Pooja R. Mottl

With a full year ahead of us, now is the perfect time to reset yourself when it comes to food and start making simple changes to our eating habits to make healthy eating less of a "resolution," a "sacrifice" or a "burden," and more of an easy, ingrained, natural part...

The holiday season is in full swing! It's that fabulous time of the year which comes to us like clockwork -- a sustainable, annual feature of our everyday lives.

Yet, how sustainable is the food we're celebrating with? Interesting to think about, right? Last week I teamed up with...

How many times have you heard that getting a flat, sexy tummy is based mainly on what you eat? But on the flip side, how many times have you seen fitness infomercials touting the latest and greatest 6-pack routine to "disintegrate" belly fat in minutes? Which one is it? Are...

Don't like the taste of water? These days, you're certainly not alone. But when it comes to human history, disliking H2O was a risky endeavor. Here's the how and the why.

As history notes, water has been quenching, refreshing and balancing our palate and hydration needs for most of human...

Dear Fellow Chocoholics,

Chocolate, in small amounts, can be good for you. But how do you know you're really eating pure chocolate? Could you in fact be consuming an adulterated knockoff?

The truth is, most of the chocolate America eats is what I call "chocolate in disguise." Why? Because chocolate...

It doesn't get much better than seafood in the summer! And to honor the season's end, here are three healthy and delicious recipes you can make for yourself or to show off to friends in 15 minutes or less! Using quick cooking techniques such as poaching, simmering and pan-searing, these...

When summer rolls around, I make it a point to use the outdoors as much as possible for fitness because it gives us the chance to move our bodies freely in wide open areas instead of being cooped up in crowded gyms. Places like your local park, and high school...

Summer is here! Running from your kids' early morning baseball game to the tennis courts for some practice in the afternoon sun requires you to be adequately fueled, nourished and hydrated.

Here are three simple, delicious and nutrient-rich drinks you can mix at home using just a blender! Unlike...

Thinking about going vegan? Know someone who is? As vegan gets more airplay with Oprah, Clinton and Wynn, increasingly some of the most common questions I'm asked are "What do you think of vegan?" or "How do I cook vegan at home?"

Without debating the pros and cons of going...

How much do you think about balance, coordination and agility when it comes to fitness?

For many Americans, the word "exercise" is only associated with "gym" and "jogging." But in order to keep our bodies resilient with age and prevent common injuries that occur from everyday activities (tripping, back...

As a natural foods chef, I explore ways to create meals that are not only amazingly delicious, but good for you. I've always been inspired by traditional cuisines -- Thai, Indian, Mexican -- but one in particular intimidated me: Japanese. The ingredients and terminology seemed so foreign. This was one...

Try finding out how much sugar has really been added to your yogurt, cereal, bread or energy bar, and watch the hours fly by!

Although the FDA (and the USDA) has certainly acknowledged and tried to define the term "added sugars," or those sugars...

It was a season of office parties and late nights out, with plenty of cocktails, heaps of holiday ham, and extra servings of pie, cake and Christmas cookies. As the dust settles and the indigestion abates, 2011 resolutions for better health begin in earnst. Many of you will resolve to...

Today we are celebrating my favorite holiday of the year. To me, Thanksgiving signals the smell of nutmeg and cinnamon in the air, spending time with my family, and baking some delicious, sweet and savory fare.

Yet, if we take a peak underneath the modern-day Thanksgiving hood, the food on...

Last week, CNN's Wolf Blitzer interviewed Bill Clinton about how he's beating his heart disease with a new food regime and help from Dr.'s Dean Ornish and Caldwell Esselstyn. I couldn't have been happier to see the Prez feeling better. Yet it also excited me that he could...

I'm always looking to Mother Nature for some alternatives to mainstream food ingredients to help consumers and clients stay healthier and feel their best. It's thought that one such ingredient may be stevia, or more correctly, stevia-derived sweeteners. Stevia sweeteners are gaining popularity because of two main factors: they contain...

Although most people have an idea that a KFC's new Double Down bunless sandwich may be a less healthy choice than a chicken salad, we rarely question the chain of events that was necessary to get those bites into our mouths. Where and how exactly was that "food"...

May is National Physical Fitness and Sports Month in America. And there can't be a better time to celebrate physical activity as the warm weather and sunshine make their way into our lives!

The importance of maintaining a strong body to harbor a strong mind didn't begin with...

Whether a pounding headache, depression or cancer, western medicine usually prescribes a pill or other laboratory made medication to help cure. Yet the idea that food and diet (whether cooked, raw, vegan, etc.) can help the body heal itself is a concept thousands of years old. We've heard it from...

Two weeks ago at an investor conference in Yankee stadium, superstar PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi, proclaimed that her multibillion dollar company needs to be part of the solution to "one of the world's biggest public-health challenges, a challenge fundamentally linked to our industry: obesity."

PepsiCo, along with other food giants...