Lifestyle

By: Linsley Oaks, LuxEco Living Editorial Assistant My Nana is very important to me, and with good reason.  She has taught me so many valuable...

By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor-in-Chief LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of HealthyChild Healthy World Santa Ynez California Courtesy of Jeremy Ball A Magical Night! Tales from...

Author of Family Dinner and Producer of Inconvenient Truth, Laurie David shares her concern about antibiotics in food production and what that means for the overall health concerns. By Laurie David, Author, Producer and LuxEco Advocate Originally posted on Huffington Post I worry. A lot. My worry gene works overtime. A doctor once told me it's called an "overactive checker" (or as I like to think of it, my OC). As far as afflictions go, it's not terrible. OC's are good to have around. They see danger from miles away. They pay close attention. Motherhood can be particularly tough on OC's. We know too well that there's no such thing as "out of sight out of mind." But over the years I have come to terms with my checker, and now consider it a trusted friend. It was my checker that helped me raise my kids with a minimum of cuts and scratches, rear three dogs from eight-week-old puppies, and eventually opened my eyes to the looming dangers of global warming. It's the same trusted checker that is screaming, "Wake up! Wake up!" on the issue of antibiotic resistance.

By Sahar Ghaffari, LuxEco Living Editorial Assistant The cosmetic market today is saturated with thousands of products that claim to tighten, moisturize, and smooth your skin; but usually these claims come with a hefty cost, artificial ingredients, and not necessarily the results you were hoping for. However, the answers to some of your skin problems could be secretly hidden right in your very own kitchen.

By Nancy Chuda Founder and Editor in Chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World. “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful...

By Sahar Ghaffari, LuxEco Editorial Assistant There’s a new trend in hair fashion that’s sexy, earthy, and may actually be easier on your pocket book. It’s called ombre, which in French means shaded or graduated in tone. The look involves darker roots which gradually become lighter as you go down the hair; giving a natural, sun-kissed look.

By: Mary Elizabeth Williams-Villano, LuxEco Editorial Assistant for Resplendent Repurposing series If you have seniors on your gift list, you may be struggling with what to buy them. The best, and greenest answer may be: Nothing, as in no-thing. It’s the old story: What to get the person who has everything? Most older people have more junk than they’ll ever need – and are trying to get rid of it. Very often they’re downscaling, going from a multi-bedroom house to a smaller one, an apartment or into assisted living. The last thing they want is one more dust-catcher. So don’t buy them any, unless they’ve specifically requested it. (Ever wonder what percentage of landfill contents are made up of unwanted gifts? I’ll bet the number is staggering.)

By Merry Elkins, LuxEco Editorial Assistant Best known for being a star-maker, Ken Kragen, who is also an author, teacher, and film and television producer, has charted the career course of some our most celebrated entertainers including Kenny Rogers, Lionel Richie, Tricia Yearwood, Olivia Newton John, The Bee Gees, The Smothers Brothers, Harry Chapin and more; but nothing he has accomplished in his illustrious career has ever achieved the significance or the scope of his philanthropic work. For breathing life into Hands Across America in the 1980s where young and old alike joined hands across the country to call attention to hunger and homelessness here in the US; for setting in motion and organizing the recording We Are the World, that brought together 45 prominent recording artists including Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie and Bruce Springsteen to raise $64 million to feed people in Africa and for founding USA for Africa to distribute the money, he received the United Nations Peace Medal, something few civilians receive and an honor for which he is most proud.

By: Molly Cimikoski, Editorial Assistant Last week, LuxEco Living was lucky enough to be graced with a phone interview from New York Times bestselling author,...

By Bethany Colson, Managing Editor of LuxEcoLiving.com According to the US government, One third of all children born in 2000 or later will suffer from diabetes at some point in their lives; many others will face chronic obesity-related health problems like heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer, and asthma. A recent study put the health care costs of obesity-related diseases at $147 billion per year. With rates having tripled over the last three decades and with millions effected and the percentage of obese or overweight children at or above 30% in 30 states, the childhood obesity epidemic shows no slowing in site... YET. Enter First Lady Michelle Obama. The Goal: Through nutrition education, healthy food alternatives, physical fitness and a coordinated effort between public, private and non-private sector, the challenge of childhood obesity will be solved within a generation so that children born today will reach adulthood at a healthy weight.

By Alanna Brown, LuxEco Editorial Assistant The old diet and exercise routine just doesn’t seem to be working anymore. You eat your fruits and veggies, avoid carbohydrates (well, you try to), and are physically active at least 3 times per week. Yet, when you step on the scale it won’t budge past your old plop-down-on-the-couch-with-a-bag-of-chips weight. What is it going to take to drop the next 10 to 15 pounds? Scientists have discovered that it’s not your diet or exercise routine to blame, it’s a little endocrine-disrupting chemical known as EDC’s or “obesogens” making it impossible to shed the extra fat.

By Nancy and James Chuda founders of LuxEcoLiving and Healthy Child Healthy World " Sitting in front of the mountain that gave birth to Paul...

“As a group, it's our intention with this album to create songs with a message of compassion and hope,” said Newton-John. “They are for anyone facing a time of challenge in their life, whether it is grieving a loss - or on the journey to health and recovery.”

By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor in Chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World Emily and Robbie Wilson pay homage to the...

By Nancy Chuda, co-founder of LuxEcoLiving.com and Healthy Child Healthy World A divine inspiration. A remarkable event. An outstanding evening. Jim and I were treated to one of the most memorable moments in our lives—at Coleman Farm’s annual dinner. Their mission is to re-connect diners to the land and the origins of their food, and to honor the local farmers and food artisans who cultivate it.

By Alanna Brown, a LuxEcoLiving Advocate, creator of Brown House Online, and author of Moonpennies The gatekeepers are gone. The agent, the editor, the lawyer,...

By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor in Chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World FDA confirms Listeria outbreak is linked to cantaloupe...

Nancy Chuda, co-founder of LuxEcoLiving.com and Healthy Child Healthy World, proudly introduces LuxEco Living TV! Our first guest is Laura Turner Seydel, a wonderful mother, eco-advocate and the daughter of CNN's Ted Turner. Check out the interview to hear Laura share her insight and passion for an eco-conscious world, free from chemicals and toxins.

by Elizabeth Grossman, Author of Chasing Molecules: Poisonous Products, Human Health, and the Promise of Green Chemistry, High Tech Trash: Digital Devices, Hidden Toxics, and Human Health via The...

Santa Barbara County Los Alamos- Bell Street Farm LuxEcoLiving photo credits Mozy into town... you've arrived in Los Alamos where you will discover a three block...

The Advent of Lignocellulosic Ethanol is a Biomass Boon By Derin Richardson, LuxEco Living Editorial Assistant There are a myriad of alternative fuel breakthroughs that been discovered this century--hydrogen fuel cells, ethanol, biodiesel, etc.--but there is one, recently discovered energy source that you either may not have heard or know little of. Enter leaf biofuel. As it is scientifically labeled, lignocellulosic ethanol is the progeny of refining biomasses such as wood, grasses and/or any non-edible parts of a plant. It is a potentially sustainable and renewable biofuel, like using vegetable oil to produce biodiesel, however the insubordinate and resillient nature of this biomass make it problematic for industrial applications.

Introduction by Nancy Chuda founder and Editor in Chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World I had the great fortune of meeting...

"It will awaken your senses not only to the beauty of nature but to the plight of South Africa's wildlife, many of which are teetering on a thin line for survival.

In Tom Shadyac's Film "I Am," he poses a solution to a battered world: Compassion- It will right whats wrong with the world. By Nancy Chuda c0-founder and Editor-in-Chief LuxEco Living and Healthy Child Healthy World As a society we are not immune to disasters-- not in the face of mother nature who rules. Man does not have dominion over nature. But what man instinctively has is the desire to help those in need. Having compassion is the only way we will survive through disaster and hardship.

By Nancy Chuda, Co-Founder of LuxEcoLiving.com and Healthy Child Healthy World. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke predicted that America's worst recession in decades would likely...

By Zhenya Gershman artist, art historian, educator and contributing author to LuxEcoLiving I “met” my parents not long after they first fell in love.  I...

by Linsley Oaks, LuxEco Editorial Assistant Green is in and it is here to stay.  Eco-friendly products have blossomed on the fashion scene and are...

By Bernadette Bowman, Comedienne and LuxEco Advocate who writes the LIFE GOES RETROGRADE series. Gosh, I was hoping that I wouldn’t have to write this letter. I...

By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor-in-Chief of LuxEcoLiving and and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World The Citizen Hotel in Sacramento is a dog friendly,...

By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor-in Chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World. It...

By Alanna Brown, LuxEco Editorial Assistant Sophie Uliano is the guru of all things green that coincide with feeling and looking gorgeous. An advocate of eco-friendly living without the sacrifice of beauty and glamour, she is the New York Times best-selling author of “Gorgeously Green: 8 Simple Steps to an Earth-Friendly Life,” “The Gorgeously Green Diet,” and “Do It Gorgeously: How to Make Less Toxic, Less Expensive, and More Beautiful Products.” Her breadth of knowledge is tremendous, ranging from non-toxic skin care, to gardening, to eco-friendly home restoration.

Although friendship might not be included in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, I think we can all agree that a lot of our survival requisites could not be met without the help of our dearest friends, if only because we would be too sad to roll out of bed and get that vital glass of water. Food on the other hand is necessary by anyone’s standards. Just a few hours without eating, and I quickly regress from a twenty-one year old human into something more closely resembling an ogre. However, when we take the wonders of food and add that very special additive called best friends, the result is longer lasting than any typical meal.

Introduction by Nancy Chuda founder and Editor in Chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World Christian Frere and I met by chance...

By Nancy Chuda Founder and Editor-in-Chief of LuxEco Living and Healthy Child Healthy World Enter Wael Ghonim, a charismatic young Google executive who helped launch the protests in Tahrir Square. His heroism validates what a real social network can do. Sorkin and Facebook aside, certainly not as newsworthy, will win the Oscar for best Original Screenplay not because of a few Harvard grads, but Google. The Umpire of all networks which will always win... it just makes adsense! Life imitates with purpose as the world watches Wael's Facebook page, as he herds the hordes of young brave Egyptians as they face off in the streets urging President Hosni Mubarak to step down. The cacophony of people, police, military, women, men and press from around the globe could not visually hold the power or the purpose that the Internet is providing.

By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor-in-Chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Health World Getting older. It's not easy. Nora always found a way to...