You’ve probably heard of gluten free or a gluten-free diet, but what is gluten? And why would you want to avoid it? Where did gluten come from and why is it only in the last decade that gluten-free has gained prominence?

Sugar used to be considered a delicacy, a treat that was enjoyed only occasionally. But with the advent of the processed foods industry, sugar made its way into every nook and cranny of our food supply, and now it’s so ubiquitous that we’re often not even aware we are eating it. While a novelty coffee drink or slice of cake is an obvious sugar trap, many foods are not: Added sugar in bread?

Back to school! Three simple words that can leave parents scrambling to figure out quick and easy foods to feed their children over the next months. But before you send your children off to school with pre-prepared meals and snacks, carefully consider what is in those snacks.

The loss of muscle mass and strength is a common occurrence during the aging process. In fact, it is estimated that most people lose between 1-2% of their muscle mass each year after the age of 50, and this accelerates after the age of 60.¹ This loss of muscle mass is even more pronounced in the elderly with diabetes or cardiovascular disease.

As winter sneaks up on us, we should all be thinking about what we can do to stay optimally healthy over the holidays. One thing recommended by Natural Grocers Nutritional Health Coaches, academics, and many health conscious people alike is taking a vitamin D supplement throughout the winter months. The robust endorsement of vitamin D speaks to its multifaceted role in the body.

Shopping, entertaining and traveling all contribute to the relatively stressful and unhealthy holiday season. Whether you are tempted by a cinnamon bun at the mall or a side of onion rings at the airport, the holiday season makes it all too easy to fall victim to unhealthy dietary habits.

Have you made a health goal that you would really like to achieve as part of your New Year’s resolutions?

February is National Heart Health Month, and what better way to celebrate heart health than to highlight some of the most interesting new research being published about a very important nutrient for heart health—Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10).

Resistant starch is a topic that is making waves in various health and nutrition communities, especially in the weight-loss sphere.

Eggs are a wonderfully dense source of nutrition and an extremely versatile food source. You can use eggs to make a quiche, frittata, or omelet, and you can alsohard-boil eggs,poach eggs, or scramble eggs. In fact, fried eggs can be found in all sorts of foods, such as pizza, fried rice and even on top of your favorite cheeseburger or pizza (get the point?)!

It is a fact that our current industrial model of agriculture is not only producing food that is not as healthy as it should be but is also destroying the environment. Recently published research examines how different dietary paradigms relate to energy use, land use, and greenhouse gas emissions.

What if you could make one small change, one decision that has the power to sequester Co2, reverse desertification, and, thus, positively—and dramatically—impact the economy and the environment?