What is BPA? 6 Ways to Ditch It for Good
In 2012, the FDA announced a nation-wide ban on BPA in bottles and sippy cups. The following year, California placed the chemical on its Proposition 65 list, officially recognizing it as a reproductive hazard. So what is BPA? Simply put, it’s a chemical used to harden plastics, especially polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins. Despite federal and statewide action, our kids are still being exposed to BPA on a daily basis. The substance is still found in hard plastics, food-can linings and cash register receipts. In that year alone, studies linked BPA to: 1. Obesity: White children with the highest levels of BPA in their urine were six times more likely to…
When to Toss An Off Gassing Toy
Yes, I admit it. I killed Baby Ava. Now of course we’re not talking homicide—I’m a mother of three myself. No, this was far more insidious. Baby Ava was a doll. A Christmas doll that my daughter had grabbed from under the tree and didn’t let go. My daughter adored Baby Ava with a love bordering on obsession. Wanted to hold her in her arms during the day and sleep with her at night. Never let the doll out of her sight. The innocent little blue-eyed plastic wonder was a gift from my dad, who doesn’t think about potentially lethal lead poisoning or organic cotton options. Like most grandfathers, he just…
3 Tips to Ditch Dangerous Sunscreen
It’s sunscreen season—there are aisles devoted to it in drugstores and stacks at supermarket checkout stands. A new study published in Pediatrics shows that melanoma rates have increased among children and teens at two percent a year from 1973 to 2009—the American Cancer Society predicts that the condition will affect nearly 80,000 people in 2013. Yes you know that UVA fights aging and UVB combats burning. But do you know what’s safe—and what works? You could get a degree in toxicology and try to decipher the ingredient list on the back of the bottle, or you could take the lazy mom’s way out.
4 Steps to Keep Your Family Safe From Cell Phone Radiation
A few years back my son embarked on the bright and shiny adventure known as Middle School. Suddenly, his academic world quadrupled in size to a 2,000-kid student body. So my husband and I did what any responsible parents would do: We got him a phone. According to the non-profit Teens Turning Green, of the more than four billion people who have cell phones, half are under the age of 20. Yet because of their thinner skulls, children receive double the cell phone radiation exposure as adults, according to the Environmental Health Trust. Long-term cell phone use significantly increases brain tumor risk. And those who began using cell phones as…
Body by Vegan
A few years ago, a friend forwarded me a picture of Alicia Silverstone. The subject line was simple: body by vegan. It got my attention. Because even though I try to exercise two or three times a week, there remains that stubborn five pounds of fat that took hold right below my belly button while I was pregnant and never came off. Now I know that I’m active and healthy, and I knock wood daily for that. But there is a vain teenager inside of every woman. And on the day that my friend sent me Alicia Silverstone’s picture, that teen spoke up. I wanted to have a body by…
Head Lice Repelling Secrets, Revealed
If you have a child in school, chances are she will get head lice at some point or another. You can be the most vigilant hair-washer on the planet, your kid’s head could practically sparkle, but one day you’ll look over and she’ll be scratchy-scratching at her scalp. My daughter had it first. Now, this is not entirely surprising. Despite the tightness of my braiding, the firmness of my pony tailing and the sternness with which I lectured that she’d get lice if she didn’t keep her hair back, she always came home from school with it loose.
Great Garlic Made Easy
Everything is better with garlic—even your health. Studies prove the herb can reduce high blood pressure and fight off infections; some even show evidence that fresh garlic can kill antibiotic-resistant staph, E. coli and salmonella bacteria. Who knew? The best way to get garlic into your diet is to keep it pre-prepared so that you don’t have to stink up your hands each time you want to cook with it.
Green Cleaning in 3 Easy Steps
When I was a kid, I knew the house was clean because it smelled like fake lemons and pine. But it may not have been as clean as my family thought: The EPA estimates that the air inside our homes can be as more polluted than the air outside, in part because of chemical cleaning products. Indoor air pollution can lead to serious health problems like allergies and asthma; childhood asthma rates are now at epidemic levels, with more than seven million children affected, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s one in 10 kids. So I’ve spent the last few years replacing those familiar from childhood with green cleaning…
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