Tea has been cultivated and consumed for thousands of years, and only recently has its widely suspected health benefits received validation from reputable scientific research. Second to water, tea is the most popular beverage choice worldwide. While black tea is perhaps the most common type of tea consumed, other types, like white, green, and oolong, […]

Hi everyone! I want to introduce you to Shelly Stinson, a reader of The Healthy Advocate and a true believer in the power of food and nutrition. She has some great tips to share for this holiday season! – Brandon Although holidays are supposed to be filled with joy and cheer, the two emotions that […]

4th of July in the United States is known as Independence Day, a time when North Americans remember the day our country gained independence from British rule. The United States is a relatively new country, at least to those of European descent. The continent itself is ancient and alive with history we never learn in […]

When I was little, chocolate chip cookies were my favorite type of cookies on the planet. Oatmeal raisin? Not so much. It wasn’t that I didn’t like them, because I did, they just weren’t at the top of the list. It wasn’t until I started cooking and baking when I was 9 or 10 that […]

I love, love, love coconut oil. The taste, the texture, the way it hardens upon cooling (makes wonderful homemade chocolate), its versatility in cooking, and its applications for the hair and skin. Anyone who happens upon my website already know about my coconut oil obsession, with most of my recipes using coconut oil in one way or […]

We all know that green smoothies aren’t anything new, especially here on this blog. These nutrient-dense green concoctions are fun to look at and even more fun to drink, particularly if you have an adventurous palate. For the most part, health enthusiasts and everyday individuals tend to enjoy their first sip of a green smoothie, […]

When it comes to okra, many people are unaware that this often-fried southern vegetable contains a hefty amount of nutrition. Cultures in Africa have employed okra for a number of maladies, including diabetes and liver disease. Research has shown that many okra health benefits are attributed to the veggie’s polysaccharide and lecithin content, and its […]

OK, these cookies are the real deal. This recipe has literally taken me two years to get right and hundreds of testers to aid the process. Creating a chocolate chip cookie that is gluten free and free from refined sugar can be an amazingly frustrating, exciting, maddening, and joyful challenge, one that I am confident […]

While searching for a way to make my favorite gluten-free brownies even better (which I admit – with the utmost humility – is a bit hard to do), I realized that I didn’t have any chocolate in my pantry. None. Nada. Nil. It’s very rare for me to be out of chocolate, even if it […]

What Is Meditation? Meditation is an ancient practice that has long-been steeped in tradition, mystery, and myth. Contrary to what’s often depicted in today’s society, meditation doesn’t exclusively involve sitting in the Lotus position chanting the “Om” mantra for hours on end. Although this meditation method is still practiced by many modern meditators, it only […]