Donna's Healthy Living Tips

While Keith and I were in Tennessee we went to a presentation by Chris Gibson and Vicki Lewis of Green Driving Solutions.  There has been a fair bit of media around increasing gas mileage ever since gas prices started creeping up a few years back so we were feeling like we were pretty comfortable with how to increase gas mileage.  Well, we were surprised!  There was more to learn that we hadn’t heard about so I thought I would share a few tips with you today and let you know where you can go for more information.

Did you know that for approximately every 15 minutes of idling you burn 1/4 gallon of gas????  I had already committed myself to not idle but after hearing that I vowed to skip drive-thrus unless absolutely necessary.  The estimate is that 3.8 million gallons of fuel are wasted EVERY DAY by idling.  WOW!  If you are going to be stopped for more than a minute or two it is better to turn your car off and turn it back on.  Modern, fuel injection, vehicles use less gas starting than the vehicles of 30+ years ago.  So if you remember your parents telling you it wastes gas to restart your car, that was then, this is now.

Another myth is that you should let your car warm up before you drive it.  Not true.  Cars today are designed to be started and driven immediately and actually the engine will warm up faster if it is being driven because it is designed to have air moving through it.  I heard from a friend who was visiting a European country that they had a law against idling and you would get a ticket if you were found idling your car while scrapping snow from your windows (or for any other reason).  I don’t see that law passing in the U.S. of A., but it would be good if we could all be a lot more conscious of our idling habits and decrease them.

One thing you may not know is how “emissions” happen.  When the engine is running, gasoline gets squirted into it and it burns the gasoline to create energy.  The unburned gasoline goes out the tailpipe as an emission.  (Pretty simplistic view of an engine and how it works but I hope it makes sense.)  Anyway, if spark plugs aren’t working properly to make a spark then the gas won’t burn or if too much gas is in the engine (because someone put their “pedal to the metal”) it will produce more emissions.

Studies have also repeatedly shown that there is a driving “zone” that gives a person the best gas mileage.  It may vary from car to car but I have heard that it runs between 45 and 60 miles per hour.  You probably recognize that this is lower than most state’s maximum speed limit.  Does anyone else out there remember when the speed limit was 55?  That was done in response to the oil crisis of the 1970’s when the nation was trying to decrease our oil consumption.

So watch how heavy your foot is this holiday weekend and don’t peel out of your in-law’s driveway just because you are eager to get home.  Accelerate slowly and when you stop for a meal on your drive home, park the car and walk in to the restaurant, you could use the stretching and exercise anyway.

You can find more information and purchase the Green Driving Solutions DVD (90 minutes packed full of information for only $24.95) at www.GreenDrivingSolutions.com.  If you are in the Ann Arbor area you can get the DVD at Quest Martial Arts 734-332-1800.

Donna Copeland is an Independent Shaklee Distributor with a passion of helping the people and planet to be healthier.  She loves using Shaklee’s Basic H2 for cleaning the car (although it doesn’t get cleaned as often as it should) and the H2 Wipes are very handy for wiping down the inside of the car and recyclable when you are done with them.  Find more information at www.Shaklee.net/DonnaCopeland/GetClean