Say "Halo" to Healthy!

Is this naturally occurring fat really as bad as we’ve been led to believe? The answer may surprise you Q: It seems like so many people over 40, or sometimes even younger, are taking statin drugs. What is that all about? Will they make me healthier? While pharmaceuticals can be life-saving, they rarely promote health. In emergency situations, prescription medication can save lives, but because they are powerful and change your body’s physiology (meaning the way the systems work together), they eventually create unwanted side effects, which often leads to prescribing more drugs, and slowly but surely weakening our innate health. I’m grateful for emergency medicine, which plays an important role in modern society. But we seem to have lost track of what it takes to actually maintain health—or to promote a return to health if we have neglected our own self-healing potential. It’s exciting to follow the health news where “lifestyle” choices are trending, but it’s kind of silly that thi

Jessica Bippen, MS, RD, looks closer at the foods and drinks that can negatively impact your immune system, and provides alternatives for unhealthy dietary habits. Optimizing your immune system goes beyond eating well and loading up on supplements. (Though yes, these are still important and highly recommended!) But if you find yourself coming down with frequent colds, you may need to take a step back and address your daily dietary habits. Instead of focusing on adding more things into your daily routine, it may be more beneficial to kick some habits to the curb. Keep reading to find out how sugar, alcohol, and caffeine can all compromise immune health. 3 Foods that Negatively Impact Your Immune System When it comes to supporting your immune system, you may want to consider quitting excess sugar, alcohol, and caffeine. Your mid-day sweet tooth, all-day coffee fix, and heavy evening pour may be sabotaging your immunity. When you ditch these immune-suppressing habits, your body can be

From getting a CSA to ordering take-out, here are 7 delicious ways you can support local farmers (and your local economy!). Photo courtesy of Paige’s Produce Thank you to Paige’s Produce for sponsoring this post! If any of us took food for granted before, we don’t anymore.  These days, we’re all spending a lot more time figuring out how to get groceries, planning what food we need, and constantly prepping meals and snacks for everyone at home. Food has never felt more important. And farmers have never been so important. They may be deemed “essential workers” right now, but they’ve always been essential. I’ve been lucky over the years to visit a number of different farms–from apple orchards to cattle farms, from organic to conventional operations–and I’ve gotten the chance to talk one-on-one with farmers. Here’s some of what I’ve learned: Farmers work harder than anyone I’ve ever met. They’re up before the sun and working long after dark.  Farmers care deeply about the

This recipe was sponsored by the Florida Department of Citrus.   Let’s face it: sometimes you want a breakfast that’s filling, delicious, and a bit indulgent. French toast checks all of those boxes, so it’s no wonder that my kids harass me to make it several times a week. Everyone loves my French toast recipe,… Read more The post Florida Orange Juice French Toast Recipe appeared first on Abby Langer Nutrition.

Sex writer Karley Sciortino discusses her years-long journey to finally get her vaginal health on track. Having a vagina is stressful. Being a woman essentially confirms that your bathroom cabinet is permanently overflowing with vaginal antifungal creams, and that more than once you’ve thrown a pair of bloody underwear into the garbage of a public restroom. However, when everything down there is operating smoothly and your pH balance is in check, the vagina can be a magical portal to sexual and self discovery. A Brief History My journey toward vaginal enlightenment began in my mid-20s. My-then boyfriend noted that my vagina smelled “weird.” I was like, “ Ugh , you are the personification of toxic masculinity! As an empowered feminist influencer, I will not stand for this!” And then a few weeks later I went to the gyno for a checkup and found out I had bacterial vaginosis (BV), and was like… Oh, sh*t . At the time I didn’t fully know what bacterial vaginosis was. If you’re in the da

Environmental advocate Suzy Amis Cameron is on a mission to help you save the planet—and your health—one plant-based meal at a time Suzy Amis Cameron, 58, spent years in environmental circles learning about the negative effects of animal agriculture on the planet and human health. “But it never really seemed there were any solutions,” she says. Then one day, a conversation with her husband, Oscar-winning Titanic director James Cameron, helped her see a multipurpose solution was as close as everyone’s fork-holding fingertips. “Everybody eats every day. And you can actually help to move the needle—not only on climate change but your health as well,” says Amis Cameron, who went vegan in 2012. Amis Cameron serves up her health-promoting, environmentally friendly approach in her book The OMD Plan: Swap One Meal a Day to Save Your Health and Save the Planet. “You don’t have to be perfect,” she says. “And it’s not judgmental.” And it means anything but starving yourself, she adds. “The

Natural lip balms, stains and eyeliners that really work Giovanni Facial Prime & Setting Mist with Activated Charcoal Activated charcoal, volcanic ash, and super antioxidants (açai and goji) reveal your most beautiful skin without leaving a shine. Hyalogic HA Lip Balm We love this lip balm! It glides on, instantly healing dry, chapped lips. Moisture-retaining hyaluronic acid is paired with sunflower oil, beeswax, castor oil, cocoa butter, and coconut oil. Pacifica Cheeky Cherry Cheek Stains These lovely sheer stains add a flush of color and look amazing on all skin tones. Pick from Cherry Baby, Sweet Cherry, and Wild Cherry shades. Mineral Fusion Sheer Moisture Lip Tint Get all the go-to ease of your fav lip balm with a pop of color. You get a hydrating mix of cocoa butter and peptides for a firmer pout over time. Available in eight shades, including Flicker (the berry hue shown here). Zuzu Luxe Precision Liquid Liner, Raven Featuring a fine calligraphy tip, this qui

By: Julie Mancuso, B.A., R.H.N., JM Nutrition   In this post: How to eat more vegetables   You don’t like the taste of vegetables, but everyone from your mother to your nutritionist is telling you to eat more. As a nutritionist, I cannot gloss over the fact that most of us should eat more vegetables. Regular consumption of vegetables brings with it a number of benefits, which cannot be overlooked if you want your body to feel better and lead a generally healthier life. I understand that the taste of some vegetables on their own, without sauces, dressings and condiments, can leave a good deal to be desired in the taste department. But there are ways in which you can incorporate more vegetables into your daily consumption, without having to bite into a bland-tasting cauliflower piece on the one hand, and drenching it with some processed and fattening sauce on the other. And no, you don’t have to be a master in the kitchen to do so either. Quick and simple ways exist. I assur

These Graham Cracker Cookies are a simple, yummy, and quick dessert: Just spread rich chocolate buttercream between store-bought graham crackers. I figured these graham cracker cookies were the brainchild of my mom, whenever she happened to have leftovers from frosting a cake. Then she told me her mom made them too–and when she packed them in my mom’s lunch, she was embarrassed because the other girls had store-bought cookies, (still, she secretly loved them). Then I posted a photo of these cookies on social media and found out that a whole bunch of you ate these as a kid too. Growing up, we didn’t really have a name for this graham cracker dessert. Now that I make them for my kids, we call them Icebox Cookies because they’re kept in the refrigerator. You might also like: The BEST No-Bake Cookies This is not a complicated cookie. Get a box of graham crackers and you’re halfway there. Better yet, keep a box of graham crackers in your pantry, so you can make some of these when Y