In the summer of 2001, after being on Prozac for more than a decade, I made the life-altering decision to go off of antidepressants.

Despite what doctors and nearly everyone else around me were saying – that I had a chemical imbalance and that antidepressants were essential to keep me going – I believed otherwise. Intuitively, I knew that there was a better way to live, yet almost no one in my support system was in agreement with this line of thinking.

For the millions of people facing depression and who have similar doubts about medication being the only answer, a book has arrived that completely validates our concerns.

In the New York Times best-seller A Mind of Your Own: The Truth About Depression and How Women Can Heal Their Bodies to Reclaim Their Lives, Dr. Kelly Brogan, an MIT and Cornell-trained psychiatrist, gives us the hard facts about antidepressants and busts all of the widely believed myths about this class of drugs.

In fact, the medical community is so terrified of the truth being exposed in A Mind of Your Own that Dr. Brogan and this book have been blacklisted by the mainstream media. Yes, blacklisted!  Why? Read more »

Sophie Uliano, green beauty expert, NYT best selling author, and TV host, was in New York City recently and we shot what turned out to be one of my favorite interviews yet.

As you can tell from the video above, not only is Sophie Uliano an incredibly engaging individual, but she has a wealth of knowledge when it comes to holistic health, nutrition, wellness, and beauty.

In her brand new book, Gorgeous for Good, Sophie shares all of this information in a very practical and approachable format. What I particularly love about this book is that it incorporates the different components of beauty – physical, emotional, and spiritual — in a “skin to soul” program. While the food we consume is certainly a major contributor to beauty, it is by no means the only one and people need to pay equal attention to these other components. Read more »

Having covered the organic industry for more than five years, I come across many, many impressive entrepreneurs and one name that belongs at the top of this list is Shari Leidich, the founder of Two Moms in the Raw.

Having cured herself from MS through her dietary choices, Shari Leidich is also a living example of what food can do to a person’s health.

And now everyone else can enjoy the foods that Shari eats through the release of her new cookbook, aptly named Two Moms in the Raw. Read more »

Before she became the one of the country’s most successful juice entrepreneurs, Annie Lawless, co-founder of Suja Juice, suffered from awful eczema, allergies, chronic ear infections, asthma and Celiac disease during her teenage years.

Not surprisingly, all of the steroid creams, inhalers, and antihistamines that doctors gave her never provided much help.

So, Annie decided to take matters into her own hands and set out to completely revamp her entire lifestyle. Along with eliminating gluten and dairy from her diet, she became very serious about juicing, which provided her the nutrition that she was severely lacking.

This new approach to food resulted in clear skin, an improved mood, and more energy than she ever had before. And most importantly, all of her health problems disappeared.

The basis of Annie’s turnaround serves as the foundation for her fantastic new book The Suja Juice Solution: 7 Days to Lose Fat, Beat Cravings, and Boost Your Energy. It is incredibly approachable, has a ton of great recipes and beautiful photography, and provides an easy-to-use framework for anyone to dramatically improve their physical and emotional well-being.  Read more »

Today is a monumental day in the world of food activism and healthy food. Why?

Because it is the release of The Food Babe Way by Vani Hari.

In just a few years, Vani Hari, also known as The Food Babe, has enacted more positive change in the food industry than anyone else in our country today. She has forced many of the biggest conventional food brands – such as Kraft, Subway, Chick-Fil-A, and Anheuser-Busch – to alter the way they do business, all to the benefit of the individual consumer. Read more »

When you start delving into the world of health, one thing becomes very apparent.

There are a ton of labels.

Usually described as a way to eat or what to avoid, some of the most popular ones are vegan, vegetarian, dairy-free, gluten-free, wheat-free, paleo, raw, and pescatarian.

Needless to say, there is a lot to figure out, and many people treat these labels as if they were absolute, with no room for flexibility.

And that is exactly why I think Holli Thompson’s approach in her new book – Discover Your Nutritional Style: Your Seasonal Plan to a Healthy, Happy and Delicious Life – works so well.

Her philosophy rests on the importance of figuring out what works for you, regardless of what the label says. Read more »

With pressed organic juice now experiencing tremendous popularity, it seems that everyone wants a piece of the action and entrepreneurs from all over the country are quickly jumping into the juice game.

Yet, one of the pioneers of this massive trend, Denise Mari, founder of NYC’s Organic Avenue, was inspired by something other than money.

Having lost her younger sister to cancer at an early age, Denise quickly realized that she needed to live a life of real purpose and wanted to serve as an inspiration to other people.

Guided by the concept of ahimsa, which means “to do no harm”, her vegan and raw food lifestyle eventually manifested itself as Organic Avenue, and it was her goal to share her knowledge with as many individuals as possible.

Now, the publication of her just-released Organic Avenue: Recipes for Life, Made with Love* (LOVE = Live, Organic, Vegan, Experience) will allow her to do just that and reach people well beyond the confines of New York City. Read more »