Welcome to Green Diva Mom, your home for living green, inside and out. More than just a community of moms, Green Diva Mom is for moms, dads, aunts, uncles, grandparents and siblings—anyone who cares about raising healthy children and healthy living on all levels, from what we put into the environment down to what we put in our own bodies. Check back daily for information, news, tips product reviews and recipes for leading a healthy life without sacrificing style.

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Most people think they know how to keep their child safe: don’t talk to strangers, if you’re lost find a policeman. But what we don’t realize is that this advice isn’t the best thing at all, and is potentially very dangerous. A lot of what we grew up thinking is right is often dated, or wrong, and often we don’t know what the proper information is because we try not to think about these things.

Protecting the Gift: Keeping Children and Teenagers Safe (and Parents Sane) by Gavin De Becker debunks these safety myths and gives parents excellent advice on how to keep their children safe in an increasingly scary world. De Becker is a famous security consultant and wrote the book The Gift of Fear. His main point in that book is that most people have lost the ability to interpret and respond to their instinctual fear response and have not developed the judgment to know when they should or shouldn’t be afraid. So, they spend most of their time hyped up in a completely wrong fear state (is that weird-looking guy in the book store really dangerous? Probably not) and not picking up on cues when we should (that really nice guy is asking me too many questions). The book is well worth reading, and more empowering than scary. (continue reading…)

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A bit of blush, a few coats of mascara, a swipe of lipstick — if you wear makeup, you probably have a routine for applying it. But how exactly do you put it on? A bevy of specialized makeup brushes are available. Even if you usually opt for all-natural beauty products, don’t automatically rule out synthetic makeup brushes! Compare natural and synthetic versions, and learn the pros and cons of each.

Different Functions, Sizes and Shapes

When it comes to makeup brushes, one size definitely does not fit all. Specialized brushes are designed for different areas of the face and different types of makeup. So, how can you tell one kind of brush from another? It can be confusing, but here are some quick hints from Julyne Derrick, makeup expert for the Web site, About (1): (continue reading…)

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People continue to be sick even after following the gluten free diet scrupulously. Problem for those who are celiac can lurk in unexpected places, like the glue used on the envelopes and mailing labels, which is made from the wheat. You can use a damp sponge, self sticking envelopes and stamps, or simply let somebody else in the family do this job.

Some celiacs  are sensitive to gluten as well as to some chemicals. Those with dermatitis herpetiformis, a skin reaction to gluten, should be careful while using craft kits, paste and spray waxes and cleaners. If you cannot avoid using these, only do so wearing a mask and in well ventilated area. Celiacs with highly sensitive skin must avoid wheat germ oil in cosmetics and in personal care products like skin creams and lotions, toothpaste and false teeth fixatives. Ask your dentist which is the best toothpaste for you. (continue reading…)

When I started gardening, I ransacked the seed displays and catalogs in search of new tomato varieties to try. Over the years, though, I’ve settled in to a few reliable favorites, and with life catching up to me and a book to write, I have less time to be experimental with the veggie patch. Sure, maybe one day I’ll give those white cherry tomatoes a shot, but for now, I have my snacking tomato, my dehydrating tomato, my salad tomato, my paste tomato, my yellow tomato and my all-purpose slicer and vegetable soup tomato. No need to mess with what works.

Now that I know what tomatoes grow well in my garden and that my family will eat, I save the seeds from one year to plant the next, sparing me the temptation of the seed catalogs and garden center displays. Seed saving is as old as agriculture. While most seed saving is as easy as letting a plant produce mature seeds and collecting them, tomatoes are a bit trickier. Although I’ve grown tomato plants from seeds that I saved by simply spreading the seed glop out to dry, rinsing and fermenting the seeds using the process detailed below produces a much higher germination rate with just a little bit of work. (continue reading…)

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Last week, I addressed myths about whole foods. While some misinformation surrounds whole foods, they provide the foundation of many healthful ways of eating, and have plenty to recommend them as a clean food source.

No Additives

It’s there. It’s a chunk of food, just the way it came out of the field, orchard or barn. No hidden ingredients, nothing added or taken away. You can look at it and know exactly what you’re getting. Anything added to whole foods, you add yourself. (continue reading…)

Check out these great tips and tricks for a greener college experience!

More after the break… (continue reading…)

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If you have an exercise program you follow, you should know that when you exercise, you use up more nutrients and therefore, will need more nutritional supplementation than those who don’t.

Exercise makes people healthy, but that’s only half the picture. The recovery period after exercise is what ultimately makes you healthier. You do not improve your health during the exercise, nor do you burn significant amounts of fat during exercise. Virtually all the health benefits associated with exercise are created during the recovery period after exercise, which can take anywhere from 24 hours to several weeks, depending on the intensity of your exercise. (continue reading…)

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This recipe evolved from huevos rancheros, a Mexican dish with a fried egg served over a tortilla with tomato-chile sauce, and sometimes beans, cheese, sour cream and whatever else Tex-Mex cooks decided to throw in.

Some healthy modifications make the vegetables an equal partner in the meal, rather than a flavor accent, and poaches the eggs in the juice from the vegetables instead of frying them. Eliminating the tortilla makes it suitable for gluten-free or low-carb diets, with a bed of lightly wilted spinach serving as a base for the eggs and sauce. Low carbers may want to reduce the number of tomatoes and increase the mushrooms, zucchini and green pepper; however, much of the poaching liquid comes from the tomatoes, so a few are necessary. (continue reading…)

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The recall of eggs potentially tainted with salmonella has been expanded to affect more than 500,000,000 eggs. Aside from the health hazards of salmonella poisoning, half a billion eggs is a lot of wasted food. The recalled eggs, out of their shells, could:

• Fill 11.8 Olympic-sized swimming pools
• Cover about nine city blocks 1 foot deep
• Fulfill the caloric needs of the entire state of Florida for a day

With raw leafy greens, fresh produce implicated in foodborne illness outbreaks alongside eggs, dairy and meat, avoiding the foods that may carry pathogens doesn’t allow for a healthy diet. Paying attention to where your food comes from, not just what you’re eating and feeding your family, can greatly reduce the risk of exposure to foodborne pathogens. (continue reading…)