chair. Throw down a yoga mat in your living room and practice your sun salutations or Pilates roll-downs. Use cans of soup or vegetables as free weights and commit to doing crunches and planks (supporting your own body weight dramatically increases your core muscles) on a daily basis. And no matter what kind of exercise you do, don’t forget …read more of Beat the Winter Bulge: 3 Tips to Help you Stay In Shape here

My fiancé is fascinated by infomercials. The Grill Daddy, Smart Lids, Green Bags. All of these miracle products never fail to amaze him (or me, if I’m being completely honest.) One of our favorites—The ShamWow—is not only enticing, but environmentally friendly too. So when I saw the ShamWow in a department store, I didn’t hesitate to buy it. These reusable cloths not only sop up serious amounts of liquid, but they can be thrown into the washing machine—not the trash can—after each use, saving me from my normal habit of using way too many (recycled) paper towels. This got me thinking about how buying reusable products is something that we all can easily do. It’s easier on our wallets too, since in the long run, we’ll be getting more for less.

Three quick ways YOU can make a difference:

1. Buy cleaning cloths and mop covers that are machine washable, use glass containers to store leftovers, and power your electronics with rechargeable batteries.

2. If you do buy disposable products (some things, like toilet paper, just shouldn’t be re-used) make sure they’re made from recycled materials. Seventh Generation makes a line of recycled bath tissue and paper towel and many chain stores, such as CVS, now offer their own versions of environmentally friendly paper products. I also just discovered Twist, a company that makes earth friendly sponges and cloths and uses 99.7% of its waste in creating new products.

3. Buy in bulk—you’ll throw less packaging away. Now if only there was an infomercial for that.

What works for you?

Halloween is just a few days away and you know what that means—little (and big) kids in costume will be knocking on your door in search of the sweet stuff. It’s easy enough to get: Walk into any market or drugstore in your neighborhood and you’ll find an entire aisle dedicated to bite-size Snickers, Milky Ways and Reese Peanut Butter Cups. And while you don’t want to be known as the house that hands out prunes on Halloween, you also don’t have to send the neighborhood into sugar shock. There are tons of places that sell organic and even vegan candy. NaturalCandyStore.com sells everything from sour gummy worms to jelly beans. And YummyEarth lollipops , which contain no artificial chemicals or flavors, can be found at Whole Foods, Toys’R’Us and other mainstream stores.

If you’re more of a chocolate lover, as am I, consider buying fair trade chocolate from Trader Joe’s or other natural food stores. Not only will it taste good, but you’ll be doing good too. That’s certainly worth the calories!

In recent months, I’ve become much more conscious of where my produce comes from. On my way to the grocery store, I’d often walk by the Green Market in New York City’s Union Square Park. There, local farmers had set up stands with fresh fruit and vegetables, artisanal cheeses, organic whole grain bread, and many other delicious home grown treats.

It made me think I should probably buy my vegetables from the people who were actually growing them, rather than a chain supermarket. Then I got an assignment from Country Living magazine to write about the importance of buying locally grown foods.

That really opened my eyes to the impact I was having by shopping at the Green Market. When I buy an apple or a head of lettuce from a farmer’s market, chances are that piece of produce was picked within 24 hours. Produce shipped from other states or countries can spend as many as seven to 14 days in transit before they’re in your supermarket. Who wants to eat a piece of fruit that’s been in a truck for two weeks??

Through my research I also learned how important it is to eat seasonally. While those grapes may look great on the shelves, think about how many miles they traveled to get to your supermarket. For a list of seasonal foods in your area go to ecomii tips.

Not only will buying an orange grown in your area taste better, but you’ll be helping support a local farmer. Did you know that there are nearly five million fewer farms in the U.S. today than there were in the 1930s? Our local farmers depend on us to keep them in business—and prevent them from having to sell their land to real estate developers who want to build luxury homes.  And these days, it’s also getting much easier to find locally grown foods.

If you live near a farmer’s market, start shopping there—and don’t be afraid to chat up area growers on whether their goods are organic.  Also, many supermarkets like Whole Foods, Wegmans and Stop & Shop are stocking produce grown by area farmers. These are usually identifiable with signs that say “Locally grown.”

If your grocer doesn’t stock seasonal, local foods, talk to them about doing so. If they know there is a demand, the supply will come.

Click here to learn about eating whole foods.

Have you ever gotten a little lightheaded while scrubbing your bathroom clean? There’s a good reason for that: most common household cleansers contain toxic chemicals that can wreak havoc on your health and the environment.  Read more about cleaning your home without toxic chemicals on ecomii.

So it’s no wonder that more and more companies are getting into the green game. Seventh Generation, Method, Mrs. Meyers—even bleach behemoth Clorox introduced a line of environmentally friendly cleaning products called Green Works. But do these “green” products clean as well as their conventional counterparts?

Oh yes they do. And you can take my word for it, since I’m a self-described clean freak. I’m constantly disinfecting, de-germing, or wiping down my apartment. But after reading about the toxins in many products—the extent of which we don’t even fully comprehend, since manufacturers aren’t required to list their ingredients—I started to worry that my obsession with banishing dirt might be doing me more harm than good. You can read more about choosing safe cleaners on ecomii.

So I slowly began replacing my regular disinfectants with green cleaners. Out went the Ajax in favor of Bon Ami, an “earth friendly” cleanser ; Palmolive was replaced with Method dish soap; and I disposed of Clorox Clean-Up and now scrub my tub with the company’s Green Works line of natural bathroom cleaners.  Someday, I may even try my hand at making my own non-toxic cleaning solutions with gentle ingredients such as baking soda and white vinegar. But for now, I’m committed to supporting the companies who are already doing this—and my house is still as sanitized as ever.