Gwyneth Paltrow
Actress, Mother to Apple and Moses
"Food was the beginning of my awareness of the toxic substances we ingest. Now we do other things to protect our family's health, from installing a water filtration system to sleeping on organic mattresses and using nontoxic shampoos. I try to open the windows in the day—an old-fashioned airing out—even in winter, because the air inside the house is often more polluted than the air outside. I read a lot—moms email each other links to studies and health alerts, the kind that keep you up at night. But I try not to get hysterical about it. I'm not doing all this to turn my kids into freaks--I just want them to be as healthy as they possibly can. I don't want to fill them with anxiety. I keep the anxiety part to myself.
An ancient Chinese proverb says something like, 'Food and medicine have the same root.' The more I learn about food, the more amazed I am at how their properties can basically fix anything."
From HEALTHY CHILD HEALTHY WORLD. Reprinted by arrangement with Plume, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Copyright (c) 2009 by Healthy Child Healthy World.
To read more from Gwyneth and many others, pick up your copy of our book, Healthy Child Healthy World: Creating a Cleaner, Greener, Safer Home, today.
