I haven't been able to turn on the television in the past two weeks without hearing some expert or another talk about the diet they are promoting. It is enough to drive a person mad! Many of us approach the new year as a way to change some bad habits to good ones and perhaps lose a little weight.

When I tell people I eat a whole-food plant-based diet, I often get a worried look from people. They will say "all the vegans I've ever known have been sickly. Aren't you worried about things like anemia?"

As I purchased my special Breast Cancer Awareness bagels from Panera this week and my youngest son came home from soccer practice with very bright pink socks to wear for his game this week, I started to think about the impact that Breast Cancer and all cancers have on our lives. I’m sure that most of us have been personally affected by this disease or at the very least know someone who has been affected.

As a group fitness instructor and a self proclaimed “nutrition nerd,” students have often asked me about how much protein they need. There are many nutrition authorities that tout high protein/high fat/low carbohydrate diets.

Throughout our history humans have faced periods of extended famine. We are equipped with the capacity to survive these periods because of our ability to access our fat stores as long as we consume adequate water (water-only fasting) (The Pleasure Trap by Lisle and Goldhamer).

We are very quick these days to treat any ailment we might have with medication. However, what we eat can make a huge difference in the stress and inflammation our bodies experience. Chronic inflammation, which can lead to diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer, arthritis, depression and Alzheimer's disease, is the manifestation of oxidative stress.

While I would not consider these selections light summer reads, I do feel like these books are a great introduction to the why and how of whole-foods plant-based eating. Each of these books has a slightly different perspective and purpose but each is extremely informative.

As we enter the summer months, schedules begin to relax with kids out of school and vacations. That can be a landmine for sticking to our diet and exercise plans. It can be so easy to let healthy habits go in the summer months so how do we stay on track? One word: ACCOUNTABILITY.

Nothing is worse than waking up tired in the morning! Rarely a day goes by when I don’t have a million and one things to accomplish so I need to be alert and ready for the day. I’m sure I’m not alone so how does one go about getting a great night’s sleep?

The buzz these days is that oil is ok for you as long as you stick with the “healthy” oils like coconut, avocado or olive oil. After all, our body needs fat to function properly.

I recently read a letter to the editor in our local newspaper about milk alternatives. While this person was far from an expert the letter was ridiculous on so many levels. My first thought was that there were certainly readers out there that would read this article and believe what this person was saying. That really upset me!

Lots of factors affect your propensity to get sick. Of course exposure to a pathogen has to occur but our bodies are amazing in their ability to protect us from these potential sources of illness. We can affect and in fact boost our natural immunity in a couple of ways.

I recently wrote about the dangers of dairy. That kind of information may be enough for some people to decide to remove dairy from their diet. Depending on how much dairy you consume that task may be easy or quite daunting. One thing that is important to realize is what kind of personality type you are when it comes to change.

There is so much confusion out there about different diets and which one is right for you and your family.

My 13-year-old son was in health class this week when the teacher started expounding the virtues of drinking milk. Well, my son felt he should challenge that notion and decided that he would tell his teacher that his mom has taken them off of dairy of any kind.

I know that we haven’t even celebrated Christmas yet but I’m a planner so I started thinking about the new year. It is full of possibilities! Those possibilities only come to fruition though if you make a conscious effort to achieve your goals.

I was talking to a member at the YMCA recently about his difficulty with exercising during the holidays.  He told me that he was travelling and wanted to continue to exercise.  The problem was that he didn't want to bring any equipment and the space he would have was very limited.

I never thought that I would be the type of person who meditated. I’m constantly moving and doing something. That is until I literally fall into bed each night exhausted and unable to keep my eyes open one more minute. I pride myself on being productive and using each minute of every day. Who has time for meditation? The answer to that question should be me! I’m exactly the person who should be meditating.

For the past few years my friend Mindy Mylrea has been a whole foods, plant-based eater so when she suggested that we eat at the Cheesecake Factory of all places I was a bit shocked to say the least. I trust her judgement, however, so I willingly stepped inside to see what this restaurant known for it’s incredibly unhealthy calorie bombs had to offer.

Our Standard American Diet (SAD) is promoting addiction to sugar and artificial sweeteners. While added sugar in our diet is also extremely detrimental to our health (this requires a completely different blog post), artificial sweeteners affect our bodies in a very unique way.