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August Q&A – Baking Without Eggs
This month’s Q&A question is near and dear to my heart, for a few reasons. Alexa from New York emailed in about her newly diagnosed allergy to eggs, asking how she can go about replacing them when she bakes. A lot of people suffer from egg allergies – some mild and some severe. Other people choose to avoid eggs for ethical reasons (vegans), because of their concerns about excess dietary cholesterol (side note: studies have shown that eating eggs regularly does not impact blood cholesterol levels), or because their fearful of...
read more5 Steps to Becoming Master of the Farmers Market
Not exactly Master of the Universe, but it’s pretty close. Despite more and more farmers markets popping up all over the place, there are still plenty of people who are intimidated by the crowds, the chefs, and the people who seemingly know exactly what to look for. Instead of avoiding the markets altogether, or just shopping the fringes, these tips will ensure that you’ll feel like Master of the Market! Go prepared with these tips under your belt and you’ll feel confident and comfortable navigating the maze of the...
read moreLead In Our Lipstick and Other Great Stuff
We’ve all heard the rumors that the average woman eats something like 6 lbs of lipstick in her lifetime, something which has never swayed anyone I know from buying their favorite shade. But this is just that, a rumor. Snopes.com managed to bust this legend by calculating exactly how may tubes of lipstick a person would have to go through to ingest 6 lbs of the stuff, and it was a staggering 454 to 1,512 tubes a year, and that each tube would have to be consumed in it’s entirety. No lipstick blotting, no lipstick kisses, no coffee...
read moreRaw Summer
Raw foods have become really popular in the last few years, and as a group have elevated themselves from a fruit salad and carrot stick bunch to haute cuisine at it’s best. The sheer level of creativity of raw foods these days is enough to inspire even the hardest of traditional chefs and encourage first timers to become far more adventurous. For some, raw foods is a passing fad, and a quirky “look honey, I’m eating “raw” lasagna!!!” pit stop along the culinary highway. But for others, it’s a way of...
read moreCooling Summer Foods
We naturally crave foods according to the season – comforting soups in the winter, sprouts and salads as spring starts to bloom, and – who are we kidding – ice cream in the summer! Our bodies are always seeking balance, so it makes sense that we’d crave foods to counteract the effect of the weather. Ayurvedic practitioners, masters of seasonal eating, have these recommendations for eating cooling, summer food: 1. Favor foods that are cool and liquid. Minimize foods that are hot. 2. Favor foods that are sweet, bitter...
read moreFood Focus: Raw Foods
Everyone knows it’s healthy to eat fresh, uncooked fruits and vegetables every day. Raw foodists take this way of eating to heart and base all their meals around different preparations of raw fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. While some people debate the health merits of eating a totally raw food diet year round, it certainly it a great diet for the long, hot days of summer! Raw foods, in addition to having abundant nutrients, are also high in water – something we need extra of during the summer months. Thankfully, nature...
read moreJuly Q&A – Safe Sunscreens?
I’m excited to kick of my monthly Q&A with a great question about the safety of sunscreens. In my comings and goings I’m often asked a lot of questions about what to eat, what to buy, or what not to buy. Instead of being able to only answer the one person who asked it, I’m turning those questions, and new ones that you submit, into monthly Q&A. If there’s something on your mind that you’re not sure of, ask me! Since I’m posting first names only, you have no reason to hold back, even from those...
read moreAre You Eating GMO? (Yup!)
GMO. Genetically Modified Organism. Sounds delicious right? Well GMO’s are currently found in a HUGE percentage of the foods we eat, particularly if we’re buying things from the supermarket that comes in boxes, cans, or bags. A recent CBS News/NYTimes poll showed that 53% of people said they won’t buy food that has been genetically modified. Just the idea of GM foods can be pretty hair-raising… crossing strawberries and fish, genetically altering rice to contain higher levels of Vitamin A, and of course, the most...
read moreFavorite Summer Activity? Why Berry Picking, Of Course
I know, I know, I probably sound all kinds of nerdy saying that my favorite thing to do in the summer is to go out and pick berries, and not say, hit the beach, catch a summer concert, or eat outdoors. But it’ okay, because I already know I’m a nerd when it comes to this kind of stuff… picking berries, making jam, cooking with new ingredients. For me, berry picking is calming, and meditative, while also being back breaking, sweat inducing, and greed generating. Ha! Berry picking requires concentration and focus, as the...
read moreIn Search of A Green Clean Shampoo
(the caption of this stock photo reads: “Attractive male taking shower and washing his hair with satisfaction”. Indeed!) As you may have gathered from my last post, I spend a lot of time researching many of the things that I buy in an effort to make the best possible choice for myself and for the environment. This research sometimes takes the form of reading article upon article, interviews, company profiles, and maybe watching a video here and there. Since I’ve started learning about the ingredients and lack of regulation...
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