Green Your Diet

Nutrition is a key part to a healthy lifestyle. It can be even more important to an individual with an illness or allergy. There are many diets out there, but which is the right one for you?* One thing is for certain, a diet consisting of organic food and grown without pesticides decreases exposure to toxic chemicals. My blog post about a “New study finds organic foods are healthier than conventionally grown foods” explains why organic foods are better than conventional. Below are links to diets that are worth considering as well as helpful information to those new or experienced to the nutrition world.-By Deirdre Imus

* Always consult a physician before starting a diet for you or your child

Few things have as a profound effect on human health than what we put into our bodies.  Food has the ability to turn genes – including cancer genes – on and off, which can influence disease development.  By knowing what we’re eating and how it’s produced, we can have a huge impact on our own health and the health of our environment.  When we choose what to eat, we influence our health with each bite.

Find a Healthy Recipe that's easy to prepare for the whole family to enjoy. Click here to view all our delicious dishes.

Superfoods, no these aren’t foods that have x-ray vision and can fly, of course if you threw one across the room, debatable. Superfoods are types of foods that are nutritionally dense and benefit your body in many ways.These foods are mainly plant based however there are some fish and dairy products.

What I mean by “nutritionally dense” is a food that has a multitude of vitamins in them compared to other foods. For example, Kale is defined as a superfood because of its high nutrient density. It is full of vitamins A, K, E, C, and multiple B vitamins. It is also full of fiber which is great for digestive health and calcium which is great for bone health. My recipes, Deirdre's Kale Smoothie, have a delicious blend of berries and other superfoods, one of which is kale. I also have a blog post, Cook Healthier, Feel Better, in which I mention certain superfoods I used in making some of my recipes like Deirdre's Raw Valentine Smoothie For Two, Deirdre's Vegetarian Vicken Salad, and Deirdre's Buckwheat Soba Noodle Recipe with Dr. Manny Alvarez,the chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Hackensack University Medical Center. Superfoods are definitely something to add to your diet for an overall healthy lifestyle so make sure you get enough!-By Deirdre Imus

EWG's Dirty Dozen Guide to Food Additives

Food should be good for you. But some isn’t. More than 10,000 additives* are allowed in food.  Some are direct additives that are deliberately formulated into processed food. Others are indirect additives that get into food during processing, storage and packaging. How do you know which ones to avoid because they raise concerns and have been linked to serious health problems, including endocrine disruption and cancer?