The news that Paula Deen, the queen of the Southern-fried kitchen announcing that she has Type 2 diabetes got me to thinking.

She has built her empire on deep-fried, buttery, sugar-laden foods that look like fun, but rob us of health. But who is really to blame for her penchant...

I grew up in a wild and crazy Italian and Irish family who seemed to compete for who could yell the loudest or be the most dramatic. We were all about family, food and celebrating. Never was this more evident than during the Christmas season. My mother began baking dozens...

At the time of year seemingly dedicated to stuffing something... ourselves, a turkey, a pie crust, we will all be gathering around tables laden with foods of the season... and agonizing over what to feed the vegetarian coming to dinner.

This feast could easily help to create new holiday traditions...

Mark Bittman is quoted as saying, "Eating less meat and dairy doesn't require any additional time of effort. Calling your Congressman does. I'd say start with the first: with the energy you gain from eating a plant-based diet, you might be ready to lobby til the cows come home."

Vegans...

Unless you live under a rock, you have heard all the scary statistics that Americans face when it comes to their health. Stroke, heart disease, diabetes and obesity are considered epidemics, with cancer right on their heels. We have all heard that we must eat more whole, unprocessed foods, whole...

A night of television viewing is enough to make a person schizophrenic. We bounce like tennis balls among reality shows that are laughable in their banality and how out of touch they are with most people's reality; cooking shows that rival the coliseum events of ancient Rome; news programs with...

Progress is progress, and while I will congratulate any company on its efforts to make healthier food options available to mainstream consumers, I think we need to hold onto our party hats before celebrating the Happy Meal makeover.

As reported on CNN.com the Happy Meal will now include...

A daily read of any website, including this one, reveals an ugly side of America. No matter what the topic, be it politics, celebrity gossip, healthy living or food, a quick review of the comments posted by readers is a sad commentary on who some of us have become, and...

As a vegan, I am frequently asked what I eat since I have made the choice not to eat any animal foods. With a small frown, and great concern, the question comes: "So ... all you eat are vegetables?"

All?

The tender joy that comes with eating vegetables goes well...

Look, I don't want to go off on a rant or anything, but when I read certain things, I feel like I am losing my mind ... or the world has. A recent blog by Sarah Gilbert talked about fast food chains lobbying for food stamps to be...

Vegans are a group of people who, by definition, are vegetarians that eat only plant products and don't use anything derived from animals, such as leather.

So what is it about this movement that draws such ire from people? Exploding in popularity among all sorts of people -- from politicians...

When Bob Dylan turned 70, it made me stop to think about how the world has changed since that skinny kid walked onstage in the 1960s and sang to a generation who wanted change ... big change.

As the times have moved on, a lot has changed and not always...

I recently returned home from teaching on the eighth annual Taste of Health Holistic Holiday at Sea cruise to the Caribbean, which mixed warm, sunny days; white, sandy beaches; chilled-out ports of call; gourmet vegan food with a macrobiotic bent to it; and informative classes, lectures and workshops...

America has received yet another warning that life in our country must change ... now. According to a study compiled by the American Institute for Cancer Research, America has the seventh highest cancer rate in the world, with one out of every 333 people in this country developing...

As humans, we are the beneficiaries of many gifts. Nature has provided us with three sacred blessings to sustain human life: food, water and air. But none is more profound than the gift of food.

Our contamination of these gifts is a sad commentary on our values. There is no...

We live in scary times. If you look at the statistics, we are in serious trouble when it comes to our health and the environment. With each new form of processed food that is manufactured and marketed to us (25 percent bigger burgers at Wendy's!) we lose a little more...

With the holiday season glittering all around us, parties to attend, family functions, shopping and sleep deprivation piled on top of our already hectic schedules, we may not look quite as sparkly as the lights on the tree. Add to that cold, dry winter air and dehydrating heat in our...

It begins with a few extra pieces of candy corn on Halloween and ends with the last crumbs of coffee cake at brunch on New Year's Day. It's like a gun going off at the beginning of a race: "Let the feasting begin!"

And on January 2, we wake up,...

The statistics are staggering. According to the Centers for Disease Control, diabetes will affect one in three Americans by 2050 and one in three children born this year will develop diabetes in their lifetime. That is unless something is done to curb the unhealthy lifestyle trends in the...

Think about it. Our modern society is rife with ugliness, anger and bitterness. From pundits to stand up comics, everyone seems to have an axe to grind and they do it violently and loudly.

I am not naïve. I grew up as a child of the sixties with a...