The Complete Organic Pregnancy: Blog Book Tour

Remember how I promised you posts about plastic and how awful it is, and then I kind of did a couple and several months elapsed and periodically I will bring it up? But never actually write any more?

Well, I'm never going to write them. Because now I don't need to. In fact, I may never bring up environmental contaminants again, except to point you to The Complete Organic Pregnancy. Which I must insist that you go out and buy, right now, even if you are not pregnant. Especially if you're not pregnant yet, but heck, even if you never plan to care for anything more complex than an African violet, this book is still worthy of a sit-down. After all, you still have a body. And that African violet probably gags every time you dump chlorinated trihalomethane-infused tap gak into its charming little saucer. When it sees you eat a Whopper with cheese, it dies a little, inside.

Everything one could possibly obsess about is in here: pesticides, food safety, water quality, healthy home and clothing ideas, and work-specific issues, plus pregnancy-specific worries like what the hell that scalpel is doing next to your perineum and why it's a good idea to have a lot of dried apricots on hand postpartum.  But! Here is the great part! The authors and a cadre of interesting writers manage to NOT BE SCARY! Yes, even if The Leery Polyp is way too much for you, if you find reading my sippy-cup posts comparable to sitting in on bunion surgery (terrifying! gross! damn, I'm sorry I ever watched that show), you will find this book, with its personal essays on life in this crazy-ass world from the likes of Sandra Steingraber and Marion Nestle, to be most palatable. Warm, even. Comforting, in an ooh-this-is-scary-but-we're-all-in-it-together kind of way. And it has handy reference tables for things like which fish are all right to eat, which fruits and vegetables to avoid or buy organic, and what nasties to avoid in your cosmetics. (Most feature suggestions for what to eat/buy/smear on your gigantic pregnancy hormone zits instead.)

Look, I realize this is a bit ridiculous, this glowing review, but I am going to buy copies for all my ladies who are starting to think about reproduction (although I am going to include a little Post-It contradicting the paragraph on vaccines, since it is not actually true that your child will be barred from school without the full monty). I've been using it as a reference since my for-review-only copy came in the mail; Sean's been reading it. There's a ton of information in here, but all in easily assimilable form. I can't think of a more concise, comprehensive, and valuable resource for creating a healthy environment for your baby, inside and out.

And now, a Q&A with the authors of this fine tome, Alexandra Zissu and Deirdre Dolan:

Your book is astoundingly thorough -- everything I've ever obsessed about (and plenty I hadn't) is in here. What was your starting point, and how did you know to cover so much ground?

Thank you, that's great to hear! To be honest, at the beginning of the process we both felt like there was no way we'd be able to cover everything, but pretty soon we realized the information was actually  very manageable. You realize that there is only so much one person can do, but that you can do it pretty easily once you know what to look for and what to question. In terms of our approach, we literally looked around us - at our beds and at what we rubbed on our faces every night and put in our mouths every day - and tried to determine what exactly was safe and what wasn't. In the case of things like cosmetics, which still aren't organically certifiable, we had to look a little harder to find databases compiled by others (often in Europe - they have stricter standards) that we could use. We covered everything that gave us pause or made us ask questions. One of the nicest things about our research was how willing and excited everyone we spoke to was to share what they knew. We're used to reporting stories for magazines and newspapers, many of which require pulling teeth to get interesting quotes. We took the fact that all of the doctors and scientists and organic enthusiasts around the country we interviewed were so happy to share their considerable knowledge with us as further proof that we were onto something good.

What suggestions would you have for someone who encounters resistance (from family, friends, institutions) in trying to live and raise children organically? Have either of you personally had to deal with skeptics?

There are always the skeptics, who for some mysterious reason feel personally threatened by the choices you make for yourself and your family. (We always wonder why would someone get so defensive about how someone else is living their life unless they suspect they're missing something.) Anyway, our advice is not to lecture or be self-righteous about the information you have or the decisions you've made based on that information. The fact is that there was a time not too long ago when we were naively whitening our laundry with chlorine bleach too. Our response to comments like, "You were raised without organic food and look you're fine!" is pretty much the same as it is to comments like "We all smoked and drank during our pregnancies 40 years ago and you all turned out fine": Uh, whatever. In practical terms, we both try not to burden anyone or make anyone feel guilty. If we're spending a weekend at the in-laws' and we're not sure if there's going to be organic milk in the fridge, we arrive with a trunk full of groceries. This is usually a win-win - the in-laws are happy they're not going to be blamed for anything and we can eat and drink exactly what we want. Also: some of our skeptics (hi, Mom!) lightened up a bit when they read The Complete Organic Pregnancy. Try giving your skeptics a copy?  

Is there anything you wanted to include in the book but weren't able to?

Our hope is that as the organic industry continues to grow (which of course it's already doing at an alarming rate) there will be more money and support to conduct larger studies offering more scientific evidence for the importance and the benefits of organics. We'd also love to be able to tell moms to go out and buy organic fish, cleaning products and cosmetics without further explanation. We spend pages of our book describing how to choose these products and more because none of them are currently government regulated or certified. The food standards are all our government regulates and even those are currently under attack by large corporations who would like to weaken the requirements so they can cash in on the popularity of the word organic. Hopefully by the time we do a follow-up edition we'll be able to tell you more about the intrepid farmers (stateside, in British Columbia and in Great Britain) who are currently working to farm-raise organic fish in cleaner environments, with more room to swim than most farmed fish. They aren' given antibiotics or hormones, some eat certified organic feed. We're also hoping to include more restaurants that serve organic food - we'd love to see antibiotic and hormone-free meat on all of our local menus. And we can't wait to be able to tell you to look for organic crib mattresses and non-toxic, non-plastic bottles, pacifiers and toys in the biggest box stores out there.

Comments

[arb]

This sounds wonderful! I can't wait to get a copy. Speaking of sippy cups, Jo, it looks like the Kleen Kanteen sippy is finally here.

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[Naudia]

Hey, I read through the book and it is a great first timer resource and great reference for web sites that support natural products. There were a couple things I wanted to criticize, if you don't mind. The first is, I felt that the beginning had too much about toxins in the household and not enough of the basics for pregnancy. I think it might bog down first time preggos with all the negative facts (unfortunately, it is a reality).
I also felt there was an important toxin missing from this section. Triclosan is an ingredient in anti-bacterial soaps and has been shown to pass to the umbilical cord blood and placenta. It is being linked to cancer and some birth defects. It's said to actually absorb through the skin from hand washing.
Also, there were suggestions to eat canned foods which I felt kind of violated the organic ideas. Only because the toxins that leach out of tin are also dangerous.
Other than those things, I felt it was very informative and helpful. Clearly written and well laid out. Thanks so much for sending us a copy!

[Elizabeth]

This sounds like a wonderful book, but I am hesitant to depress myself even more by reading it...I feel like I am already OCD enough and there are just SO MANY things to think about when it comes to toxins in the environment...I have found it really disturbs my quality of life to try and mitigate all of the factors that conceivably could be affected by choices I make. I sort of pick my battles, I guess, and don't like to read about the battles I'm not picking.

I know the book must be fabulous but I can't help thinking that the *real* answer is not for individuals to learn how to better protect themselves...but for humanity as a whole to BAN and find ALTERNATIVES for all of the polluting, toxic chemicals that we pour into our environment. Sadly, since that is highly unlikely to ever happen, we are left with the choice of either living in hapless ignorance and toxicity or becoming extremely anxious as we attempt to control our environment and frustrated at our inability to do "enough". Anyway, that's how I experience this issue.

[Rosemary Grace]

Heee. I think I will take this book along to read at Thanksgiving with my inlaws. They will all get VERY excited to see the word "pregnancy" in the title, and then be dismayed that it's ORGANIC, then further dismayed when I repeat that children will not be forthcoming for at least a few years.

My husband and I like to confuse his family with our alternativitude. Childish, but fun, and they all like the exotic foods we introduce them to.

[lexy zissu]

Hi, I'm Lexy, one of The Complete Organic Pregnancy authors. I wanted to check in and say hello and to thank you, Jo, for the glowing review!

It's great to be able to have feedback from readers. So thanks for the comments, too. We do mention in the book that regular old soap (non anti-bacterial) and water is all you need to wash pretty much anything but perhaps we can mention Triclosan specifically in a future edition. I was also surprised to read the can comment because I know we suggest pregnant moms eat beans and things out of glass jars instead of cans to avoid the hormone disruptors cans can leach into food. Maybe it was in the recipes (which we didn't write)? Absolutely something to be corrected!

We strongly believe that for humanity as a whole to ban/find alternatives for all of the polluting toxic chemicals that we pour into our environment, as Elizabeth writes, we need to demand (and buy) products and food devoid of those very pollutants. That's one of the points of the book.

Thanks again, Jo!

[Foster]

Here is what I dont understand about the steel water bottles available now: Do any of the lids come with that incredibly convenient carrying loop that attaches the lid to the bottle like Nalgene bottles have? Because it looks like none of them do. They have sports cap or stupid loop cap. I dont want or need a dang sling to carry my water bottle! The bottle costs $15, where is my plastic carrying handle???

[Carrie Jo]

Hm, I think I might check that book out. I'm far from obssessive about having organic things, but I do think it's important to minimize the toxins we put in our bodies. Especially for us because I have psoriasis which is effected by toxins in my body, and my husband has HIV and needs to be as healthy as possible. We already have a mold problem in our building so minimizing the toxins we voluntarily put in our bodies is probably a good idea.

[sonya]

Hey Jo-On that subject, can you put up a permalink to your non-toxic baby guide? I keep wanting to reference it for pregnant friends. Muchas gracias.