I've been "green" since I was a kid, trying to reduce my human impact on the earth, and I'm still making improvement in how I live my stewardship, like working to reduce single-use plastic food packaging.It wasn't until I was an adult, navigating a safe and healthy life for my babies, though, that I really started to understand the impact of our environment on us. When I started writing at Kitchen Stewardship, in fact, striving to help people balance their family's nutrition, budget, … [Read more...]
Five Weird Tools to Improve your Sleep Without Spending One More Minute of your Time
My college roommate has always said about me, "You are the most sleep-deprived person I've ever met!"This is unfortunately probably more true now as a mom of four kids (who all never slept well) and a small business owner than it was in college.As much as I read about the importance of getting more sleep, to me it always means getting less done. I've even said to people, "Sleep is about to become the new kale." But I'm not on board yet personally. Knowing I might be sleeping all wrong … [Read more...]
New Research: Common Personal Care Ingredient May Cause Newborn Bowel Obstruction with 80% Mortality
Is your baby's colon worth having pretty eyelashes?Would you trade your child's ability to poop for a pretty smelling shampoo?Let's make a deal: You get convenient spray sunscreen, your newborn gets bowel surgery. Sound like a plan?This is the trade-off pregnant women using conventional beauty products may be making every day because of the ingredient oxybenzone, recently under fire for harming coral reefs and even possibly getting removed from the GRASE (Generally Recognized as … [Read more...]
Sunscreen Takes a Hit – Only 2 Ingredients Will be Left with “Safe” Status from the FDA
I've been saying for YEARS that we must stop using conventional sunscreen because of its endocrine disrupting quality (and other reasons). As of last month, February 2019, the science is finally starting to get some momentum beyond the Internet and the FDA is paying attention.What's an "Endocrine Disruptor?" Quite simply, it's a chemical that interferes with, destroys, or mimics human hormones - the endocrine system of our bodies.There are plenty of endocrine disruptors in your … [Read more...]
Sun Protection Trends Finally Swinging in the Right Direction for People AND the Earth! What’s Happening Now with Tatyana Cerullo of Kokua Suncare
Remember last year when Hawaii banned some conventional sunscreen ingredients that were totally toxic to the coral reefs?And now last month the FDA is actually beginning to take steps to remove GRASE status from pretty much ALL the conventional, non-mineral sunscreen ingredients! Things are moving in the right direction for the health of our oceans AND our children's development (and future fertility) and I couldn't be more excited.Today I get to host Tatyana Cerullo to talk about … [Read more...]
Best Kids’ Cooking Videos Online (for Healthy Foods)
Check out some of the best kids cooking videos online...Did you know it is thought that people will remember 90% of what they see in a video, but only 10% of what they hear? And if you consider that children usually only listen to less than half of what their parents try to tell them, that means you have less than a 5% chance your wisdom is being heard! But who has time to make videos for their kids? Good news: there are lots of videos online to teach kids to cook. Here are some of the … [Read more...]
Save the Oceans (& Your Hormones!) Simple Steps to Reduce Plastic in Your Life
Is packing food in plastic storage containers and drinking from plastic bottles safe? Do you risk the plastic leaching chemicals like BPA and phthalates? How and why to reduce plastic in your life: When I was in middle and high school, you could pretty much guarantee I'd be behind the trend of what's "cool," but finally, in adulthood, my geekiness has gotten me ahead of the curve!After over a decade of using our stainless steel bottles as a family, bringing my own bags to the grocery store … [Read more...]
Monday Mission: Memorize the Dirty Dozen Produce List + How to Clean your Produce
If you try to buy organic when it counts to be gentle on your budget, you’re probably familiar with the Dirty Dozen produce list published by the EWG (Environmental Working Group), the same organization that puts out the Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database that the natural sunscreen review relies upon heavily.This is a list of the 12 items that, when consumed, supply your body with over 90% of your chemical pesticide load from fruits and vegetables. You can find the current list here, or see … [Read more...]
Does Your Lifestyle Need a Detox? {Argan Lavender Oil Cleansing Blend for Combination Skin from Wellness Mama}
In the online world, people usually only see names and rarely faces, so as you can imagine there are often mix-ups. I can't tell you how often readers and colleagues alike have gotten Katie at Wellness Mama and I mixed up.Same first name, write about real food and natural living, have a bunch of kids...I'm sure you can see why!I always take it as a compliment, because Katie's work is so thorough and well-researched, she's a great writer with a passion, and she has actually become a … [Read more...]
Cardamom Cranberry Christmas Cake (Grain-free!)
Breakfast or dessert?That's one of my favorite questions for baked goods, and one that isn't asked nearly enough in the popular culture.Healthy Breakfast Treats for School Party Coffee cake, cinnamon rolls, and mass-produced muffins are automatically delegated to breakfast, when in fact they surely deserve to be dessert based on their sugar percentage. That's why I was nervous when I saw that my daughter's 5th-grade class Christmas party was from 8-9:00 a.m. What are they going to eat … [Read more...]
How to Strengthen Your Brain to Avoid Concussion
When I read my favorite mystery books as a child, the heroine got knocked out cold about once per novel, and never once did she have any long-term (or short term!) effects of concussion or go to see a therapist to rehab her brain.Clearly, Nancy Drew knew and practiced every one of these brain strengthening techniques in spades because her head was so resilient!As you've seen in the last few posts in the series, kids (and adults) are experiencing concussions more often lately and as … [Read more...]
The Best Way to Heal from a Concussion: How to Start Recovery Immediately After a Bump on the Head!
When a toddler or preschooler get a concussion, it feels really serious!Our 3-year-old fell off ONE step this summer and hit the side of his head on cement, and even though it didn't seem like a big deal at first, it turned out to be enough to cause a concussion.When I was madly Googling natural remedies for concussions and how to recover from a concussion, and I wasn't finding much at first. Modern medical wisdom unfortunately takes a "rest and wait" approach, expecting the brain to … [Read more...]
Concussions ARE on the Rise But it’s NOT Why you Think
When my three-year-old fell off the bottom step from a deck and bumped his head on the cement slab below, he cried, Grandma snuggled him, and she assured me it was no big deal when I arrived back from the grocery store.My "mother's intuition" is usually pretty quiet except in labor, but it was dancing around pretty wildly giving me an uncomfortable feeling, a sense that something deeper was wrong. On the way home for dinner, when I heard from the back seat, "I'm so tired, Mama," I knew it … [Read more...]
Why We Use (a LOT of) Redmond Real Salt {Review}
I just love Real Salt. I love the rustic multicolored granules. I love the story on the bottles of how it was discovered. I love that it comes without contamination from modern pollution. I love the 60 trace minerals.I love sprinkling it on my eggs with abandon not worrying about the perils of refined salt. (What's the deal with the health benefits of unrefined salt?)Now that I've even been down in the mine in Utah, I love the whole company and their commitment to quality and purity … [Read more...]
Making Keto Easy with Wildly Organic {REVIEW}
Not too long ago, a good friend of mine shared that she and her husband had decided to try the Keto diet. We spent a whole evening talking about how it was going and the various challenges. Snacking can be really tough, and a lot of people get in a rut of cheese and salami. We just aren't trained as Americans to grab vegetables for a snack.And while it would probably be best to re-train ourselves to eat more vegetables as snacks, or just to skip snacking all together perhaps, I had some … [Read more...]
Stop Paying Whole Foods to Prep For You: 10 Time Saving Tips for Eating Keto or AIP
When you start a new restrictive diet like Keto, or in our case the Autoimmune Paleo/Protocol diet (AIP), it can be hard on both the brain and the schedule.You are suddenly making all sorts of food you are not used to, typically a wider variety and quantity of vegetables than ever before, which means meal planning takes so much more thought and so many more minutes (or hours) at the cutting board.I have a love-hate relationship with diets like this because although they are so much work … [Read more...]
Real Food Thanksgiving Feast — all the recipes you’ll need for an alternative T-day meal!
We all love turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes. But sometimes it's nice to change things up a bit. Why not green smoothies and pork chops for Thanksgiving!?I've joined forces with some power-bloggers and did my part in a real food holiday feast, a collection of scrumptious, healthy recipes to spice up your Thanksgiving meal (or any special feast or potluck...or weekday dinner, why not?).Here are all the real food Thanksgiving feast gems in one place! Thanksgiving Breakfast: Pumpkin … [Read more...]
How to Read the New Nutrition Facts Labels
Often one of the first suggestions when you're trying to get healthy is to read labels. It's something I suggest myself, especially when it comes to finding sugar and understanding just how much you are eating.But sometimes, it feels like you need a degree in nutrition fact label reading just to understand it all!The FDA is rolling out some changes to the required nutrition labels which are supposed to clarify some previously confusing portions and be more transparent and easy to … [Read more...]
I Bet I Could Have Been Diagnosed with Depression
People say when you're depressed, you feel flat. You don't find enjoyment in what you used to, and you feel like nothing matters.Something that should get you excited might just raise an eyebrow, and you can't dredge up the energy to care about much of anything.A while back, I questioned my mental health status here and there, but honestly? I didn't have time or energy to deal with it. This summer, I've been working hard on my own health. I did a lot of testing and uncovered a number of … [Read more...]
Real Food Spooky Halloween Shepherd’s Pie
I was the cool mom last year for Halloween.Not only did I let my kids have more than one piece of candy in a day, but I also made a really cool dinner, appropriate to the season: Sometimes, even stuffy, boring adults like me have to let loose and do something fun (like make Shepherd's pie into dinner with mashed potato ghosts on top).A casserole, soup or chili (Recipe available in The Everything Beans Book) is a great idea for Halloween, since they can all be made ahead … [Read more...]
