Food

Nutritional Facts can easily help shape your Figure: How to get vegetables in that breakfast Cereal. By Brooke Rewa, LuxEco Editorial Assistant Pulfoods is bringing us a healthy breakfast that both parents and kids can get behind; Crunchfuls cereal. Made from beans and lentils this cereal is the perfect way to sneak in a full serving of vegetables first thing in the morning. With 4 grams of protein and only 3 grams of sugar this gluten-free, natural product is a great alternative to processed, sugary breakfast cereals.

It’s a question as old as campfire, and the answer is getting more and more difficult to produce: “Hey Ma (or Pa), What’s for dinner?”. The realities of mass food production in this modern age are out there, and perhaps the harshest light of all has been shed on the meat production industry in particular.

By Alanna Brown, LuxEco Editorial Assistant Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed landmark bill AB 1437, which requires that all shell (whole) eggs sold in the state of California be laid by cage-free hens as of 2015. This means farmers have five years to get hens out of the over-stuffed henhouses and into a space where they can stand and spread their wings without constriction.

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...

The Taste of Yosemite offers more than just gourmet delights

By Hannah Canvasser LuxEco Editorial Assistant This light and tangy salad will get your taste buds in shape for spring. Grab a few simple and healthy ingredients from your local farmers market and enjoy a lunch that will leave you full, but won't weigh you down.

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 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...

Let's toast the Irish, with a great organic meal! By Nancy Chuda co-founder and Editor in Chief of LuxEco Living and Healthy Child Healthy World "Laughter is brightest where food is best" Irish Proverb Tonight, I am serving one of my favorite dishes-- Organic Corned Beef and Cabbage. Easy to make for any occasion and the best part of the meal is the company. Good friends make all the work and preparation fun.

By Kerin Van Hoosear, LuxEco Editorial Assistant and author of Season Cooking with Kerin In a country where childhood obesity rates have more than tripled in the last thirty years, it is refreshing to see teachers like Mark Wagner combat that statistical nightmare. As head of the Organic Garden Club at Palmquist Elementary School in Oceanside, Calif., he’s getting kids excited about gardening and eating right. “I really wanted to promote nutrition awareness. That was my main goal,” Wagner says. When he arrived at Palmquist four years ago, the school garden was a fenced-in patch of waist-high weeds. Now it’s filled with ground crops and fruit trees that the students are not just excited to grow, but to eat as well.

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.

By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor-in-Chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World Cows have a voice too! If you can stomach, actually bare...

Organic Produce and Sustainable Farms are Celebrated at by Myra Goodman at Earthbound Farms Excerpted from The Earthbound Cook I discovered this amazingly simple but intensely flavorful pasta dish when our family traveled to Italy a few summers ago. It was so memorable that it made the top of my list of recipes to try to replicate. Chunks of succulent eggplant get a quick sauté to set their flavor, then are simmered in a light marinara sauce until tender. At the last minute, cubes of mozzarella di bufalo are added, quickly becoming soft and creamy as they melt into the sauce. This dish goes together in no time, especially if you have marinara sauce on hand. If you don’t have time to make my Heirloom Tomato Sauce or the Quick Tomato Sauce, you can fast-track the recipe by using a store-bought version. A word about the eggplant, which is at the heart of this dish: Salting is not required, but it’s important to sauté the eggplant over high heat in the amount of oil specified. You need very high heat to force the eggplant to brown and develop flavor. In the absence of high heat, the vegetable will simply soak up the oil, become soggy, and taste fl at. I serve this dish with a warmed baguette to sop up the extra sauce, and with a light salad of lettuce and endive dressed only with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and salt and pepper.

By Sahar Ghaffari, LuxEco Living Editorial Assistant Several years ago when I decided to stop having dairy I thought I would never again be able to savor the velvety smooth sweetness of delicious ice cream. That was until I started exploring the world of vegan ice cream.

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

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.

It's no surprise! Country music starlet Kellie Pickler and Heroes' star Milo Ventimiglia are pretty sexy. Both were named Sexiest Vegetarians ...

Introduction by Nancy Chuda Founder and Editor in Chief of LuxEcoLiving and Co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World. If you haven't had a chance to...

Kit Kemp's masterfully designed Knightsbridge London is one of a kind. She pays extra attention to detail in bringing joy to every experience.

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...

By Nancy Chuda, co-founder of LuxEco Living.com and Healthy Child Healthy World Here in Nancy's Organic Kitchen at The Green Green Home Under The H, I am challenged daily by the special dietary needs of my LuxEcoLiving and Healthy Child/Healthy World friends and colleagues. There are so many variables when it comes to defining your plat du jour. At LuxEco, health is the main objective, so I’ve decided to help you figure out where you should look among the various choices within the food chain.

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.

By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor-in-Chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World Travels without Journey...well sort of... We traveled to this beautiful haven...

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...

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...

If you think Beverly Hills has lost it's elegance and classic history step into the lobby of the new Waldorf Astoria and dream again. This remarkable hotel has brought new meaning to "life at the top". It is A-listed beyond a doubt. And best dog-friendly hotel in the world.

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.

By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor-in-Chief LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World The french may think they know it all or even have...

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...

As victims of busy schedules, we are easily seduced by the drive-thru lines of fast food traps that promise quick service for low cost and oftentimes, low-quality food. We’ve seen their brightly colored signs along freeways, tempting our growling stomachs, but why should we have to sacrifice quality and health in the interest of saving time and money? Many fast food chains have caught on and are modifying their business initiatives to promote healthier and more eco-friendly practices.

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...

How do you take the fame and publicity of a recent Oscar win and parlay that momentum for a good cause? Well, how about...

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...

By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor-in-Chief LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World Orchids can be orchidellic     Santa Barbara International Orchid Show And...

By Nancy and James Chuda founders of LuxEcoLiving and Healthy Child Healthy World I was craving cheese. Not just that typical stinky cheese you find...