When we were on vacation a few weeks ago I picked up Sara Snow’s Fresh Living and read it in one day. It felt good to sit down and really dive into a book! I guess I will have to just go on another vacation if I ever want to finish a book again.

I learned a tremendous amount in this book, had many “ah ha!” moments and patted myself on the back a couple times.

For instance, Sara writes a lot about nurseries (maybe she was baby hungry while writing this book; now she would have the cutest baby!) and how to make sure they don’t have harmful chemicals. She writes about how important it is to watch what chemicals we put into, rub on, put around our new babies and that their bodies are so tiny and fragile you need to be even more aware and careful of everything.

For a healthy environment, do any redecorating, furnishing, and cleaning at least one month before you bring your baby home. If that’s impossible, let your baby sleep in a bassinet in your room while the new furnishings for her room off-gas elsewhere.

With baby #1 I painted her room right before she was born and gave the room a scrub down with an array of chemicals. Thank goodness she slept with me instead of in her room at first! And with baby #2 I knew better. She goes into even more detail about popular baby products, from baby wipes to baby powder.

The importance of factoring in the kids when deciding to go organic or not reaffirmed my decision. Sara puts it in such a great way:

All of this becomes particularly important when you recognize that kids eat, per pound of body weight, more food than adults every day. Plus their variety is limited. So when a child eats a food that contains residues, the dose they receive is much higher than the dose you or I might get from the same food. Couple that with the fact that children’s bodies don’t have the ability to metabolize chemicals as quickly or as completely as adults do, so the chemicals remain in kids longer, posing greater risks.

Sara comes off in such a caring, soft, non-judgemental teacher in this book. Her personal experiences and the way she shares how she grew up are so interesting and educational. I cannot wait till she writes another book. This is definitely one you need to check out!
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