I hear from a lot of desperate parents whose babies and kids suffer from eczema. An estimated 10-20% of infants and kids have eczema nowadays. Maybe there is more awareness about it now (when I was a kid, we probably often passed it off as a bad case of “dry skin”), or maybe it is…
This has been a long winter for us on the East Coast and finally it feels like spring (or even summer) the last few days. I love this time of year with the return of plants, flowers, sunshine, and warmer temperatures. But the whole truth is that I also get a little intimidated by the…
Today it’s 70 degrees here on the East Coast! The spring green onions are starting to peek out of the grass. My grandson and I took a long walk and we were delighted to find lots of little purple crocuses, one of my favorite spring flowers. It’s only March, but spring is coming, and you can feel it…
As a parent, grandmother and educator, I have spent a lot of time around young children. I have observed that they are blessed with active imaginations. Active, creative play helps children learn about the world. We can support creative play by offering children toys and materials from nature and by making opportunities for them to spend time in…
As a health coach, I hear a lot of excuses (most of which are valid!) for why people don’t eat more healthful food. But lack of time and money is by far the most common. My clients say, “I don’t have time to shop and cook, and healthy food is so expensive!” Sound familiar? Recently, football superstar Tom…
Okay, this a trick question, but it’s one we are asked a lot. The rice cereal that is best for your baby’s first food is…none. Our readers often ask why we haven’t done a Safe Product Guide on rice cereal for babies. Most pediatricians still recommend rice cereal as the first food, because it’s gluten-free and almost…
(First, read my disclosures page.) When I recently read some posts on social media that lauded companies that aren’t using BPA in the linings of their cans, I couldn’t help but wonder…what are these companies using instead? So one of my staffers spent the last couple of weeks calling the makers of products that come in BPA-free cans—she…
“Screen time” is something both of my children struggle to manage for their own children. As a grandmother who spends a lot of time with my grandsons, I feel their pain! It often feels like a constant battle to keep Felix, Theo, Wolfie, and Lincoln away from TVs, iPads, and phones! Years ago, I read Richard…
If you’re a regular reader, you know how much I try to avoid processed sugar. I am very busy, and I like to keep my energy level consistent and high throughout the day, without resorting to caffeine. In the summer, I will sometimes have an ice cream cone, and even less often I will order a…
It’s hot and so humid here in Pennsylvania, and most people in my town think I am crazy for not having central air conditioning in my home. Having lived in the mountains of Vermont for most of my adult life, air conditioning was never an issue. While it was warm during the middle of the…
We all know that what you eat is critical to maintaining a healthy weight. Experts often contradict each other in terms of what the ideal diet is, and I have experimented with many dietary theories over the years and I have found that no single plan is right for everyone all of the time. We all can agree,…
My son and his wife just added another grandson to our family (bringing the total to 4, with nary a girl in sight!). I wanted to cook something for their little family the day they brought baby Lincoln home, so I looked for something comforting and filling that I could easily transport and that would…
When I first got into natural healing and health in the 1970’s, one the first books I read was How to Get Well: A Handbook of Natural Healing by Dr. Paavo Airola. In that book, Dr. Airola recommended cow’s milk (whole, raw, organic) as a health food if your ancestors used milk regularly. For example, I am…
If you’re trapped inside because of the snow, here’s a recipe for a nourishing split pea soup–and it couldn’t be simpler! (You don’t even have to chop the onion more than twice.) The ingredients are probably items you have in your pantry, so no need to brave the around-the-block line at Trader Joe’s. Ingredients: Instructions:…
This post originally appeared a guest blog for Dr. Alan Greene’s website. Have you ever ordered a “healthy” item from a fast-food menu? A salad at these places might consist of a pile of anemic iceberg lettuce topped with chicken fingers and drowning in ranch dressing. An educated consumer would know this isn’t health food, of…
I’m in the middle of working on a post on Goldfish Vs. Cheddar Bunnies (for all the smug moms like me who think the latter is WAY superior to the former). As I am reminded of the fact that neither is a health food, I wanted to share this wonderful cracker recipe that my health…
As a health coach, I work with lots of busy moms–and most of them complain of feeling exhausted. While getting more and higher quality sleep is vital to feeling good during the day, there is a lot you can do with what and how you eat to give yourself more energy. Here are the tips…
Because I am a mother, grandmother, and teacher/educator (and always consider myself a student of life), September signifies the beginning of a new school year and a time when lunches often move from being made and eaten at home to being packed and eaten elsewhere. And because I believe that food choices can be powerful…
My friend L. wrote to me the other day, and told me she was boiling beef tallow to use on her newborn’s dry patches, and that her husband, “as usual, thinks I’m insane.” While L. did have a natural birth and encapsulated her plancenta, she also lives in Manhattan and wears high heels and is…
Many (in fact, most!) diet books recommend avoiding carbohydrates and particularly grains. Grains have been cultivated by ancient people and eaten for thousands of years. My opinion is that whole grains contain many nutrients essential for human development, vitality, and prevention of disease. (I do feel it’s important to soak all grains before cooking to…
When my first grandson, Felix, turned two, we shared our favorite sprouted carrot cake recipe on this blog (Maia made the cake for that party). When Maia’s second baby, Wolfie, turned one a few weeks ago, I offered to make the cake (Maia is quite busy with Gimme the Good Stuff and two active boys out of…
My husband is a stem cell research scientist, and people always find this impressive. And yes, I definitely find myself bragging about it whenever everyone else is talking about their husbands’ work in private equity or whatever. But secretly I find most topics around stem cell research to be kind of boring, or at least too…
1. Under the Nile / 2. MilkBarn / 3. Hanna Andersson / 4. Kate Quinn Organics If you’re a Gimme the Good Stuff reader, you likely to try to eat organically grown food and are taking steps to eliminate toxins in your home. So it probably seems like a no-brainer to insist on organic cotton…
My last two blog posts have been about vegetables—or rather, the absence of vegetables in kids’ diets and how that’s REALLY OKAY. If your child turns up his nose at the green stuff, don’t sweat it. Many other plant foods will be more appealing to kids. We’ve talked about fruit and we’ve talked about nuts. Now, let’s turn…
“…for fruits and nuts and berries that grow along the way, we thank you we thank you, every day…” When my kids were little we used to sing this verse before meals. As parents, we often worry about whether our children are eating enough vegetables, which is a valid concern. Most children, however, enjoy fruit,…
Each family has their own unique (and quirky!) traditions when it comes to the holidays. In our family, the kitchen is where we join together and indulge in some fun (and healthy) activities, with all generations present. Maia and I have always loved baking together. So, when she and her boys were visiting for the…
Here it is again, that time of year when kids seem to be sick more often than they are well. Maia’s baby, Wolf, is only 4 months old, and the poor guy has already had at least four colds, courtesy of his big brother, Felix. Maia asked me to share, from my perspective as a…
As you probably know, traditional dry cleaning involves toxic chemicals. Dry cleaners use tetrachloroethylene (commonly known as “perc”), which is classified as a probable human carcinogen, with exposure conferring an increased risk of cervical and esophageal cancers, lymphoma, vision problems, and Parkinson’s disease. Perc enters the bloodstream via respiration or through skin absorption, and it ends up in the…
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