Whenever I go to a market in NYC these days and check out the refrigerated section, I am constantly amazed by the inordinate amount of shelf space that REBBL occupies.

But it’s for very good reason.

Under the brilliant leadership of CEO Sheryl O’Loughlin, REBBL has become the hottest brand in the beverage world, and people have become obsessed with the company’s adaptogenic coconut milk drinks.

While the company is well on its way to becoming a household name, what is barely known is just how mission-driven REBBL is and that 2.5% of all sales go to Not for Sale, an organization which aims to end modern slavery and exploitation around the world.

Yet, what makes REBBL truly stand apart is that the business was created and imagined with the primary goal of having a positive social impact. Read more »

(Photo courtesy of JYB Devot under the Creative Commons License)

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. Read more »

Whether you’re flying for business or pleasure, the truth is that traveling is not the healthiest activity.

Aside from the stress that traveling puts on your body and the unpredictability of healthy food available to you when on the road, getting on an airplane is a very toxic activity, largely because the cabin air is so contaminated.

This is why it is absolutely critical that you are prepared in advance.

And a new turmeric product called Truvani has just come out that is a must-have item for whenever you do travel. Read more »

Last April, I was in Denver attending the National Organic Standards Board meeting and went to dinner one night at True Food Kitchen.

Sitting at a community table, I struck up a conversation with a woman across from me and she proceeded to tell me that she had recently switched to a vegan diet.

“So, do you know Dr. Joel Kahn? The cardiologist from Detroit,” I asked.

Given that the plant-based world is a tight community and that Dr. Kahn is a social media star, I had a feeling that she might have known him.

“Do I know Dr. Kahn?” she responded with her face completely lit up. “He’s the reason I am a vegan today! Everything he talks about online and in his books convinced me to go plant-based!”

With the release of his excellent new book The Plant-Based Solution, Dr. Joel Kahn is looking to make a similar impact on many more people.

I recently caught up with my friend, and here is what he had to say.

Numerous cardiologists that I have come into contact with lately are vegans, yet many prominent functional medicine doctors that I know do not advocate for a plant-based diet. They think eating meat is important. In your opinion, what are these doctors not understanding?

The functional medicine world is often stuck in the concept that a plant-diet is nutritionally deficient even though the USDA, AND, and other organizations say otherwise. Read more »

If you are ever asked why you eat organic food, particularly from a skeptic, there is a very easy answer — you don’t want to get cancer.

In July 2017, the State of California announced that:

Glyphosate is listed under Proposition 65 effective July 7, 2017 as known to the state to cause cancer.

That’s right. The State of California has said that glyphosate is known to cause cancer and is now requiring warning labels, effective July 2018.

https://oehha.ca.gov/proposition-65/crnr/glyphosate-listed-effective-july-7-2017-known-state-california-cause-cancer

So, that begs the question: why should consumers care about this?

Because glyphosate is the most widely used chemical in the world today — approximately 300 million pounds of it is used each year in the U.S. — and it is sprayed on much of our food supply. Read more »

On the day before he left office, President Obama approved the Organic Animal Welfare Standards, also known as the Organic Livestock and Poultry Practices rule (OLPP).

With the goal of improving how livestock are raised, OLPP, among many other things, would have outlawed porches and established minimum indoor space for birds.

If President Obama were that committed to the organic movement, he would not have waited until the very end of his presidency to sign this piece of legislation, thereby making it that much harder for the next administration — the Trump administration — to overturn it. Yet, that is precisely what has happened. Read more »

(Our bodies contain approximately 100 trillion bacteria.)

Over the last few years, it has been a widely viewed belief among the medical community that the health of the bacteria in our bodies has a direct relationship to our overall health.

While the exact nature of the bacteria in our bodies still remains a big mystery, research is showing that certain bacteria can prevent and treat many common diseases. Read more »