Latest Articles:

It’s true, we’ve been talking a lot about skin lately. That’s because skin is so vitally important and tragically ignored! As the largest organ in our body, it serves as a first line barrier to prevent infection, protects from injury, regulates our body temperature, and is a phenomenal mirror reflecting the state of internal health. Furthermore, research has shown that you effectively absorb more than 60% of what is put on your skin on average. That’s a scary fact when you look at all of the chemicals that can be found in the skin care products on the market today. Ever since the blog post on Saving Your Skin: The Benefits of Coconut Oil, we’ve gotten a lot of questions about just how to use coconut oil on the skin, especially without lugging around a cumbersome jar of it everywhere you go. Try out this easy DIY project for Whipped Extra Virgin Coconut Oil Lotion with Vitamin E.

With cookout season in full swing, we are reminded of many old-time favorite traditions that summer brings. Fireworks over water at dusk, colorful parades marching down hometown streets, large slices of juicy pink watermelon and a spread of barbecued goodies on a checkered tablecloth. This season, revel in the dynamic tastes of your favorite traditional foods with a fresh flair by decorating them in delicious and wholesome homemade condiments.

Have you ever wondered about the differences in the nuances of butter, ghee and butter oil? It is an easily misunderstood concept, since few of us actually have the time to produce these treasured foods in our busy lives. While we tend to rely on experts to make these vital nutritive substances, it is important to be well-versed in their preparation to gain a full understanding of their importance in your daily life. After all, that neatly wrapped up, rectangular stick of butter in your refrigerator didn’t just appear there naturally.

Every wonder what happened to breakfast? The story is suprisingly simple. In 1987, the American medical elite declared a "War on Cholesterol." Simultaneously sugary cereals and breakfast bars were encouraged to pay a fee for a "low fat seal of approval" and record profits began to flow into the refined grains industry. Today, with rates of heart disease, obesity and diabetes still sharply on the rise, organizations are still raising millions of dollars annually for dietary advice, as healthcare expenses grow into the trillions. One thing is for sure: it's time to get back to the traditional foods that breakfast used to be. As a follow up for Recipe Tuesday, we bring you 5 Ways Back to a Balanced Breakfast.

Many people have heard that they are supposed to have a a “hearty breakfast”- after all, it’s a message that has been reinforced by friendly cartoon tigers and jolly leprechauns in attempts to promote colorful refined cereals to the masses. On a rushed morning, (which for a lot of us, are most mornings) we grab a handful of whatever is lying around on the counter or skip breakfast completely. The truth is, in a calorie-cutting obsessed, sugar-centric world, we simply have breakfast all wrong. Even the most dedicated breakfast gobblers are crunching away on starchy, sugary granolas and whole-wheat toasts that leave them dipped into hypoglycemic stupors by 10 a.m. Whether your current choices at breakfast are big or small, organic or not, it is so important to take the time to incorporate real foods and proteins to set the tone of your day.

As the weather gets more pleasant in anticipation of warm summer months, it's hard to ignore the honeybees out in a buzzing orchestra as they move blissfully from one brightly colored, fragrant flower to the next. We are taught at a very young age to recognize these special buzzing insects and many are familiar with the words "nectar" and “pollen,” but how many times do we walk past this vital interaction without giving it a second thought? Don’t leave it up to the bees! Discover the incredible energy-boosting, wellness benefits of flower pollen extracts.

Fitness. If you dare to mention the word in public, the reactions to it are always dramatic and distinct. You will encounter the exercise nose turners, the arm-flexing intimidators, the run around the room enthusiasts, the burrow in the seat of the couch avoiders, the wide-eyed wonderers, and the shoulder-shrugging, fatigued professionals who are just too tired to care. It’s true, exercise today is overwhelming. There are so many different theories out there, and all of them seem to have a library of skewed statistics to back them up. However, in a world of all-or-nothing mentality, new studies are showing that working out longer and more often is actually causing people more harm than good. Once again “conventional wisdom” seems to have led us astray! But because at Radiant Life we believe that exercise works synergistically with nutrition as a key pillar of wellness, we have decided to kick off a Radiant Life Forum on Fitness Blog Series. There is a lot to say, so this week we have tried to squeeze in some of our revitalized fitness messages into 5 comprehensive tips.

Hummus has long had its name as a delicious “health food” snack. With its fresh flavor, protein content, and versatility it is an impressive and popular dip now easily found in conventional grocery stores. But contrary to its great reputation, wholesome appearing labels, and tantalizing “gluten-free” claims, many of the hummus products on the market are owned by large industries, mass-processed without care at destructively high temperatures, and laced with an impressive list of not-so-friendly ingredients. This week learn how to properly prepare chickpeas to make a delicious homemade hummus using flax oil, nutritional yeast, and fresh herbs.

In this week's Recipe Tuesday, we explored the idea of going sugar-free. I get it, this seems like a daunting task– so outrageous in fact it is far easier to gawk at and forget about. It's true, taking out sugar in this society can be tough, not to mention it is a highly addictive substance that we've naively built up a tolerance to. So in an empowered community spirit of "if we can do it, you definitely can too" some members of Radiant Life have collected our five favorite tips to help quell sugar cravings and make sugar-free the way-to-be! As always, we love to hear about your experiences. Be sure to share at the end.

Sugar may be one of the most difficult things to eliminate from your diet. The thought of leaving glossy breakfast pastries on the other side of the bakery window, or not licking melting ice cream streaks and stray rainbow sprinkles from between your fingers can seem downright dull and cruel. But while you may laugh at the idea of a villainous cupcake, the fact of the matter is new research has shown that sugar is both addictive and dangerous, and American consumption is on the rise. It’s true– diets are an extremely personal and sensitive subject, but perhaps it's time to consider that giving up sugar may not be as terrible as we all once thought and could even lead to a liberated wellness that we didn’t think was possible. This week’s Recipe Tuesday explores the bitter truth about sugar and shares one of our favorite natural desserts: Fruit and Sprouted Nuts Crumble.

The article published in last Wednesday's newsletter left many of you looking for more information on probiotics. We received lots of positive feedback and questions and felt it would be helpful to provide a more in-depth look at probiotics. “Probiotic” has become a common word in any American “health enthusiast’s” lingo, especially when talking about digestive health. If you walk into any pharmacy or health food store these days, you will likely see a rainbow array of vibrant, diversely-sized boxes and bottles of probiotic supplements lining tightly stocked shelves. Mass-produced, sugar-full yogurt containers are even boasting about their probiotic-containing qualities with bright splashes of text on the labels. Primary care physicians are also regularly prescribing these supplements as an adjunct to medication to heal an array of digestive symptoms. Yet, in the midst of all this spectacular “newfangled” hype, the truth is that many probiotic supplements on the market today are completely ineffective in restoring any sort of digestive equilibrium, and may even be doing more harm than good.