Alisa Rutherford-Fortunati

One of the myths about the vegan lifestyle is that it’s too expensive for the average or low-income family. Perhaps this is because many people relate the term ‘vegan’ or a plant-based diet to pre-packed vegan foods.

Calcium is an essential nutrient in our diet. But as you can see, not all calcium is equal. Did you know that although animal milks have calcium in them, they also leach calcium from the bones?

Along my journey to veganism, I have been moved by number of animal teachers… One of the dearest of these friends was a goat named Mariolana.

We were driving down a long dusty highway, just after crossing from Texas into New Mexico. There wasn’t much to see at first; it was an expansive brown and sporadically industrialized desert speckled with patches of irrigated green… But then, in amongst the industrial buildings, contrasting figures of black and white came into view. A […] Read more

  “We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.” – Mother Teresa What did the seas look like 100 years ago? 200 years ago? These were the questions that floated through my mind as I snorkeled off […] Read more

Turmeric is one of my favorite spices. I honestly think it makes pretty much any savory dish better, from carrot salad to egg-less omelets; a nice sprinkle of turmeric goes a long way. Turmeric powder (the form most of us are familiar with) is made from the dried root of the Curcuma longa plant. Vitamins, […] Read more

Cinnamon* has long been enjoyed both as a culinary spice and natural medicine. *It is important to note that that the common type of cinnamon sold in grocery stores is not “true cinnamon” Ceylon cinnamon, which is the cinnamon referred to in most health studies. This is important because the type of cinnamon sold in […] Read more

I think everyone has a mental bucket list. In years past I checked things off my own like sky diving, backpacking around Europe and volunteering on an organic farm, but it took me until this year to complete one of my top entries: scratching a pig’s belly. I don’t know exactly how or when this […] Read more

Over the last decade, a host of studies have been done on the anti-cancer properties of apples. Many of these studies have made headlines by producing surprising and favorable results. Although most of the studies done thus far have focused on specific chemical compounds or nutrients in apples, when we look at the nutrients studied […] Read more