Alan Greene, M.D., is a beloved practicing pediatrician, leading authority, and spokesperson for the green baby movement. Named "the Children's Health Hero of the Internet" by Intel, Dr. Greene teaches at Stanford University School of Medicine.
As Past President of The Organic Center, founding partner of the Collaborative on Health and the Environment and an Advisory Board member of Healthy Child Healthy World, Dr. Greene has an impressively green resume – and a wonderfully down-to-earth perspective. That could be because he has four children himself.
"In my job as a pediatrician at Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford University School of Medicine over the last ten years, I've seen how clinical experience, science, research, and technology have increased the choices that doctors and parents can make," says Dr. Greene. "But there’s also an important new set of choices parents can make that can have a beneficial impact on the environment."
They prop up their little girl and move the spoon toward her mouth. In goes that historic first bite . . . and it may come right back out again. The first few days, many babies will tend to push the cereal back out with their tongues. This is because young babies have a thrust reflex in response to anything unfamiliar in their mouths.
Within several days, however, your baby will get the idea of closing her lips around the spoon and swallowing. Once she does, she begins to figure out how to eat just the right amount of solids (which is not a predetermined amount, but varies from child to child). Attentive parents are also learning. Keep moving the spoon toward the baby’s mouth and look for signs that she is losing interest. If she turns her head away, clamps her lips shut, or appears bored, it is time to stop. Otherwise, keep moving the spoon to her mouth as long as she keeps opening it and looking happy.
And what is the fateful first bite of food, the focus of so much learning and attention? For most U.S. babies, it is heavily processed conventional white rice flour (usually containing soybean oil!). I’m not surprised that U.S. toddlers tend to reject foods made from hearty whole grains. Their earliest comfort food is white flour.
For a healthier alternative, I recommend organic whole grain cereals for babies. They are also a great choice for the planet. Organic rice is grown without the use of toxic pesticides and chemical fertilizers that can harm our environment. In one small study of family farms, directly comparing organic to conventional rice farming methods, organic techniques improved the quality and biodiversity of the soil. Organic methods used only 18 percent of the fossil-fuel-based energy used by the conventional farms, a dramatic reduction in oil waste and greenhouse gases. For every calorie of fossil fuel used on the conventional rice farms, four food calories were produced. On the organic farms, the same amount produced an impressive nineteen calories—nearly five times as much food!7
4. Organic fruits and vegetables.
After babies have mastered cereals, they usually cycle through a variety of fruit and vegetable experiences. Most parents haven’t yet learned that food quality from chemically intensive agriculture is going down. ....read more
REFERENCES : 1. Jacobson, M. F. Six Arguments for a Greener Diet. Washington, D.C.: Center for Science in the Public Interest, 2006, p. 11.
2. Ash, M., Livezey, J., and Dohlman, E. Soybean Backgrounder. Outlook Report No. OCS-200601. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. www.ers.usda.gov/publications/OCS/apr06/OCS 200601. Apr. 2006.
4. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Pesticide Data Program. Annual Summary Calendar Year 2005. www.ams.usda.gov/Science/pdp/Summary2005.pdf. Nov. 2006. (This summary reports that 14.5 percent of soybeans had residues of chlorpyrifos.)
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Pesticide Data Program. Annual Summary Calendar Year 2004. www.ams.usda.gov/Science/pdp/Summary2004.pdf. Feb. 2006. (This summary reports that 28.9 percent of soybeans were contaminated with chlorpyrifos.)
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. “Adoption of Genetically Engineered Crops in the U.S.” www.ers.usda.gov/Data/biotechcrops . July 14, 2006.
Fernandez-Cornejo, J., and Caswell, M. The First Decade of Genetically Engineered Crops in the United States. USDA Economic Information Bulletin No. 11. www.ers.usda.gov/publications/EIB11 . Apr. 2006.
6. Fernandez-Cornejo and Caswell, 2006.
7. Mendoza, T. C. “Evaluating the Benefits of Organic Farming in Rice Agroecosystems in Philippines.” Journal of Sustainable Agriculture, 2004, 24(2), pp. 93–115.
8. Davis, D., Epp, M., and Riordan, H. “Changes in USDA Food Composition Data for 43 Garden Crops, 1950 to 1999.” Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 2004, 23(6), pp. 669–682.
10. Plazier, J. C. “Feeding Forage to Prevent Rumen Acidosis in Cattle.” University of Manitoba, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences. www.umanitoba.ca/afs/fiw/020704.html . July 4, 2002.
11. Diez-Gonzalez, F., and others. “Grain Feeding and the Dissemination of Acid-Resistant Escherichia Coli from Cattle.” Science, 1998, 281, pp. 1666–1668.
Russell, J. B., Diez-Gonzalez, F., and Jarvis, G. N. “Potential Effects of Cattle Diets on the Transmission of Pathogenic Escherichia Coli to Humans.” Microbes and Infection, 2000, 2, pp. 45–53.
12. Rule, D. C., and others. “Comparison of Muscle Fatty Acid Profiles and Cholesterol Concentrations of Bison, Beef Cattle, Elk, and Chicken.” Journal of Animal Science, 2002, 80, pp. 1202–1211.
13. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. Briefing Rooms: Corn. www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/Corn . Apr. 20, 2006.
14. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, 2007.
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. “U.S. Consumption of Plant Nutrients.” [Table.] www.ers.usda.gov/Data/FertilizerUse/Tables/Table1.xls . (Table indicates that total U.S. 2005 fertilizer use was 22,146,200 tons, or 44.3 billion pounds.)
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. “Adoption of Genetically Engineered Crops in the U.S.” www.ers.usda.gov/Data/biotechcrops . July 14, 2006.
“Hypoxia, the Gulf of Mexico’s Summertime Foe.” Watermarks, Louisiana Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection, and Restoration News, Sept. 2004, pp. 3–5. www.lacoast.gov/watermarks/2004-09/water marks-2004-10.pdf.
Berman, J. R., Arrigo, K. R., and Matson, P. A. “Agricultural Runoff Fuels Large Phytoplankton Blooms in Vulnerable Areas of the Ocean.” Nature, 2005, 434, pp. 211–214.
Raising Baby Green: The Earth Friendly Guide to pregnancy, Childbirth, Baby Care by Alan Greene, M.D
Share This Article
