You have guests or family coming to visit, you want to make your home look welcoming, you don't want to spend any more money and you're almost too busy to think straight.

What can you do?

 It's still the holiday season and we're still having wonderful friends come to visit us at home.  But I want to give you some simple tips that I did for the holidays that can be used for any festive occasion throughout the year.

• My yard is full of shrubs that always need pruning.  I gathered up some over abundant branches of pepper trees that happened to have lots of reddish pink berries and spread them in layers along shelves and the mantelpiece.  Old Christmas decorations or  knick knacks from yard sales (or car boot sales in England) that I'd collected throughout the years were placed amongst the foliage.
• I even found some white narcissus in the garden that went beautifully with all the red berries 
• Old Christmas lights?. No time or money for a Christmas tree?  We piled our old glass hand painted balls and Christmas ornaments into bowls full of green foliage.  If you don't have old balls, what other  glittery or shiny  ornaments could you find lying around the house that when placed in a heap on a bed of leafy greens could look spectacular?
• Buy from your local farmers market.  You have to eat so why not pick up wonderful, luscious local  foods and homemade products to decorate your home. We filled up yet more bowls with tangerines, lemons, nuts, olive oil,  and homemade organic chocolates for our guests to enjoy looking at and munching on, for healthy seasonal snacks and gifts.  The decorations became the gifts so they have served double duty. They're good for our friends and good for our community.
• Fun for you!  The best part is for this to be more fun and satisfying for you!  At the end of the holidays the food is eaten, the colorful gifts have been given and you have not contributed to the ever growing landfills. There is less clean up and more green up.  You have just "Greened Up" your holidays. Congratulations! I hope that you have as much fun doing this as I did.  Stress free and fun.
• To learn more simple and economical ECO tips visit our blog at http://MeridianHolistic.com/HealthyLiving

 PS   My ECO Christmas and Holiday decorating tips were inspired by one of my favorite old fashioned books:  "Natural Christmas", a Madderlake book  by Tom Pritchard and Billy Jarecki.

Here are some new definitions that we have come up with to better explain what we mean by ECO-fitness and why it's so important

E-C-O-fit vs retrofit

To add a component or accessory or new technology, features or modifications to something that did not have it when it was manufactured (ie older systems) that is Ecological, Comfortable and Organic (if possible)

 ECO fitness

The practice of choosing materials and products with a primary concern for their influence upon the health and well being of all the organisms inhabiting that shared environment or ecosystem

 To E-C-O-fit your home is to modify your existing home to be more:

*           Ecological and Environmentally friendly

*           Comfortable to humans and all living creatures; Connected

*           Organic (food, products and materials)

Yesterday I interviewed Vicki Warren, Program Director and Head of the Institute for Bau-biologie and Ecologie in Clearwater, Florida for our series on "Seven Simple Steps to ECO-fitness"

We discussed some of the most dangerous indoor trends facing families in America today and she has solutions for you that are not only simple to implement, but also very cost effective. Some are even FREE.

We will be posting the audio file online shortly and Vicki explains why we have to think "Beyond Green" and how you can jumpstart the process. Our main concern in interviewing her is that many young families would like to think ECO and green but they believe that it is too complicated or too expensive so they don't bother to try.

But it may not be as difficult as you think!  We have great news for you which you will discover in our upcoming "Seven Simple Steps" Series.  The first e-book will be "Seven Simple Steps to ECO-fit your Home". Then we will give you the steps to ECO-fit your office, your kitchen, your bedroom, the nursery, your bathroom (and personal care products as well).  If you are a business owner we will have an e-book especially for you too.

Learn how to transform your Home and your Office, one week at a time – in "Seven Simple Steps".

Next week we will discuss the Meridian Center for Holistic Medicine's  definition of ECO-fitness and why it matters to you.