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In the movie Food, Inc., there is a scene of a family going through a fast-food drive-thru, spending somewhere around $12 for a meal for the four of them. The family laments that, even though they know that the food they get through the car window is causing major health problems, the fast food is cheap, and, well, fast. It’s what they can afford, and what they have time for. The family is busy and doesn’t have time to cook.

The next scene shows the family shopping in a supermarket, demonstrating just how high the costs of fresh produce are, to prove that families are priced out of healthy eating. But how cheap is this fast food, really? Setting aside the related costs of the health problems that come from eating a diet heavy on fast food, purely in dollars, how much does it really save to eat through the drive-thru? (continue reading…)

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If you and your partner have ever had a dry spell, you know the importance of sex in a marriage or committed partnership. Good sexual function, like all bodily function, depends on good nutrition. The physical effects of poor nutrition are obvious, but good nutrition also supports the neurotransmitters that are responsible for the mental and emotional aspects of being in the mood. These vitamins, minerals and other nutrients keep your sex drive ticking. Check back tomorrow for a Valentine’s Day date menu of libido-friendly foods.

B-Complex

All of the B vitamins help keep energy up during prolonged periods of activity. After an hour or so, your body starts burning glycogen for energy, and B vitamins are essential in glycogen metabolism. In addition, some of the B vitamins have specific libido-enhancing roles: (continue reading…)

Our diet has a profound effect on both our health and the environment. Whether you choose a vegetarian, vegan, organic, raw, local or seasonal eating pattern, or just want to reduce the most unhealthy foods and quasi-foodlike substances you eat and feed your family, check out Green Diva Mom’s resources for making the switch to better eating:

Cool Methods for Healthy Vegan, Vegetarian and Raw Lunch Boxes

How to Prepare a Healthy School Lunch for Your Kids

Smart Food Substitutions to Reduce Sugar and Fat

Avoid Organic Junk Food

The Mediterranean Diet

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I’ve been lucky with my kids; we’ve always been able to eat anything without any issues. Meanwhile we’ve had friends who can’t eat peanuts or milk, and we’ve made more than one special birthday cake for the kids who couldn’t eat wheat. But when, on a lark, I had my naturopath test both myself and my daughter for food intolerance, I made a surprising discovery: my daughter was moderately sensitive to a whole range of things: gluten, soy, almonds, cranberries, pineapple, crab, egg. This puzzled me. Could the food sensitivities explain her minor health problems? If she had no major health problems, should I make the difficult effort to avoid all these things? How is a food intolerance different from a food allergy anyway, and how could I not know these things bothered her?

Allergies involve the immune system and it’s complicated defensive armies. With a food allergy, a specific food causes the body’s defense system to raise an alert, and provokes a battle against the foreign invader. The symptoms of an allergy are the results of the body’s mounting an attack. Most people are familiar with the severe examples of allergic reaction: rashes, chest pain, anaphylaxis, breathing problems. Allergy symptoms can range from mild to severe, and can often increase with exposure to a trigger. Food allergies are less common than food intolerances, and often run in families. (continue reading…)

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By George Mateljan Foundation, from whfoods.org

In the world of food, “cultured” essentially means fermented-the chemical process of breaking a complicated substance down into simpler parts, usually with the help of bacteria, yeasts, or fungi. Different species of the bacteria Aspergillus, for example, are often used to culture barley or soybeans in order to produce miso or to culture rice for the creation of amasake.

Fermented foods are far more common than we realize; for example, yogurt is the most commonly eaten fermented food in the United States. Because certain methods of fermenting foods with certain types of bacteria result in the production of lactic acid, you might sometimes hear the term “lacto-fermentation” used to describe one particular type of food culturing. (continue reading…)