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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We’ve all seen celebs and models in magazine ads and TV commercials with gorgeous, shiny, voluminous locks. Whether their tresses are sleek and straight or curly and bouncy, these women have beautiful hair that makes us green with jealous envy. Fortunately, you can try some easy tricks at home – including diet, supplements and DIY hair treatments – to give you healthier hair naturally.

What’s Hair Made Of?

“Hair is made from a protein called keratin,” explains Helen Foster, author of The Beauty Book (p. 71) (1). The inner part of a hair strand is called the shaft, while the outer coating of a hair strand is called the cuticle. When hair is healthy and strong, the cuticle is smooth and reflects light. The result? Gorgeous shine. When your hair isn’t healthy – due to harsh styling, heated appliances or chemical processes – the shaft weakens and becomes brittle. Consequently, your locks become dry, dull and lackluster. (continue reading…)

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Psychologists have shown time and again that people are easily swayed by all manner of pressures to conform. Famous experiments like the Stanford prison experiment and the Milgram experiment graphically demonstrated that, when confronted with an authority figure or put in a position of authority themselves, people will do things that they otherwise would consider unthinkable.

In the 1950s, social psychologist Solomon Asch devised and published the results of a series of studies on social conformity. His studies found that people tended to go along with the crowd, even when the crowd was obviously wrong. About 1/3 of the participants in his experiment frequently gave the wrong response when others in the group had given the same wrong response, and 75% of participants gave at least one wrong answer under the same circumstances.

So, what does this have to do with health? (continue reading…)

If you or a family member or a  friend have been struggling with this for years, or if ADD/ADHD is new in your life, check out this article from Master Herbalist Brigitte Mars. In Natural Remedies for ADHD (Alternatives to Ritalin and Aderol), she discusses ten environmental, nutritional and herbal strategies to combat attention disorders. Among her suggestions:

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I hear conflicting information about whether organic foods are healthier or not. Now, there’s organic clothes, organic cosmetics and even organic toilet paper, and the organic stuff is more expensive than the non organic. Why should I buy organic, and do I need to buy everything organic?

There are two reasons to buy organic: for your health and for the health of the planet. In general, the more you can buy that is organic, the better off both you and the planet are, but you don’t need to go neurotic ensuring that your TP and socks are organic. Green Diva Mom recommends prioritizing high-risk organic produce, then all produce, animal products if you consume them, followed by processed foods, with non-food products being the lowest priority for organic purchase, though still worthwhile if they are certified organic, not just making unsubstantiated organic claims. (continue reading…)

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With so many specialized diets and health concerns, even a crudite platter isn’t the simple party menu choice it once was. Dips are a minefield of dairy, starch and sugar that can bog down even the best assortment of raw vegetables. Leaving aside how fat-laden and sugared-up commercial dips are, simply finding a party dip that meets the needs of all partygoers’ dietary restrictions can be a nightmare. This tasty dip is gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan and lower in fat than traditional sour cream-based dips. The ingredients are all low glycemic index foods. (continue reading…)

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Nourishing your skin from the inside keeps it healthy, but to truly shine, your skin also needs topical care. Exfoliating and moisturizing keeps your skin surface as healthy as the layers underneath and prevents the dry skin that is not just unsightly, but opens you up to infection.

These recipes for homemade skin care products are so insanely easy, you’ll never shell out for the high prices of commercial lotions, scrubs and body butters again! (continue reading…)