Breathe Magazine

You are browsing the archives of Sara Novak.

photo: Sara Novak First off, when it comes to sweets, I recommend making them for yourself as often as possible. That way you avoid the energy used in processing and manufacturing and you avoid any additives. When it comes to the sweeteners you choose, honey is truly nature’s choice. Honey is a sweetener that in [...]

Can you believe it’s almost fall? The summer just flew by faster than I can ever remember a summer flying by. Or maybe I just think this every year. As we move away from summer and towards the delicious crops of fall, it’s time to get your garden set. We all know the importance of [...]

I harvested eggplant from the organic garden last week and I’ve been trying to find some good eggplant recipes ever since. You can make caponata a pasta sauce or you can serve it on bruschetta as an appetizer. Consider making your own pasta sauce from fresh local heirloom tomatoes as well as using local Vidalia onions.

But you can’t just eat any old egg. Just like everything on the diet nowadays, you have to know where it comes from. For me, choosing organic and cage-free isn’t enough, I want to know the farmer, that way I know my yummy local eggs are super fresh when I get them and that the hens are treated humanely. That is they are outdoors much of the day, they are not debeaked, and they are fed nutrient dense, organic feed.

According to the state environment department, at least two-thirds of the groundwater underneath or adjacent to New Mexico’s dairy CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations) has been poisoned by nitrates. When other pollutants are included, estimates of water contamination by these factory farms can rise as high as 90 percent.

The temperature has hit 100 degrees two days this week. The humidity is so thick that you could cut it with a knife. I’ve long been a fan of Columbia’s fall, spring, and winter weather, but the summers here are a bit more challenging. I wrote recently about the best ways to stay cool when [...]

Down here in South Carolina, when the weather warms up so does the need to have the air conditioning run 24 hours a day. And that’s a great way to run your electricity bill up in a big way. Wasting electricity also takes its toll on your personal carbon footprint. But with a little forethought you can stay cool without the AC blasting. The AC should be set at 78 when it is turned on.

If you’re a fan of gardening this is likely the time of year that you shine. My organic garden is currently growing strong and that’s no thanks to pesticides or herbicides. I shun them because they’re bad for the planet and I don’t want to ingest them. They seep into our water supply and pollute [...]

Happy Earth Day Breathe readers! Today a lesson in the good old days.

Earth Day is right around the corner once again. This April 22 more than 1 billion people around the world will be participating in Earth Day events. From Georgia to Virginia and everywhere in between Breathe readers will find an abundance of great events and ways to get involved. But after Earth Day is done, [...]

Anxiety comes and it goes and it’s hard to know what sets it off. Some days things that wouldn’t normally stress you out send you into a flying frenzy. It would be nice to have the ability to control your anxiety and stress levels without turning to medications or alcohol. And luckily it’s very possible. [...]

Spring has finally arrived after one of the most brutal winters on record. And with spring, comes the need to detoxify. The term spring cleaning has real meaning. We are in hibernation throughout the winter time, covered in clothing, blankets, and weighed down by comfy foods. And this isn’t a bad thing, this is how [...]

As you begin to live a greener lifestyle, one thing that you’ll notice time and time again, is a reduced need for processed foods. Processed foods come with a bunch of packaging and it takes energy to make them in huge factories and then deliver them to a store near you. Learning to make your own [...]

Consumption costs you money and the more simply you choose to live the more money you can save. And no matter how eco-friendly the products that you buy are, they still come with packaging, they still take energy to make, and they are often still trucked in from somewhere. My biggest/most obvious eco-friendly tip of [...]

The weather is cold, cold, cold and that leaves some of us dreaming of a tropical eco-getaway. If you’re craving some vitamin D as much as I am why not consider planning a quick winter escape? And you don’t have to be a millionaire either. In fact, globetrotting to an eco-paradise may be just what [...]