Let’s face it. Guzzling down a soda, especially its diet version, does absolutely nothing beneficial for your body. The popular bubbly beverages contain a noxious concoction of carbonated water, caramel coloring, phosphoric acid, natural flavorings, high fructose corn syrup and caffeine. Not to mention studies have linked soda consumption to weight gain, obesity, diabetes and osteoporosis. Could you pass me the water? 

I get the allure of the sugary carbonated drink. Sometimes your tongue craves something sweet and sparkling that just tastes good. But downing a soda is not the answer to your thirst quenching cravings. Instead try this natural soda alternative, delicious fizzy cucumber lemonade.

For all of us jumping back onto the fat wagon, Flax Oil is one to be reckoned with (one of those 'good' fats). It's long been revered for its healing properties - growing for some 7,000 years in Southern Mesopotamia! According to ancient folklore, the seeds were crushed and blended with mustard to make a poultice for inflamed skin, as well as used to regulate the bowels and as an antidote for poisoning. And: Did you know that Flax Oil and Linseed Oil are the same thing? But, you certainly shouldn't ingest the industrial types of Linseed Oil found in hardware stores, for they likely contain poisonous additives...

My summer lessons in organic gardening continued last weekend as I embarked on my second class at the Los Angeles Arboretum. This info-jammed session was all about organic gardening tips for the summer gardener. Whether you are already a master gardener or, like myself, are just starting out, there’s a cornucopia of tips I learned that are going to be very useful this season. Check out highlights from the class, including good fungus, becoming a lunatic and bananafication, right here.

Try this delicious Blueberry Banana Smoothie with Organic Whey to kick up your protein, antioxidant and mineral intake in the mornings. With just 4-5 ingredients, this smoothie is super easy to whip up in a blender and delicious.

Just because it doesn't go in your mouth, doesn't mean you aren't ingesting it. No seriously. The skin is an ingesting organ. Whatever you slather on it eventually ends up in your blood stream and runs around your body, internally. What you roll, slide or spray over those pits should be made from pure goodness - that's to say sans the nasty chemicals that have been linked to both cancer and Alzheimer's.

While the safest and least wasteful route would be to ditch the deodorant alltogether, for some of us, that feels as though it simply is not an option. And we empathize with that! Instead, use this recipe for a do-it-yourself, deodorant that will keep you from reeking havoc on nostrils everywhere. In fact, you'll smell quite delicious.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture officially released the new food guide for America, and for the first time since its inception, the food pyramid has been scrapped—and replaced with a multi-colored plate. You may or may not agree with the logic behind it, but you’ve got to give the USDA credit: They’re taking strides to replace reductionist nutrition methods with more intuitive, whole-food based nutrition models.

More folks deal with back pain than don't: In fact, 80 percent of people at some time in their life will come up against back problems. Take it from me: Big bummer. From uncomfortable to incapacitating, our modern lifestyles simply aren't conducive to strong spinal columns... what with all the desk hunching, driving and couch slumping. 

But back sufferers need not be reliant upon a bottle of pills that don't even get the job done. Yoga poses that stretch and strengthen the spine and increase its range of motion have been found to make all the difference. Start slow and gentle with these exercises to get yourself on the road to healthy, pain-free posture. 

Jimmy Williams does not own a computer. No, he doesn't live in a cave or under a rock. He lives in Los Angeles and is one of the busiest people in town. He's even written a critically acclaimed book now in its second printing, From Seed to Skillet. But his knowledge isn't meant for digital contraptions. Rather, it's his digits—mainly two very active green thumbs—that make him most alive as he talks about his giant thyme plant, his grandmother's juicy tomatoes and perhaps his most favorite subject: Earthworms.

While I love my dog, Daisy, a 12-year-old mix—I even hired a mobile groomer who gives her a Reiki massage and a blueberry facial, though Daisy mostly licks it off, don’t ask—I never owned a dog house for her. After all, why should she sleep in a dog house when she’s got the couch? But then I stumbled on a modern dog house online and I rethought my dog house vs. couch stance. Sleek lines. Sustainable. Funky design. Eco-friendly. Browsing from one site to the next, I found myself addicted to dog houses and soon enough I hunted down all sorts of well-designed homes for chickens and cats. Because c'mon, you can't ignore the chicken coops, right?

Check out these six environmentally-friendly—and may I add, fantastic—dog houses, cat abodes and chicken coops. Enjoy!

Since the discovery of fermented beverages, humankind has been using them as sexual aids: To decrease social inhibitions, reduce the amount of clothing worn and in general, liven up any given party. Mead and wine were the choices of our ancestors, while today the youth prefer harder beverages such as Jagermeister or Four Loco to do the trick. 

Eating plants isn’t just 'veganistically' hip these days – countless studies have determined that things that grow in the ground really do wondersonce they’re inside our body. Among their many virtues, veggies bestow the habitual muncher with enhanced longevity and immunity, super-fly cholesterol levels and positively radiant skin… plus when prepared with a little panache, they are delicious like none other.

Nine times out of ten, the emergence of dandelions in one’s tidily maintained lawn can elicit a broad range of physical and verbal responses, including but not limited to a crinkled up nose, cocked brow and a series of rather rude gesticulations that might typically be favored by members of the Italian mafia. All that wasted energy directed toward a weed! They’re such cheery little troopers, though -- so bright and sunny, in fact, that we really should take pause to admire their natural good looks and impressive industrial strength (and probably glass-melting) chemical resiliency.