Topic: lifestyle

Breast Cancer Risk Study Reveals Fears Over Demonizing Victims—Or Chemicals

Breast Cancer Risk Study Reveals Fears Over Demonizing VictimsâOr Chemicals

A large new review of breast cancer studies found ‘lifestyle’ factors—unhealthy foods, alcohol, cigarettes, hormone replacement therapy and oral contraceptives—are more strongly tied to breast cancer risk than environmental pollutants or toxins. But wildly different headlines about the study make it clear just how polarizing (and political) discussions of what ’causes’ breast cancer (or any other disease that’s not perfectly random) can get. More »

Sweet Home Indiana: You Mean I Can’t Get Tempeh & Kombucha at the Corner Store?

Sweet Home Indiana: You Mean I Canât Get Tempeh & Kombucha at the Corner Store?

Before you want to punch me in the face, let me say that I’m being a little tongue-in-cheek with the title here, okay? I mean, yes, when I lived in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, I only had to walk a few blocks to get the most delicious tempeh-bacon & vegan-cheese breakfast sandwich, or buy raw almonds in bulk, or fill up a growler of kombucha on tap, or … you get the picture. More »

Sweet Home Indiana: Locavore’s Paradise

Sweet Home Indiana: Locavore's Paradise

For some reason, I never got to the farmers’ market as often as I would have liked to when I was in Washington, D.C. or New York City, though I lived less than a mile from Eastern Market in Capitol Hill, and likewise for the McCarren Park farmer’s market in Brooklyn. Maybe I was too busy recovering from the night before to make it in time. Maybe it just never seemed imperative, surrounded as I was by supermarkets and grocery delivery services. Since moving to Indiana, though, I’ve been hitting the farmers’ market twice a week. More »

Sweet Home Indiana: In Pursuit Of Health And Happiness In The Midwest

Sweet Home Indiana: In Pursuit Of Health And Happiness In The Midwest

At about age seven, my favorite movie was Baby Boom, featuring Diane Keaton as a fancy New York City businesswoman who inherited a distant relative’s daughter, moved to the ‘country’ (well, Connecticut) and learned to can applesauce. I’ve never quite approached fancy businesswoman status, and I’ve yet to can anything, but last week I moved to Lafayette, Indiana, after years of living and working on the east coast, and I can’t help thinking that seven-year-old-me would approve. The so-called good life is bound to be easier here, with no dirty subways, crowded commutes, tiny railroad apartments or exorbitant rents, right? Or will I perish for lack of constant movement, new faces and ample vegetarian restaurants? I suppose I’m about to find out. More »

Going Vegetarian For Your Cataracts Is Doing It Wrong

Going Vegetarian For Your Cataracts Is Doing It Wrong

As a vegetarian, any opportunity to promote a meatless diet amongst my peers is usually seized with pleasure (just ask my friends, they are sick of me talking about this already). Vegetarian and vegan diets are no longer relegated to the realm of hippies, crumbums, and surfer-dudes. Its mainstream acceptance has permeated Hollywood, with many celebrities going veg. (We even won a big name back to the fold from veganism recently – Natalie Portman announced this week that she’s going back to vegetarian during her pregnancy). The benefits of vegetarianism range from a longer life and lower risk of heart disease to weight loss and even reversing diabetes. And a new survey from Reuters, indicating that a vegetarian diet could reduce the chances of developing cataracts, seems to fit well within my personal anti-carnivore agenda. Remember when your mom told you to eat your carrots because they’re good for your eyes? Turns out that theory has merit. Oh, the benefits galore.

But wait, there’s another study that says the exact opposite. More »