Spring Cleaning for Your Body

By Nanci Theoret - Think of your body as that cluttered closet: Full of stuff you don’t need and due for a good spring cleaning. Cleansing diets, particularly juice and liquid plans, continue to grow in popularity with their claims to detox the body, remove toxins and improve complexion and skin health. But not all liquid diets are alike nor should any be followed longer than a few days without medical supervision. Most lack...

Time to Make Chili

By Herb Gardener - Long before iron chefs crossed tongs, Americans competed over chili. In many communities the chili cook-off remains a popular public spectacle and “stir for the cure” fundraiser. Almost everyone has an opinion about what constitutes a good and proper bowl. We can’t even agree if beans should have a path to chili citizenship. For my last F&M entry, then, a brief appreciation of...

Best Diet Tips for 2013

By Anna Dantoni - Yes, you’ve seen these nuggets of advice in print before, but maybe this is the year you take action and substitute progress for good intentions. Americans in unprecedented numbers are suffering from diabetes, heart disease, back problems and other medical issues that could be ameliorated by simply losing weight. The experts (those who have lost weight and are successfully keeping off) say avoid being...

Holiday Dieting

By Nanci Theoret - Ah the holidays… the twinkling lights, the fruitcake, the food. The cha-ching of the calorie counter. For food lovers, the weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day are the ultimate diet-buster, starting with the November feast and continuing until the champagne salute at the stroke of midnight. There’s a reason so many resolutions involve losing weight: Many of us will gain five to 10 pounds. Sticking...

Defined By Diet

By Anna Dantoni - The biggest food trend in America right now is that nearly all of us are defined by what we can’t eat or what we choose not to eat and the name attach to our choice of diet. My sister is a vegetarian while her husband is a pescatarian. My brother is lactose intolerant. My husband (bless him) is an omnivore while I’ve been trying hard lately to be a locavore. Everybody, it seems, is something. Gluten-free...

Vegan Food With Flair

By Marsha Fottler - There are approximately 7,500,000 vegans in America and they’re probably the only ones who can pronounce correctly what they are. So, for the rest of us here it is: VEE-gun. A vegan follows a vegetarian diet but also excludes eggs, dairy products and all other animal-derived ingredients. Many vegans omit foods that are processed using animal products. Vegans who extend their dietary choices into their...