by Kristina Chew
Cross-posted from www.Care2.com

The science of how we taste is a big business to food companies trying to create the perfect snack to allure your taste buds and, accordingly, get you to buy just one more bag of salty, sugary and high-fructose corn syrup-laced snacks...

Editor´s Note from Cheryl Murphy: Kristina Chew nailed it when she stated, 'not everyone's taste buds are the same,' but even our own taste buds change over time. Kristina tells all on taste buds-what they do, how they work, how many we have and how being a super taster is not what it's cracked up to be.

Holistic Nutrition

by Kristin S. Padilla, RN, BSN, RNC

As a first time mother of an eight-and-a-half month old, I'd like to begin with a personal anecdote of how music has already had an influence on my child's life.

Since the day that we brought my son, Luke, home from the hospital, I have been playing music or singing to him (albeit, not well but he seems to like it!). I didn't think much about music having the ability to calm him down until one day I was driving down the freeway and he started to become very fussy and cry...

Music Therapy & Sound Healing

by Kristin Neff, PhD

It has become a truism in our culture that we need to have high self-esteem in order to be happy and healthy. Psychologists have conducted thousands of studies touting the benefits of self-esteem. Teachers are encouraged to give all their students gold stars so that each one can feel proud and special...

Editor's Note from Diane Renz: We, as a culture, and as individuals, are learning how to return to a healthier relational quality within and between ourselves and each other. Compassion is natural to us but often covered by our fear. It is warm-hearted re-membering of our connection to each other, our natural humanity in all its beauty and pain.

PsychoSpiritual

"What makes you think you have the right to know?" asks Danny DeVito in a witty, ironic public service announcement by the political action committee sponsored by consumer advocacy group Food & Water Watch in support of Proposition 37. California's ballot initiative to label genetically engineered foods. A diverse, all-star cast joins DeVito in the "Right to Know" PSA, including Bill Maher, Dave Matthews, Jillian Michaels, Emily Deschanel, John Cho, Glenn Howerton, Kaitlin Olson, KaDee Strickland and Kristin Bauer van Straten. Learn more by going to www.foodandwaterwatch.org.

Conscious Consumerism

Editor´s Note from Michael Williams: Another wonderful TED Talk video featuring storyteller Kristin Pedemonti. Kristin tells the story of her encounter on a New York subway and her Free Hugs campaign.

Therapeutic Storytelling

by Kristin Wartman

"All natural." "Farm-fresh." "Cage-free." Thanks to phrases such as these, consumer confusion is common when it comes to understanding and buying food. The battle raging in California over the labeling of genetically modified foods illustrates just how much labels do indeed matter -- to consumers as well as to corporations...

Editor´s Note from Cheryl Murphy: Is organic food truly better for us? With current new studies revealing it doesn't matter to some, Kristin Wartman spells out why the term "organic" is becoming grayer by the day. Labeling food is a big deal these days. Large companies have spent over 25 million battling Prop. 37 in California to prevent labeling genetically modified foods. Is it time to bring a few more categories into our food supply?

Holistic Nutrition

by Kristin Fraser

So perhaps it’s time for a new era of indulgences. A time where “you can have your cake and eat it too” - so to speak. It’s about learning to love the foods that love you back...

Editor’s Note: Holistic Nutritionist, Kristin Fraser gives us some tips towards a holistic nutrition diet.

 Holistic Nutrition

Editor´s Note from Karen Stabley: For the past two years, photographer Lisa Kristine has traveled the world, documenting the unbearably harsh realities of modern-day slavery. She shares hauntingly beautiful images -- miners in the Congo, brick layers in Nepal -- illuminating the plight of the 27 million souls enslaved worldwide.

Arts & Art Therapy