Klean Kanteen

I just ordered two of these Klean Kanteen Sets for my girls to replace all of our plastic sippy cups.  I am so tired of trying to find the matching lids, straws, valves etc for all the different sippy cups we have. My girls fight over who gets what color, and I worry about toxic chemicals from the plastics leaching into their drinks or directly onto their skin.  I am hoping, once these arrive, to completely do away with all their other cups.  I know a lot of parents, who avoid plastics, give their little ones mason jars to drink from, but that would turn into a disaster at our house.  My kids can't seem to go ten feet without dropping their cups or sitting them down on something unstable like our white sofa.

I really love the Active Pink (above) and may get the adult version for myself if I like these bottles as much as I think I will.  My daughters chose the Solar Yellow and the Prevention Purple for themselves.

The sets we ordered come with both the sippy lids and the sport bottle caps, so they will grow with my girls.  Klean Kanteen has so many great colors and styles from which to choose. The ones pictured above are just a small sampling. The even do baby bottles. Plus, I really appreciated being able to purchase high quality, healthy, green products from a company that is truly devoted to doing what's best for their customers' health, their employees and suppliers, and our environment. 

FROM WWW.KLEANKANTEEN.COM HERE ARE THE OTHER FEATURES THAT HELPED ME DECIDE ON THESE PARTICULAR BOTTLES:

• Free of BPA, phthalates and other toxins
• 100% recyclable and eco-friendly
• Made of 18/8, food-grade stainless steel, no liner needed
• Doesn't retain or impart flavors
• Slim design fits most bottle/cup holders
• Rounded corners are easy to clean with no hard angles where dirt, germs or bacteria can stick
• Stainless steel threads
• Fits large ice cubes
• Includes one Avent™ spout and dome lid
• Cap & spouts are made of BPA-free polypropylene (pp#5)
• Dishwasher safe (colored bottles should be hand-washed)
• All parts can be boiled for sterilization
• Capacity: 12 fluid ounces (355 ml)
• Weight: 3.75 ounces (w/o cap)
• Size: 5” H (w/o cap) x 2.75” W
• Opening diameter: 1.75" (44 mm)

Are you using plastic sippy cups and bottles or greener, healthier alternatives? Are your kids' cups and bottles BPA and phthalate free? Are yours? Leave me a comment telling me what you're using and why.

The Dirty Dozen for 2011

Is your produce coated in pesticide? The Environmental Working Group released their 2011 list today of the best and worst fruits and vegetables when it comes to pesticide contamination. You can use this list to spend your money for organic foods most effectively.  Print this list and take it to the supermarket with you!

"Eat your fruits and vegetables! The health benefits of a diet rich in fruits and vegetables outweigh the risks of pesticide exposure. Use EWG's Shopper's Guide to Pesticides to reduce your exposures as much as possible, but eating conventionally-grown produce is far better than not eating fruits and vegetables at all. The Shopper's Guide to Pesticide in Produce will help you determine which fruits and vegetables have the most pesticide residues and are the most important to buy organic. You can lower your pesticide intake substantially by avoiding the 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables and eating the least contaminated produce."

EWG's 2011 Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce

Dirty Dozen

Buy these organic

1

Apples

2

Celery

3

Strawberries

4

Peaches

5

Spinach

6

Nectarines

– imported

7

Grapes – imported

8

Sweet bell peppers

9

Potatoes

10

Blueberries

– domestic

11

Lettuce

12

Kale/collard greens

Clean 15

Lowest in Pesticide

1

Onions

2

Sweet Corn

3

Pineapples

4

Avocado

5

Asparagus

6

Sweet peas

7

Mangoes

8

Eggplant

9

Cantaloupe

- domestic

10

Kiwi

11

Cabbage

12

Watermelon

13

Sweet potatoes

14

Grapefruit

15

Mushrooms

9 Things to Stop Worrying About

Too much stress can wreak havoc on your health. Get answers and stop tormenting yourself over some common health concerns:

1. Do I really need eight glasses of water everyday?
2. Will stress turn my hair gray?
3. Will reading in poor light ruin my eyesight?
4. Is my daily pick-me-up bad for me?
5. Must I feed a cold and starve a fever?
6. Do I need to eat fresh vegetables daily?
7. Are the eggs I eat going to lead to heart disease?
8. Can I catch a cold if I'm out in the cold weather too long?
9. Could my lipstick be making me sick?

This Health.com article answers your plaguing questions:

 9 Things to Stop Worrying About - Health.com

Do you want ammonia with that?

At a meeting this morning, I heard a mom discussing the use of ammonia in beef to kill E.coli.  I was shocked and appalled to think of industrial cleaner being regularly used in food.  When I came home, I was compelled find out more.  Here's what I discovered:

With the U.S.D.A.’s stamp of approval, beef processed with ammonia has become a mainstay in America’s hamburgers. McDonald’s, Burger King and other fast-food giants use it as a component in ground beef, as do grocery chains. The federal school lunch program used an estimated 5.5 million pounds of the processed beef in 2008 alone.  Worse yet, beef processed with ammonia has been routinely exempted from testing for Salmonella and E.coli.  When testing has been done on the ammonia-processed meat, it has been found to actually have higher levels of both salmonella and e.Coli than traditionally processed meat. Yuck!  I'm so glad I'm a vegetarian.  

The total lack of concern for the health and wellbeing of consumers by farmers, people in the food industry and the American governement is both scary and terribly disappointing.  It's truly horrifying to think of all the toxins that we are consuming and being exposed to unknowingly.  

Source: The New York Times: Safety of Beef Processing Method Is Questioned