More and more people are turning to veganism as a compassionate and health-conscious lifestyle, so that means you probably have at least a few veg-heads in your life. And at some point, you’re going to have an occasion to give a gift to those vegan friends, family, or office mates. And to remove any anxiety […]
Search Results for: natural-foods/vegan-living
Vegan Cheese
Vegan cheese has come a long way in the two decades since I started eating it, and there are more options than ever for those of us that don’t (or can’t) eat dairy. Below I’ve detailed the most common brands of vegan cheeses, what the best uses are for each cheese, what I (and other
Swimming Ponds: A More Natural Approach to Swimming Pools
Natural Pools or Natural Swimming Ponds
5 Unusual Benefits of Going Vegan (Warning: Poop Talk)
There are two types of vegans in this world: the ones who do it for the animals and the ones who do it for their own health (this one also includes doing it for the environment, which impacts our health).
8 Vegan Restaurants: Eating vegan Gets Easier Every Day
It used to be tricky to find vegan restaurants, but thanks to vegan chains like these, finding vegan food is getting easier and easier.
Thrive Market Review
Editor’s Note: We’ve been hearing awesome things about Thrive Market, but before we plunked down the $59.95 membership fee, we needed to know: Is it better than other online and local organic food options? We decided on a two-part strategy: Our writer road-tested the service, which she wanted to try anyway. Meanwhile, we compared the
10 Probiotic-Rich Foods That Are Even Better Than Yogurt
Move over, yogurt! These probiotic rich foods are even better.
Living Willow Hedges
You can call them willow hedges but maybe a more accurate term? “Fedges” = fence + hedge. Willows, sallows, and osiers form the genus Salix (Latin for willow), a grouping of 400-ish species of deciduous trees and shrubs. Willow are native to moist soils in cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Almost all
Tiny House Living
As more people downsize and choose to โlive smallโ, you have to ask: Why are tiny houses so popular? People are joining the tiny house movement for many reasons. The increase in environmental concerns, financial constraints, and the overall burden of having so much โstuffโ are just a few reasons people downsize their homes. Why
Food Companies Fighting GMO Labeling
Washington State’s GMO Labeling Ballot Initiative (I-522) I-522 would have mandated clear labeling of genetically engineered (GE) ingredients on food packages. The initiativeย was voted on in 2013. It lost, 51% to 49%. Among the companies who fought the labeling requirements, and money they spent on the ‘No on 522’ campaign were: Monsanto: $5,374,411 DuPont: $3,880,159
Vegan-izing Your Holiday Favorites
As the holidays approach, so do the family get-togethers, office parties, and dinners. For those of us living a vegan lifestyle, finding something to eat can be challenging, to say the least. The good news, however, is that it is easier now than ever before to choose vegan eating options โ even during the holidays. Many holiday favorites can be “veganized” with a little advanced planning.
Is Coca-Cola Vegan? Yes and No.
The Coca-Cola Company claims that the “vast majority” of their drinks are vegan. Is it true? Is Coca-Cola Vegan?
High Fat, High Protein Vegan Snacks
High fat is a term that often scares people away, I know. We’ve been told for decades that fat is bad for us, and because of ad campaigns and flawed science, there is a fundamental misunderstanding that leads us to believe fatty foods means fat on the body โ but this is just not true.
All About Organic Skincare
Organic and natural products are coming out of the shadow of mainstream beauty preparations, demonstrating likely and proven restorative results. Both women and men are more frequently choosing not to apply products with chemicals and possible noxious toxins that may irritate or damage delicate skin. Instead, they are opting to only use pure organic/natural preparations.
Vegan Athletics: The PCRM VegRun Program
The folks at Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) launched a plant-based running program, and they offered me a free account to try it out. I jumped at the change to prove that vegan athletics are totally possible!
Can I Compost Wine Corks?
Some types of wine corks are fine to compost, but other types should never go to your compost. Aside from a nutrient-rich compost, wine enthusiasts can transform natural corks into beautiful art or useful garden mulch.
Frugal Living: Everything You Need To Know
Itโs no secret that modern living is a bit of a morass of consumerism, waste, and debt. In a world where the latest smartphone debuts less than a year after its previous iteration, where the Joneses are always one step ahead of you, and where mountains of plastic are clogging up waterways and oceans, the
Top Global Warming Causes – Natural or Human?
If you’ve followed the debate over climate change even a little, you likely know the main causes of global warming: concentrations of greenhouse gases build up in the Earth’s atmosphere, and create a “greenhouse,” or warming effect. You’re likely also aware that evidence of past warming periods has fueled the argument that natural causes are
The Forks Over Knives Diet is Easier than You Think
The Forks Over Knives Diet is all the rage right now. Here’s what you need to know about getting started and sticking with it.
Food Dyes Linked to Behavioral Problems
Food Dyes Linked to Behavioral Problems
BPA Free Cans
List of cans with and without BPA
Living Off-Grid: What Itโs Actually Like
In our modern day, with cable TV shows banking off of the “weirdness” of living off the grid, the very phrase “Off-Grid” images of end-of-the-world preppers stocking up MREs and ammo, wild-haired hermits digging in the dirt for acorns and mushrooms, or maybe criminals attempting to elude capture. But if you visited our off-grid homestead,
10 Delicious Vegan Sandwiches for Back to School
Sandwiches might seem like typical, boring packed-lunch fare, but these vegan sandwiches are far from it!
30 Gifts For Bakers
Baking helps make your house into a home and is a lovely way to show the people in your life that you care for them. And there is no better time than the holidays to start (or begin again) with baking traditions. But if your baking supplies could use a bit of an upgrade โ
Tiny House Builders
With so many individuals and companies building tiny houses, how are you supposed to know who to choose? Some tiny house builders can build and ship homes nationwide or send their design plans across the world. Other, smaller builders, focus on their region and work primarily with locals. Choosing a Tiny House Builder The thing
Answering Some Questions About Off-Grid Living
YouTube comment sections are not always the friendliest of stomping grounds. If you reveal that you live off-grid, or worse, you try to teach others how to get started living off-grid, the critics crawl out of the woodwork. Rather than seeing that weโre offering free information to help others along their way, endless debates about
Getting Started With Self-Sufficient Living (And Why It IS Possible)
Self-sufficiency. What other term in the homesteading sphere carries such a weight of history, responsibility, and hope? Watch The Video Visions of lush, productive gardens, cozy wood stoves crackling with hand-split hardwood, provisions lining the pantry shelves, and healthy animals moving through the fields; all dance in our heads backed by the resounding questions: Is
Eating Vegan: Where do You Get Your Protein?
Second only to “I would die without cheese!” folks ask all the time about where vegans get their protein. For someone accustomed to centering their dinner plate around a piece of animal protein, I can see how this might seem like a problem. You take that steak off of your plate, and you’re basically living
25 Effortless Room Divider Ideas To Make Use Of Your Small Space
Whether youโre dealing with a huge open space or a make-shift living room in a tiny home, room dividers help to divvy up your home’s space. The easiest, cheapest way to divide your living area is to use a temporary fixture of some sort, but there are also lots of permanent ideas for those looking
Eating Vegan: 4 Simple Substitutes for Chicken Broth
Does your favorite recipe for soup or beans call for chicken broth? You don’t have to give it up to live cruelty-free. Use one of these substitutes for chicken broth instead.
What if You Woke Up Tomorrow and Cinnabon Was Vegan?
Iโve never eaten at (or a) Cinnabon. Iโve smelled the cloying aroma wafting through shopping malls inappropriately mixing with department store perfumes and greasy Sbarro pizza. It offends me not just as a vegan who canโt eat anything at a Cinnabon, but also as a human being who prides myself on my ability to not face dive into gobs of white flour and sugar in the name of something resembling a breakfast food. We need Cinnabons on earth about as much as we need the shopping malls they live in.
Girl Scout Cookies News: Gluten Free Cookies, Thin Mints Now Vegan
Exciting Girl Scout Cookie news: Thin Mints are now vegan and the Girl Scouts have launched a new gluten-free toffee cookie, the Toffee-tastic.
Organic Mattress Guide
Many mattresses contain harsh fire-retardant chemicals and inexpensive synthetic fabrics. Are these mattresses safe for you to lie on for 8 hours every night? Only a few mattress companies sell 100% organic mattresses. Most mattress companies use a mix of natural and synthetic materials. An organic mattress doesn’t contain harsh chemicalsโit meets fire safety standards
30 Easy Road Trip Foods
While road trips are great fun, they can also be stressful journeys if you fail to plan in advance. Aside from making sure you have everything you need once you reach your destination, you should also think about how youโll fuel up along the way. The chance to stop by a rest area may not
30 Meal Prep Dinner Ideas
Although itโs a big responsibility, I absolutely love meal planning. I have a meal planning notebook that helps me outline meals for the week and a spreadsheet where I keep a running list of favorite recipes. Every entry is numbered, so when Iโm feeling uninspired, I use a random number generator to make the decision
12 Delicious Vegan Pasta Sauces without Tomatoes
Whether you’re allergic to tomatoes, don’t like them, or want to reduce your intake of nightshades, these vegan pasta sauces without tomatoes are for you!
Off-Grid Living
Understanding GMO Foods
The first time I heard the phrase โGMOโ was at a rally, and I had to ask my 9th-grade science teacher what it meant. That was before ballot initiatives demanding GMO labelling and before Non-GMO Project logos became familiar on food labels. Since then, awareness about GMOs has increased dramatically. It is an issue that
Sand Magnified
Sand grains magnified 110-250 times reveal each grain is unique. The tip of a spiral shell has broken off and become a grain of sand. After being repeatedly tumbled by action of the surf this spiral sand grain has become opalescent in character. It is surrounded by bits of coral, a pink shell fragment, a
Propane: The “Dirty Little Secret” of Living Off the Grid
Living off the grid sounds romantic…no more bills from dirty energy companies, self-sufficiency, green power, etc.; however, there is one “dirty little secret” found in most alternative energy homes. Without it, some off-gridders couldn’t cook, refrigerate, heat water, or dry clothes. That dirty little secret is propane. Propane is a “by-product of natural gas processing and petroleum refining,”. Due to
Vegan Bulletproof Coffee
You can skip the butter and coconut oil: this vegan bulletproof coffee is so delicious, making a great morning or afternoon treat, with the benefit of healthy coconut oils and superfood maca.
Tiny House Plans
When looking for blueprints and designs for building your tiny house, the search can be arduous and overwhelming. With all the options on the internet and in books it can be hard to know which ones are worth using. Look for tiny house plans that come with detailed instructions explaining how to construct the house,
Some More Vegan and Vegetarian Dishes for a Barbecue or Picnic
Here are two more vegetarian or vegan dishes and a drink you can bring to a barbecue to go with the homemade vegan black bean burgers and herbal butter we wrote about yesterday. Especially if you are an apple or mushroom lover, these dishes might strike your fancy. Apple Chutney As you probably already know, I
Soy — Devil-fruit, or Bean? (Hint: Bean)
Detractors frequently demonize the humble soybean. It stands alone in that regard, among its less maligned cousins: no one accuses pinto beans of causing cancer, black beans of causing man-boobs, or chickpeas of causing infertility and birth defects. The soybean has been exploited on a larger scale, but it’s just a bean. Processed foods — with or without soy — can cause problems. GMO foods — soy or otherwise — can cause problems. But soy contains no magic disease demons, no secret toxins, no evil plan to take over the world. It is simply a legume. So relax, good friends, and rejoice: for soy is no devil! ‘Tis but a bean.
6 Reasons Why I Chose Clover as a Living Mulch
I mentioned in my post about building raised beds that I chose to add New Zealand white clover to the edges of the raised bed to act as a living mulch. First off, I should explain what a living mulch is, and how it differs from a cover crop: “In agriculture, a living mulch is a
17 Natural Mosquito Repellent Options For The Home And Garden
I detest mosquitoes. I hate that itchy sensation they leave and the fact that they can carry Zika or the West Nile Virus. I also prefer not to use toxic chemical repellents like DEET. Especially when a plant-based, natural mosquito repellent gets the job done. The good news is, planning and planting a natural mosquito
Old Trees
โDid you know thereโs an 800-year-old oak tree in Kent, England? Itโs called Majesty or the Fredville Oak.โ โAnd what about that sycamore tree near Hadrianโs Wall?โ I replied. โThat one’s only famous because it starred with Kevin Costner in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves,โ my friend countered. “Great movie,โ I sighed. โAnd so was
Indigenous Microorganisms (IMO)
It can be difficult to have a symbiotic relationship with microorganisms when you live in a world where Purell hand sanitizer dispensers line the wall of every doctorโs office and the words โbacteriaโ or โfungusโ cause fear. It wasnโt until I took a soil science class at the Evergreen State College, where I was exposed
Shipping Container Homes
Shipping container homes seem like a no-brainer. Approximately 30 million steel shipping containers are in existence, filled and floating, or standing empty in a port. 8 feet wide by 8.5 feet high, and either 20 or 40 feet long, the steel shipping container has been the globally standardized transportation module since 1956. Sending empty containers
How To Add Nitrogen To Soil & 5 Natural Methods To Try in Your Garden
When you just start gardening, your knowledge of how to do it may be deceptively simple. Take a seed, put it in some soil, add water, and voila! Couldnโt be easier, right? And while this approach is a wonderful way to start, the beginner may notice that some sprouts do better than others. Surely there’s