Whether it is with a salad or any other dish that I am making at home, organic fermented foods – usually sauerkraut (above) or kimchee – can almost always be found on my plate. Why is this?

I have come to understand that if we want to have a strong immune system, we must take care of our gut and provide it with beneficial bacteria.

And that is exactly what fermented foods give us – beneficial bacteria.

Dr. Natascha Campbell-McBride, a Russian neurologist and founder of the GAPS Diet, says that: Read more »

Last week, I was in upstate New York where I gave two presentations at Herkimer County Community College.

The first talk was on Beating Depression Naturally. Aside from sharing my own personal story of what happened during and after my 11 years of antidepressants, I provided the students eight different ways to fight depression naturally, a few of which were avoiding refined sugar, yoga, meditation, and eating more organic and raw food.

This presentation was covered by the local press, including the Herkimer Telegram and the local NBC affiliate (To watch the video, click on the blue box on the left that says “healthy living”).
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Here is what I have been up to lately, in regards to juicing.

1) Practically every single day, I am doing four ounces of wheatgrass. A while ago, I wrote a post about my love/hate affair with wheatgrass but let me tell you something — it is back on in a big, big way!

When I don’t drink my four ounces, I just don’t feel the same. I don’t feel as clean and I don’t feel as healthy. My body is now actually craving the stuff.

2) On top of that, I am drinking green juice 4-6 days per week.

I always use a base of celery or cucumber and then add in one or two of the following: kale, asparagus, dandelion weeds, burdock, radishes, bok choy, and romaine.  Read more »

The other day I wrote a review of the fantastic movie MAY I BE FRANK.

This film documents Frank Ferrante, a gregarious 290-pound Brooklyn man, and his 42-day journey of organic food, gratitude and holistic healing. Needless to say, he undergoes an incredible life transformation. (If you haven’t seen MAY I BE FRANK, I strongly suggest it.)

In the movie, he is instructed by his coaches to use a workbook called The Abounding River written by Matthew and Terces Engelhart. The Engelharts are the amazing founders of Café Gratitude, the most unique organic restaurant in the country, which also serves as the backdrop for the film.

The essence of Café Gratitude is all about living in abundance. And that is exactly what this workbook is about – a practice of being in abundance. Read more »

On Saturday, I left my yoga class, started walking to lunch, and began a conversation with my friend Jeff. (Yes, we went to an organic restaurant, Angelica Kitchen.)

Jeff is a successful entrepreneur, a self-starter, and someone that I have always viewed as extremely disciplined.

So, I found it shocking when he told me that he was having so much trouble sitting down to meditate each day.

How can someone who appears to be so disciplined have such difficulty adhering to a regular meditation practice?

I then posed the question “Why is it so hard for us to make change?”

Two questions came from our conversation. Read more »

I got an email the other day from a woman who will soon be traveling to Germany and she was quite concerned about not being able to eat organic while on the road.

Prior to my recent trip to Costa Rica, my friends were in shock that I would even consider going abroad because it would mean being away from my local organic markets. They had no idea how I would survive. They must have believed that I would melt.

Given these two occurrences, I wanted to share my strategies for traveling and give you my thoughts on how to deal with this issue.

First off, it is important to do as much research and planning in advance. Find out the following: Read more »

Today I leave for a 10-day trip to Miami and then to Costa Rica, where I will be reporting on an amazing non-profit in that country. (Stay tuned for posts and videos.)

When I told many of my friends that I would be traveling out of the country, the question “What are you going to eat?” was the first thing that immediately popped out of their mouths.

They know how committed to organic I am, and they were perplexed about how I would survive without my local organic markets and restaurants.

Below is my travel schedule, what my eating plans are, and what my concerns are.

FLYING TO MIAMI

Not a big deal at all. It is only a three hour flight, and I’ll make sure that I’ll bring organic fruit and crackers. I also bought a bag of Sol Simple’s organic sun dried bananas that I am going to take with me.

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