Jamie Oliver, host of the award winning program, The Food Revolution, takes children's healthy food options seriously. How serious? Enough to fill an entire school bus with sugar.

So you think you’re eco-hot stuff coz you gave up meat and dairy? Maybe. But you’re not celebrity status eco-hot until you’ve raised vegan babies. Whoa, now that’s eco.

The Hollywood buzz is all hyped up about vegan A-listers Alicia Silverstone and Natalie Portman, who’ve both recently announced that their bellies are carrying veggie babies.  Move over, vegetarian, vegan has taken over. And move over, vegan, because vegan babies are soon to be ruling the world.

“Wine is sure proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” Even Benjamin Franklin understood that along “early to bed, early to rise,” humans also need the sensual pleasures of wine in their lives. New sustainable practices have made your glass of vino even more guilt-free, and in 2011 we will continue to see conscious farming flourish from the bottle to the grape.

Leave it to an NYU student to explore the ultimate locavore cuisine: human cheese. You read right. Miriam Simun, a New York University graduate student created this controversial project to provoke discussions on biotechnology, our farming methods and our relationship to nature as well as our own bodies.

Sure, you can seek out an exotic spa that offers a chocolate skin treatment for some ridiculously insane price. But why do that when you can make it at home for a couple of bucks? At OA, we are increasingly excited about the idea of creating our beauty rituals from natural, organic foodstuffs with our own two hands; highly satisfying. And also, highly effective!

Did you know that the USDA recommends getting five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables a day — nine?! C’mon, it’s hard for a girl to count greens, especially if she’s also counting calories, carbs and dollars while shopping. Good thing there’s a way to sneak extra veggies into your diet — by baking with them. Check out these five vegetables that you can put in your next batch of homemade cupcakes. That’s one small step for carbs; one giant leap for veggies.

Cue Erin Brockovich and the bottled water (kidding!)... the probable carcinogen hexavalent chromium was found in the drinking water of 31 United States cities. Yes, it’s the same chemical that had Brockovich sneaking onto power plants and crawling into sewers to help hundreds of people

If visions of this year's lush green garden are already filling your head, well, join the club. My first seed catalog came in the mail a couple of weeks ago, imparting visions of the gorgeous, healthy, organic herbs, vegetables and flowers that will soon be ours for the growing. So, if you - like me - can't wait until outdoor planting time to get started on the garden, follow these steps to start seeds indoors and get a jump on the growing season.

Organic foods are better for the environment and better for your body, but they are often more expensive than conventional grocery products. Ideally we should strive to buy only organic items, from our bed sheets to our blue cheese to our broccoli sprouts, but often the wallet simply doesn’t stretch as far as we'd like. Sometimes, we have to choose – so arm yourself with information, and learn the top ten foods to buy organic this season.

It's only mildly disconcerting to think that a widely available beverage could be converted into gasoline, right? Regardless of how scary the implications, it is in fact true. Since the ban on Four alcoholic energy drinks in many states, a company in Abingdon, Virginia has been making good use of the excess beverage by turning it into ethanol using the 3 Rs: reduce, reuse, recycle.

Venti Caramel Machhiato anyone? We'll pass, opt instead for a freshly pressed beverage that’s packed with fruits, veggies and all those vitamins and minerals that keep us thriving through the day (not the sugar and caffeine that have us slumped over come lunchtime). Not only will you sip up your daily recommended amount of fruits and veggies (when was the last time you got that?!), but a healthy dose of disease-preventing properties too. Here are our favorite juice bars in NYC.

Interestingly, honey that comes from bees who feed on thyme-flower nectar is a gourmet delight, though quite paradoxically thyme is an insect repellent too. This heady, aromatic herb related to mint comes in many varieties - over 100 - with flavors of mint, caraway, lemon, and then stronger ones that are more reminiscent of oregano. We most commonly use garden thyme and lemon thyme for our culinary delights, the lemon variety pairing beautifully with fish. Hailing from a perennial evergreen shrub, thyme is strong in its aroma, making it a slow-cooking star.

Come January and we all start to think of how to detox or cleanse as a way to shed the old - the toxins and habits of 2010 - and usher in some health and vibrancy for the coming year, albeit reluctantly so. The thought of drinking only lemonade, getting colonics and fasting doesn't bode well for some of us - who like to eat. 

Computers, TV's, cellular phones and other regularly used electronics become outdated within months. It's kind of strange when you think about that old rotary phone that clung to your Grandmother's kitchen wall for decades, or that hippopotamus-sized television that is still in her living room.  Why is new technology so much flimsier than old technology? It's nothing short of frustrating. Even more maddening is all the waste created when we're forced to routinely replace them.

Kids need stuff (although they could probably use less of most of it): food, a bed, clothes, shoes, toys, art supplies, sports gear, school supplies, swimming gear, bikes, balls, musical instruments... The list is long and just seems to grow as they do. Keeping up with our own clutter is challenge enough. It is possible to keep toys both organized and accessible for your young children; here's how to do it.

Cheers to the New Year! 2011 brings a bounty of fun cocktail trends to explore and enjoy.