Delicious and Simple-to-Make Plant-Based Yogurt. Photo copyright Michelle Schoffro Cook.

One day while I was busy straining whey from a batch of homemade dairy-free yogurt, and waiting for what seemed like way too much time, I said to myself “there must be a better way.” I knew that yogurt had been made this way for hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of years, but that was when yogurt was made from cow’s, goat’s, or camel’s milk.

With the substitution of cashews in place of milk, I set to work to find a better, no muss and no-fuss method for making dairy-free yogurt. Realizing that the culturing time can only be sped up so much (after all, the little beneficial bacteria need tim…

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Most people are concerned about the health of their brain these days. And, for good reason: brain diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease are rapidly rising. According to some estimates, 35.8% of people 85 or older have some form of moderate to severe memory impairment. Fortunately, there are many things you can do to protect your brain and memory, from exercising and mental exercises, to healthy diet rich in brain foods like blueberries, walnuts, pomegranates, and more.

But, there is another way to boost your brain health—by increasing your brain's stem cells--those cells that can create more stem cells or become many other types of cells in the body. Research shows that a co…

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“I’m sorry. There is no hope,” the doctor ended his words with an emphatic sigh. I was only nineteen when I heard the four words that, looking back, have shaped my entire life afterward. The words reverberated in what felt like my hollow being. In that moment, my life force deserted my body. Shocked at first, then sunken into a depressive abyss, and then finally motivated by a profound desire to disprove him, I began my quest to restore my faltering health and overcome medical injury.

I had spent the previous year alternating between classes at Carleton University’s Journalism School and asleep, barely able to move from my bed. The conflict between the two had been increasingly …

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‘Tis the season to be jolly, and to enjoy holiday parties, give gifts, and share celebratory meals with loved ones. The flip side is that it is also a time of seemingly endless rich foods and overeating. From egg nog to turkey dinners, holiday cookies and pastries, let’s face it: most of us eat too much and load up on the calories this time of year.

Fortunately, one of the season’s cookie ingredients offers some protection against the bad eating habits of the holidays: ginger.

New research published in the medical journal Nutrition Research and Practice found that  ginger's naturally-occurring polyphenols and antioxidant compounds protect the body against some of the damaging eff…

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