By Lisa Truesday A trip to the library changed Luann Alemao’s life—and the small city of Cedar Falls, Iowa—forever. While browsing the new-book shelf a few years ago, Alemao found The Blue Zones (National Geographic, 2012) by Dan Buettner, a New York Times best seller showcasing five locations in the world with the highest percentage of people living well into their 100s. Alemao, a former Family and Consumer Sciences educator, remembers feeling more than a little amazed. “I thought, wow, this is everything I used to teach, like food and nutrition, marriage and family and consumer education, plus all the […]
In a good week, let’s say you spend seven hours working out. That might sound like a lot of gym time, but it still
Massage, file, moisturize, paint. Who doesn’t love a good pedi? But today, even mainstream media is calling attention to the potential dangers of conventional nail products and treatments; a May 2015 New York Times article, Perfect Nails, Poisoned Workers, reported on the health issues manicurists and other salon workers had experienced, including everything from allergies to miscarriages to cancer. As a result, more people are waking up to the risks of caustic treatments and conventional products. While the chemical-based nail salon biz is still big (and many of these treatments and products that line the shelves of conventional retailers are […]
Blue corn has been popping up as an ingredient everywhere from tortilla chips to breakfast cereal. Intriguing new research suggests that anthocyanins, the nutrients that give the corn its lovely blue color, may also help protect against metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer. The study raises interest in using blue maize as a component of functional foods and nutraceuticals, foods that contain a medicinal benefit. The study was published in the Journal of Medicinal Food. Researchers from Universidad Veracruzana, Instituto Tecnologico de Veracruz and Unidad Oaxaca/Calle Hornos in Mexico, fed rats a high-sugar, high-cholesterol diet. The group of rats […]
You brush before you go to bed and before you leave the house in the morning. It has become so much a part of your daily routine that you probably don’t even think about it—and maybe you don’t really think about what’s in your toothpaste, mouthwash and other daily oral care products, either. What we do know: Oral care is critical not just for healthy gums and teeth but research increasingly links it to whole-body health, too. Good oral hygiene habits can keep bacterial infections from starting in the mouth and spreading elsewhere in the body. For example, science shows […]
To stay healthy, I eat moringa leaves almost every day. I put them on salads, in soups, casseroles, stir-fries, and other dishes. I also just eat the leaves sometimes. Many of my friends take moringa supplements because they know that moringa is a powerful immune booster. While few Americans have ever heard of the moringa oleifera plant, in Africa and Asia it’s a life-saver. It needs very little water to grow and its leaves offer a full complement of protein, minerals, and nutrients to both humans and cattle. When Africans cook with moringa, they throw the tiny leaves into soups […]
Second only to teeth, bones are your body’s strongest material. And even though they’re solid, bones are dynamic, living tissue, made mostly from collagen and calcium phosphate, a mineral that hardens bone exterior. But as you age, existing bone density breaks down faster than new bone is made, increasing risk of osteoporosis, a condition that reduces bone density and raises chance of fractures. Stay strong with naturally minded advice from a physical therapist (Marilyn Moffat, PT, New York University, New York), a nutritionist (Ann Gibson, CHHC, founder, AdventureWellness.com, Boulder, Colorado), and a naturopathic doctor (Justin Pollack, ND, co-owner, Mountain-River Naturopathic Clinic, […]
Los Angeles, May 23, 2017 — Grace Mercado Ouano (Grace O) and the FoodTrients teams will travel to China this week to attend the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards event in Yantai, China. The awards have been called the “Oscars” of the food world, and Grace O’s The Age Beautifully Cookbook: Easy and Exotic Longevity Secrets from Around the World won the National Award in the INNOVATIVE category for this year’s competition. The Age Beautifully Cookbook, the latest cookbook from FoodTrients®, will now compete in its category against winners from other countries for Best in the World. The winner will be […]
Grace O’s The Age Beautifully Cookbook was awarded the 2017 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards’ top honor — “Best in the World” – in the Innovative category on May 28 at Gourmand’s annual awards event in Yantai, China. Grace O and members of the FoodTrients team traveled to China for the Awards ceremony and were thrilled when Age Beautifully was announced as the winner. Grace O, who was proud to accept the award, said, “It was two and half years in the making, but it has been a labor of love for good foods that can help us look and feel […]
Today, consumer, health, and food safety groups challenged a Food and Drug Administration rule that undermines the integrity of our food safety system. Chemical and food manufacturers often seek to add chemicals to processed food, typically to enhance flavor, add nutrients or prevent spoilage. Chemicals also often leach into foods from processing equipment and packaging. While Congress has required that the FDA itself determine that chemical additives are safe before they can be used on food, the FDA rule allows manufacturers to decide for and by themselves – in secret – what can be added to processed foods. The groups […]