Watching this video that exposes our animal food system brought tears to my eyes. We have a major health crisis on our hands today. Most large companies in the food industry are more concerned with profits than with helping to improve our health, even though they are largely to blame for the health crisis we face. Watching this 6 minute video is a reminder of just how bad our food system is and how drastically it has changed.  READ MORE

Tim Horton’s: they’re everywhere in Canada and have now started to expand in the US. An easy morning grab-and-go option (or a convenient mid-afternoon snack attack remedy), this chain of coffee shops has become ubiquitous in Canadian culture.  READ MORE

You’ve heard it before: bran is an excellent source of fiber. Raisins are healthy. ‘My parents eat it, so it must be nutritious.’

Ah yes, the infamous Raisin Bran health myth.

And what about Mini-Wheats? To the untrained eye, they look like little packets of good health; after all, aren’t they just kid-sized versions of that wholesome, whole-grain cereal of the turn of the twentieth century, Shredded Wheat?  READ MORE

Don’t you just love the taste and smell of peanut butter…mmm? I used to love putting a huge dollop on my steel cut oatmeal (when I had steal cut oats back in the day!) and boy did it taste good! Then one day I was reading some interesting information on health and peanuts and what I found was astonishing! It seems like most peanut butter contains aflatoxin…a toxin produced by a mold found in peanuts! READ MORE

Almond milk, it’s healthy, right? Maybe not! Yes, our beloved almond milk might not be the healthy alternative we think it is! Recently almond milk has been taking the lead as the healthy alternative to cow’s milk and even the once tooted soy milk. Just to clear things up, fresh home-made nut milk  is innately healthy but what we purchase in a tetra pack may not be. Why? Because it may contain carrageenan; a component derived from certain seaweeds. Since carrageenan is from a ‘natural’ source we think it is healthy but it is not, it can even be carcinogenic, oh my!  READ MORE

Did you know that the average American consumes 22 teaspoons of sugar per day?! That’s 355 calories, just from sugar alone. It’s a difficult thing to avoid when it is hidden in just about everything! Sugar is in packaged foods, cookies, bread, cereals, instant oatmeal, peanut butter, crackers, applesauce, sushi, baked beans, sauces, condiments, canned soups.. even vitamins and cough syrup?!  READ MORE

When I hear the word natural I think of something pure and unadulterated. I used to buy foods that had natural flavor thinking I was buying something healthy but I was unaware of what it really meant. When I started really looking into what natural flavors really were I was shocked.  READ MORE

To eat wheat or not to eat wheat…. That is the question! I find that the two most controversial foods today are dairy and wheat. This is interesting because they also have two of the most well funded lobby groups focused on convincing us that no matter what, we need to consume them to be healthy. Have you taken a look at the Canadian Food guide lately? It’s overloaded with these two food products. I find this interesting since some of the healthiest people I know don’t eat either!  READ MORE

Nestle recently launched an aggressive, celebrity-laden campaign to promote its Carnation Breakfast Essentials, a pre-made drink intended to make breakfast more well-rounded and convenient for adults and kids. Their marketing is particularly aimed at parents of young ones, and suggests that the drink has everything a child needs to thrive.  READ MORE

I feel sort of sneaky. Here I am at Starbucks using their free Wi-Fi and electricity while simultaneously writing this article about the sneaky ingredients in their matcha green tea soy latte!

I used to love Starbucks and would feel really comforted finding one while traveling. I have fond memories of sipping match green tea lattes in Seoul and basking in the comfort of  a ‘home’ away from home.  I brought this tradition back with me when I returned to Toronto thinking I was being nutritionally savvy: I kept thinking antioxidants + green leaves = healthy. Boy was I wrong! READ MORE