Naturalpath

Shortly after your labor and delivery, the mixed anxiety and joy of this life experience will be in your past, and it will be time to look forward to the future—to the time when your baby will live and grow in the protective environment that you will create in your home.

As you did when choosing an ob/gyn, you want to find a pediatrician who is top-notch medically. How much better if he or she is also on the journey to an environmentally sustainable perspective on pediatrics!

This may be the first time you have selected a pediatrician; if you already have children, you may have an established relationship with their pediatrician—or you may have inherited a treasured family doc from when you were a child. In any case, here are five representative questions you may want to ask politely to gauge physicians’ thoughts on things green:

1. What advice do you give to new parents about introducing solid foods?
If their first suggestion is to begin with processed white rice flour cereal or processed conventional jarred foods, they may still be working from a twentieth-century industrial mind-set. To learn more, continue the conversation by asking for their advice about introducing whole grains, fresh tastes, or organic foods. Green pediatricians are often conscious of nutrition and care about establishing the nutritional habits of today’s babies in ways that are better than those of previous generations.<!--more-->

When we’re feeling down, our first impulse is to reach for comforting—but often unhealthy—food fixes. Put the mac ‘n’ cheese and ice cream down!

According to celeb nutritionist Oz Garcia, Ph.D, we can actually eat our troubles away with wholesome, naturally mood-enhancing foods. Here are his picks to put a smile on your plate:

A little dark chocolate

can “wipe away the blues” by boosting the brain’s levels of serotonin (which promotes relaxation) and helping stimulate the production of endorphins, the same feel-good chemicals released during exercise.

Walnuts

also raise serotonin levels, making them an ideal snack. Sprinkle them in probiotic yogurt, which was found to improve people’s moods when eaten for a 3-week period.

Make Valentine’s Day sizzle with the workout that sparks your love life! You’ll get extra zing in the bedroom with these simple exercises called “Vagina Aerobics” by renowned romance expert Dr. Ava Cadell.

Technically known as Kegels, “Vagina Aerobics” strengthen your pubococcygeus (PC) muscles, which keep your vajayjay tight and toned. “Strong PC muscles result in strong orgasms,” promises Cadell.

First, find your PC muscle. It’s the muscle used to stop the flow when you urinate, so locate it the next time you use the bathroom.

Then, twice a day, put your vajayjay to work

:

1.

Squeeze and hold PC muscles for 3 seconds. Relax and repeat for 20 repetitions.

I just read an alarming blurb in VegNews (June 2007, Page 20) that Unilver, the largest supplier of frozen desserts to the US (and parent company to Ben & Jerry's, Breyer's, Klondike, and Popsicle brands), has started using "ice structuring antifreeze" proteins from genetically modified FISH in some of their products. They synthesize the GMO compound from yeast that comes from the blood of ocean pout to prevent "the crystallization of ice cream when it melts and is refrozen." In April 2006, two professors from the British Institute of Science in Society (ISIS), Prof. Joe Cummins, Dr. Mae-Wan Ho and Prof. Malcolm Hooper, wrote a report they submitted to the UK Food Standards Agency, opposing Unilever's application to use these GMO fish genes in their food products. Apparently, there are health risks associated with ingestion of these products, including allergic reactions and inflammation. The scientists strongly recommended extensive testing before allowing these modified fish genes into the food chain. In April 2007, these same authors submitted another article and reported that the UK Independent Science Panel had recommended not allowing the introduction of food products containing these modified fish genes into the UK until long-term studies are conducted.