A Few of My Favorite Things: General Moisturizers

Recently my aunt, who is plagued with dry skin, was shocked to discover her seemingly high-quality, not-cheap favorite hand creams were chock full of nasty chemicals. She asked if I could suggest some good more natural alternatives. I offered her my top three picks, and I'm going to share them with you:

1) Emily Skin Soother: Unscented ($13.99 for 1.8 oz): Developed by a New England acupuncturist and herbalist, this soothing cream is not certified organic, but only contains five ingredients. The soother goes on extremely easily making it perfect for very chapped and rough patches - especially on kids. The texture is a little slimy until it absorbs. I've used this on a baby's bottom and on problem eczema patches with great luck. A tub lasts a long time, and a little goes a long way. It's not my favorite for whole hands because it does take a little while to seep in, but it is great for dry patches and dry winter feet.

2) Terressentials Fragrance Free Moisture Cream ($16.99 for 4 oz): This 100% certified organic cream has only one ingredient: shea butter. I've slathered this stuff on my feet, my hands, and even my neck, and I've used in on my kids' bodies, too. It's a little thick for covering large body parts, like a stomach, but works very well for small areas. A little goes a long way and doesn't leave a slimy residue. This is one of my favorite hand creams. Pure butters (shea or cocoa, for example) can be altered by temperature changes during manufacturing, travel and storage, so don't be surprised if your container has a gritty consistency. Warm it between your hands, and it will soften right up.

3) Everyday Shea Baby Lotion ($9.99 for 6 oz): I'm a big fan of the Allafia company whose products are all shea based and are certified fair for life and fair trade. There are more ingredients in this product than in the others, but none of them phase me. I buy the unscented version, and find the consistency perfect for post bath or shower slathering. The cream goes on really nicely, and leaves very little sliminess or residue making it a great option for your hands, too. The price is quite reasonable for a large container (Whole Foods sells it for $7.99), but it goes quickly.

My Health and Beauty Shopping Cheat Sheet

People often ask me how I make my shopping choices. When I first started obsessing about which health and beauty products to buy, I would scan the Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep Database vigilantly ... for hours ... days ... sometime months ... yes, I'm serious ... trying to decide which shampoo or face cream I would buy.

But as the months passed, and my bordering on OCD research habits sucked up more and more of my time, I began to realize that there were a few basic rules I could follow to give myself peace of mind without teetering over the edge of insanity. (Please remember these are MY rules, not some official guidelines.)

1) Just because it is sold at a health food store, like Whole Foods, doesn't mean a product is safe, natural, or organic.

2) Accepting rule #1, the odds are, the product is still going to be safer than one you'd buy at a conventional grocery store or pharmacy.

3) A product is only really, truly organic, if it is certified. Some certifications include: QAI, Orgeon Tilth, CCOF, G.O.C.A, and USDA Organic. Anyone can slap the words organic and/or natural on a product, but it means diddly squat. Many products that claim to be organic without the certification are full of chemicals. But if you're short on time, an organic certification is a pretty good bet safety-wise.

4) Given rule #3, however, all products don't have to be certified organic to be fairly safe. Sometimes products with certifications are more expensive, and there's an equally safe option for few dollars less. (See rule #5)

5) If you know what all the ingredients are on a label and the list is under ten items long, it's probably a safe bet. If it's under five items long, and you know what all the items are, you're golden.

One obsession down, 67 more to go....

Finding Better Bubbles

I recently picked up a new container of dish washing soap at Whole Foods. It was on sale, so I figured I'd give it a try. (Sales are a pretty large determinant of what I buy.) When I opened the soap I noticed this note on the label, "This product is 1,4-Dioxane free." This made me very happy.

1,4-Dioxane is a scary bugger of a chemical, and it is found predominantly in products that create suds, like shampoos, soaps, bubble baths, laundry detergent, and dish soaps. It's a probable human carcinogen, but because it is most often a contaminant and not an ingredient, it's not listed in products' ingredients. As consumers we have no idea whether the products we're buying contain this chemical or not. What's more, many products claiming to be natural, contain it, too. Buying a products at health food stores does not ensure your product is 1,4-Dioxane free.

Watchdog groups like the Organic Consumers Association are on the case, and each year they test products and publish their findings. The good news is that these tests have motivated green companies to purify their products and rid them of this contaminant.

I wish I could give you a master list here of products that do and do not contain 1,4-Dioxane, but I can't right now. I do promise to list products as I find them though. One great laundry alternative is to use Soap Nuts, which contain saponin, a natural cleaner, and are made from the dried fruit of the Chinese Soapberry tree. I've used Maggie's Soap Nuts with great results, and I plan to buy a bag as soon as I finish my container of Ecos.

For now, I can offer you these two resources:

The 2010 list of tested laundry detergents This list compares conventional and green brands for their 1,4-Dioxane levels. (You'll be frightened by how much of this stuff is in some conventional brands.)

Earth Friendly Products This brand has worked hard to remove all traces of 1,4-Dioxane from their products, including Ecos laundry detergent and Earth Friendly dish mate.

For more information on 1,4-Dioxane, check out the Environmental Working Group.

I Have no Microwave ... and Other Confessions From the Green Edge, Part 2

Some readers have been asking why I've made these choices, so I thought it was time to follow up with Part 2....

1)Saying Goodbye to our Microwave:

About four years ago my husband and I stumbled upon an article listing the top 50 things you could do to make your home healthier. The piece suggested standing six feet away from a microwave while it is cooking and not to look directly into the oven while it is cooking either. We did not have six feet of clearance anywhere. Our kitchen is too small, and we have young children. Our microwave was broken and needed to be replaced, so we decided to see if we could live without it. We could. We don't miss it... except for that odd time that we need to heat something up really fast, or we forgot to defrost meat for dinner. I'll admit, too, that it's hard to find concrete evidence against microwaves especially in mainstream media. Still, anything you need to stand six feet away from can't be that safe. For now, I'm content not to have one.

For those of you who want to learn a bit more, here are two pieces from green news sources:

Nuking Food

11 Surprising Facts and Myths About Microwave Ovens

2) We have no Wifi

Two years ago I began reading about the effects electromagnetic fields (EMFs) have on humans, and I grew concerned about my children who played in front of our wireless router. I talked to my very smart friend, H, a former health editor at a prominent magazine. She had gotten rid of her family's wireless router due to similar concerns. Generally my husband rolls his eyes at my neurosis, but about three weeks after broaching the topic, a large box arrived on our stoop. A week later, he had dismantled the wireless router and set up a LAN line throughout our home. The process was surprisingly affordable and easy. It's not perfect -- we need to reset our router about once every other day, but that's just a question of turning the power off and on. When I asked my husband why he took me seriously this time, his answer was simple. Our kids were, he said, literally in front of our router. The information on safety is not consistent, and he didn't want to risk it ... Of course, three weeks after we dismantled our system, our town placed a wireless router on the light post right outside our home. (Now sticking my fingers in my ears and singing la, la, la...)

If this topic interests you, you can read a bit more about it here:

Press Release on WiFi courtesy of Oppenheim Toy Awards

Ontario town tries to stop Wifi

Can Wifi Cause Birth defects?


3) I hate cell phones:

So this one should come as no surprise given what you've just read above. I'm not even going to list articles here. The safety of cell phones has been in question for years, and enough research proves that cell phone activity does SOMETHING to your brain. To be candid, I feel anxious every time I put my phone to my ear, and I never let me children play with or talk on my phone. (My husband on the other hand...) What's more, there's nothing worse than a bad connection.

I'm not suggesting everyone should chuck their phones. I have one in my purse all the time for emergencies. But many of us survived childhoods with no cell phones just fine. And honestly, if I'm not home, I don't want to talk on the phone. I'm probably out busy doing something. Don't even get me started on why you shouldn't use your cell phone in a moving car - speaker or not.

I use a land line whenever I can, and if I do use my cell phone, I text, I keep the call super short, try to use my speaker or the bluetooth in my car, and I just bought headsets for my husband and I that are supposed to cut down on dangerous rays. Whether or not they work, I can't tell you.

But I'll take this one step further, I won't buy a smart phone, a droid, an iphone, a blackberry or anything that accesses the internet. These phones are constantly searching for signals. I don't want to spend that much time connected to a device emitting so many EMFs. And frankly, I don't want to spend that much time distracted....

4) Getting Rid of My Portable Phones

Remember my super smart editor friend, H? She has an EMF monitor, and I decided to borrow it to find out where the most EMFs came from in our home. I was shocked to discover that the portable phones had higher EMF ratings than our television and computer. This suggests to me that holding a portable phone to my ear is no safer than using a cell phone. If you poke around online, you'll find a slew of alternative website that claim portable phones can actually affect your heart rhythm. What's more, my crappy portable phones break frequently and don't work in a power failure. My $9.99 wall phone is a four-year-old work horse that has never broken.

The next highest EMF ratings came from our dimmer light switch, but I'm not ready to tackle that just yet.

So, I warned you that this was a post from the edge. Most of what I'm suggesting is NOT mainstream, and I get that. My friends roll their eyes because they all think I'm a kook when it comes to these concerns. But nothing in life is free, and maybe there is a price tag for all our conveniences. Just food for thought...

I Have no Microwave ... and Other Confessions From the Green Edge, Part 1

It's been a while since I've written, I know. I finished revisions upon revisions upon revisions of my novel last week, and I completely lost track of time. I would be lying though if I said that I hadn't been thinking about the blog. As daily news stories came in about the horrifying events in Japan, I struggled trying to think about what I wanted to say. The earthquake and tsunami were horrendous, but the nuclear plant melt-down just about did my green brain in.

When I was in elementary school, I sneaked out of bed to watch the made for TV movie "The Day After" with my babysitter. My mother had warned me not to watch it, saying the story was going to upset and scare me. This, of course, just made me want to watch it more. I've never regretted not following my mother's advice as much as I did that night. The images of a post-apocalyptic, post-nuclear war America were horrifying.

I've never really understood why countries remain focused on nuclear power. To me it's like saying: We're going to take the sun (which is way more powerful than any human being), and we're going to store it in a building and try to control its power by keeping the room cold. Of course, being human, we're prone to mistakes. But they'll only happen from time to time, right? And if we do make a mistake, just a few hundred thousand people will get fried. But hey, we've got the power of the sun.

It's just like our species to have that much hubris ...

Unfortunately, nuclear power plants are completely out of my control. When we left New York City I refused to even consider living in certain suburban towns because of their proximity to Indian Point. So now I live somewhere else ... just as close to a nuclear plant. I tell myself New England power plants are less interesting to terrorists. And for the most part, nowadays, when I think about all these dangers...I just close my eyes and stick my fingers in my ears. La la la la.

So since I can't control what goes on outside my home, I have done everything in my power to control what goes on inside.

Here are my wave-free living confessions:

1) I have no microwave
2) I have no Wifi
3) I rarely use my cell phone
4) I am in the process of getting rid of all my portable phones.

In my next blog entry, I'll get into all the reasons why I've made these choices. But for now, what you need to know is that we get along just fine without 'em. And I need to sing la la las a whole lot less.

For Your Consideration: Join a CSA

It's hard to believe, but while snow still lies on the ground of our Northern East Coast towns, nearby farmers have already begun planting their seeds for this year's crops. As part of this planting process, many of these farmers are now taking deposits for this summer's CSAs, or crop share associations.

When a friend first suggested I try a CSA I cringed at the thought. I mean who wants a huge box full of cabbage ... or worse, Kale, each week? That's how I thought it worked. When cabbage is in season, you get a box of cabbage. And you need to drive maybe thirty minutes to pick up a box full of produce that you don't even want to eat! Right?

Not quite.

Crop share boxes provide a wide range of fruits and vegetables that are in season. So while you may get Kale for three weeks in a row, you might also get fresh melon, strawberries and blueberries. I was wrong about the size, too. You don't have to buy a HUGE box, you can buy a half share, which offers plenty of vegetables for two adults and two kids. Many farms offer convenient urban pick-up locations once a week, and some are even beginning to deliver.

The idea behind a CSA is simple. You give the farm cash - in advance - for crops and this money supplements the farmer between planting and harvest. In exchange, you receive a share of the bounty.

I've never crunched the numbers on cost efficiency, but if you eat all the produce, it's probably pretty comparable. I believe that a CSA membership is about more than the bottom line, though. My family is getting to know our local farmers. We talk about our role in the farm's success and in the benefits of eating fresh. We find ourselves trying new foods and recipes. We never knew, for example, that radishes are fabulous roasted or that you can make tasty chips out of Kale.

Joining a crop share is about more than just fresh produce. It's about teaching your kids reverence for the earth and an understanding that we are all connected to this planet. If we treat our soil well, it will repay us with goods. It's also about the community you forge with your local farmers. Our first year the rain was so bad that entire tomato crops were demolished around the state. Our CSA members rallied around our farmer. In the past, I might have griped about the steep price of tomatoes at the grocery store, but now I was concerned about my farmer friends.

There are many different kinds of CSAs, too: organic, conscientious and conventional, and all will have varying prices. In our city you can join CSAs that provide eggs, meat, fish, flowers and produce. Some offer mixtures of all of the above.

So consider poking around the web to see if you can find more information about your local crop share options. It isn't always perfect, but that's the reality of farming. And when I have a week where the thought of one more bag of greens turns my stomach, I chop and freeze 'em for a lasagna or soup later on and remind myself that next week's box brings with it the promise of new eating adventures.

My Cantaloupe Garden

If you visit my garden this summer, you might see cantaloupes growing everywhere. It's not that I plan on growing fruit, it's that over the past three weeks, I've thrown into my compost not one, not two, but three whole cantaloupes. I figure with the number of seeds in there now, we're sure to have at least one plant spring up somewhere in our flower bed.

I know what you're thinking, "What kind of a wasteful person buys three cantaloupes in a row when it is completely clear that she was unable to cut and serve the first... and the second?" The kind of person who does such a thing is the same person who bought two cantaloupes on sale for the price of one earlier this week. (For the record, I cut up and served both of those immediately.)

It's not that I wanted to be wasteful, it's that those three weeks were incredibly busy with a deadline looming for a first pass at my novel revisions. There was no time to cook, never mind do laundry or clean. So we had scrambled eggs and mac n' cheese for dinner, and we pretty much ran out of underwear and socks.

I wanted to shake things up. Add some variety to our diet, but I just couldn't find time to cut the melons.

My kids are tired of the now soft apples I've been buying at the grocery store every week since our farmer's market ended. Apple slices come home from school every day — barely eaten, and yes, get tossed into the compost. I can't say I blame the kids because there's nothing worse than a mealy apple — even if it is organic and US-grown. As it turns out, my girls don't care much for oranges, tangerines or clementines either. (Citrus is the only other US-grown fruit we can find in the winter.) I threw half a dozen of those in our compost and gave the rest away to our piano teacher. (He also received a full head of greens, three green peppers, and a handful of onions.)

Mid-way through this crazy period, I relented and purchased pre-cut melon and pineapple hoping I could make sure I wasn't totally neglecting nutrition.

When I went to the basement to dump those plastic containers into our recycling bin, I was wracked with guilt. My husband had forgotten to take the recycling out the week earlier and there was a small mountain in my basement. I was horrified at how much stuff we had accumulated in just two busy weeks — cereal boxes, jars from tomato sauce, macaroni and cheese boxes, milk cartons, old art projects, and homework we did not need. We'd been so busy that we'd regressed to our old wasteful ways: tossing, tossing and tossing away. Instead of cooking bulk dried beans, I bought cans (BPA-free, of course). I bought packaged chicken nuggets, waffles, and popsicles perhaps in an effort to somehow make up for feeling neglectful during such a busy time. It was easy to slip backwards.

Being good to the planet is so more than just recycling. Imagine how much energy it's going to take to repurpose all that stuff. It doesn't matter that soda bottles turn into carpets and milk jugs into cutting board. Just because it doesn't end up in land fill, doesn't mean there won't be an eco-cost.

The biggest challenge I need to work on is reducing my waste altogether — and that's hard when I'm burning the candle at both ends. That's hard for any fast-paced family. The bad news is, there are more busy times ahead, and reducing requires a great deal of planning, careful shopping and cooking. Until my novel is sold, I'm daunted by that prospect.

So I'll just appease my guilt with the knowledge that tossing a cantaloupe ... or three ... into the compost, along with some rotten root vegetables and uneaten lettuce, will not be my worst offense this winter. At least I will have rich soil, and if we're really lucky (like, magically lucky), that soil could be home to some melon plants.