Explore Coverage

Livingmaxwell Homepage

Living Maxwell

Company Stories

Soap & Soul is The Quintessential Dr. Bronner’s Book

For those of us who are fans of Dr. Bronner’s, the company’s products have a constant presence in our households, and we use them to clean our bodies and physical surroundings on a daily basis.

While this is unquestionably a critical component of our lives and imperative to maintain good health, cleaning transcends removing whatever is on our skin, on our clothes or on our kitchen countertops. It also affects our emotional well-being and directly impacts how we show up in the world.

And this is precisely why Lisa Bronner’s Soap & Soul: A Practical Guide to Minding Your Home, Your Body and Your Spirit with Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps spoke to me so much, as it squarely touches on the importance of cleaning both the tangible and intangible — an essential formula for a meaningful life.

Go deeper Arrow

Living Maxwell

Company Stories

Top 5 Organic Products from Natural Products Expo East 2023 in Philadephia

For as long as I have been covering the organic food industry, I have attended Natural Products Expo East, with my first show in Boston in 2009.

So, it is very bittersweet to report that after last week’s show in Philadelphia, there will be no more Expo East moving forward. New Hope, the organizer of the event, has decided to launch something new in 2024 called Newtopia Now.

Go deeper Arrow

Living Maxwell

Better Choices

Local vs. Organic: I Choose Organic – Here’s Why

For several years, the local food movement has been gaining some serious momentum. Supermarkets are pushing locally-grown food and restaurants insert “local” into their menus as often as possible.

I have a good friend of mine who proudly and constantly tells me that he is eating local food all of the time. When I hear this, I just kind of shake my head. Why do I have this reaction?

While this issue is very complicated and the circumstances of every single piece food is vastly different, there is a lot more to this than many people realize and “local” isn’t necessarily better.

Yes, local food means that it has traveled a lot less (within 150 miles seems to be the accepted range) than something that has been shipped across the country.

Go deeper Arrow

A message from Tradin Organic

How Tradin Organic is Helping Coconut Farmers in The Philippines

For more than a decade, Tradin Organic has been working with local partners in The Philippines to bring a diversified range of organic products to the market, such as coconut oil, tropical fruits and even cocoa.

The company is helping to support local farmers by assisting them with technical support and organic certification, in addition to paying Fairtrade premium on top of the organic premium.

Learn more.

Organic Insider

Better Choices

Could Regenerative Organic Coffee Farming be the Key to Reversing Deforestation in Peru?

Nestled in the heart of the mountains in the Andean Paramos region of Peru, there are 182 families who entirely depend on coffee cultivation for their livelihood.

Unfortunately, coffee rust – a fungus also known as “La Roya” — has devastated the coffee trees of 64 of these families, leading to catastrophic economic losses for hundreds of people.

With coffee production their only way to make a living and provide for their families, they have had no choice but to search for nearby land which has not been infected by coffee rust. While this is giving these families a financial lifeline, it has also resulted in the destruction of forests in the region, a territory that cannot that cannot afford this type of displacement.

Go deeper Arrow

Living Maxwell

Company Stories

Cocobeet is a MUST-VISIT Organic Juice Bar in Boston

As a result of living in NYC but having grown up in Boston, I am quite aware of the difference between the two cities, in terms of the organic food and pressed juice offerings.

NYC has a ton and Boston has very little.

But with the recent opening of Cocobeet, ironically located between a Subway and Dunkin’ Donuts, it is an understatement to say that Bostonians are thrilled to have them there.

“On our second day of business, we sold 270 bottles of juice and had to close our doors because there was nothing left to sell,” Co-Founder Onur Ozkoc told me.

Go deeper Arrow

Living Maxwell

Better Choices

5 Reasons to Eat Organic Apples

In a previous post, I wrote that milk is the most important organic product that a family can buy.

But milk is by no means the only item that people should be concerned about.

The worst offender on the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen list are apples.

Forbes magazine recently did an excellent piece talking about five reasons to eat organic apples, and I wanted to share the highlights with you and provide commentary. To read the full article, click here.

Reason #1 – The average conventionally grown apple has more pesticide residue on it than any other fruit or vegetable.

Data from the Environmental Working Group showed that 98% of 700 apples tested had pesticides on them and that 48 different pesticides appeared. WOW!!!!

Go deeper Arrow

Living Maxwell

Better Choices

Organic Broccoli Sprouts Provide Amazing Health Benefits…..and Sulforaphane

If you ever go to a talk by Dr. Brian Clement, founder of the Hippocrates Health Institute and the person in this video discussing the merits of Green Juice vs. Green Smoothies, you can be guaranteed to hear this: eat and juice sprouts.

The reason that he is saying this is because sprouts have incredibly important health properties.  They have very high levels of nutrients and enzymes, which provide the body valuable energy to detox and strengthen the immune system.

According to the Hippocrates Health Institute, the other key benefits of sprouts include:

Go deeper Arrow

A message from Tradin Organic

Why Tradin Organic is Prioritizing Regenerative Organic Farming

At Tradin Organic, we believe that regenerative organic farming is key to growing healthy and nutritious food ingredients — for now and for future generations.

And in Sierra Leone, we have grown the world’s first Regenerative Organic Certified cacao.

Learn more.

Living Maxwell

Personal

Thank You to My Readers, Thinking of My Mother

I am in Denver for Thanksgiving and will be heading back to Boston tomorrow. Two things have been on my mind.

1) In case you didn’t know, I am an absolute AM radio junkie, mostly sports radio. One of my favorite hosts is Colin Cowherd from ESPN Radio. Practically every single night, I replay some of his segments from earlier in the day.

Something Colin always says resonates with me very deeply, especially now as I am starting to build an audience of my own. He acknowledges that there are many, many options out there and appreciates that people have decided to spend their time listening to him.

And, that is how I feel. There are millions and millions of websites out there, and I am very appreciative that people take the time to read what I write and watch my videos. I do my best to provide interesting and compelling content, both information related to organic food and specific personal issues that I deal with.

Go deeper Arrow

Living Maxwell

Company Stories

Trailblazing Marketing and Communcations Firm Christie & Co. Celebrates its 30th Anniversary

(The brain trust of Christie & Co — from l. to r., Alissa Sears, vice president of strategy & navigation; Gillian Christie, founder/CEO)

—-

When people think of the pioneers in the natural products industry, the founders of iconic CPG brands often come to mind.

However, what cannot be forgotten is that a select number of very savvy people were working behind the scenes to popularize these companies, in the media and with consumers, through storytelling. And without them, the success of the organic food sector would not be where it is today.

One such individual is Gillian Christie, the founder/CEO of Christie & Co., a marketing and communications firm based in Santa Barbara, CA. Along with her daughter Alissa Sears, vice president of strategy & navigation, Gillian leads this full-service agency, which has just celebrated its 30th anniversary.

Go deeper Arrow
livingmaxwell: a guide to organic food & drink