Spring is definitely here and along with spring cleaning your home, it’s also a good time for an internal cleanse. Juice cleanses have never been more popular. New Yorkers have a lot of options with Blue Print Cleanse, Organic Avenue and Salma Hayek’s Cooler Cleanse.

More about my cleanse experiences after the jump… [Read more...]

Kelly Rutherford and me at the Born Free event

I was invited to lunch this week at the American Museum of Natural History to celebrate the launch of the new Born Free baby bottle recycling program. Born Free fan and mom of two Kelly Rutherford sat at my table. She gave a short intro and Dr. AlanGreene explained the program and why he likes Born Free bottles. I’ve worked with Dr. Greene a number of times when I was producing Parents TV. He is really great. On top of being a practicing pediatrician, he has two books out for new and expecting parents.

The bottle recycling program tracks the Born Free bottles they pay for you to send back to the company when you register online. They’re also slowly putting bins in retail locations to collect not only the new bottles, but the old ones as well. Born Free is already known as BPA and estrogen free as well as a great way to decrease colic in babies and I applaud them for adding the recycling program to their list of credentials.

I was excited to attend the Green Products Expo today. Among a lot of great items I’ll blog about in the coming weeks, I was surprised to find a number of booths touting their gluten-free products. I’ve seen a lot of articles about glueten-sensitvity lately (like this one), and one of our friends just discovered improved health after eliminating gluten. We got to see him last weekend and he asked me specifically about any ice creams I’d heard of that fit into a gluten-free lifestyle. I kind of punted and said to check Whole Foods. Turns out I was more right than I realized. One of the vendors I met today let me taste the most delicious ice cream called Organic Coconut Bliss in Ginger Cookie Carmel flavor. It had the sweet taste of coconut on top of the ginger carmel flavor and was the same texture of ice cream. It’s dairy-free, soy-free, gluten-free and made with agave syrup. Doesn’t sound good, but believe me, it was great!

I also stopped by the Udi’s booth and checked out their gluten-free granola and baked items. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to try any samples, but the variety was impressive. I have to admit I haven’t shopped the gluten-free aisle lately, but the last time I looked the selection was less that stellar.

The third gluten-free booth I found definitely smelled the best. I know Simply Organic from their spices, and they had some very fragrant cinnamon on display. But they also featured a line of gluten-free baking mixes like brownies or banana bread. I picked up a box of the pancake and waffle mix and am looking forward to seeing how it compares to the traditional pancakes we make on the weekend.

It’s easy to just use the hotel products while on the road, but with only a little bit of effort you can take your natural and organic products to go. I was very pleased to discover the Whole Foods sample/travel section that has airplane-friendly sizes of nearly all of the products I need. For this trip, I checked a bag and was able to bring some of my full-sized products.

Here’s a picture of some of my favorite products that came with me, like my Toms of Maine bar of soap and the stick of Coola Lip Balm that I never leave the house without. One of my new favorites is the Dickinson’s Witch Hazel that helped me get rid of the breakout that was plaguing my chin.

What’s the item you can’t leave home without?

I’m on a business trip this week to the Portland, OR area. For me that means traveling cross-country, long busy work days and lots of meals out. I’ve had to come up with a way to survive without an aching back and expanding waist line. This week is particularly hard because I’m spending most of it in a small town without a fitness center at the hotel let alone a local Yoga or Pilates studio. But I’m not letting that stop me. Before leaving, I loaded a 40 minute audio Pilates routine on to my computer and iPhone. Not only does it allow me to keep up with my workouts, it also helps me stay limber and stretch out my lower back which tends to act up under these conditions.

The routine I’m using is an oldie but goodie from Alycea Ungaro called Portable Pilates. It comes with a CD and companion book that contains a basic classical mat routine that’s easy to do in even the smallest space. I make sure to focus on swan and modify it to get the same results as I get when using a magic circle at home. That opens my back up and relieves a lot of the tension that builds throughout the day. I also add a minute long plank at least once a day.