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By Mary Elizabeth Williams-Villano, LuxEco Editorial Assistant "And unlike the mindless, wasteful consumerism that our culture celebrates, it's a conscious, conscientious, sustainable lifestyle that is eco-responsible. If you've been looking for a way to live your values, here's a rebellious, joyous way to do just that."

By Bethany Colson, Managing Editor of LuxEcoLiving.com America today is seeing more people being isolated into a world of junk food and unhealthy foods. The U.S is rapidly turning into an unhealthy America with something called a "food desert". What's a food desert? According to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, a food desert is a “place where there is not easy access, affordable access, reasonable access to fresh fruits and vegetables — to a grocery store.” It could be an inner city or a rural town but what they both have in common, besides the low income economy, is their lack of access to fresh produce and to healthy food alternatives. Instead, convenience stores and fast foods with their highly processed foods, packed with refined sugars, trans fats and preservatives are ubiquitous and commonplace. As a result, families are left with few options to serving nutritious foods and their children suffer the consequences. With new generations being fed these types of foods, it is only a matter of time before this growing unhealthy America can see any change whatsoever.

When Jim and I took our vows on October 6th 1984 we had a beautiful wedding. The ceremony and reception were held at the Hotel Bel Air in Los Angeles California.

By Nancy and James Chuda founder of LuxEcoLiving and co-founders of Healthy Child Healthy World The Batcheller Mansion Inn is one of America's most historic...

By Lacey Szczepanik, LuxEco Living Editorial Assistant At the age of 28 I find I’ve lived the majority of my life trapped inside a head...

Bushmans Kloof is Stunning! Spectacular! A haven for culinary delights! A once in a lifetime experience... nothing can compare to this Relais & Châteaux property part of the Red Carnation Hotel Collection

By Alanna Brown, LuxEco Editorial Assistant Whole Foods Market is a forward-thinking grocery chain that has broken down barriers and paved the way for progress in the green movement. In addition to its organic standards for food and non-food products, and its existing recycling infrastructure, Whole Foods is now starting a wine cork recycling system. The popular grocery franchise will implement this new program at all of its 292 stores across the U.S., Canada, and the U.K.

By Mary Elizabeth Williams-Villano, LuxEcoLiving Editorial Assistant "In donning this well-preserved classic dress, I believe the First Lady is not merely paying homage to a long-forgotten American designer. She's accessorized this exquisite black lace cocktail dress with an understated Green brooch."

By: Francine LeFrak, Founder of Same Sky, a company that handcrafts glass bead bracelets made in Rwanda and LuxEco Advocate My dream is for the empowerment of women and eradication of poverty. In 1994, 1 million people were murdered in 100 days in Rwanda. I spent eight and a half years trying to produce a film about this massacre-- I wanted to tell the story of this genocide. Ultimately, the film never got produced. I was still left with the passion to shed light on this important story. By that time, my focus had also turned to the empowerment of women and girls. It was with the mission of helping the women in Africa that Same Sky was born.

By Alanna Brown, LuxEco Editorial Assistant Needless to say, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has devastated the United States’...

By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor in Chief of LuxEcoLiving and Healthy Child Healthy World Backstage at The Flamingo Hotel Las Vegas Nevada She sings with...

By Sahar Ghaffari, LuxEco Living Editorial Assistant Thanksgiving Day has come and gone all across America and leftovers are still being devoured, especially for the big star, the turkey. Indeed, the turkey is as American as the people eating it on Thanksgiving; Benjamin Franklin fought to have the Turkey be our nation’s symbol before the bald eagle was chosen. However in recent years, the turkey hasn’t been treated so well. Stuffed with antibiotics and hormones, the wonderful natural flavor and taste of the turkey has been diluted to a mere shadow of its former self. This is probably why more people are moving towards buying a fresh and organic turkey for their Thanksgiving festivities.

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.

By Wendy Ross Kaplan, LuxEcoLiving Advocate The term “gluten-free” is becoming more mainstream these days, when a trip to the grocery store can be rewarded with more healthy choices for shoppers. But before the 1960’s, only nutritionists and a handful of health nuts knew what gluten free meant. Nowadays, “gluten-free” has almost a cult following of otherwise regular folks seeking better health benefits and those suffering from diagnosed celiac disease, its varying manifestations and debilitating effects.

By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor-in-Chief of LuxEcoLiving and  co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World Artist Mary Nohr Courtesy of LuxEcoLiving "She's got your back...

By Galen Crawley's, author of A Path To Survival Against All Odds and LuxEco Advocate In 1979, the British colonization of Zimbabwe came to an end under Ian Smith. After sustained social unrest, the ZANU party, led by Robert Mugabe, came to power. Initially, there was a pervading sense of optimism as this charismatic, highly intelligent individual began to educate the country. In the 1980’s, the economy was growing and Zimbabwe was the breadbasket of Africa. Unfortunately, what began as a democracy became a dictatorship. During the 90’s the Zimbabwe spiraled into decline. At the beginning of the millennium, the Land Reform Programme was initiated. The white farmers, who fueled the economy with their tobacco and food production, were brutally kicked out. It was the beginning of mass starvation, hyper-inflation, and when the diamond fields were found, murder and torture.

Hands by Guido Daniele Hands by Guido Daniele By Florence "Flip" Ross, LuxEcoLiving Advocate and Contributor If I could bring the planet Earth, back to its natural beauty If I could sing its praise, and make the world assume its duty If I could make the industries clean up their foul pollution Our air, our water, would be clean, and would be the solution If I could force our corporations to help clean up our planet

For 20 years, Lauren Vidal remains true to the uniqueness of its creations and gives the contemporary woman her own image, focusing on overlays creating purely light styles punctuated by unstructured volumes.

By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor-in-Chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World Reporting from Casa Madrona in Sausalito California A Restaurant Review           ...

By  Florence “Flip” Ross a LuxEcoLiving Contributor         I never thought I could disclose My deepest feelings, held inside To put them down in honest prose Would...

Admittedly, I am not very traditional. The concept of the "bride's day" makes me cringe and a large wedding honestly frightens me on many levels, particularly because of the excess and waste. What is particularly difficult is finding a location for an eco-friendly wedding, particularly if you have a large family.

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: Joanna Bateman, Luxeco Editorial Assistant I’m a mid-west girl who recently moved west to California to spread my wings and fly. And if it weren’t for this past August, I’d be one stressed-out-Sally in the big sea of crazy known as Los Angeles. I needed to ground myself so that I didn’t float away in La La land. I needed Yoga camp!

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...

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.

By: Nina Montée Karp, Executive Producer & Director, The Path of Wellness & Healing and LuxEco Advocate The reality is harsh: 1 in 8 of our mothers, daughters, sisters and friends will hear the words “You have breast cancer” at some time in their lives. In fact, every 3 minutes in the US, a new woman is given this frightening diagnosis and as many as 25% of these women will ultimately die of that disease. The figures are startling, but here is, perhaps, the most surprising number of all: Only 10% of women with breast cancer have a family predisposition to get it. In other words, 90% of all breast cancers are provoked not by inherited genes, but by environmental triggers. This is critically important because it means that in up to 90% of cases, breast cancer may be preventable!

By Alanna Brown, LuxEco Living Editorial Assistant A five-day, four-night trek on the Salkantay trail to Machu Picchu is more, in many ways, than...

By Nancy and James Chuda founders of LuxEcoLiving and Healthy Child Healthy World   We had a terrible scare!!! Journey, our 18 month old adopted yellow...

Technological advancement is phenomenon that both delights and baffles us as we try to keep up with changes that evolve at lightening speeds.  Billions...

By Rachel Sarnoff, Interim Executive Director, Healthy Child Healthy World, Founder of EcoStiletto and LuxEco Living Advocate Steep yourself in information about rates spiking to epidemic proportions in childhood autism, asthma, cancer and more, and you’re bound to become a maternal hypochondriac.....At this point, I must sound like a broken record. But believe me when I tell you that the more I learn about the connection between a child’s environment and his or her health, the more I understand how incredibly high the stakes have come to be. This is about our children. It’s about their right to breathe. It’s about their right to live. It’s about doing everything that we can to prevent the nightmares that Nancy, Jim and Christine endured. If this is what we’re fighting for, I’m all in.

By Hannah Canvasser LuxEco Editorial Assistant Vegetarians can receive the proper proteins and nutrients they need with many health benefits. The trick? Eating meat, occasionally. Obesity is a current main health topic because it is unfortunately a growing one. With obesity rates rising in America many studies have aimed their focus to find the root of the problem, narrowing in on eating trends in the United States. It was typical of my grandparent’s generation to sit down to red meat three times a day. Maybe some sausage and eggs for breakfast, a beef casserole for lunch, and meatloaf and french bread for dinner; sound a little excessive on the arteries? In 1971, Vegetarians and Vegans became popular with Frances Moore Lappé's publication of Diet for a Small Planet- revealing the waste build up behind grain-fed meat production, and arguing that a plant diet is best for one’s body and the earth. Though Lappe was one of the first to come out with valid arguments against grain-fed meat production, being a Vegetarian does have its set-backs, and receiving proper proteins and nutrients wasn’t as easy as it seemed.

By Alanna Brown, LuxEco Editorial Assistant Yoga mat. Check. Pony-tail. Check. Comfy and easily removed flip-flops. Check. Bhakti Ware…Check? “Wait, what is Bhakti Ware?” You...

Yes, the bracelets made of delicately rounded glass beads that look like raindrops dripping around the wrist are stunning.  I'm like a squirrel with...

By Alanna Brown, LuxEco Editorial Assistant Hollywood has a new act, even better than Avatar-inspired CGI and 3D—it is a movement to create cleaner, greener production. On August 11, The Producers Guild of America launched an extensive listing of U.S.-based products and services that are eco-friendly. At www.greenproductionguide.com filmmakers and the like will find green vendors in an array of production departments, ranging from craft-services, to set design, to hair and make-up.

By Jessica Borges, LuxEco Living Editorial Assistant I recently moved into a new apartment, and with that came a massive scrub down of both old digs and new. My roommates and I spent hours cleaning the old place after moving everything out, but the products we used were hardly eco or health-friendly. When scrubbing the Comet-filled bathroom tub, the smell was so overwhelming that I nearly passed out. While cleaning bathrooms isn’t normally an enjoyable task, it doesn't have to be one that puts people’s health and safety at risk.