Lifestyle choices to lead a kinder life: Steps to achieve conscious consumption, sustainable purchase practices

A kinder life begins with kindness from within and first, with yourself as the journey to being kind to others is when you practice the act of self-love and self-care. Remember, that kindness is infectious and every good deed counts like making a move towards any lifestyle choice whether big or small is valuable and each person can commence this transformative change by adopting choices that include a correct diet, a regular sleep schedule, a healthy daily routine and product consumption to live a sustainable life.

Such choices help in leading a life that is not only good for the body but also positively affects the planet. In an interview with HT Lifestyle, Manasa Garemella, Co-Founder of Kindlife, suggested a few steps to achieve conscious consumption and sustainable purchase patterns:

1. Small steps in the right direction -

In addition to tiny steps in the right direction, making long-term lifestyle changes requires time, focus, and patience that matter when developing a lifestyle change. Engaging in a healthy and eco-conscious lifestyle is more than merely switching to sustainable options. One must navigate through the roadmap to adopting such changes by bringing in small tweaks and replacements of products. For instance, familiarizing and getting comfortable with various ingredients for a healthy, vegan, and eco-conscious lifestyle such as incorporating dry fruits, figs, and seeds are good substitutes as energy boosters. Further, setting attainable objectives, gradually adopting new habits, and measuring progress are all actions that might bring you closer to a more conscious lifestyle.

2. Continuous improvement -

Creating habits requires time and a continuous journey of evolving with every lifestyle choice. Give yourself time to set short goals that help achieve a lifestyle transformation. For instance, one may not immediately switch to avoiding dairy products and replace them with vegan or plant-based options. A healthier yet effective way to adopt such a lifestyle would be by making even smaller changes at the grass-root level, such as replacing unhealthy snacks with dry fruits, using ingredients and products that are kinder to the skin and the planet as they are sustainable and 100% clean with a longer shelf life.

3. Upcycle and recycle -

Recycling is one of the primary steps toward a sustainable lifestyle. The environmental benefits of recycling and upcycling are enormous. Aside from reducing the volume of discarded materials and waste, it is essential to make mindful purchases such as recyclable fabric and material before they are completely discarded. These sustainable choices help create a kinder community where consumption patterns do not depend upon single-use products.

4. Conscious community -

In order to completely understand and pursue a conscious living, it is important to find your tribe where you can engage and speak freely with like-minded people. These groups can share their experiences which can help you educate yourself in multiple ways to bring minor yet conscious changes to lead a kinder life. In addition, being part of a safe space encourages one to practice what one likes without judgment. It also serves as an inspiration to conceive new habits as the experts provide the correct directions and insights that can keep one motivated. Experts may also share knowledge and information on food consumption and ways to begin a vegan, sustainable, and 100% clean lifestyle.

5. Ingredients - Kinder to you and the planet

There is no set way to lead a kind lifestyle as the conscious consumer can make sustainable choices that align with one’s preferences, personal beliefs, and values. One has free will to choose between plant-based or organic ingredients, and make purchase decisions from products that are animal-friendly, toxin-free, cruelty-free, eco-conscious, 100% vegan, and safe. While some ingredients are kindcode approved, ensure that you stay away from other ingredients that are harmful to the body or the planet. Such is how one can make the most of natural substances and avoid chemicals, GMOs, toxins, etc.

While there are more than a few ways to adapt to new choices that lead to a kinder lifestyle, the very first step that remains unchanged is one’s mindset. For, the mind is a flexible mirror and you must adjust it for a better world and rooting for the same, Aditi Mammen Gupta, Co-Founder of Origin Nutrition, shared, “The choices and actions of every person on earth impact the environment. Living a planet-friendly lifestyle and reducing your carbon footprint is actually much easier and requires a lot less effort than one would think.”

She opined, “Turning vegan may definitely sound like an overwhelming life choice but even if you don’t want to make any drastic decisions, turning vegan for a few days in the week can make a huge impact on the environment. Meat and dairy farming requires a lot of land, energy and water resources. In turn, it also produces methane which is a greenhouse gas. Switching from whey protein to plant proteins is also a great choice for those who are trying to reduce their carbon footprint. Plant proteins lower greenhouse gas emissions and use much less water and land resources.”

She highlighted, “Food waste is one of the worst things for the planet. The time, effort, water and land resources that have been used to grow or cultivate the food that has been wasted is totally squandered. A few simple ways to use up excess food are to use scraps in your own garden, making stocks or broths with vegetables that are close to spoiling and making an inventory of your fridge and pantry before buying groceries. By stopping the use of single-use plastic, every household can make a big change in the amount of emissions by plastic. Reusable shopping bags for groceries, saying no to plastic straws and carrying a reusable water bottle are all great ways to help with this.”

All of us, as a community, need to start “thinking green” and incorporating this thought process in every decision we make in order to make a significant impact in leading a more sustainable and planet-friendly life.