Who can forget their first experience watching ‘American Pie’ back in 1999? Yes, 1999. That’s how long this popular, sometimes scandalous movie series has followed the misadventures and awkward sexual encounters of its lovable cast. 

And since it’s been nearly nine years since the third installment – ‘American Wedding’ – Pie fans have new reason to celebrate as the fourth movie – ‘American Reunion’ – comes to theaters tomorrow.

So in honor of this all-American movie, we’re bringing you the “Five Things We Can Learn from the American Pie Movies” on this eve of the film’s release.

Laughter is good for the soul. The mood of the ‘American Pie’ films isn’t a somber one, and we think that’s a good thing. According to researchers at the European Society of Cardiology, laughter has a positive effect on our vascular function and blood flow, and can even play an important role in preventing cardiovascular disease. And other research has shown Laughter Yoga to provide such benefits as lowered stress hormones, improved self esteem and relief from insomnia. So don’t take yourself too seriously, because it may just improve your health.
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By Karen Sherwood for NutritiousAmerica.com

Last week nearly half a million people tuned in to see the free online premiere of a new documentary, Hungry For Change. Happily, I was one of them.

Hungry For Change challenges your perception of food, diet, wellness, sickness and happiness. This film is a must see for every person old enough to eat and conscious enough to care.

It is narrated by a team of wellness warriors, namely Kris Carr, Christiane Northrup, David Wolfe, Jason Vale, and others who gently push the film along by highlighting the urgency to change what you eat and how you live. They call for a new hunger, one for real food and self love.

The film follows the daily routine of a struggling thirty-something career woman whose lackluster routine and poor food choices fail to support her. Her routine is all too familiar as she throws away the remnants of last night’s dinner; pizza box, tub of ice cream, and liter of diet soda, only to find herself filled with self loathing, and body rejection as the new day begins. We connect with our heroine’s food regret, and self consciousness. As the film progresses we become emotionally invested in her struggle and desire for change.

The message of the film is quite clear; there is no diet, pill, surgery, or quick fix that will bring you true everlasting health. Health is so much more than fitting into your skinny jeans, it is in fact, a new lease on life.
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For those swept up in the romance and thrilling plot of ‘The Hunger Games,’ it’s a well known fact that leading lady Katniss Everdeen and her fellow citizens were living a life far from luxury in District 12.

Starvation was a daily reality for most everyone confined within the city walls, but Katniss’s time spent in the Capitol training for the Hunger Games pitched a different tone – and menu. Delicacies like lamb stew, foie gras, and chicken in rich, creamy sauces were in well supply, tempting her taste buds and nourishing her body through the rigorous training she endured for her battles in the arena.

To give you a taste of the two vastly different words Katniss experienced – both of living in plenty at the Capitol, and living in want in District 12 – here is a list of 5 healthy recipes to help set the tone and table for all of your Hunger Games festivities.
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Taylor Kitsch appears shirtless in most of the upcoming John Carter movie, but he isn’t just a celeb with an expensive trainer on a strict diet. The Canadian actor is actually a personal trainer and nutritionist himself, and takes his work very seriously.

Kitsch revealed in a recent Men’s Health interview that that he lost 35 pounds in just two months to play photographer Kevin Carter in 2010′s The Bang-Bang-Club, and it wasn’t easy.

“It’s just way too extreme, and being a nutritionist I found it hard. Everything I knew just went out the window,” he said, admitting that the weight loss had affected him in many ways. “I was very bipolar. My mood swings were f**king insane. I was very emotional, I had night terrors, I couldn’t sleep. It was a zoo.”

All the effort was worth it to him though, and that’s how Kitsch describes his work ethic, in and out of the gym. You have to put forth the energy in order to reap the rewards.

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If you’re curious about a vegan diet, but don’t know where to start, Vegucated is a good place to start. Directed by vegan educator and filmmaker Marisa Miller Wolfson, the documentary follows three individuals as the go from serious meat-eaters to complete vegans. The movie is funny at some moments, while eye-opening and dark at other moments.

The film explores not only these individual’s social and emotional journeys as they try out a vegan diet by cutting animal products out of their lives, but also educates the viewers about the realities of the industrial meat industry and shows viewers some of the first steps to becoming vegans themselves. “My hope is that people will watch this and say, veganism is not only not crazy, but it’s also a common sense solution to some of the world’s most serious environmental problems,” Wolfson told DietsInReview at a NYC screening in October. Watch our full interview below.

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