What Are We Eating? What the Average American Consumes in a Year
via MindBodyGreen
If this isn't an eye-opening image, I don't know what is. This graphic from Visual Economics breaks down what the average American consumes in...
Michelle Obama Urges Restaurant Industry To Change For Kids
By Kerin Van Hoosear, LuxEco Editorial Assistant and author of Seasonal Cooking with Kerin
Did you know that most kids’ meals in restaurants have twice as many calories as the meal you’d serve them at home? Not only are the majority of these meals laden with saturated fat and salt, but some even reach a whopping 1,000 calories! Such a meal is high in calories for an adult, and for a child that’s just ridiculous.
In The Spice Cabinet: Benefits of Cinnamon
It's a safe bet to say that there aren't too many people in the world who haven't experienced the warm soothing smell of cinnamon as it slowly bakes into your grandmother's extra syrupy sweet potatoes, or as it blends with the apples and buttery crust from your mom's apple pie. What most of us, particularly in the Western World, fail to realize is that we are victims of a very cruel irony.
In Defense of Agave
Agave nectar was originally given a lot of positive hype because it has a low glycemic index. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the term, this is a good thing! Think of it like time-released energy; instead of flooding your bloodstream with sugar that will eventually lead to a crash, foods with a low glycemic index keep you energized for longer.
Farmers Markets Promote Healthy Eating Habits and Seasonal Shopping this Spring
Shopping and eating seasonally from your local farmers market tastes better, has higher nutritional values, promotes healthy eating habits, reduces environmental damage from shipping foods, and can even be kinder on your wallet.
Farmers Market Eating Habits Seasonal SpringBy Hannah Canvasser, LuxEco Editorial Assistant
Shopping at your neighborhood grocery store, many don’t realize that most of the abundant supply of produce comes from thousands of miles away, and is picked before ripeness to give consumers what they demand. Who would have thought that we could have peaches in October and butternut squash in June! Although off-season and premature picked produce will color and soften on the way to market, taste and nutritional value will be lost. Understanding what produce is available during certain seasons, and shopping at local farmers markets can change these eating habits.
Here are a few reasons to stay local and seasonal with your eating habits:
Farmers Market Eating Habits Seasonal SpringTaste and Nutritional Value:
There are many products available at local farmers markets that will not only be rich in flavor, but high in nutritional value due to ripeness when picked and seasonality. Artichokes, asparagus, avocados, broccoli, mushrooms, spinach, corn, red pepper, green beans, peas, and beets are all great spring vegetable additions to your kitchen. Try a spinach artichoke dip as an appetizer or some tasty grilled portabella mushroom sliders to entertain with friends. Mango, pineapple, grapefruit, kumquats, lemons, oranges, tangerines, strawberries, cherries, nectarines, peaches, plums, melons, and lavender are very popular throughout spring and will enhance your eating habits. With your pantry now stocked, relax with a refreshing strawberry basil lemonade and fresh avocado grapefruit salad, or indulge with some lavender bread pudding.
Healthiest Fast Food
By: Linsley Oaks, LuxEco Living Editorial Assistant
Healthiest Fast Food
is now more common nowadays since people are thinking healthier everyday. Dietary restrictions and preferences have...
Woman and Food
By Robyn O'Brien, Founder of Allergy Kids Foundation and LuxEco Advocate
Now, I’m not sure where you stand on this whole food thing. But if you’re anything like me, you probably don’t want someone telling you what to eat. So when friends first started trying to educate me about terms like organic, local, natural and grass fed, I have to admit, I tuned out (and probably rolled my eyes). Because the reality is that food is never just food. Food is comfort.
Food is family. It is security. It is politics. And it is loaded.
Understanding Labeling for Certified Organic Wine
Organic grape farmers feel they are getting the short end of the stick when it comes to the current labeling of organic wines.
By Brooke Rewa, LuxEco Editorial Assistant
Organic shopping can be confusing. Organic wine shopping, even more so. Many of us don't have time to stop and read every ingredient on the products we are looking to purchase at the grocery store. This is why we look for known "stamps of approval." The biggest stamp we look for when shopping organic is that of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The USDA sets very high standards for what can be labeled certified organic; which is why we as consumers trust them. They have taken these standards to new levels in the wine industry and it could be doing more harm than good for the world of organics.
When perusing your local grocer for an organic wine you will find two different labels; one clearly labeled certified organic and one labeled "made with organic grapes". This is where things get confusing and where organic grape farmers get upset. In order to be labeled certified organic by the USDA wine must be made from 100% organic grapes and contain no added sulfites. Sulfites occur naturally when grapes are fermented to make wine, it is impossible for any wine to be completely sulfite-free. Wine makers have been adding sulfites for centuries. Sulfur protects wine from oxidizing, allows for a longer shelf life and prevents unwanted organisms from growing in th
Vegan Presidents and Action Heroes?
By Sahar Ghaffari, LuxEco Living Editorial Assistant
In a recent interview with Wolf Blitzer on CNN, former president Bill Clinton announced that his recent 24 pound weight loss was thanks to a vegan diet. The 64 year old Clinton went on an “essentially plant-based diet” living primarily on vegetables, legumes, fruit, and protein supplements mixed in with almond milk in the mornings.
Seasonal Eating: The Best Nature Has to Offer
By Kerin Van Hoosear, LuxEco Editorial Assistant and author of Seasonal Cooking with Kerin
Before the advent of refrigeration, seasonal living wasn’t an aspiration,...
Chef Seth Nathan Brings Delectable Culinary Skills To Mad And Vin Restaurant
I loved mt experience at Mad and Vin. Mostly, I enjoyed our conversation with chef Seth Nathan while dining with friends.
Nancy’s Organic Kitchen Chiles Rellenos with Salsa Verde
By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor-in-Chief LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World
One of my favorite Mexican dishes is Chiles Rellenos or chiles...
Strawberry Crumble Fresh From The Farmer’s Market
Hit your nearest farmer's market for some farm fresh strawberries and get baking!
By Brooke Rewa, LuxEco Editorial Assistant
It's strawberry season here in Southern California and were baking our way into spring. This homemade crumble filled with locally grown strawberries will have you sprinting to your local farmer's market for supplies.
Organic Beer For Your St. Patrick’s Day Celebration
By Brooke Rewa, LuxEco Editorial Assistant
Move over Guiness, organic beer is taking over this St. Patrick's Day. My five picks for organic beers that even the Irish can get down with. Try Bison Brewing's Organic Chocolate Stout, Wolaver's Organic Brown Ale, Eel River's Porter, Peak Organic Brewing Company's Nut Brown Ale, Pisgah Brewing Company's Valdez,
Retaking our Green Wedding Vows at the Hotel Bel-Air
By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor-in-Chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World
In a historic setting which rekindles Hollywoods Golden but now...
The Best Cheese and Wine in the World: Bridlewood Winery hosts Mons Fromager- Affineur...
By Nancy and James Chuda founders LuxEcoLiving and Healthy Child Healthy World
Santa Ynez California, twilight time
It's a marriage of two of the most celebrated...
Bion Rice Shines Heartfelt Light on Sunstone Winery’s History: With Grace and Gratitude
By Nancy and James Chuda founders of LuxEcoLiving and Healthy Child Healthy World
Sunstone Winery Santa Ynez California
Life happens! Even in the best laid plans...
New Vegan Restaurant Serves Up Healthy Comfort Food
By: Lauren O'Neill, LuxEco Editorial Assistant
Los Angeles foodies can rejoice because there is a new vegan restaurant in town, Sage Organic Vegan Bistro on the corner of Sunset and Logan in Echo Park. Formerly raw food restaurant Mooi, the space is now a dream team of organic vegan delicacies: healthy comfort food from Sage, and delicious, dairy-free ice cream from the popular KindKreme desserts (also in Studio City and Pasadena). With the owners of Millie’s in Silver Lake and a former chef of well-renowned vegan restaurant Flore, it’s no wonder the food is so good that it will satiate the taste buds of vegans, vegetarians, and omnivores alike.
For Colette:Burgundy4U is my dream come true
Part two:Burgundy4U
It was a hot and muggy summer day late in the month of August. The white wine was on ice. The defrosted shrimp...
LuxEco’s Green Light Intiative at the Natural Products Expo
By Nancy Chuda, Founder and Editor in Chief of LuxEco Living and Founder of Healthy Child Healthy World
While amping up for this year's Natural Products Expo in Anaheim, CA and getting the LuxEco team ready for our "Green Light" Initiative in which we search out and highlight the best natural, organic and eco-friendly products that the Green Movement has to offer, I can't help but to reflect on the evolving nature of "GREEN."
Jim and I attended the first Natural Products Expo in Anaheim, CA almost two decades ago... and it was far from gluten-free. We were young, energetic, and held an undying faith that our world was unnaturally occurring; wearing Birkenstock and eating jerky we found our tribe. Or did we? back then, fair-trade was a hearty handshake.
South Congress trailers in Austin!
By Grace Robertson, LuxEco Advocate
Keeping Austin Weird With…South Congress Trailers!
Austin is a great place to live because of its’ fun people, great music, and uniqueness. Its’ motto is Keep Austin Weird, which is a perfect name for this individualistic place. In my opinion, walking in downtown Austin is a whole different experience from walking in any other city.
Seasonal Cooking with Kerin: Roasted Butternut Squash Mac ‘N’ Cheese
By Kerin Van Hoosear, LuxEco Editorial Assistant and author of Seasonal Cooking with Kerin
Perfect for autumnal cooking, try your hand at Roasted Butternut Squash Mac ‘N’ Cheese (and don't forget to buy your ingredients local and organic!)
First, to roast the butternut squash you'll need:
one hot oven
1 butternut squash (medium sized), peeled and cubed (about 1/2" x 1/2")
1/2 tsp of nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp sage
salt and pepper
olive oil
Nancy’s Organic Kitchen
By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor-in-Chief LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World
Grown in the sun and kissed by a babies breath
I live...
Try Horman’s Best for the Holiest Pickles in a Jar
Think Fresh Horman's Best Pickles for Mother's Day
Kimberly Jones purveys the best affordable wines from France
By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor-in Chief LuxEcoLiving and co-founder Healthy Child Healthy World
Queribus Castle and the Cru overlooking Maury France
If you had to...
Travels with Journey: The Carmel Country Inn by the Sea is Pet Perfect
By Nancy and James Chuda founders of LuxEcoLiving and Healthy Child Healthy World
Carmel by the Sea at The Carmel Country Inn
Like the candy, Carmel...
The Thief Oslo Norway: LuxEcoLiving’s Best Hotels in the World 2016
By Nancy and James Chuda founders of LuxEcoLiving and Healthy Child Healthy World
Oslo Norway, The Chuda's for LuxEcoLiving
What could be better. Two nights at...
A New App for Apple
Steve Jobs might find a way to cut to the core of a major human rights issue impacting the health of children who get their daily dose of vitamins from eating apples. You can write to him sjobs@apple.com and let him know he's got to get on this issue ASAP.
Antibiotics and Food Production: Are we Feeding a Health Crisis and Squandering the Cure?
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.
Hay! Get a Handle
By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor-in Chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World
Here's a LuxEcoLiving4U time saver. It's called Hay Handle.
Time...
Sebelius: Champion of Health AND Wellness
The historic passage of last night's health care reform bill will positively effect millions of American's with immediate benefits as outlined in the House...
Quick and Refreshing Strawberry Basil Lemonade for Spring
By Hannah Canvasser, LuxEco Editorial Assistant
Take a break this spring with a refreshing strawberry basil lemonade. With the first strawberries of the season, and a few simple ingredients straight from your farmers market, this extravagant looking beverage will have your friends wondering where you've hidden your bartender. The trick is with the effortless simple syrup, which not only dilutes the fresh squeezed lemon juice, but gives the lemonade its sweetness as well as it's basil background flavor.
The Brothers Red Barn Brings Back That Lovin Feelin…Again
By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor in Chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World
The Brothers know how to bring home the...
Fresh and Easy Grilled Portobello Mushroom Sliders for Spring
By Hannah Canvasser LuxEco Editorial Assistant
This recipe can be as simple or complex as you would like. Whether you are looking to show off your spring honed barbecue skills and house make your ingredients, or pick up already-made items from your local market, these sliders will leave omnivores confused about their eating-orientation, vegetarians thrilled to be dining at your place, and the neighbors wanting an invite.
How Can I Get My Child’s School To Be Greener & Safer?
By Janelle Sorensen, Chief Communications Officer, Healthy Child Healthy World
Expert Opinion courtesy of Healthy Child Healthy World
When my husband and I toured schools to...


















