Deeply affected by an early experience at an Indian leprosy hospital, Natalie Geary returned to America with a changed view of how illness is perceived in the body. A graduate of Harvard College and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Geary now practices what she terms "integrative" pediatrics, a blend of traditional and Ayurdevic principles. More recently, she has founded vedababy™ products, which offer her patients an alternative to the steroid-laden skincare found on drugstore shelves. Free of parabens, artificial preservatives, dyes, perfumes, and other chemicals, the line’s rising popularity attests to America’s burgeoning interest in a healthier, more natural lifestyle.

LIME: As a pediatrician trained in top medical schools, what led you to integrate ideas from holistic and Ayurvedic medicine into your practice?

Dr. Geary: I went to India when I graduated high school, pre-college. It was a kind of work-study program, where we lived with families, traveled and really got a sense of the place. One of the places I visited happened to be a leprosy hospital, and it really made an impression on me. When I came back to the States, I was studying cultural anthropology at Harvard, and I also worked at Sloan Kettering, looking at a study on the impact of stress on parents who have children dying of cancer. And it struck me, maybe a little naively at 18 years old, that there was a real difference between how these people viewed illness and death. At Sloan Kettering there was such hopelessness and bitterness. It was a sharp contrast to the people in India, who were surrounding themselves with loved ones and trying to get as much psychological and physical support as possible. This was in 1981, when no one was making the kinds of connections between psychology and physical effects.

LIME: Did that experience make you want to be a doctor?

Dr. Geary: Well, a little while later, I went to a lecture at the Asia Society and heard Dr. Arthur Kleinman speak. He talked about explanatory models of illness, basically looking at the way people explain their own illness to themselves. As luck would have it, he was at Harvard, and I went into his office and asked him to be my advisor. I tailored my major toward medical anthropology, and for my thesis I went back to India, where I worked a cancer hospital in Bombay. And I realized that while I was seeing a lot, I’d like to go to medical school so I could do something for these people. So I went to Johns Hopkins. . . what I brought to the table was my ability to look at the whole person.

LIME: Did you take that straight into your practice in New York?

Dr. Geary: Actually, Santa Fe was the first place I could practice the kind of medicine I wanted to practice—people were much more open minded. The ideas I brought were acceptable. I moved back here to New York and realized that I wanted to start my own practice that explored these alternatives in a real way I wanted real data for things that really work. So I sort of tentatively brought some of these ideas into my practice in New York, and surprisingly, it really took off. I got a reputation for being a pediatrician in New York who is willing to really spend time with my patients, and to look into whatever would work. I told parents that I would take care of their kids as long as they told me what they were giving their kids.

LIME: And was that a problem? Is treating their kids with alternative medicine the kind of thing people hide?

Dr. Geary: Well, yeah. People hide a lot. And I don’t think that’s necessary. My first boss said to me, "listen to the parents, they are almost never wrong. They’re with the patient, they have a psychological connection to the patient, and they know things." That’s how my practice has evolved. My practice is integrative. I have a firm belief that as a doctor, if you listen to the parent and also bring you own experience to the table, it’s a team effort and you’re going to give the kid the best care. Parents have to trust you and you have to trust parents.

Today 50% of my practice is standard pediatrics, but a growing number of people are coming to me because I’ll talk to them about things like using CranioSacral therapy for ear infections. When parents come with treatments I haven’t heard about, I research them and then give them my best opinion.

LIME: How do you think the principles of Ayurvedic Medicine help the kids that you see? Their families?

Dr. Geary: I think the best lessons from Ayurveda are a) looking at the bigger picture and b) being willing to embrace more than one explanation and c) really trying to understand that it’s not about a miracle in a jar, it’s about going back to the natural balance of your body. I don’t advertise my ingredients as rare or obscure, and therefore more able to cure you. To make my products, I looked back at really old recipes. I knew that shea butter had been used for hundreds of years by many kinds of people, so I use it. With all of my products, I can promise that they will do no harm, though I cannot promise you that they will work like the ones in drugstores do. But we have to be sure about why creams are “working.” I’ve done the research, I know that putting parabens and steroids on your skin, your largest organ, just doesn’t make sense. And consumers are being lied to. So many products are marketed as natural when they are anything but. So if you’re a busy mom crashing though the aisles and you see lavender baby balm, you’re going to grab it, just because you see the word lavender and assume it’s natural.

LIME: What made you decide to start the line of Vedababy products?

Dr. Geary: When my oldest daughter was young, she had horrible eczema. It was awful. So I went to my mentors for advice, and they told me to give her steroid creams, and I did, and it cleared up. But in the course of giving her the cream, I started reading about the effects of steroids on young skin, and it was really scary. Then later, in my own practice, when kids had bad eczema, I couldn’t find a product to recommend. All had of the creams available had parabens, which are a preservative and also the primary source of irritant for kids with allergies. So I made my own cream and gave it to my patients. I had researched the ingredients to know they wouldn’t do any harm, though they might not work as quickly as a steroid cream. Then word of mouth got out and more and more parents started finding me. It got to the point where I couldn’t keep up with the demand, and I had to make it into a real business.

LIME: How do you source your ingredients to ensure purity?

Dr. Geary: I use a lab out west that’s vegan and organic certified. They batch test. Some of the companies make a hundred-thousand products that sit on shelves for years. Most skin care products do not have expiration date, that’s because they're made with parabens. My products are made in small batches and tested. They are more expensive because the ingredients in them are real.

LIME: What advice can you give to moms, especially moms who are concerned about all the potentially harmful ingredients in our food and body care products?

Dr. Geary: My biggest fear is turning parents into full time anxiety induced people. I do not think it’s necessary for a busy working mom to come home and grind her own baby food. Let’s educate ourselves about what we’re going to pick and choose, about what’s manageable and what’s not manageable . I don’t say, "never give your kids Cheetos!" I just say, "Be aware it’s like giving them a glass of wine. Things are okay in small doses, but be aware of what you’re doing."

LIME: How many kids do you have?

Dr. Geary: I have two girls, ages 14 and 16.

LIME: How has your business affected them?

Dr. Geary: They think I’m a little nuts, but they’re fine. It hasn’t made them change their ways. They are still going to Sephora and buying the junk! But that’s not a battle I’m going to pick with them right now. Adolescence is a time when you think that you’re infallible, invincible. The media is much more powerful than their mother. What they read in Teen Vogue is biblical, compared to what I say.

LIME: Would you feel better about them using parabens or taking a drink?

Dr. Geary: Ugh, good question! I’m probably spiting myself, but I would have to say using parabens, because in another few years they’ll be able to understand intellectually why that isn’t a good idea, whereas drinking is a socially acceptable form of poisoning themselves.

LIME: Do your girls get to try the products first?

Dr. Geary: Yes, absolutely! And actually, there was a really sweet start to the business when they and my patients were incredibly supportive. I would give them a sample to try and I would tell them: I can’t promise you this is going to work, certainly not as fast as anything you’ll get in a drug store, but try it. I want your honest feedback. And they gave it!

LIME: What’s your favorite product?

Dr. Geary: The truth? This blue green algae body polish. You know the satisfaction of being really scrubbed? It’s that. But milder! I hear about funny things too-- I did have one father use the Baby Butt. He’s a polo player, apparently he gets chafing on his knees. Now he’s a devotee.