Green Talk® » children

How to Choose Eco friendly Strollers

Anna@Green Talk — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 17:36:40 +0000

Orbit Baby Eco Friendly Stroller

Welcome guest poster, Joanna Kwan.

While there is not a vast selection of green strollers on the market nowadays, a few companies have caught on the demand for Eco friendly strollers. Some international companies like Stokke and Maclaren have really stepped up and incorporated their entire producing methods to be efficient in energy as well as minimizing waste. Other companies like Orbit Baby and Bumbleride have incorporated organic and recyclable materials into their strollers.

Anna, here. I happen to have owned only Maclaren strollers when my children were small. They hold up great and are amazing. Um, I still have my stroller since I can’t part with it….

Orbit Baby is well known for their organic fabric, PVC-free rain shield as well as meeting stringent flame retardancy standards by not using toxic brominated and chlorinated chemicals, like PBBs and PBDEs that can be harmful to children. They are considered to produce the greenest strollers on the market today from their manufacturing methods to the quality of their products. It could be possible they have inspired Bumbleride to release their new line of natural strollers, which their exterior stroller fabric is made of 50% recyclable materials and 50% bamboo fiber.

Anna, here. Also, check out my article on Taga Strollerbikes, which is a bike/stroller combination. Ride with your child on errands and then convert the bike into a stroller when needed. Genius.

Selling or Donating Your Used Stroller

Picking a green stroller is just the first step, what you do with the stroller once your baby grows out of it is an essential step in re-using the stroller. If it’s in good-condition, you should either sell it or donate it to a family in need.

Anna, here. Joanna will talking about how to donate your used baby furniture and stroller in length in the next article. I am in the process of doing this as well. *Sniff* One moment they are in a crib, the next minute they are driving. Time flies.

Guidelines to Purchase a Used Stroller

If you are purchasing a used stroller, research the up-to-date safety standards under ASTM and recall list under CPSC. Also always check the product yourself first before purchasing it and make sure to get a hold of the stroller’s original instruction manual as you want to be using it correctly for safety reasons. If the stroller has lived out it’s life, you should contact a local recycling company to see if they would collect the aluminum frame of the stroller.

Joanna Kwan is a freelance writer that dotes on family values and environmental issues.

Similar Posts:

How to Be a Superhero for Planet Earth!

Anna@Green Talk — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 05:46:05 +0000

Loui Saves the Earth

Welcome Guest Poster, Alexandra Gnoske, Author of Loui Saves the Earth,

Around 70 years ago we experienced some major changes in the United States. “Better living through chemistry,” “Agribusiness,” and ”Consumerism” caused a major shift in our culture that created some of today’s major environmental issues. These changes brought plastic, pesticides, and large amounts of waste into our everyday lives.

Massive Islands of trash in the oceans, dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico, an increase in asthma, unfertile soil, toxic chemicals in our food and water, these are just some of the issues we face today that have many parents concerned about their children’s future.

However, when I look towards the future I see tremendous hope and potential. Unlike 22 years ago when I first entered the environmental field, people today are aware and concerned about the environment. Many people want to help; they want to make a positive change.

Inspiring and Empowering Families

I am here to inspire and empower people to do just that. I show families and kids that their everyday choices make all the difference for the planet through my workshop “How to Be a Superhero for Planet Earth,” my book, “Loui Saves the Earth,” and my monthly e-newsletter, CLUB LOUI.

As a mother of three I know many families are busy and stretched to their limits. I also know that children’s health and safety, which revolves around many environmental issues, is of primary importance to parents. This is why I keep things SIMPLE. In fact, I think that is the way to really make a positive impact, through simple, everyday choices.

“How to Be a Superhero for Planet Earth” is a workshop I designed for children to show them that they have the power to make a positive difference for the planet. From turning off lights and shutting off the water, to environmentally responsible lunch supplies, and cutting up plastic soda pop rings, there are a lot of positive environmental choices kids can make everyday. Kids enjoy hands on activities that reinforce simple lessons and take part in an important discussion about their impact on the planet. When kids see their choices matter, they are empowered to do more.

If you aren’t in Chicagoland you can still share the simple and inspiring story “Loui Saves the Earth“ with your kids about a boy and his dog and how they make a difference for the planet. You can get a preview of the book, and order it through Amazon, or go to RECYCLE ME to order your personalized, signed copy.

From anywhere in the U.S. you can share environmental tips and information on the simple everyday ways your family can make a difference for the planet when you sign up for CLUB LOUI (email ), a monthly e-newsletter.

It is truly a joy and privilege to work with children (and families) and experience the curiosity, energy, and excitement they feel in helping the planet, the animals, and each other.

Share Your Children’s Stories

Is your child already making simple choices to help the environment? Help empower other children by sharing their stories at the “Be a Superhero for Planet Earth” blog.

Anna here. Check out some of the cute stories on Alexandra’s blog. From the mouth of babes.

Being a Superhero for Planet Earth is about simple everyday choices. It’s truly a way of life.

Alexandra Gnoske

Alexandra Gnoske is an Environmental Expert and passionate about empowering families and children to make simple everyday choice that will help the planet. She has a Bachelor of Science in Wildlife Biology and a Juris Doctorate in Environmental Law. But most importantly, she has loved wildlife since she was a little girl, and that is what inspires her.

Anna here. Thanks Alexandra for empowering kids to make a difference. You can order Alexandra’s book, Loui Saves the Earth at the Green Talk Store and get busy empowering your kids or grandkids. Thanks for your support since every purchase at the GT Store helps me to keep delivering awesome content every week.

Join the Conversation:

How have your children inspired you to make green changes in your lives?

What small or large changes have your children made to green their world?

What have your children taught you to start making changes in your world?

What are your biggest struggles with greening your family?

Similar Posts:

Green News for 09.12.2010. Desk on Demand, College Eco Contest, BPA in Sealants

Anna@Green Talk — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 07:05:45 +0000

Photo by Fernando de Sousa.

This week we have green news sure to get up going this week. Grab a cup of Joe and start reading. From the demand desk aimed at making telecommuting the norm to BPA in your child’s sealants.

Goodbye office, hello ‘desk on demand’ I have been preaching this to any who will listen to me that companies will be downsizing their need for office space. Read on as to how IBM took this concept and reduced their office space need. Do you think this concept will take off? Would you like to telecommute?

Video Contest for College Students:

“Video Contest Invites College Students to Film “Everyday Environmentalists” for Scholarship Money. College students have a chance to win up to $3,000 in scholarships by filming or creating animation and uploading short video clips to YouTube that demonstrate the everyday, practical ways that garbage men and women help keep communities healthy and clean, protect the environment and conserve resources in their communities. The contest, which opens on September 9, 2010, is sponsored by the National Solid Wastes Management Association (NSWMA) in Washington, D.C. NSWMA represents the solid waste industry in the U.S., including firms that collect, process, recycle, extract renewable fuel and dispose of municipal solid waste.”

Atlantic County Utilities Authority adds green roofs to its list of green ideas.
(tip from Enviropolticsblogspot.com) Hoping this trend takes off but the cost of $25 a foot is really expensive.

Cotton Cloth Coated in Nanotubes Electrifies Bacteria to Purify Water via Treehugger.

Check out some of the new EcoApps for the iPhone. One of the newest is the solar app:

“Solar PV Installer is an app that fully describes the required solar panel rooftop system, Calculates system output and electricity savings and Estimates total solar panel system cost. It is designed for home and property owners as well as used by solar sales professionals plus it is Internationally accurate!”

Check out some of the other apps on their site. Do you have a favorite Eco app? Spill.

Fillings, Sealants May Leach BPA Into Kids’ Mouths. Don’t panic. Read on how you can minimize your children’s exposure. (Okay, I kind of freaked.)

So, have any green news to share? Comment away.

Similar Posts:

Countless Children Die Daily From Lack of Clean Drinking Water

Anna@Green Talk — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 03:47:25 +0000

I received the following email from the co-founder of Blog Catalog, a social media website alerting me to the fact that countless children do not have clean drinking water. Please read his email and Bloggersunite, WaterAid America & megree.com are working together to bring clean water to people who are dying because of dirty, unsanitary water.

Isn’t it unbelievable that over 1 million children a year die because they don’t have clean water; when a well can be built in a town for a few thousand dollars. WorldAid does this. They have simple solutions to this big problem. Bloggers can help and many already are helping.

If you haven’t joined or blogged about what they do, let’s help them do their jobs. The results are measurable and have a direct impact on whether a child lives or dies.

It’s so simple, and if we unite, and contribute we can help another person who isn’t as fortunate as we are. For far less than an iPhone, a mobile phone, when we come together as bloggers, as the “new media”, we can save 1 million children’s lives each year.

Please make a difference and visit

http://www.bloggersunite.org/event/wateraid-a-burden-for-thirst

Blog about this problem, write about it, list your blog on BU so that we can put an end to this craziness. We will have Action Badges up on BloggersUnite for you a little later today.”

How can you help?

Visit Megree and buy one of The Burden of Thirst photos taken by photo journalist Lynn Johnson.
Visit WaterAid America and make a donation. For $30 is enough to provide one person with safe water, improved sanitary conditions, and hygiene education.
Plan a community fundraiser. See here for ideas.
Get your company involved. See here for how your corporate can participate.
Share this article with your friends so they too can be aware of how many children go without clean water.
Blog about it, share it on Facebook, Twitter or any of the many social media site.

Let’s make a difference.

What are your thoughts after watching the above video?

Similar Posts:

The Practically Green Solution Quiz. Can You Afford Not to Take it?

Anna@Green Talk — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 17:07:48 +0000

Welcome guest poster, Susan, of Practically Green. I absolutely adore her and her new quiz on her site. Read on.

Almost four years ago, I tossed my first bottle of conventional baby lotion and banned plastic from our microwave.

My toddler son had just been diagnosed with a whole range of food and environmental allergies. This got us reading labels — and we quickly learned a lot about the impact that chemicals, hormones, antibiotics in foods, and other nasty stuff have on us and our kids.

The process was confusing, time-consuming, and complex–and it was filled with a lot of contradictory information. And that was just the cleaning, food, and personal-care stuff! When we decided to embark on a major home renovation focused on other ‘green’ things — like saving energy, saving water, reducing waste, and selecting products and services that were better for us and the planet — it got REALLY hard. So hard, I decided to do a graduate program in sustainable design to understand it better!

I learned a lot about LEED® in my courses. LEED is a system for developers, builders, and architects to earn points for incorporating green features into buildings. If they do a really good job, their projects become LEED Silver, Gold, or even Platinum. LEED® has sparked a boom in green building.

What I especially loved about LEED® was its framework, which made it easier to understand what to DO to live healthier and greener. There was only one problem with LEED®. It wasn’t helpful for the majority of decisions I was making on a daily basis as a mom. How many points for bringing bags to the grocery store? How many for ditching my petroleum-based lipstick or switching to cloth napkins? When I do these things, am I still just barely green or have I improved a lot?

I wanted LEED® for moms like me, my neighbors and friends. And that’s the vision for Practically Green: a new online service that figures out where you are today and provides a personalized list of what you could be doing to “move up”.

We try to make it comprehensive, we try to collect the best expertise and real life experience, and we try to make it fun. Here’s how it works:

Step One: Are you Level 1: Barely green? Or are you Level 10: Superbly Green? The diagnostic quiz provides a “best estimate,” but you can easily add things it missed from over 350 actions in our database.

Step Two: Make a plan to reach your personal goal based on personalized, recommended actions. Each action has points based on impact, along with why it’s green, how to do it, and recommended products and services. (My goal is to get to a 10. But I’m one of those who always wants to get a top score. Very Type-A!)

Step Three: Celebrate your accomplishments! Whether it’s getting your gold badge in health or making it to the next level–it’s a big deal and we make it a big deal! You can share your achievement with your friends too!

How am I doing?

Our four years of big efforts (a micro co-generation system) and little efforts (all-natural dish soap), adds up to 127 actions worth 4,380 points, which is “Wicked Green” or a Level 9. If I want to get to a 10, I need slightly more than 100 more points, mostly in energy.

This is where “superbly” and “practically” collide.

Two big things I could do to get there would include:

1. Reduce Air Travel Significantly: 150 energy points

This isn’t happening. My parents live in Washington State. My husband’s parents live in Florida. We are in Massachusetts. We are going to see them–and we aren’t spending 4 days with 2 kids on a train to do it.

Reduce red meat to 1x/month: 100 energy points

I’ve taken the “Meat-Free Monday” pledge and have very consciously shifted all our ground beef to ground dark turkey. But I really enjoy a good steak and pork chops. We’ve accepted the fact we’re carnivores, but we choose to Buy sustainably raised meat and settled on our 50 points for that.

(Anna, here, honestly, Susan, my boys are cavemen. They would hunt meat if they could.)

Fortunately, Practically Green encourages me to try and achieve my goals using a number of smaller, less dramatic changes too. If I go this route to the Level 10, my journey probably looks like:

Install smart power strips: 10 energy points (Anna here. See GT’s Smart Strip article.)

Line-dry laundry in summer: 25 energy points

Plant a vegetable garden: 20 energy points (caveat: I’ve done this, but before I claim the points, I want to see if I actually can grow anything!)

(Anna here. See Susan’s video on how to select the proper location for a garden. As for me, gosh, where do I begin on my drama, drama, and more drama gardening adventures? Slugs, Rabbits, crows, oh my. As well as my overambitious garden self? Won’t trade the drama for the world.)

Insulate your pipes: 20 energy points

(Anna, here again. See GT’s article about insulating your ducts and pipes. Two great minds think alike. I told you I adore Susan.)

Install insulated window treatments: 20 points

What about the 5 points left to go? I turned my attention to the health, water and stuff categories and found lots and lots to do. Here’s a fun and easy one:

Get something, instead of buying it, from Freecycle: 5 points

(Anna, here again. You KNOW I love a Freecycle, Garage Sale, or Craig’s list bargain. Used is the way to go! Where else can you buy quality for a third of the price?)

I have no illusions these actions will happen overnight, but the whole point is to just put one foot in front of the other and to keep going. When I look back at how our life has changed over time, I’m truly amazed at what we’ve accomplished. We’d dropped our electricity usage almost 70% in the winter. We have significantly reduced our toxin exposure from food and products. My son no longer snores so loud you can hear him two floors down from dust mites. We truly live more consciously and I do feel like I’m contributing to a healthier life for my kids and perhaps doing my part for the greater good.

What about you? Where are you in your green journey and what actions get you to your own goal? We’d love to hear from you and hope to see you as part of Practically Green.

Editor’s note: I took the quiz and only got an 8. Gosh, I was surprised. I thought I would do better. Just goes to show you that like everything in life, you can always up the bar.

Susan told me to sign up and find out how I could become amazingly green! I know I need to switch to cloth napkins instead of recycled content one, but I would have to buy black ones. Sometimes, I think I should give my boys a trough instead of a plate. My kitchen would be alot cleaner!

Take the quiz and let us know your score and how you can approve.Similar Posts:

The Coalition for Chemical Safety, Front for Status Quo Toxic Chemicals

Anna@Green Talk — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 03:33:35 +0000

So, would you invite toxic chemicals to the dinner table? Absolutely not, Anna. You must be thinking, do I take you to be a fool? Come on. All those character are normal every day products. Right?

Wrong. All those cute creatures pictured in the above photo are wolves in sheep clothing. Harmful, harmful chemicals. Would you bring them into your house if you knew what lurked inside them? Nor, would you wait at Disney world to meet the “Harmful Chemicals” group with names like formaldehyde. BPA. lead, just to name a few. Chemicals that could cause cancer along with a host of other disorders. Don’t be fooled by appearances. And also don’t be fooled by their front people, the chemical industry’s the Coalition for Chemical Safety, who want you to believe they have your best interest at heart.

Say, it ain’t so, Anna.

Unfortunately it is so. Watch the below video furnished to me by Janelle of Healthy Child, Healthy World , which is part of the Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families coalition, which sheds light on how the Coalition for Chemical Safety wants you to think they support the Safe Chemical Act. Gag me. (And not with a spoon…)

Remember the Wolfe in Little Red Riding Hood? You know how that story went.

Richard Denison, Ph.D., a Senior Scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund states in his article about how deceptive the Coalition of Chemical Safety can be:

“My major complaint was, not that the chemical industry was organizing itself or even seeking support from others, but rather that it was doing so through deception: Pretending to be something it was not. Never revealing who is behind the coalition, who’s paying the bills. Never revealing it was put together by one of the nation’s premier “astroturf” PR firms. And most importantly, not coming clean about its real identity to the businesses and organizations it approaches to sign up.”

It Takes a Whole Village.

I am no stranger to preaching the mantra support the Safe Chemical Act. Nor, am I a stanger to kids with issues no doubtly caused by chemicals that I might have used or been exposed to when they were in my womb. Remember, I am the one with four children with dislexia among other learning issues.

In my article in which I plead to President Obama to create an agenda to re-vamp the 1976 Toxic Substance Chemical Act (TSCA), I stated the following:

“The Environmental Working Group (“EWG”) did a study of 10 cord blood samples in 2004. They were testing for 413 toxic chemicals. What they found was that on average each sample contained over 200 toxic chemicals ranging from consumer products, pesticides, to products that were banned thirty years ago. The babies whose cord blood samples were taken were being exposed while in utero.”

Not only are the chemicals lurking in our pans, baby bottles, cleaning products, but most importantly, in our furniture, electronics and building products. That comfy chair could reek of formaldehyde. Yes, the same thing that we use to embalm the dead.

How Does it Affect our Kids?

According to the Center for Health, Justice, and the Environment (CHJE),

“Increasingly, children are being found to be hyperactive, slow to learn, and disruptive in school. The number of children in special education programs classified with learning disabilities increased 191% from 1977 to 1994.ii Asthma is a leading reason for school absenteeism and the number one chronic childhood illness. iii One in a hundred American children has an autism spectrum disorder (ASD).iv 8,000 American children are diagnosed each year with cancer,.v and dust, and in human urine, blood and breast milk.xi”[source]

I ask you, would you put a BPA ladden bottle in your baby’s mouth? Especially, if you knew the potential health effects of BPA? But, I ask, why do we have to worry about toxic chemicals in our products? Don’t we have enough on our plates?

Take Action. Tell the Chemical Companies, Enough.

So, Readers, please tell Congress to support this bill. Our children depend on us.

Similar Posts:

KIDS MAKE IT BETTER: When Life Gives You Oil Spills…

Anna@Green Talk — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 06:32:02 +0000

Welcome guest poster, Suzy Becker, author of Kids Make it Better,

It’s a weird synchronicity. The week my book KIDS MAKE IT BETTER: A WRITE-IN, DRAW-IN JOURNAL made its way into stores, disturbing photos of oil-doused ducks started cropping up all over the place. A nearly identical photograph had been the genesis of the book.

I was teaching 2nd and 3rd grades, and a bunch of my kids were upset. I asked them why, and they described the photo of the ailing duck they’d seen on the front page of The Boston Globe that morning. I put aside my lesson plan. We talked about the spill and the sea life for a little bit, and then I handed out some paper. I asked the kids another question:

“If you were in charge, if you were the President, or a scientist, or an inventor, what would you do to clean up the oil spill?”

And the kids began to write and draw. Meghan wrote, “I would get a big sponge and tie it with ropes to a helicopter. Then lower it down and soak up all the oil.” Kathryn wrote, “I would put suntan lotion on all the animals. Then take the water out, wash it in a washing machine and put it back.”

They weren’t daunted. They were busy “solving” the problem, and as each minute passed (maybe fifteen in all), they grew visibly less and less upset. Watching them work away, I realized I could put any problem in front of any roomful of kids and wind up with a roomful of solutions. Eighty classrooms later, I had the beginnings of the KIDS MAKE IT BETTER book

The oil spill problem didn’t make the final cut. But BP’s attempts to stop the leak could easily have been imagined by kids—they involve robots, a big box cover, shooting mud or possibly stuffing balls into the spill. Trouble is, so far nothing is working. We need more ideas. So why not try asking your kids for theirs?

Don’t stop there–get them to work on air pollution, fixing the hole in the ozone, or what to do with all of our garbage. Then help them put their empathy and imagination into action by coming up with and following a simple plan. (Editor Note, above is an example of a completed page 6 of the book. In addition, the action plan is free to download. You can also see the activity guide in the book layout here.)

My 5½-year-old hasn’t seen any duck photos, but now she’s heard me tell the duck story, by her count, a thousand times. Her off the cuff solution? “Why can’t they just wash the oil off the ducks with soap?”

That sounded eerily familiar. I went to my laptop to check. “Yep, mild dish soap and warm water. Genius!” She beamed.

Editor note: Pictured to the left is author, Suzy Becker. Thanks, Suzy for creating this wonderful journal and bringing it to the attention of the Green Talk readers. Readers, Suzy’s book would make a wonderful birthday gift for either your child or your children’s friends. To buy this book, see here, and help kids change the world. Has your own child, grandchild, niece or nephew come up with some solutions to help our Earth? Please let us know if the comments below.

Similar Posts:

Could Chemicals or Food Cause Son’s ADD?

Anna@Green Talk — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 17:09:13 +0000

A couple of months ago, we took Third Son to a holistic medical doctor to help us with cleaning up his body. He had been diagnosed with ADD via the Tova Test and other indications when he was young. His grades have been mediocre at best. Forget telling him more than one thing at time. He would never remember.

Over the years, Third Son’s academic record was a source of many arguments between my husband and myself. I wanted to medicate him. He did not. I know this sounds odd for of those who read Green Talk regularly that I would advocate drugs for ADD. I am at my wits end.

The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far From the Tree

Why would I be thinking about medicating my son? As I have told my loyal readers, I was diagnosed with ADD when I was young and took Dexedrine for 6 years. I know first hand what it is like to not be able to focus. I went from a D student who could not read to an A student in less than 6 month. I am sure I have other learning issues since I can’t spell and can’t sound out words, but then again all of my kids are dyslexic.

To make a long story short, this ADD kid (Moi) graduated from law school. The same one who was kicked out of the reading circle in first grade since I could not paying attention or was disruptive. Who knows? (Ask Mrs. Roar, my first grade teacher.)

It saddens me to watch my Third Son struggle and basically given up. So, we compromised and found a holistic medical doctor to see if he had food sensitivities, heavy metals accumulation, or other problems that could be causing his “fog.”

Boy, was I shocked.

We found out that he had high levels of antimony (from flame retardants, plastic bottles, etc.) and mercury.

You guys know me.

I have been the one who is constantly preaching about the dangers of chemicals in our furniture, building products and food. Pleading for a safe chemical law. So, he among other children, is suffering from our own hands. Our plastic bottle society, flame retardants, and other harmful chemicals.

Despite my urges for no more plastic water bottles in the house, my husband continued to buy them for the kids’ lunches reasoning that they needed to drink water. When Third Son’s tests came back with a high antimony level, that was it.

There are no more plastic water bottles in my house anymore.

It was the straw that broke the camel’s back. If they want water at school, then seek out a water fountain. Third Son has a stainless steel water bottle in his locker that he can fill up when needed.

Gut full of yeast

In addition, his gut was full of yeast. Probably years of antibodics for ear infections and sinus infections. The doctor restricted his sugar and milk ingestation for two months. He prescribed a yeast medication in addition to the food restrictions. He explained that yeast feeds on the sugar in milk products and sugar itself.

I have always suspected that milk did not agree with his body since I could “smell” when he had been eating milk products.

Sugar Free and Milk free Diet

A diary free and sugar free diet is a lot harder than you think. So many products have sugar in them. Look at the ingredients in that just purchased organic tomato sauce. Yep sugar. Bread. Yep Sugar. We are addicted to sugar. Almost everything has sugar in it. He wasn’t allowed to use brown rice syrup, honey, barley malt, or agave, just Stevia or Xylitol. Thank goodness that I am use to removing sugar from food recipes since First Son has JV diabetes.

Then there is dairy. It is in many food too. Don’t go running to the veggie cheese. Check the labels for casein, milk, whey, or milk protein. See here for a complete list of ingredients to avoid for a dairy free diet.

My Milk and Sugar Free Finds

For weeks, I made homemade bread with my bread machine. I used King Arthur’s organic white whole wheat flour and added Xylitol rather than sugar since he would rather die then eat whole wheat bread. Since this particular brand is ”white,” and more bland than whole wheat, he complained less. Personally, I like the darker whole wheat better but if you have a white bread lover, this King Arthur brand might do the trick.

And what kid does not love tomato sauce? I made homemade tomato sauce from canned organic plum tomatoes since my frozen stock of homemade tomatoes ran out. Finally, hubby found a sugar free tomato sauce at Whole Foods.

He so wanted pizza. A teenage staple. Bread machines make amazing dough. Add some soy cheese (make sure it is dairy free,) tomato sauce, and you had yourself a pizza!

Sugar free corn muffins and sugar free brownies (subbed rice milk for milk and Xylitol for sugar substitute). Some recipes were hits and others duds.

What about salad dressing? Thank goodness, he likes salad. I made him a Good Season Italian Dressing clone. He ended up not using it. (Sign.)

I even made him Crockpot sugar free ketchup. Very easy to make. (And found a new sugar, gluten free blog to follow to boot.)

He was a trooper. Did it make a difference? He lost some weight, but he was already skinny to begin with. We also found out he was taking only half of his yeast medicine. So, not all of his yeast was killed. Is he able to focus more? Same. But we are still watching what he is eating, and the doctor gave him a rest before we try the yeast diet again.

Heavy Metals Should Only Be For Rock Groups

The next step will be chelation to remove the high levels of antimony and mercury in his body. The doctor feels that this heavy concentration may be causing brain fog. When I inquired as to where Third Son would have obtained such high levels, he said flame retardants and also pointed to my mouth which was full of mercury fillings. (Had them removed several years ago.) Readers, if you recall the EWG tested blood cord samples and found that many toxins were passed through the placenta from the mothers to unborn children. In this article, I reported,

“When EWG matched these chemicals up against their toxicity databases, they found that 134 of these chemicals cause cancer, 151 are associated with birth defects, 154 are associated with hormone disruption, 186 are associated with infertility, 130 immune disruptors, and 158 associated with neurotoxins. Although this amount of associated disruptors adds up beyond the 200 chemicals noted above, many of the chemicals have multiple effects.”

So, could I have caused his issues? Unfortunately, yes. Inadvertently.

Breathing Issues

Third Son constantly breaths through his mouth. I have always wondered if his sleep is interrupted. The only time he could breath through his nose is when he was in the Luray Caverns in Virgina. The Doctor explained that all the minerals in the cavern air helped him to breathe. He suggested inhaling Himalayan Pink Salt. (Post to follow.)

I will keep you posted about his progress.

So, Readers:

have you tried chelation?
what natural cures have you found help ADD?
any advice?

Thanks Readers, for your help.

Photo by Chris Corwin.

Similar Posts: