Each year, America invests nearly $1 billion on non-prescriptive digestive remedies. From fizzy drinks and tablets to syrups and powders, antacids are often just as necessary in the pantry as salt and pepper. The amount of money spent on digestion problems shows that we’ve come to accept it as a part of daily life. It doesn’t--and shouldn’t--have to be this way. Food combining is an underrated, albeit extremely effective, part of the puzzle to solve our digestive woes.

Last fall, many people were outraged when Stanford researchers concluded that organic food was no better because the nutrient content did not surpass conventionally grown crops. Those of us who recommend organic foods were furious that they had missed the point and misled the public.  Indeed if you read between the lines the study revealed an 81 percent lower incidence of pesticide residues in the organic foods. Nowhere is this distinction more important than when it comes to preparing for conception and during pregnancy. 

You may know it for being the most expensive spice in the world and a rare addition to home-cooked meals, but saffron is no stranger to various cultures around the globe, or to the world of nutrition. The reddish-golden colored spice packs a host of health benefits and is one of nature’s most powerful herbs.

The Environmental Working Group's 2013 Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce helps consumers navigate the most- and least-pesticide sprayed fruits and vegetables. The guide also helps consumers shopping for the small children in their lives find the healthiest options for babies, too.

If you scour the internet (or your local health club), you’ll find a lot of conflicting information about when the best time of the day is to exercise. However, there really is no straightforward answer to this question. While studies may point us in one direction, the fact remains that an effective workout is also very individual and depends on your personal lifestyle. Here are some important considerations to keep in mind when planning the time of day you hit the ground running.

Showing up on time is an ability you must master if you want to be considered an adult. Millions of adults arrive on time daily despite bad traffic, breakfast spills or morning mishaps – and you can to. If you’re one of those people that can never show up on time anywhere, you probably don’t realize how much this tacky characteristic is negatively affecting your life. Some ill effects of chronic lateness are obvious, such as the train you miss because you couldn’t get ready quick enough, or the friends you piss off because you held up the entire group from eating for half an hour.

The practice of eating flowers can be traced back to European, Asian, East Indian, Victorian English and Middle Eastern cuisines. It has fallen out of fashion over the years, but cooking with edible flowers has emerged again recently as a colorful, flavorful and fragrant way to complement dishes.

Tucked into the freezer of your local health food store is a brand of products called Tofutti, a range of soy-based dairy-free alternative foods. Best known for their ice cream substitute, Tofutti aims for the health-conscious niche of grocery consumers: the vegan, vegetarian, lactose-intolerant, kosher and food allergy sensitive segments of the population – all of which are growing.

Why should kids have all the fun? Today’s summer camps for adults offer exciting opportunities to learn how to write books, build boats, herd cattle or be an astronaut. More than a million adults went to summer camp last year, and there are moer than 800 different camps to choose between, from luxurious escapes to rough and rugged experiences. At summer camp you can indulge a hobby, explore a fantasy and of course – make new friends for life.

Welcome to the first installment of the series "Vegan, 40, and Pregnant" chronicling the challenges of a late maternal age pregnancy while also adhering to a strict vegan diet.

Part One: You're Vegan? But Where Do You Get Your Protein? 

Each week, BabyCenter.com sends me an email telling me how big my unborn baby is. She was once the size of a bean. Then a lemon. An apple. A bell pepper. Now, at 19 weeks, she's roughly the size of an "heirloom tomato." I like that they compare my daughter to fruits and vegetables—the main part of our diet. (I like it even more that they also made the important distinction of noting the much more flavorful heirloom tomato.) But I don't love the recent list they put out "The ten best foods for pregnancy." The list is filled with foods I haven't touched in years: fish, eggs, meat and dairy. It seems that no matter how many numerous successful vegan and vegetarian births occur (just think about how many babies are born in India each year to vegetarians!), this country still suffers from a protein myth.