With that interest there has been an explosion of processed plant-based foods, including non-dairy cheese alternatives, which have seen a hefty 45% growth in sales.(1) Are these non-dairy cheeses actually healthier than their dairy counterparts?

When it comes to promoting health and longevity, there’s a group of vegetables that’s as precious, valuable and enduring as gold...only they’re green. Green gold.

You’ve heard the familiar adage: “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” But how does that saying also apply to an avocado, given that 80% of its calories come from fat, versus only 3% in an apple?

Medical experts agree: if you don’t drink, you don’t need to start drinking alcohol to protect your heart. If you do drink, stay within the recommended limits of moderate alcohol intake: one standard drink every 24 hours for women, two standard drinks every 24 hrs for men.

Intake enough water and other fluids throughout the day to keep your urine pale yellow (shade 4 or less), unless your doctor has told you otherwise. In order to help you do that, drink water throughout the day and eat more whole fiber-rich fruits, vegetables, beans and cooked whole grains, like oatmeal, brown rice and quinoa. In addition to all their many health-promoting nutrients, phytochemicals and fiber, these foods contain an abundance of water.

Fruit has long been touted as part of a healthy diet, and, yet only 1 in 10 adults eat the minimum recommended amount of fruit per day: 1½ to 2 cups.

Our friends at Harvard have suggested 6 Tips for proper walking form so you can get the most benefit out of the time you spend walking.

In order to optimize your health, enjoy 1-2 one-ounce servings of nuts most days of the week, unless your doctor tells you not to.

The best kind of physical activity you can do is the kind you enjoy doing, because if you don’t enjoy it, you won’t do it over the long term. If you haven’t discovered your favorite activities, please consider walking.

A good night’s sleep is increasingly being recognized as important as healthy eating and being physically active.

To maximize the nutritional benefits from produce and to decrease exposure to pesticide residues and toxic metals, choose organic produce whenever you can.

Compared to the standard American diet, it would seem prudent to practice a Mediterranean-style eating pattern where beef (and all meat) is enjoyed less often, in smaller portions, as research links high intakes of red meat with an increased risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and colon cancer. Additionally, the World Health Organization has declared that red meat is a probable human carcinogen.(9) The nutritional benefits of beef can be maximized by consuming grass-fed and/or organic over conventionally-raised beef whenever possible.