There are a million food myths floating around the internet. Here are five of the ones I hear most frequently, busted! 1. Juice cleanses help rid your body of toxins. Why people believe this: Dieters may believe if they’re experiencing diarrhea or extreme hunger, their body must be shedding bad stuff. But the opposite is true. Cleanse diets actually expel beneficial bacteria and vitamin & mineral stores from the gut, not all the cookies you ate last week. The truth: Your body’s liver, kidneys and spleen take care of toxins. But you can help these precious org ..read more

This green smoothie tastes just like a new year should – fresh, clean, and zippy. A perfect snack when you need a pick-me-up! I love the fresh start of a new year. The chance to reflect on the past and make plans for the future is so freeing, and always gives me so much hope. But there’s one thing I dread about January: the dieting. Though I personally never “diet” (see my own tricks here), it kills me to see my friends doing expensive juice cleanses or avoiding nearly every food group when we sit down for a meal together. Not only do these types of New Year’s resolutions ..read more

I have a serious sweet tooth. On a good day, that means I have dessert after dinner. A bad day? I snack on little handfuls of candy between every meal. Recently, I’ve realized this habit needs to change. While there’s nothing wrong with indulging in sweets occasionally (since ice cream cones in the summer and warm cinnamon rolls wintry weekend mornings are some of life’s true pleasures), my sugar habit is just that – a habit. Anytime you recognize an unhealthy habit, it’s helpful to pause, see why it’s developed, and think about realistic ways to change. So I did this ..read more

I haven’t always been thin. Like many girls, I struggled with weight and poor body image throughout high school and college, until one day in my mid-20’s I just got sick of it. Once I realized that obsessing about my weight and body was time-consuming, exhausting, and unproductive, I decided to stop. Worrying had never positively impacted my eating habits, exercise habits or health. In fact, it did the opposite. And when was I going to feel perfect? Never. What a waste of time. Many years have since passed, and at this point I can honestly say I almost never worry about my ..read more

‘Tis the season to detox. Trouble is, that word is nonsense. (At least in the context of healthy eating). Unfortunately you cannot “undo” a month-long Christmas cookie binge with a few days of green juices. The body just doesn’t work that way. If our organs were swimming in toxins every time we ate a Cheez-It or overindulged on eggnog, we’d be long gone by now. “But I feel so much better when I’m on a cleanse!” you say. That’s because vegetables and fruits are good for you, not because you’re “detoxing” your body of whatever you were eating before. So what can you do in January ..read more

The holidays are a tough time to maintain or start healthy habits. With temptation around every bend, even the most diligent eaters and exercisers can get thrown off. But this season, I’m trying to lose a few. Not because I’m worried about how much I actually weigh, but because after 5 months of eating like a breast-feeding mom (read: wolfing down every treat I come across) and barely exercising, I’m finally ready to give this area of my life some attention. I’m not going to set big goals or even count calories – because both of those things turn me int ..read more

At any given time, people are collectively pointing fingers at a particular food or ingredient, saying it’s the thing to blame for our current obesity epidemic. Right now that food is sugar. But is sugar – and all it’s pseudonyms – really to blame for obesity? I say no. Though Americans do eat a lot more sugar than we should (22-28 teaspoons on average!), it’s not the only nor primary cause of obesity. In my opinion, our obesity crisis is due to a multitude of factors that have been occurring simultaneously over time: high intake of cheap processed foods, increased se ..read more