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  • Home
  • Book
  • Categories
    • Healthy Living
    • Mommy Greenest Approved
    • Eco Beauty & Fashion
    • Natural Parenting
    • Latest Buzz
    • Green News & Events
  • Mommy Greenest Guides
    • Guide to Going Green
    • Guide to Eco-Friendly Fashion
    • Guide to Healthy Eating
    • Guide to Natural Parenting & Pregnancy
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    • Guide to Healthy Cleaning
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  • Mommy Greenest Approved

    Mommy Greenest Approved: Kabrita Gentle Goat Milk Foods

    August 18, 2014 /

    I talk with many parents concerned about cow milk intolerance. Usually the diagnosis is a process of elimination: A colicky baby seems better after her breastfeeding mother stops drinking milk. But for formula-fed children, getting the balance right can be frustrating. Most alternative formulas are soy-based, which can also lead to congestion, rashes and digestive discomfort. That’s why I was so excited to discover Kabrita, a new line of GMO-free, goat milk based toddler formula and three toddler-approved flavors of Goat Milk Yogurt and Fruit that are naturally easy to digest—especially for children with cow milk intolerance. Want to try? Kabrita is offering free shipping through the month of August!

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    Rachel Sarnoff 8 Comments

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    Mommy Greenest Approved: Barlean’s Organic Culinary Coconut Oil + Healthy Popsicle Recipe!

    July 20, 2015
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    Mommy Greenest Approved Acure Organics Brightening Facial Scrub

    June 22, 2015
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    Mommy Greenest Approved: Fair Trade Alaffia Africa’s Secret

    April 14, 2014
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    Natural Parenting

    3 Questions to Ask if You’re Pregnant

    April 4, 2014 /

    Pregnant? Get ready for the god complex. Every mom I know talks about the saint that delivered her baby. The doctor’s word is taken as law, and heaven forbid your birth partner suggest otherwise. But are you and your doctor truly in sync? In 2012, a University of San Francisco study of more than 2,000 obstetricians and gynecologists nationwide found that although they routinely discuss smoking, alcohol, diet and weight gain, most doctors do not warn their patients about environmental hazards as related to pregnancy.

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    Rachel Sarnoff 12 Comments

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    6 Ways to Nix Pesticides at Home

    October 17, 2013

    Head Lice Repelling Secrets, Revealed

    April 16, 2013

    My Not-So-Natural Childbirth Story

    August 11, 2014
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    Natural Parenting

    2 Techniques to Combat Colic

    March 10, 2014 /

    Thankfully, my kids didn’t have colic, defined as a healthy baby who cries for more than three hours each day, more than three days a week for at least three weeks. But we all know someone who has lived with a colicky baby. And we feel for them. Because it’s one thing to comfort a crying infant. It’s another thing to comfort an infant who cries for three hours straight.

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    Rachel Sarnoff 5 Comments

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    5 Rules to a Healthy Eating Habit

    May 7, 2013
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    Parents Debate Cloth or Natural Disposable Diapers

    July 8, 2015
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    3 Reasons to Keep Safe Drinking Water On the Go

    April 13, 2013
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    Natural Parenting

    Breastfeeding, By The Numbers

    February 13, 2014 /

    I’m working on an infographic-driven “by the numbers” series this month, and this information really spoke to me. Although there are challenges, there is also such an obvious benefit to breastfeeding. This information really focuses on the first six months, but the American Academy of Pediatrics actually recommends we continue to breastfeed for a full year, while supplementing with food. I breastfed my son for more than a year, my daughter for nine months, and my youngest for six. It was difficult while working, but worth it. I hope we can share more information like this to encourage the new mamas among us to give it a try for at…

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    Rachel Sarnoff 15 Comments

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    What Are Phthalates? Nix Them in 3 Easy Steps

    April 24, 2013
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    Is EMF Safe for Kids?

    March 9, 2015
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    6 Ways to Nix Pesticides at Home

    October 17, 2013
  • Mommy Greenest Approved

    Mommy Greenest Approved: Oh My DeVita Baby

    January 20, 2014 /

    Even though I no longer have little ones, I’m still constantly on the hunt for the next best thing in baby care. I recently found it in the brand-new Oh My DeVita Baby line, which sponsored this post. Developed by Cherylanne DeVita, the mom behind the bestselling DeVita Naturals skincare and mineral makeup cosmetics, the line is completely natural and infused with probiotics, which help fight the bacteria that can lead to diaper rash. This totally vegan and absolutely amazing line is now on sale at Target stores. Love!

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    Rachel Sarnoff 4 Comments

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    Mommy Greenest Approved: Topricin

    August 12, 2013
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    Mommy Greenest Approved: Josie Maran Pure Argan Milk Intensive Hydrating Treatment

    January 13, 2014
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    Mommy Greenest Approved: LumiMist

    October 27, 2014
  • Breastfed infants have lower rates of SIDS; breastfeeding moms show lower rates of postpartum depression. These three steps can help breastfeeding success!
    Natural Parenting

    3 Steps to Breastfeed: Reduce Risks for Mom & Baby

    June 20, 2013 /

    When I had my first child 14 years ago, I remembered what breastfeeding friends had told me: Put your baby on your breast the minute he is born. Even if there’s nothing coming out, keep doing it until there is. I was lucky to have that advice, and to be able to successfully breastfeed my son until he was a year old, and my daughters until they were nine and six months, respectively. Which is why I was so disappointed in Fran Drescher, who courted controversy in 2011 during a radio interview in which she said that breastfeeding “poisons” infants and recommended that nursing mothers get their breast milk tested…

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    Rachel Sarnoff 6 Comments

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    Jane Goodall Exclusive MG Interview

    August 29, 2013
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    3 Questions to Ask if You’re Pregnant

    April 4, 2014
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    4 Steps to Keep Your Family Safe From Cell Phone Radiation

    April 16, 2013
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    Natural Parenting

    2 Steps to Find the Best Car Seat for Your Baby

    June 12, 2013 /

    What’s the best car seat to buy for your baby? It’s a complicated question, as the marketplace is changing rapidly. Parents are realizing that just keeping their children safe in a crash isn’t the end-all, be-all to determine the best car seat. Especially considering that many children are in car seats for as many as several hours each day, we also need to think about the long-term implications of exposing our kids to the toxic chemicals that these seats can be made with.

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    Rachel Sarnoff 5 Comments

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    Watch Unacceptable Levels on Mommy Greenest!

    March 24, 2014
    Jenny McCarthy’s opinion about parenting inevitably circles back to one idea: vaccinations cause autism. But the facts prove she's wrong—and dangerous.

    Jenny McCarthy is Viewless on Vaccinations

    July 19, 2013
    Obesity is one of the biggest challenges we parents face. Here are three easy ways to make sure your kids have the advantage against childhood obesity.

    3 Tips to Avoid Obesogens—And Obesity

    July 25, 2013
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    Natural Parenting

    Want a Natural Pregnancy? 12 Tips to Protect Your Baby for Life

    April 17, 2013 /

    Getting ready for baby—or pregnancy? Congratulations! Going green for your growing belly—or for when you bring that baby home—sounds good on paper, but is a natural pregnancy doable in reality? Yes! Here’s how: 1. Eat organic: The dangers of common pesticide exposure are equal to those of smoking during pregnancy: low birth weight and early labor. Studies have shown that eating organic for just five days can eliminate many of the pesticides—linked to cancer, among other health problems—in our bodies. Following the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen/Clean Fifteen lists can reduce your family’s exposure by 80 percent.

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    Rachel Sarnoff 18 Comments

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    September 11, 2014
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    What is Fracking? 4 Facts You Should Know

    April 26, 2013
    Breastfed infants have lower rates of SIDS; breastfeeding moms show lower rates of postpartum depression. These three steps can help breastfeeding success!

    3 Steps to Breastfeed: Reduce Risks for Mom & Baby

    June 20, 2013

Welcome! I created this blog in 2008 as a resource for healthier living with less judgment. I'm a mother of three, former journalist, and co-founder of the (shuttered, sniff) sustainable beauty and fashion site EcoStiletto. I was Executive Director of the nonprofits The 5 Gyres Institute and Healthy Child Healthy World, appeared on the "TODAY Show" and "CNN," among others, and shared two TEDx talks: Trash is Ruining Recycling and Can One Straw Change The World? Now, I work as a marketing and communications director at an environmental nonprofit while slow-boating an MFA in fiction and writing about a less dystopian, more hopeful world. Recent publications, talks, and more are here. Let's keep in touch! xoRachel

https://youtu.be/sOol1MIgois

rachellincolnsarnoff

Superfan! Also realized once inside that this is t Superfan! Also realized once inside that this is the former Glam Slam how cool is that? #princess #prince #nothingcompares2u
Nothing beats a backyard rager! Thanks to @sarahke Nothing beats a backyard rager! Thanks to @sarahkellyvista for hosting #VerandaFest2023 and @dtkcomposer for letting @yesqueenpalm play (and Liz Silva for indulging my crappy guitar playing and @gabesarnoff for generously sitting in with his mom) and @studyhall80s for THE BEST SET EVER and @adriennesalick for instigating the gogo. What a fun night!!!!!! #party #houseparty
If I’ve got a brand new pair of roller skates, w If I’ve got a brand new pair of roller skates, who needs a key? Try hot pink with blue and yellow racing stripes and rainbows criss-crossing up your ankles as a time travel device. Back in the day, my wheels sparkled like Bonne Bell Lip Smackers Bubble Gum gloss and I had a fat wad of Barbie-pink Big Chew contraband to match. I shuddered along faint fault lines magnified into crevices by four rounds of plastic that registered the tectonic palm slap of continents with each revolution. Hurtled down the sidewalk, my braids catching the breeze, bangs adhered with sweat, lips stretched wide up and over and around the metal wires winched onto my teeth, and not even braces could contain my smile. Now, it’s just like riding a bike.
#AmWriting #WritingCommunity #Writing #Writer #FlashFiction #RollerSkates #Secondhand #Preloved #Thrift #SecondhandSeptember
If you’re in LA, please go see this play. It’s If you’re in LA, please go see this play. It’s a story and a communal experience and a reminder of practicing gratitude all rolled into one amazing immersive experience phenomenally acted by @danielkisaac and beautifully designed @geffenplayhouse. We went on a whim and knew nothing about the production and that was perfect so I won’t ruin it for you. Just go. #everybrilliantthing #theater #livetheatre #immersivetheatre #geffenplayhouse
If you need some water or a poop bag, Lula’s got If you need some water or a poop bag, Lula’s got you. #dogsofinstagram #dog #doglife #hiking #hike #ilovela
From the time I had a fake ID (obtained through a From the time I had a fake ID (obtained through a coin-operated vending machine in Times Square when I was 16 and yes it worked) I’ve been going to shows. Even in the cheapest seats, experiencing live music is an amazing communal experience, both with the performers and with everyone else in the space. And one of the greatest things about living in Los Angeles is that EVERY band rolls through (although usually on a Tuesday). Lucky for us, @noconamusic actually lives here, too. If you like #Americana and #Country and #Punk and/or were as obsessed as I was with the alchemy of #JohnDoe + #ExeneCervenka in X back in the day, go see #Nocona this month in LA or Nashville. See you there!
#Music #LiveMusic #LosAngeles #Angeleno #Singer #Songwriter #Songs #Motivation
Inspired by this message from Patagonia and this r Inspired by this message from Patagonia and this random sign from the universe. Did you read it right? 
#Sustainability #Climate #ClimateJustice #Renewables #RenewableEnergy #KeepItInTheGround #CleanEnergy #Motivation #MommyGreenest
Who’s used a take-back bag from @for___days? I o Who’s used a take-back bag from @for___days? I only buy #preloved and have good options for #resale and donation, but need a place to send my skivvies. Has anyone done this and what did you think?
#Sustainability #Fashion #SwapDontShop #SlowFashion #FashionRevolution #Preloved #Thrift #Recommerce #Style #Motivation #MommyGreenest
My two TEDx talks were all about individual action My two TEDx talks were all about individual action in the context of systemic change — and that takes major political shifts. We need EVERYONE who is worried about plastic pollution to contact your senator and representative with one simple ask: Cosponsor the Break Free From Plastic Act. How do that? One form. 10 seconds. That’s it. Let’s do this! (Link in bio) 
#Sustainability #Plastic #Microplastic #CircularEconomy #ZeroWaste #Reuse #Recycling #EPR #Motivation #MommyGreenest
What do these keys have to do with love? Inspired What do these keys have to do with love? Inspired by @thegoodtrade call for essays on “joy, bliss, lightheartedness, and wonder,” I wrote the story of how my husband and I got engaged within ten days of meeting each other. Fun fact? He hadn’t read this before it published. And, as he reminded me, I was actually blond at the time. Whoops. Link in bio!
#AmWriting #WritingCommunity #Writing #Writer #AmQuerying #Fiction #WomensFiction #UpmarketFiction #CommercialFiction
Years ago, I worked with Patagonia — among other Years ago, I worked with Patagonia — among other stakeholders — on legislation that would mandate washing machines include microfiber filters (just like dryers do). Looks like Samsung now leads on the technological solutions side with a new after-market filter that captures 98% of fibers and will soon be introduced in the EU. While we wait for implementation in the U.S., please remember that washing synthetics  by hand or in cold/gentle significantly reduces shedding and gets clothes just as clean. Typically, I choose natural fibers, but I couldn’t resist this pretty blouse at the thrift store yesterday — today my tub does double duty as a drying rack. 
#Sustainability #Fashion #SlowFashion #FashionRevolution #Recommerce #Style #Motivation #Sustainability #Plastic #Microplastics #CircularEconomy #ZeroWaste #Reuse #Recycling #EPR #Motivation #MommyGreenest
In my favorite place, with one of my two favorite In my favorite place, with one of my two favorite girls. She flies the nest tomorrow and I couldn’t be happier for her, but there will be a giant hole in our lives when she’s gone. #mother #daughter #family #hiking #losangeles #ilovela
I wish I had read #Kaleidoscope before I heard @he I wish I had read #Kaleidoscope before I heard @hellocecilywong’s inspirational craft talk at the @pacificmfa residency earlier this year. Wong shared that her life as a reader turned her into a writer, compelled by the “infinite acrobatics of words” to explore how the “same sentence can be arranged in a million different ways to different effects.” But listening to her then, I didn’t know about the resulting mastery of language that is so very apparent in this book. Kaleidoscope examines self and family and sisterhood and love and slaps it all against incredibly rendered, effortlessly exotic backdrops: the island of Goa, the city of Udaipur, plus temples and raves and one seriously bad acid trip of a train ride. The story begins in New York, but after shifting into travel mode in the second half the descriptions speed up and compress, which seems to be a deliberate, stylistic commentary on the grieving narrator’s experience of time as elastic: “a rubber band…an hour stretched to the ribs before time snaps back.” This is Wong’s second book — I’m now dying to read #Diamondhead — and in the talk she shared that both began with “real people that I scramble to make unrecognizable” in order to create characters that are capable of surprising her as a writer. But how much of Kaleidoscope comes from her own experiences — how far and long did she travel in order to collect them? The only hint comes in the acknowledgment to her parents, “for their patience and encouragement as I roamed far from home.” Had I known all of this then, I would have raised my hand and asked — although she probably wouldn’t have told me, anyway. In the talk she said that, “Perspective is gained through lived experience…The truth lies in the fluid nature of these experiences – memory shifts endlessly…fiction shows the ever shifting nature of life…and everything will likely take on a different meaning by the end.” Yes, this.
#AmReading #Book #Bookish #BookClub #BookClubSelection #BookClubReads #AmWriting #WritingCommunity #Writing #Writer #AmQuerying #Fiction #WomensFiction #UpmarketFiction #CommercialFiction #Sustainability #ClimateFiction
Three decades of friendship and it never gets old. Three decades of friendship and it never gets old. Spent the weekend at this beautiful lake but honestly we could be anywhere and have a blast. (Although the @foxhaven_lakearrowhead cabin is pretty extraordinary!) We laughed and cried and celebrated a birthday and it was (as always) the best weekend ever. #bestfriends #rideordie #lakearrowhead
It’s a really nice ceiling but I hope I get to s It’s a really nice ceiling but I hope I get to see more of Arrowhead than this. #arrowhead #arrowheadlake #lakearrowhead #backpain
Am I the only one who loved Barbie until the end f Am I the only one who loved Barbie until the end felt like a cheap joke? Trying not to spoil it for anyone who has been under a rock for the past few weeks, but I feel like Barbie’s new life could have involved a job interview or college. Anything but that final gag that reduces her to a pretty face and a new vagina — immediately transforming the world into another plastic box where she is disempowered. Don’t get me wrong, I laughed/cried/craughed  and it was BRILLIANT and I agree with all the accolades. It’s just the end that made me mad. Thoughts? #barbie #barbiemovie #barbiegram
How are the last days of summer here already? Whe How are the last days of summer here  already? Where did the season go? Anyone else feeling just flattened by time rn? #summer #summervibes #beach #beachlife #socal #losangeles #angeleno
Only in the UK are these the options on a drop dow Only in the UK are these the options on a drop down. Last photo dump, I promise! #london #travel
I had forgotten how much I love this city! Everyth I had forgotten how much I love this city! Everything walkable, navigable, friendly. Effortlessly blending the old and the new. Every corner turned yields something beautiful to discover. My @lockehotels is like an awesome work + home stay, with a yoga mat and kitchenette in every room, and you already know how I feel about #refill and @whogivesacraptp toilet paper (is the best, ask me how #notsponsored). If only the cafe was #zerowaste hmmm… at least I brought my own cup! Today’s conversations were beyond inspirational. So far, it’s a week of work that feels like play. #london #londonlife
My dad grew up in a Nebraska town so small you cou My dad grew up in a Nebraska town so small you could bike from one end to the other in less than 10 minutes. He read the Bible from cover to cover when he was seventeen years old, not because he was that religious, but because nobody he knew had ever done it – not even the pastor. He left for California, lived in Europe, and traveled through China and South America — all the while raising me as a single dad, writing a shelf full of books, and influencing thousands of students. Until recently, my father could play a piano concerto and then pick up a guitar and sing a song that would bring you to tears. He could fix an engine with duct tape and recite Yeats from memory. For most of my life, I believed that he was the source of a solution to any problem, the keeper of answers to all questions. Now, we are older — and his life is smaller. But this weekend, I was reminded of its guiding principle: To choose joy. My challenge now is to respect his choices, even though there are so many that I don’t understand. I’m so grateful for the friends and family who gathered this weekend to celebrate Grumpy’s 80th birthday - Carhenge cake and all. 
#AmWriting #Writer #Writing #Memoir
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