I’m in the 17th week of my second pregnancy and thought this would be a good time to talk about greening your pregnancy.  Being pregnant is an exciting, scary and amazing time.  I also think that one becomes more aware of the world around them and more aware of what their lifestyle is like.  I think two of the biggest changes that people can make in their lifestyle when pregnant is how they eat and how they clean.  This is only my thought and my wondering brain, but I wonder if the amount of children with food allergies and other ailments is not a direct connection between the preservatives in food and chemicals in household cleaning products.

Eating healthy is more than just eating a balanced diet and taking your vitamins.  I really believe that eating organic foods and foods that are not prepackaged are best for you at all times, but more so when your pregnant.  Eating organic veggies & fruits is a great first step, but what about adding in organic meat and dairy.  For those of us with a sweet tooth try organic sugar and flour.  I know a lot of people are worried about cost and their spending habits, but if your a thrifty shopper and do a little searching before you head to the store you can find coupons for a lot of organic produce, meats and other items that you might normally steer clear of because of cost.  Also another huge cost saving tip is buy in bulk, you might not think you’ll use it all but a lot of things like flour can be stored in your freezer for up to 6 months.  My everyday life includes only organic food regardless of being pregnant and once you start in the organic world it’s hard to go back to conventional, there is a taste difference.

Cleaning is another scary aspect of being pregnant.  A cleaning product that you might not think twice about using when not pregnant now becomes cause for concern.  I am not going to go into a lot of detail about the wonders of vinegar as a cleaning product mostly because there are entire websites dedicated to vinegar.  Really though vinegar is amazing!!!  I use it for almost everything and it works.  Baking soda & fresh lemon are also a great addition to you cleaning arsenal.  1 simple example of using baking soda & lemon: when cleaning my bamboo cutting boards I sprinkle a small amount of baking soda then use a halved lemon to scrub the surface I then rinse with hot water and wall-a a lemony fresh supper clean cutting board ready for the next round of onion and garlic!

An all purpose cleaner that I always have in the house is Simple Green http://www.simplegreen.com This is my favorite product of the ones I use.  I buy it in the gallon concentrate and add a small amount to a spray bottle that is almost 3/4 of the way full of water.  It leaves everything clean and with a mild lemon scent.  I choose to use simple green for a lot of reasons, but I’ll give you my top ones.  Everything they make is biodegradable and non toxic, they don’t test their products on animals and the scent is pleasant w/out being perfume.   I don’t recommend the green cleaner as the smell is horrible, other than that I’ve never been disappointed by their products.

Next week I’ll be adding to this post with info about personal hygene and beauty products.  If there is anything that you are interested about please let me know and I will do my best to address it.  Until next week start green eating and cleaning, even if your not expecting!