Author Archives: Amy

About Amy

Amy has a passion for natural, sustainable health and living that she shares by educating her clients. She runs half and full marathons, is fluent in Dutch, and grows an urban garden on her Brooklyn terrace.

Consumer Reports Gives Chicken Nuggets Failing Grades

If you followed along with Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, you might have seen his experiment on the very first episode with a handful of elementary school children and chicken nuggets. In the experiment, Jamie shows how all the “unused” bits and pieces of chicken are ground up along with all the fat to then be processed into what we all know as the chicken nugget. While the children shrieked during the process, upon completion of cooking these nuggets, Jamie was shocked to learn they were still open to eating them.

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Posted on May 7, 2026 by Amy

Do Obese Children Get Bullied More?

With the country in an obesity epidemic that is affecting younger and younger children, there are new concerns that bullying and teasing will impact these kids more than their peers. This concern was validated by a new study published in the June issue of the Journal Pediatrics, which showed that children in the range of 6-9 years of age have an increased likelihood of being subjected to bullying regardless of race or socioeconomic status.

Bullying has become a more common topic in the news these days with a new form of bullying emerging – cyber bullying. This form of attack is mostly done through text messages, email, and Facebook or MySpace messages.

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Posted on May 3, 2026 by Amy

Tweens Targeted by Junk Food Ads

Tweens, or children between the ages of eight and 12, have $200 billion dollars in purchasing power. And, marketers know it. Because of this, tweens are often targets of advertising and marketing programs, which means they are seeing ads everywhere they go.

The Federal Trade Commission is a consumer protection agency that is responsible for enforcing laws to prohibit unfair and deceptive advertising and marketing programs. The FTC recently partnered with Scholastic to help children understand the power of advertising and become more educated consumers.

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Posted on May 1, 2026 by Amy

Healthy Lunch Boxes for Kids

There has been a lot of news and momentum lately regarding cafeteria food for kids in schools. Jamie Oliver started a food revolution in Huntington, West Virginia; Rachael Ray started a food movement in New York City, but what about parents at home?

When I was growing up, my elementary and middle school didn’t have a cafeteria, so all kids relied on the food their parents sent them to school with. The staple seemed to be a sandwich along with a bag of chips and a can of soda, but there are much healthier lunches that kids could be eating that are easy to make.

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Posted on April 30, 2026 by Amy

Gling.com: A Gluten-Free Social Site

Last month I completed a gluten-free series covering a variety of products and resources for those who suffer from Celiac disease or are looking for more information on the topic. A new resource recently launched called Gling, a social website for members to share in all things gluten-free and we wanted to take a closer look.

Gling originally launched providing information on food, recipes and a directory of gluten-free shops and restaurants by location. Additionally, there was an article section which includes original content from Gling writers as well as from popular gluten-free bloggers.

More recently, Gling announced a partnership with the University of Maryland Center for Celiac Research, which is the largest Celiac research center in the world. The research from this center has helped in making progress to diagnose, treat and improve the lives of people with Celiac, and should be a great resource for the Gling community.

I loved the concept of the site, so I signed myself up for a free membership and started checking out all the site had to offer. The main sections are recipes, food and locations. I review each below.
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Posted on April 28, 2026 by Amy

School Cafeterias Get Healthy Makeover

One school teaches kids to grow and harvest their food.

I love watching Jamie Oliver in action working on the state of emergency we are in when it comes to the health of our children. Obesity rates continue to climb, but I feel a positive change is happening. It will take effort from all of us to make a difference. Jamie Oliver can only do so much on his own.

First lady Michelle Obama has been bringing national attention to the issue of healthy foods in our schools. More importantly, parents are getting involved and letting their schools know they want healthier foods in the school cafeterias.

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Posted on April 24, 2026 by Amy

Shredding Pounds: New eFitness Tracker

Have you been on the search for a tool that lets you track not just your food consumption but also your physical activity? Enter shredding pounds, a website and service brought to you by Fritz Lamour. Through Fritz’s own experiences through training for boxing and tae kwon do, he discovered that regardless what level you are at having a tool that allows you to track your progress was essential.

To start you will need to sign up through the site and once logged in will complete a questionnaire that will have you input your measurements, rank your preferences for types of activities, as well as identify your workout schedule. Upon summary of completing these questions you will be given your BMI (body mass index) as well as calculations based on weight loss goals entered and your average caloric intake. This is a basic but good jumping off point to get started. Through playing around with the tool once I received all of my personal settings I was impressed by the options available and have highlighted some of my favorites below:
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Posted on April 17, 2026 by Amy

Almond Flour: The Nutritious Baking Secret

Having completed a gluten-free blog series focusing on celiac disease and gluten-free products and resources, I came across a new product that I had not tried yet. From the ingredients listed and reviews I read, I knew I had to try this one for myself.

Grain-free almond flour is a great new baking flour that is gluten-free, helps lower cholesterol, and is loaded with nutrition. From vitamin E to fiber, calcium and iron, I started to think if I baked with this flour it would be like cooking in Popeye’s kitchen as he eats his can of spinach. While all the benefits sounded great, I had to ensure that it tasted yummy too. There is nothing worse than a poor tasting cookie after all that work in the kitchen! (more…)

Posted on April 12, 2026 by Amy

Vitamin Guide A to Zinc: Vitamin K

Vitamin K is not a vitamin we typically hear much about. But, it is no less important in the functions of our body. Vitamin K helps the body make protein that is necessary for regulating normal blood clotting. It also works with Vitamin A and D in helping to build bones and kidney proteins. There have also been some recent studies that have shown that Vitamin K may improve the strength of bones if added to one’s diet through a variety of fruit and vegetable sources.

Vitamin K deficiency creates a problem with blood clotting, as not having enough of it in your diet will cause the blood to clot at a slower rate. The problem then becomes excessive blood loss, which with injuries can be serious and have increase risks for death.Vitamin K deficiency can lead to hemorrhages. (more…)

Posted on April 10, 2026 by Amy

Wii Fit Replaces Gym Class In Texas

Remember the days when gym class meant simply running around or playing in groups whether it be a round of basketball, dodge ball, wiffle ball or even baseball? Most kids live for these outlets to give them a break from math or history class and kids just like to move and be active. With all that said I was really surprised when I learned that two Texas schools were going to start instituting the Nintendo Wii and Wii Fit to promote health and physical activity.

For those of you who have not had the opportunity to try the Wii Fit, you can read our Wii Fit review along with a follow-up article on the reality of the Wii Fit, once we all made it past the initial hype.

The idea of having the Wii Fit at home in your living room to encourage kids to get off the couch and be more active and engaged is great. On the other hand, using this system at school can actually inhibit the amount of exercise students would otherwise normally get due to the physical activity associated with the Wii Fit being somewhat limited. Students don’t need the Wii to learn how to do a push-up or sit-up the good old-fashioned way; kids running and jumping and interacting together and not with a machine is best. (more…)

Posted on April 4, 2026 by Amy

Apple’s iPad bodyCal2 Provides a BMR and BMI Calculator

bodyCal2 1.0 is a new application that is being released for the Apple iPad, which for any of you that jumped on board to pre-order should have any day now. bodyCal2 is a fitness calculator and health tracker for the iPad that allows you to calculate your body mass index (BMI) and basal metabolic rate (BMR) while tracking changes to these over time. Both BMI and BMR are important as they help provide a base for where your health currently stands.

What are BMI and BMR?

1) BMI is a common measurement that helps provide an analysis of your health. Depending on where you fall within the BMI range for your size/height you may experience an increased risk of developing certain conditions or diseases. For example, diabetes, cancer and heart disease can have increased chances if your body mass index is too high. (more…)

Posted on April 2, 2026 by Amy