Positively Green brought you this story in our August issue!

Read more about what you can do to remove BPA from your kitchen in the Health section of the current issue of Positively Green: Getting Plastics out of the Kitchen.

5 Things to do While You're Pregnant

FOOD – While you’re feasting on fresh fruits and veggies, make sure you’re not also overloading on pesticides, hormones, antibiotics and other chemicals. By consistently choosing organic food, you keep your meals – and junior’s – healthy. If you eat meat, choose lean meat that is hormone and antibiotic free.

WATER – Filter your drinking water and drink from glass, not plastic, as much as possible. Here's Positively Green's list of great water filters. Don’t reuse plastic water bottles. When they degrade, either from heat or cold, they leach chemicals that you never get from drinking from a glass.

BEAUTY PRODUCTS – When you’re pregnant, it’s best to avoid nail polish and nail polish remover, as well as products with alphahydroxy. Choose make-up with more organic ingredients. For a list of good organic lines, see Positively Green page 9. Also, if you color your hair, a weave is a better choice as the color never touches your scalp. Always avoid hair colors with coal tar.

CLEANING PRODUCTS – Replace your non-organic products with ones that don’t contain bleach, ammonia and other harmful chemicals. By choosing biodegradable products that avoid these harsh chemicals you keep the indoor air quality of your home as clean as possible while waiting for baby’s arrival. Some eco-friendly brands are Method (available at Target) and Bene Life Green (available at www.benelifegreen.com). Even better, hire a housekeeper to clean occasionally (using your new eco-friendly products) and you can take a load off your feet.

SHOWERING – Your skin is porous. The same pores that emit sweat also absorb liquids that are on your skin. Most municipal water contains chlorine. In addition to drying your skin and hair, chlorine also vaporizes with hot water so it is inhaled into the lungs while you shower. By installing a filter in your shower head, you can keep the water that cleans you free of chlorine and other additives. Check out the Premium Shower Filter at www.watersavers.com. The filter is easily installed and it costs $49.99. You can purchase recyclable replacement cartridges for $24.99.

Also, if you have a shower curtain, replace it with one that is free of PVC. Ikea sells a great PVC free shower curtain.