z

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."

Forrest Gump may have been on to something when he compared life to chocolates. You really never know what you’re gonna get in a box of chocolates, do you? The truth behind chocolate is more bitter than sweet. The Ivory Coast produces 40% of the world's chocolate, and it just so happens to also be notorious for this little thing called child slavery. Children, both local and from other third world countries, are sold to farms in this area where they are physically abused while working in risky and inhumane conditions. Some children are sold into the trade by parents who are tricked into believing their children will have better lives at the farm. Others are trafficked, stolen from their families, lured by the promise of…chocolate. In these farms they are forced to work 60 hour weeks with little or no food (depending on their performance on the field). These children lose their fundamental human rights when they enter these farms and “modern” society turns a blind eye to the atrocities. Every time we buy a box of chocolate that is not fair trade stamped, we (often unknowingly) endorse child slavery.

By: Molly Rovero, LuxEco Editorial Assistant For the majority of the time that the BP oil spill has been happening, company officials as well as...

By Nancy and James Chuda founders of LuxEcoLiving and Healthy Child Healthy World Gardening is my therapy " A garden to walk in and immensity to...

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 Jason Wachob, Founder of MindBodyGreen.com and  LuxEco Advocate A little yoga after a day at the office might be just what you need to...

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

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.

What happens when you pair artisan farmstead cheese from Cowgirl Creamery in northern California with some of the finest master cheesemakers from The Wisconsin Cheeseman and you add the finest varietal wines, both reds and white, from one the most magnificent wineries in the world?

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.

Finger limes, or caviar limes, as they are often called, have appeared on the menus of innovative chefs and mixologists slowly but surely over the past few years. The finger lime plant, native to Australia and only recently commercially available in the U.S., produces small oval fruits about the size of a finger.

You could say he's spoiled. Or you could say so are we. You're right. Living the life with a Lab in Luxury can only happen at the posh and prestigious San Ysidro Ranch. No one does it better than Ty Warner. Where in the world can experience a couples massage while your dog stretches out on your private terrace and gets one too.

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: Linsley Oaks, LuxEco Living Editorial Assistant I lived in Canada as an American citizen for five years.  I spent four years outside of Montreal...

By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor-in Chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World Venice Italy To step into her shoes is like following...

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: Lorri Laird, LuxEco Editorial Assistant “Healthy Child Healthy World has gone above and beyond in creating a real-life example of how to create a healthier home,” said Victoria Di Iorio, Project Director for the Healthy Child Healthy World Healthy Home 2010 Designer Showcase and Tour. Di Iorio, who also serves as the Education & Outreach Coordinator for the non-profit charity Healthy Child Healthy World, recently spoke with LuxEco Living regarding the Healthy Home 2010 project and also shared her passion for green and healthy living.

By Bethany Colson, Managing Editor of LuxEcoLiving.com I have often heard from environmentalists and natural health experts that you can chart the introduction of chemicals (particularly petrochemicals) to our society and see the graph begin to sharply incline after WWII and reach epic proportions from the 1980's. Likewise, you could chart the increase in cancers, diabetes, obesity, autism, heart disease and asthma and see the same stratospheric rise. In fact, you could put the two charts on top of each and see the obvious correlation.

Standing proud on Umhlanga’s beachfront, directly on the beach and overlooking the Indian Ocean, the 86-room Oyster Box, a Member of Red Carnation Hotel Collection, is one of South Africa’s best-loved hotels

By Nancy Chuda, Co-founder and Editor-in-Chief LuxEco Living and Co-Founder of Healthy Child Healthy World Last night, CNN reported that engineers are at higher risk of extreme levels of radiation due to a potential meltdown. In Japan's tsunami-crippled Fukushima No. 1 (Daiichi) power plant, nuclear authorities have reported that spikes of radiation have escaped from the facility at levels that can be dangerous to human health. But what does this mean for Americans, especially those who live on the western coastline where the fallout may occur.

By Nancy Chuda Co-founder of LuxEcoLiving and Healthy Child Healthy World There is nothing more satisfying then the taste of a handmade ravioli. Stuffed with fresh ricotta cheese and spinach, or goat cheese smothered in a fresh sauce made from homegrown, roma or prized heirloom tomatoes. Pasta is one of the world’s most popular foods and comes in hundreds of different shapes, varieties and with dozens of different ingredients. [Virgensia Dioreo] Nancy Chuda, Fouder of LuxEcoLiving.com and Vicenzia DiIorio The tradition of making pasta is timeless throughout the world. Almost every country has identified a noodle in part of their customary culinary cuisine . But the Italians, hands down have the most varieties. Spaghetti (coming from the Italian, spago which means cord) is the most popular variety ... and is long thin noodles that come in a variety of thickness and goes well with all traditional sauces. Capellini or angel hair pasta is the thinnest pasta of all and takes barely one to two minutes to cook; goes well with very light sauces or the classic basil, olive oil and crush fresh tomatoes.

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 Jessica Borges, LuxEco Living Editorial Assistant We can all thank the sun for making trash disposal a more eco-friendly task; and while we’re at it, we can also thank the creators of BigBelly Solar Trash Cans. These solar powered beefy looking trash cans are sprouting up on street corners in several metropolitan areas with goals of being more cost, time and energy efficient.

By Alanna Brown, LuxEco Editorial Assistant Granted, there is an abundance of vegetation that only thrives during the rainy season or in mild warmth....

By Alanna Brown, LuxEco Editorial Assistant What says Fourth of July better than friends, fireworks, and good food? For a traditional celebration, not one of those three can be sacrificed. However, you can make healthier food choices without sacrificing flavor. Believe it or not, there are healthy alternatives to the yearly cheeseburgers and hotdogs dripping with grease, and that fattening potato salad. CBS News has shared with us some great recipes that will leave you and your friends satisfied and guilt-free to enjoy the fireworks.

By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor in Chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World LuxEcoLiving's founders Nancy and James Chuda with Journey   It's...

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: Janelle Sorensen, courtesy of Healthy Child Healthy World Looking for a pediatrician is no easy task, especially if your concerns and parenting methods aren’t exactly the same as mainstream America. My husband and I scoured the city for a full year before finding the right one for our daughters. But, it totally paid off. We found an amazingly supportive and brilliant pediatrician whose philosophy was to tell us everything she knew and then let us choose what to do. She had only one provision; if she ever thought the results of a treatment were sub-par, then she would intervene with an alternate recommendation. That never happened and I was always overwhelmed with how much she knew. She could rattle off statistics about best practices in the EU, pertinent studies regarding alternative remedies, and recent outbreaks that could put my children at risk. She was a dream come true. But, alas, we moved. Now we are on the hunt again.

By Alanna Brown, a LuxEcoLiving Advocate, creator of Brown House Online, and author of Moonpennies John Locke broke an independent publishing record in 2011. He...

By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor-in-Chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World   This week we are taking you on a tour of...

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.

By Bernadette Bowman, Comedienne and LuxEco Advocate who writes the LIFE GOES RETROGRADE series. UGH. It’s PMS Week.  I cannot tell a lie. I have the...

The Taste of Yosemite offers more than just gourmet delights

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...

By Nancy and James Chuda, founders of LuxEcoLiving and Healthy Child Healthy World Dr. Bojana Jankovic, Celebrating 23 years at the fabulous Montage Hotel in Beverly...