From Bakeware to Blenders — Getting the Plastic Out of the Kitchen
As I wrote yesterday, it’s impossible for us to know which plastics are absolutely safe to eat or drink from because plastics manufacturers do not disclose the chemicals added to their plastic products. So instead of taking a chance, I avoid plastic in the kitchen. I’ve replaced nearly all of my kitchen plastic with plastic-free alternatives, and I didn’t spend a fortune doing it.
Here are some of my favorite solutions:
1) Re-use glass jars for just about everything. Instead of discarding empty pasta sauce, peanut butter, or pickle jars in the recycle bin, use them to store foods in the cupboard, refriger...
Source: Conversations with Dr Greene - October 25, 2013 Category: Pediatricians Authors: Beth Terry Tags: Perspectives Environmental Health Plastic Source Type: blogs
Let’s Talk Dirty… Diapers
There is no one right answer about your baby’s poop frequency, color, smell, and texture.
Your baby’s poop is going to change over time and will be different depending on diet — breastfed, formula, solids all make a difference. When those changes happen, many (especially new) parents have serious questions.
Have you ever looked into your baby’s diaper and wondered:
Is my baby sick?
How do I know when my baby is constipated and when it’s a normal amount of time between dirty diapers?
Is this color really okay?
What consistency should my baby’s poop be?
Shouldn’t my baby’s poo...
Source: Conversations with Dr Greene - October 24, 2013 Category: Pediatricians Authors: Dr. Alan Greene Tags: Dr. Greene's Blog Breast vs. Bottle Newborn Top Newborn Source Type: blogs
Are There Any Safe Plastics?
Which plastics are safe to eat or drink from? Or to give our children? If you Google “which plastics are safe?”, you’ll find lots of articles on the Internet explaining the resin identification codes (the little numbers 1 – 7 in the “chasing arrows” triangle on the bottom of a plastic item) and which ones are bad and which are good.
While there are some variations in thinking, most people who write those articles agree that the worst plastics are #3 (polyvinyl chloride, aka PVC), #6 (polystyrene), and #7 (polycarbonate). PVC contains hormone-disrupting phthalates and is often stabilized with lead or other h...
Source: Conversations with Dr Greene - October 24, 2013 Category: Pediatricians Authors: Beth Terry Tags: Perspectives Environmental Health Plastic Source Type: blogs
Top 10 Tips to Reduce Your Plastic Footprint
Why should we reduce our plastic use? Isn’t that what recycling is for? Actually, recycling is the last of the 3 R’s — Reduce, Reuse, Recycle – because it’s meant to be the last step, a way to deal with the plastic that we can’t avoid after reducing as much as possible.
Why? Well, unfortunately, plastic recycling is problematic. Often what we put in our recycle bins doesn’t even get recycled and what does is usually shipped to China. You can read a lot more on the truth about plastic recycling on my website.
So, in keeping with the first “R”, here are my top ten favorite ways to reduce my plastic cons...
Source: Conversations with Dr Greene - October 23, 2013 Category: Pediatricians Authors: Beth Terry Tags: Perspectives Environmental Health Source Type: blogs
Why Go Plastic-Free?
Photo by Beth Terry. Kahuku Point, the northern most tip of Oahu, on Coastal Cleanup Day, September, 2013.
Plastic continuously washes ashore from out in the ocean because of the nature of the currents. Cleaning it up is a Sisyphean task.
Could one photo change the course of your life forever? That’s what happened to me six years ago. Back then, I lived like the average American, living on processed foods in plastic packaging, drinking bottled water and tossing the bottles in the trash, and not really considering the consequences.
Oh, I had heard that microwaving in plastic probably wasn’t a good idea, but ho...
Source: Conversations with Dr Greene - October 22, 2013 Category: Pediatricians Authors: Beth Terry Tags: Perspectives Environmental Health Source Type: blogs
It used to be that we died at home
In the days before medicine advanced enough to fix organs and enable us live ever longer, it would’ve been considered a betrayal of family to let a loved one live out their lives in the company of strangers.
Never was the word ‘burden’ spoken when caring for and putting at the center, their loved one. It was a given that the immediate and extended family would help – would ‘give back’ – to that person who’d given so much during the course of their lives.
Dying was a family affair
Each family member would take part in the care and tending as functions diminished – whether it be washing, cleaning, fe...
Source: Conversations with Dr Greene - October 21, 2013 Category: Pediatricians Authors: Kathy Kastner Tags: Perspectives Mental Health Source Type: blogs
Unexpected result of end of life wishes: Celebrating small pleasures
Little did I imagine, when I embarked on my journey to understand end of life medical interventions, that I’d have to think hard about what made me happy in life.
Off the top of my head, my children (although on some days, that’s debatable) husband (same caveat), my work (same caveat)
Big Happy and Little Happy
These are large happinesses – that take into account ups and downs. Thinking further, and longer and harder – although often allowing myself to simply relax and let the small pleasures drift into my consciousness – I came up with “What Makes Up a Good Day”
To do this, I also had to be aware of when...
Source: Conversations with Dr Greene - October 18, 2013 Category: Pediatricians Authors: Kathy Kastner Tags: Perspectives Mental Health Source Type: blogs
The Straight Scoop on Grains
What popular kids’ food starts to turn to sugar in their mouth and becomes 100% glucose by the time it’s absorbed?
You guessed it, processed white flour.
But here’s the surprising kicker, it’s the number-one most popular food for most kids:
White bread for sandwiches
Hamburger buns
Pasta
Pizza crust
Cookies
Cakes
They all add up to a very unhealthy diet.
What’s a parent to do? In this week’s video I outline how you can get a quick handle on which grains are good (even great) and which ones need to go.
For many parents it’s not as easy as just knowing which grains to feed their child...
Source: Conversations with Dr Greene - October 17, 2013 Category: Pediatricians Authors: Dr. Alan Greene Tags: Dr. Greene's Blog Eating & Nutrition Healthy Family Eating Source Type: blogs
Two mothers and two daughters go shoe shopping….
They each bought shoes and come home with three pairs. How can this be?
If you haven’t heard it or figured it out: a mother her daughter and her daughter’s daughter aka granddaughter. Two mothers: two daughters. (In the male version: two fathers and two sons went fishing.)
Generations brought together
This is the make-up of many a family: three different generations interested in and often involved in the same situation or issue. Such was the case during an impromptu chat about why it’s so hard to talk about dying and death.
Culture and Tradition; Patterns and Sensitivities
My friends, a group of multi cultural mo...
Source: Conversations with Dr Greene - October 17, 2013 Category: Pediatricians Authors: Kathy Kastner Tags: Perspectives Mental Health Source Type: blogs
Life and death are different at different stages
Discussions about life’s end are never meaningless – albeit often fraught and upsetting. More importantly, consider if you’re hit by a bus and live. What then would be your definition of ‘living’? (Source: Conversations with Dr Greene)
Source: Conversations with Dr Greene - October 16, 2013 Category: Pediatricians Authors: Kathy Kastner Tags: Perspectives Parenting Source Type: blogs
93-year old fashion consultant: my father-in-law
There’s only one grandparent left in our family – my 93-year old father-in-law. A former tailor, with all his wits still about him and a mischievous sense of humor, he’s the go-to guy when our daughters (24 and 27) have fashion questions.
Their mother (that’d be me) is totally utterly useless in these matters. In fact I am regularly directed or chastised by these children. (But that’s another story)
Generations of fashion
I never cease to get a kick out of watching them turn this way and that as Grandpa, examines seams and linings
I didn’t have grandparents growing up, so it’s a new and remarkable and heart-w...
Source: Conversations with Dr Greene - October 14, 2013 Category: Pediatricians Authors: Kathy Kastner Tags: Perspectives Mental Health Source Type: blogs
The Gift of the Moment
Sweet mothers, have you had these days? Those moments when you get just a breath of perspective about the tenderness found in the motherhood days? I make it a point to celebrate the little things – the simple moments in life. Here’s a story about a night last year when I realized the gift found in the moment of today.
I knew it was coming.
Samuel, my little Samuel, was wandering around the living room in those favorite monkey pajamas with the orange super soft shirt. Every once in a while he’d put his head down on the couch and take a quick rest. I was watching him. That little one, up a bit too la...
Source: Conversations with Dr Greene - October 10, 2013 Category: Pediatricians Authors: Rachel Martin Tags: Perspectives Parenting Source Type: blogs
Two Practical Tips to Help You (and Your Baby) Fall Asleep and Stay Asleep
It’s shocking how little sleep most people get. It’s the trend in today’s busy, electronic, always-on culture. It’s almost a badge of honor. But it’s not healthy for anyone.
For many parents, especially new parents the night-after-night routine of 2 a.m. (and 4 a.m. and 6 a.m.) wakings goes from “missing a little sleep” to sleep deprivation. In my practice and here at DrGreene.com, I hear from parents that it’s one of the things they are most concerned about — and for good reason. When we sleep our bodies heal from the days’ workouts and injuries and our minds have ti...
Source: Conversations with Dr Greene - October 10, 2013 Category: Pediatricians Authors: Dr. Alan Greene Tags: Dr. Greene's Blog Newborn & Baby Sleep Sleep Deprivation Sleep Habits Top Sleep Source Type: blogs
Four Things to Remember on the Hard Days
Those hard days happen.
Yesterday I wrote about the throw in the towel days and why they’re inevitable in the spectrum of motherhood.
Sometimes they string together to form a hard week which strings together to form one of those seasons that becomes harder than we imagined. And yet, even in those moments where life is just a bit more challenging than normal, we’re left with the responsibility to mother. We can’t really throw in the towel, now can we? We still have little ones pulling at our legs and asking us why and not wanting to take naps. Or they’re older and they think we’re dumb or the w...
Source: Conversations with Dr Greene - October 9, 2013 Category: Pediatricians Authors: Rachel Martin Tags: Perspectives Parenting Source Type: blogs
The Truth About Throw in the Towel Parenting Days
You’ve had those days.
I know it. I’ve had them. They’re the days when the clock has barely hit 8:10am and you’re already feeling like you’d love to throw in the hypothetical towel of parenting. You know that towel? The towel that has already dealt with kids that don’t want to get up, kids that don’t like their breakfast, lost homework, crying toddlers, babies that refuse to be anywhere but your left hip, burnt toast, alarms missed, and spilled milk.
You’d throw in the towel, but it’s in the laundry. And, if your home is anything like mine at times, it’s probably ...
Source: Conversations with Dr Greene - October 8, 2013 Category: Pediatricians Authors: Rachel Martin Source Type: blogs
