Consumption of sex hormones in our daily intake of milk and meat? Dr. Epstein explains the dangerous effects of consuming rBGH and IGF-1 growth hormones in your genetically modified food.

Hormonal Milk and Meat: A Dangerous Public Health Risk

By: Dr. Samuel Epstein Courtesy of Healthy Child Healthy World: a 501(c)(3) nonprofit inspiring parents to protect young children from harmful chemicals.

As reported in a March 18, New York Times editorial, “Honest Food Labels,” FDA Commissioner, Margaret Hamburg, M.D., publicized letters to 17 food companies accusing them of — “masking undesirable ingredients” — in their products. She also emphasized the importance of “providing nutrition information that consumers can rely on.” Unfortunately, she has failed to take any such action with regard to the two major dietary staples, milk and meat.

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.

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 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,

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.

By Anna Getty, Author and LuxEco Adovcate
I have been addicted to organic food for almost 10 years. I know it is better for me, my kids and better for the planet. Studies have shown organic produce to be higher in anti-oxidants; vitamins and minerals (thank you to The Organic Center for your vigilant scientific research) and organic dairy, meat and eggs have fewer hormones, antibiotics and pesticide residues (yes, pesticides are found in meat because cattle are eating feed laden with them). It’s also true that organic farming is more sustainable; it uses fewer resources and encourages community. But above all else it tastes better. Try this experiment. Blindfold your kid and have him taste both a conventional and organic apple. You will see, he will pick the organic apple.

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 a big impact on your overall experience when dining out of the home.  Getting your dietary needs met can make or break any experience.  More and more friends and [...]

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 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 Lorri Ballance Laird, Luxeco Advocate

The holidays are over, and for many people in many parts of the U.S., winter has set in with a vengeance. One way to beat the winter blahs might be to try adding some houseplants to your indoor landscape. According to a plantsforlife.org report, not only can plants help boost your mood, reduce stress, and speed recovery from illness, they can also help improve indoor air quality.

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.)

The Christmas season is upon us, and people everywhere are gearing up for the holiday. In her book, I’m Dreaming of a Green Christmas; Gifts, Decorations, and Recipes That Use Less and Mean More, author and LuxEco Advocate, Anna Getty shares with us her ideas on how to create memorable traditions while taking small steps to reduce our carbon footprints, minimize waste, and creatively use what we already have.

By Jazmin Clark, Editorial Assistant
We all love our pets, and naturally we want what’s best for them. What better way to show them that love than to extend our own healthy eating practices to the food we provide for them? In today’s increasingly health conscious, green-evolving world there are plenty of organic, grain-free, and holistic options for pet food out there. But how do we know which ones are right for our furry friends?

By Lorri Ballance Laird, LuxEco Advocate
As we are in the midst of Hanukkah, Luxeco asked Laurie if she was doing anything special for the holiday. She told us that she was planning to try something different: Cauliflower and Sweet Potato Latkes. She and her two teenage daughters made this recipe together to celebrate the festive occasion.

By Kerin Van Hoosear, LuxEco Editorial Assistant and author of Seasonal Cooking with Kerin

Everyone loves small bites and finger food! This is a great recipe to make for dinner parties or your friends and family. It’s a simple filling that packs a lot of punch. So don’t be surprised when your guests swoop in on your dumpling platter and decimate it! If you’ve never made dumplings before, don’t worry. It’s like riding a bike. Once you get into the rhythm of it, you’ll be cranking them out at top speed.

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.

It’s no secret that when plants are harvested for their life sustaining and nutritional qualities that every part of the plant that can be used is…….Of the various plants that serve multiple purposes, the nutmeg plant is the only plant that yields not just one, but two spices.

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.

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.

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, it was a long-established way of life. Communities grew and raised their food where they lived, with respect to the seasons. Spring meant new life in the fields, and winter meant [...]

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.

By Jessica Borges, LuxEco Living Editorial Assistant
As I sit in a cozy coffee shop with the soy latte I was once enjoying, I suddenly wish I had opted for skim milk instead. With my laptop fired up, I stumble upon a website revealing the numerous dangers of what most deem to be a healthy part of one’s diet: soy. Praised for its reputation as a good source of protein while being low in saturated fats, soy is a popular choice for many. What the soy latte orderers of the world aren’t aware of, are the many underlying health risks that come with heavy or long-term use of this popular coffee supplement.

By F.R.E.E. Will, LuxEco Editorial Assistant, Author of In The Spice Cabinet series
A member of the same family as the more known ginger plant, the rhizome, or root, of the tumeric plant has quite the storied history. Native to the Indian subcontinent tropical regions of Southeast Asia, tumeric has been used in both ancient Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine for its anti-inflammatory properties and has been used for ailments ranging from jaundice to various forms of arthritis. Also well documented are the antiseptic properties of the volatile oils contained in tumeric making it quite effective in dealing with skin afflictions from minor cuts to more severe conditions like eczema and psoriasis; not to mention undeniably cheaper than the vast amounts of antiseptic sprays and creams on the market that serve the same function.

By F.R.E.E. Will, LuxEco Editorial Assistant, Author of In The Spice Cabinet series
The purpose of this article and the series as a whole is to examine the ingredients that go into some of your favorite dishes, particularly the benefits some of the more familiar (and some not so familiar) herbs and spices contain.