MomsRising Blog » food

‘New’ pesticides harmful to bees & children

Kristin Schafer — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 01:41:08 +0000

You’d think a pesticide based on flowers would be harmless, right? The promoters of synthetic pyrethroids — which mimic the natural pyrethrum extracted from chrysanthemums — certainly want us to think so. But once again, the latest batch of “safer” pesticides are not as harmless as we thought, and pose particular risks to children.

Unfortunately, EPA seems to be turning a blind eye to emerging evidence, and is poised to open the floodgates to more pyrethroid products and uses. We need to tell them it’s not a good idea.

Pyrethroids exploded onto the market more than a decade ago, and are now in widespread use on pets, in homes and gardens, and in agricultural fields. But studies exploring our levels of exposure and the long term health effects have only bubbled up in the past few years.

And the findings raise some serious red flags. A 2010 study on exposure levels, for example, found that more than 70% of us have been exposed to the pesticides, with children facing the highest levels.

Children, bees & poisoning incidents

Our colleagues at Beyond Pesticides have been keeping close tabs on the emerging science of pyrethroids, including impacts of low dose exposure on puberty, the prevalence of the chemical in daycare dust, and impacts of the “new” pesticides on bees.

As we reported in GroundTruth last spring, in early February 2011 a careful, solid study on prenatal exposure found that children whose mothers were exposed to higher levels of pyrethroids during pregnancy were three times more likely to have developmental delays.

A few years back, The Center for for Public Integrity reported that the new, supposedly safer pesticides now lead the pack in terms of number of poisoning incidents nationwide, and the number of moderate to serious incidents — more than 6,000 — is significantly higher than any other group of bug killers. Huh. Maybe not so safe after all.

Tell EPA not to ignore the evidence

In early November, EPA issued its evaluation of the “cumulative risk” of pyrethroids and pyrethrins (the naturally derived variety). Astonishingly, they concluded that these pesticides “do not pose risk concerns for children or adults,” and are proposing to green light product expansion.

As our colleagues at Beyond Pesticides note, this finding ignores a wealth of independent data not only on a range of human health effects, but also on the onset of insect resistance.

So not only are the risks higher than originally believed, but now questions about whether the products even work are emerging as bugs evolve to resist them. Sound familiar?

Take Action » EPA is accepting public comments until February 8. Please sign PAN’s petition today, telling EPA that increased use of synthetic pyrethroids is unnecessary and puts children in harm’s way.

A version of this post appeared previously on GroundTruth.

How to Host a Green Super Bowl Party

Claire Moshenberg — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 06:20:07 +0000

Super Bowl Sunday is around the corner! Keep toxic chemicals out of your Super Bowl bash by making a few simple tweaks to your game day plan. Don’t worry: You don’t have to lose any of those traditional (insanely delicious) football-watching-foods. Try these top 5 easy tips for greening your Super Bowl party:

Skip the cans: Limit the BPA in your game day snacks by limiting your canned ingredients, or choosing BPA free alternatives. Soak beans overnight and boil them the next day for baked beans or bean dip. If you’re making chili, avoid canned tomatoes or tomato paste and look for boxed or jarred alternatives. You can also replace canned tomatoes with cooked fresh tomatoes. For beverages, Healthy Child, Healthy World recommends choosing beer and soda in glass bottles instead of canned if possible.

Less packaging: Look for ways to reduce the amount of plastic and packaging you purchase for your party. Save money, and avoid packaging, by buying bulk snacks, sweets, and ingredients. Steer clear of overly packaged convenience produce, like prewashed lettuce, premade carrot sticks, or individually wrapped fruits or veggies. These items often carry a higher price tag. Look for loose produce at your supermarket, or use this tool to find a local farmer’s market. Skip plastic tubs or bags by using minimally packaged ingredients to make one of your favorite snack foods at home, like potato chips or salsa.

Smarter produce: Veggies may not seem like a big part of your Superbowl menu. But a lot of traditional game day foods feature a few pieces of produce: cut up veggies for all those dips, chopped onions and peppers to top off a bowl of chili, celery sticks cozied up next to chicken wings. Remember to rub your fruits and veggies for 30 to 60 seconds under warm running water. Wash inedible peels; even though you discard the peel, cutting into the fruit or peeling the fruit can transfer chemicals into the fruits flesh through your knife. For edible peels, peeling non-organic fruits and vegetables is an easy way to avoid the chemicals that are absorbed into the peel.

Rethink disposables: If you can lose the disposable silverware and plates, that’s great. If you can’t, what about losing one of them? Keep your disposable plates, but use regular silverware. Use the restaurant trick of keeping a bowl of hot water by the sink and dump used silverware in the bowl so it’s rinsed and ready for the dishwasher. Or add dishsoap to the water and give your soapy silverware a quick scrub and rinse when the party is over. Try bamboo or unbleached recycled paper products for dishes and napkins. Remember to make recycling obvious by clearly marking your recycling bin.

Lose the shoes: Lower your toxic chemical exposures by asking your guests to leave their shoes at the door. Lead-contaminated soil from the outside creates the majority of lead dust inside our homes. Leaving your shoes at the door can cut your lead dust levels by 60 percent, and also reduce your exposure to pesticides, dust mites, and more. Create a designated space for shoes by the door and make it obvious to your guests by putting up a sign, placing a mat in the space, or putting a few pairs of your own shoes there.

More Non-toxic Tips Tuesdays:

Do you have any green Super Bowl party tips or recipes? Leave them in the comments, or visit our Facebook page and share them with the MomsRising community.

A Non-toxic Kitchen Makeover

Claire Moshenberg — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:28:27 +0000

When I first started writing about toxic chemicals, a funny thing would happen. Every few weeks, after devouring a new study or article, I would race through my apartment, bagging up the series of surprisingly toxic products that lived in each room. At the end of this mad dash, my sense of accomplishment quickly turned into a sense of doom: There was no way I could afford to replace everything. Actually, at that point, there was no way I could afford to replace anything. Those bags never made it to the garbage can; I unpacked them every time.

Taking toxic chemicals out of your home can feel incredibly overwhelming. But you don’t have to throw everything away, and you don’t have to throw out your budget. Take small steps. Make changes that make sense for your budget. Don’t be too hard on yourself. Over time, I stopped making that frenzied, and ultimately unhelpful, race through my apartment. Instead, I found simple, inexpensive (often free) changes I could make to take toxic chemicals out of my home. Recently, we discussed easy tips to give your bathroom a non-toxic makeover. This week, lets take a look at simple solutions for taking toxic chemicals out of your kitchen

Cleaning supplies: Give your kitchen cleaning supplies an inexpensive nontoxic upgrade by making DIY versions (don’t worry: these are simple, two ingredient fixes):

Garbage Disposal Cleaner: Try this recipe from the Smart Mama–Combine water and distilled white vinegar in ice cube trays and use the frozen cubes as a homemade disposal cleaner.
Sink cleaner: Use Savvy Brown’s sink cleaning solution by scrubbing a dirty sink with a simple mix of vineger and baking soda.
Oven cleaner: A simple paste made from baking soda and water is an excellent oven cleaner. Follow these steps from Healthy Child, Healthy World to clean your oven the non-toxic way.

Cooking materials: One easy way to reduce toxics in your cookware is to think about which pot or pan you use the most and focus on making that the safest. If you are in the market for new cookware, try these tips on materials from Planet Home:

Glass: Ovenproof glass is “inexpensive, reusable, and recyclable.” While it’s great for baking, most glass can not be used on the stove.

Ceramic: Make sure it’s lead-free, and skip painted ceramic dishes in particular unless you’re certain that they don’t contain lead.

Stainless steel: Aim for completely stainless steel if possible; these versions are the least likely to leach components into cooking foods.

Other durable, nontoxic materials include cast iron, copper, and enamel-coated cast iron. If you are currently using pans with a nonstick coating, make sure to replace them once the coating has been scratched or torn.

Tap water: If you’re in the market for a water filter, the Environmental Working Group’s water filter guide will help you choose the filter that’s right for you and your budget needs. If not, there are a few easy tips you can use to make your tap water safer:

Always cook with and drink cold water from the tap.
Let water for a minute in the morning before you use it.
The Green Guide recommends placing an open container of water in the fridge for a few hours, which helps filter out chlorine, and let water run for a full minute before you use it for cooking or drinking.

Wash everything thoroughly: The best way to detox your fruits and veggies is to make sure they’re thoroughly cleaned so that you’re not consuming any chemicals that are lingering on the skin. This is especially important for non-organic produce.

Rub your fruits and veggies for 30 to 60 seconds under warm running water. Not sure how to time 30 seconds? It’s about the length of time it takes to sing “Happy Birthday” twice in your head.
Wash inedible peels; even though you discard the peel, cutting into the fruit or peeling the fruit can transfer chemicals into the fruits flesh through your knife.
Try a scrub, but don’t waste money on pricey commercial versions. Check out this guide to washing produce by Mama in the Kitchen; it has two simple, vinegar based and salt based scrubs that you can make at home.

Making the most of your produce: Fruits and vegetables are an essential part of any healthy diet. Try to choose the healthiest produce for your budget, and make it last, with these easy tips:

The Dirty Dozen is a list by the Environmental Working Group of the most highly pesticide contaminated fruits and vegetables. If you can’t buy organic versions of these items, that’s okay. Try to reduce your consumption of them if possible and make sure to stringently follow the cleaning tips listed above. Or, swap out Dirty Dozen items with produce from the Clean 15; this list from the Environmental Working Group shows the conventionally grown fruits and veggies with the least pesticide contamination.
This guide shows you how to store fruits and vegetables so they’re less likely to spoil quickly, and how soon you should eat them after purchase.
If you find a great deal at your local supermarket on organic produce, why not create your own frozen food? The National Center for Home Food Preservation gives you a rundown of how to freeze specific fruits and vegetables so you can store and freeze your produce safely.

Mad Libs for Mad Moms

Claire Moshenberg — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 18:02:44 +0000

If there was a Hall of Fame for road trip games, Mad Libs would be number one. A word nerd from the get-go, I loved these books of swiss-cheesed sentences, blank spaces waiting to be filled with the comedic stylings of my easily amused backseat gang (“The Hippo ate a copy machine and walked into a punch bowl.” Can you believe it?! Hilarious!).

Vintage kids games are fun; but vintage legislation is not. Sadly, when it comes to protecting our kids from toxic chemicals, there’s a dangerous mega Mad Libs-sized blank space where comprehensive toxic chemicals reform should be. And as we all know, protecting our kids from toxics chemicals is no road trip game. It’s serious business.

Fill in the blank for families! Tell us why you want comprehensive chemicals reform: “I want comprehensive chemicals reform because ______________.”

Okay, so it’s not as funny as a hippo walking into a punch bowl. In fact, your fill-in-the-blank answer may not be funny at all. It might be very serious.

As you’ve likely guessed, this is about more than a Mad Lib game. We’ll be delivering the answers you submit to leaders as we urge them to fix our broken chemical system. And the voices and ideas from parents across the nation, combined together, are a powerful force for change. Every submission makes a difference and adds up. (So feel free to forward this to friends and family so they can act too).

That’s right, we’re compiling your fill-in-the-blank messages and bringing them straight to the top so Congress can know why families need comprehensive chemicals reform. Click here to add your message!

The time to act is now. Our current chemicals legislation, the Toxic Substances Control Act, has not been updated since 1976. Back then, we didn’t know as much about how toxic chemicals can migrate from the materials and products in which they’re used – including furniture, plastics, and food cans – into our bodies. Our broken system leaves us exposed to countless toxic chemicals every day, chemicals that put our families at risk for cancer, learning disabilities, infertility, and more. We need comprehensive chemicals reform because we can’t protect our kids and families from toxics without the help of federal legislation.

*Share your experience today with us–and with Congress–by clicking here to fill in this question: “I want comprehensive chemicals reform because ______________.”

All of your feedback will be compiled into a book for Congress. We’ll personally present it to legislators as we educate them about the need for an update of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). An update to TSCA would provide vigorous oversight of chemical use to ensure all products are safer, and it would give the federal government enough authority to require that chemicals be tested for safety before they are put into the products we use every day.

Sharing the personal experiences of parents makes a huge difference when we’re talking to legislators of all stripes. In fact, they are our strongest legislative tool. Click here to share what you think with Congress by answering this question: “I want comprehensive chemicals reform, because_________.”

Tell us–and national leaders–today why you want comprehensive chemicals reform. And make sure to pass this along to your friends and families. The more voices we have, the bigger the impact!

Together we can build a safer and healthier nation for all of our children.

Top 5 Tools for a Non-toxic Year

Claire Moshenberg — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 22:32:37 +0000

Happy new year! How are your new years resolutions going? Last week, we talked about a few ideas for non-toxic New Years resolutions. If you’re trying one of these resolutions, testing a non-toxic resolution of your own, or just recommitting yourself to detoxing your life in the new year, these simple (and inexpensive!) tools will make your new non-toxic life a little easier. Here are our top 5 tools for a non-toxic year:

1) A water filter: The Environmental Working Group’s water filter guide will help you choose the filter that’s right for you and your budget needs. If you’re not in the market for a filter, the Green Guide recommends placing an open container of water in the fridge for a few hours, which helps filter out chlorine, and let water run for a full minute before you use it for cooking or drinking. Make sure you filter your water if you’re boiling water for tea or soup. Use your freshly filtered water to whip up a nontoxic acne treatment by steaming your face over a pot of hot water with chamomile, lavender, or thyme. Flush the drains in your kitchen and bathroom with boiling water. Create a home air freshener by adding cinnamon, herbs, or citrus peels to a small pot of boiling water.

2) White vinegar: White distilled vinegar is more than a kitchen staple: It’s a cleaning life saver. Combine white distilled vinegar with water for an all purpose rinse, or freeze vinegar and water into ice cubes and use them as a garbage disposal cleaner. Check out our guide to DIY non-toxic cleaning supplies for more ideas.

3) Soap: Invest in safer soap! A good liquid castile soap can be used in homemade cleaning supplies, as a face wash, body wash, and as a simple hand soap. Check the label when you’re buying liquid castile soap; Women’s Voices for the Earth recommends avoiding sodium lauryl (laureth) sulfate (SLS) and Diethanolamine (DEA).

4) Baking soda: Mix this common baking supply with water to create an acne-fighting mask. Combine baking soda with vinegar to make a simple toilet bowl cleaner, or add a ½ cup of baking soda to your laundry as a fabric softener replacement.

5) On the go tools: Download free apps to help you make safer, non-toxic choices when it comes to everything from toys to food to sunscreen. Visit Healthy Stuff, the Good Guide, and the Environmental Working Group to find handy on-the-go-tools. If you don’t have a smart phone, there are great printable tools you can slip in your wallet. Download portable versions of EWG’s Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce, the Toxic Trio guide to non-toxic nail polish from the California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative, or the Breast Cancer Fund’s series of non-toxic tip cards.

More Non-toxic Tips Tuesdays:

Do you have any tips on non-toxic tools for the new year? Leave them in the comments, or visit our Facebook page and share them with the MomsRising community.

2011: A Year of Non-toxic Tips

Claire Moshenberg — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 14:33:14 +0000

It can feel like a toxic world out there, but MomsRising is here to help. Every Tuesday on the MomsRising blog, you can find new information on how to eliminate dangerous chemicals and toxins that are in every day products. Topics have ranged from choosing sunscreen and beauty products, to making a green baby or wedding registry, to detoxifying dorm rooms and non-toxic one ingredient swaps to make cleaning products from pantry staples. Our weekly guides break down the information moms need into easy-to-understand, realistic tips for daily life. We can’t avoid all chemicals, but a few simple changes at home or in your routine at the store can make a big difference.

Join us here on the MomsRising blog in the New Year every Tuesday for more non-toxic tips! In the meantime, here’s the full list of our 2011 tips. Enjoy, and have a happy New Year!

The Basics:

Beauty:

Home:

Work:

Detox Your Workday and Green Your Office

School:

Holidays/Special Occasions:

Food:

5 Non-toxic New Years Resolutions

Claire Moshenberg — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 18:17:21 +0000

Go to the gym. Get organized. Start a new hobby. There’s a list of three common new years resolutions, which doubles as a list of resolutions I’ve made and haven’t kept a hundred times over. But my non-toxic resolutions? Those I’ve kept, because I’ve made them easy and concrete. Two years ago, I started using non-toxic handsoap, since I wash my hands several times a day. The year before, I replaced two frequently-used nonstick pans with stainless steel alternatives. This year, I’m going to improve my indoor air quality with an air filter, a few plants, and a window opening routine.

Skip those worn out resolutions this year, and try an easy, inexpensive non-toxic resolution instead. Here are the top five tips for creating your own non-toxic New Years Resolution:

1) Lose the shoes: Lower your toxic chemical exposures by leaving your shoes at the door. Lead-contaminated soil from the outside creates the majority of lead dust inside our homes. Leaving your shoes at the door can cut your lead dust levels by 60 percent, and also reduce your exposure to pesticides, dust mites, and more.

2) Open a window: We spend most of our time indoors, which is why cleaning up your indoor air quality is one of the most important things you can do to avoid toxic chemicals. Luckily, the best way to clean up your indoor air is also easy and free: Open a window for five minutes every day. This simple action significantly lowers levels of indoor air pollutants. Try to do this daily, and not just at home: If you can, open a window at work for a few minutes too.

3) Replace one thing: For most of us, it’s just not possible to replace all of the items in our homes that contain toxic chemicals. That’s okay. Instead of getting overwhelmed, why not focus on replacing one thing that you use a lot? Here are a few suggestions:

Your most used nonstick pan: Think about what recipes you cook the most, and what cookware you use for those dishes, and focus on replacing that cookware. That way the foods you eat the most will also be the foods cooked in the healthiest way
Hand soap: You wash your hands several times a day, so make sure you’re not exposing yourself to chemicals each time. Check out the Skin Deep database for non-toxic handsoap recommendations.
All purpose cleaner: Your most used cleaner should be your least toxic. This is an easy, cheap fix: Use our DIY Cleaning Supply Guide to whip up a simple, two or three ingredient cleaner (Don’t worry about buying supplies; These are all ingredients you probably already have in your house, like water.)

4) Learn a skill: Easy, DIY skills will make your non-toxic journey smoother, and less expensive. This year, pick a skill that will help you detox your life, like:

Learn how to cook your own beans or soup at home: Consume less canned foods, and less BPA, by learning how to make one thing at home that you usually buy canned. Don’t worry about learning how to make everything at home! Just focus on one recipe or skill and master it.)
Master a DIY non-toxic cosmetic or cleaning supply: Not the crafty type? Don’t worry, you can use these one ingredient DIY swaps instead of tackling a big project.
Pick up a good habit: Wash your makeup brushes. Regularly filter your water. Try one of the two habits listed at the top of this post.

5) Make a Big Change: Why are toxic chemicals in our cosmetics, cleaning supplies, kids toys, and more? This year, don’t get overwhelmed: get active. If you make one non-toxic resolution, take five minutes to make a change our outdated chemicals legislation. Here are a few ways:

Learn more: Find out more about our current chemicals legislation with this comprehensive guide from Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families.
Take action: Click here to take action and ask your Senators to support the Safe Chemicals Act.
Tell your story: Become a part of our story map by clicking here to answer the question “I want comprehensive toxic chemical reform because____________.”

Fall 2011: A Season of Non-Toxic Tips

Claire Moshenberg — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 16:25:19 +0000

The holiday season is in full swing, and for much of the country, winter coats and mittens are here to stay for the next few months. But even though it’s felt like winter for a while, today is the official last day of Fall. Lets celebrate the end of the season by taking a look back at all of this season’s non-toxic tips:

My Holiday Wish: Labeling on Genetically Engineered Foods

Robyn OBrien — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 15:45:46 +0000

The holidays can be like candy canes-they’re sticky, they’re sweet, with a whole lot of little surprises.

But worrying about the ingredients in candy canes is the last thing any parent wants to have to think about at this time of year. Yet with the growing number of children with diabetes, obesity, allergies, and cancer, more of us are forced to turn our attention to the ingredient lists–on candy canes and just about every other processed food we feed out families. We’re quickly learning that everything from innocent stocking-stuffers to the cornbread on the dinner table are now made from genetically engineered (GE) ingredients.

Photo courtesy of Lyndsay Stradtner, Life in Motion Photography

More than two-thirds of processed foods in the United States now contain GE ingredients, for which there have not been any human health studies. But if you go to the grocery store, you would never know from looking at the package. There’s no warning sign, there’s no symbol to show that no human trials have ever been done, and no mention that other countries aren’t using these ingredients. That’s because the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s current policy does not require products that use GE ingredients to be labeled, just the way that tobacco companies originally insisted that no warning labels be used on their products either.

That is why, as a concerned mother, one of the millions that now has a child with food allergies, I support the Just Label It! Campaign and why over 400,000 people to date, people like you–from moms, to State Senators, to teachers to small-business owners—have contacted the FDA to ask it to label genetically engineered foods because we have a right to know what’s in our food.

A GE food is usually a plant or animal that has had its DNA altered at the molecular level in a lab to include genes that produce foreign compounds from other plants, animals, viruses, or bacteria. This genetic alteration is not found in nature and cannot occur naturally. Nearly 90 percent of corn and 94 percent of soy grown in the U.S. are from GE seeds, thought the safety of GE crops for human consumption has not been adequately assured.

And while 50 countries, including the European Union and Japan have laws mandating that genetically engineered foods be labeled, the U.S. does not have such a requirement because the companies producing these products have concluded that there is not enough evidence to show that they cause harm. No evidence of harm does not mean that they are safe. And even with no independent studies, no human trials, and industry claiming “no evidence of harm,” public opinion polls still indicate that over 90 percent of voters support the labeling of GE foods.

Which is why this holiday season, I am so grateful for organizations like Just Label It, which are helping parents around the country take precautionary steps to protect the health of their children from products that have never been proven safe. Our children deserve more than to be part of one of the largest human trials in history, they deserve a label on these foods, the same label that is seen in other countries.

But until that label is mandated, the best option to avoid GE foods is to eat less processed foods; to buy USDA certified organic, as the organic standards prohibit the use of genetically engineered ingredients; to look for Non-GMO Project Verified Non-GMO products; and to buy whole foods such as fruits and vegetables.

Let’s make this the last holiday season that fails to give American parents the same right to know what they are feeding their children that has been given to parents in other countries and that fails to label these new ingredients in our foods. It’s time to place the same value on the lives of our families, to speak out and ask the FDA to label genetically engineered foods, to show our farmers that there is a demand for products that have not been genetically engineered, to create a transparent food system. Join me in reminding the FDA that as Americans, we have a right to know what’s in our food.

Robyn O’Brien authored “The Unhealthy Truth: How Our Food Is Making Us Sick and What We Can Do About It.” A former food industry analyst and mother of four, Robyn brings insight and detailed analysis to her research into the impact that the global food system is having on the health of our children. She founded www.allergykidsfoundation.org and was named by Forbes as one of “20 Inspiring Women to Follow on Twitter.” The New York Times has described her as “Food’s Erin Brockovich.” Watch Robyn’s TEDx Austin talk here or learn more at www.robynobrien.com.

Non-toxic Tips for Winter Coughs & Colds

Claire Moshenberg — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 15:29:10 +0000

I used to catch every cold that came into town. Office colds? Check. Office colds from my boyfriend’s office? Colds from family/friends/strangers schools/offices/jousting tournaments? Check, check, check. My winters were a series of tissue boxes, cough syrups, and congested mutterings that could be summed up as “This again?” or “Oh come on nose. Get it together.”

My years of grumpy congestedness have made me a bit of a cold prevention expert. No one likes to be sick and grumbley, especially during the holidays. And cold/cough product manufacturers tend to prey on that this time of year, with commercials full of anxious moms, sick kids and grownups, and pricey, chemical laden products packaged in plastic. Don’t fall into an expensive, antibacterial trap. Try these tips and tricks for cold/cough prevention, and safer cold/cough treatment:

Push fluids: My mom is a nurse, and no matter what ails you, “push fluids” (aka drink lots and lots of water) is her battle cry. Drinking lots of water helps flush your system out, and is an important piece of your cold/cough avoidance plan, as well as your cold/cough treatment. If you’re drinking a lot of water, make sure it’s safe by using a filter. For a decent filter at a decent price, the Environmental Working Group recommends a carbon filter. Their water filter guide will help you choose the filter that’s right for you and your budget needs. Make sure you also filter your water if you’re boiling water for tea or soup. If you don’t have a filter, the Green Guide recommends placing an open container of water in the fridge for a few hours, which helps filter out chlorine, and let water run for a full minute before you use it for cooking or drinking.

Replace your soups: Soup is a surefire helper in the fight against sore throats and congestion. Skip the BPA that often makes an appearance in canned soups by making your own or choosing soups that are jarred or boxed. Parent Earth has several kid friendly soup recipes that can be whipped up for lunch or dinner. Invent your own simple soup by adding beans, veggies, and/or grains to boxed broth or easy homemade broth.

Cold/Cough DIYs: Antiseptic sprays? Cough drops? Cold medicine? There are easy DIY solutions for all of these.

Cough drops: The Pistachio Project shows you how to whip up a batch of homemade honey cough drops.
Antiseptic spray: Keep your home clean without chemical-laden antibacterial sprays. Try this antiseptic spray recipe from Healthy Child, Healthy World.
Cold relief: Dr. Greene has an easy recipe for homemade cold relief that’s made out of ingredients you probably already have in your pantry and fridge.

Keep it clean: Forget what the commercials say—You don’t need to douse your home in antibacterial cleaning sprays. Germs do like to hang out on surfaces in our homes though, so make sure that you routinely clean items in your home that your family regularly handles. This includes game controllers, remote controls, cell phones, countertops, door knobs, and keyboards. Our guide to making your own cheap and easy nontoxic cleaning supplies will help you keep your cleaning supply cabinet stocked and free of toxic chemicals.

Do you have tips for staying healthy during cold/cough season? Leave them in the comments, or visit our Facebook page and share them with the MomsRising community.

This blog is a part of the Healthy Child, Healthy World blog network.