MARCH 2026

THEME:  Nourish & Flourish

Feature Story — Healing With Elimination Diets and Anti-Inflammatory Foods

Positioning food as a foundational tool for preventing and managing chronic inflammation, digestive disorders, and metabolic imbalance. Drawing from historical healing traditions, modern nutrition science, and functional medicine practice, the article explains how anti-inflammatory food protocols and elimination diets can help identify sensitivities, calm immune overactivation, and restore gut health. Expert perspectives highlight when elimination diets are most effective, how reintroduction supports long-term balance, and why practitioner guidance is essential for avoiding unnecessary restriction while fostering a healthy, flexible relationship with food.

Conscious Eating — Fiber’s Fun Side: Delicious Ways to Boost Daily Intake

Practical and enjoyable ways to increase daily fiber intake through whole, plant-forward foods. It explains the roles of soluble and insoluble fiber in digestive, cardiovascular and metabolic health, while dispelling the myth that fiber-rich eating is bland or difficult. Drawing on insights from registered dietitians, the piece offers everyday strategies, meal ideas and preparation tips that make fiber approachable, flavorful and sustainable for long-term wellness. 

Fit Body — Stress-Free Fitness: The Role of the Nervous System in Exercise Recovery

How chronic stress affects exercise recovery by keeping the nervous system in a prolonged state of activation. It explains how overtraining during stressful periods can disrupt hormonal balance, slow fat metabolism, increase inflammation, and impair muscle repair. Drawing on insights from fitness and wellness experts, the piece highlights the importance of balancing high-intensity workouts with restorative movement, nervous system regulation, adequate sleep, and supportive nutrition to improve recovery, resilience, and long-term fitness outcomes.

Green Living — Sustainable Pantry Solutions: Maximize Space, Minimize Waste

Creating a sustainable, well-organized pantry can reduce food waste, support healthier eating habits, and lower environmental impact. It offers practical strategies for improving visibility, storage, and workflow using reusable containers, thoughtful layout, and simple inventory habits. Drawing on insights from home organization professionals, the piece connects everyday kitchen systems to reduced decision fatigue, mindful consumption, and a more sustainable household routine.

Healthy Kids — The Hydration Habit: Simple Steps for Lifelong Health

Hydration is a foundational and often overlooked pillar of children’s health, affecting cognition, mood, energy, and physical resilience. It explains how children’s unique physiology makes them more vulnerable to dehydration and outlines the subtle signs that are frequently missed by parents and caregivers. Drawing on pediatric nutrition research and expert guidance, the piece offers practical, age-appropriate strategies to build lifelong hydration habits, from daily routines and modeling behavior to hydrating foods and thoughtful support for active kids.

Healing Ways — Using Functional Lab Testing to Personalize Nutrition (working title)

Functional lab testing can help personalize nutrition and guide more effective dietary and lifestyle interventions when symptoms persist despite healthy eating or elimination diets. It explains why conventional lab ranges may miss underlying imbalances and outlines common functional tests used to assess gut health, food sensitivities, nutrient absorption, and hormone metabolism. Drawing on integrative and functional medicine perspectives, the piece emphasizes using testing strategically, in context, and with practitioner guidance to avoid unnecessary expense, misinterpretation, or over-supplementation.

Inspiration — Gardening Our Dreams

This reflective piece uses the rhythms of gardening and seasonal change as a metaphor for personal growth, creativity, and trusting one’s inner vision. It encourages readers to embrace uncertainty, honor intuition, and take small, meaningful steps toward aspirations without needing a complete roadmap. 

Natural Pet — Understanding Pet Reactions to Food: How To Ease Their Discomfort

Differences between food allergies and food sensitivities in pets, outlining how each condition affects the immune and digestive systems. It explores common symptoms such as itching, ear infections, gastrointestinal upset, and changes in coat quality, and explains why accurate differentiation is essential for effective treatment. Drawing on veterinary research and integrative care perspectives, the piece highlights elimination diets as the gold standard for identifying triggers and emphasizes addressing underlying systemic imbalances to support long-term healing rather than relying on symptom suppression alone.

Wise Words — Microbiome Insights From The Gut Biome Lab: A Conversation With Ravinder Nagpal

Interview explores how the gut microbiome influences digestion, metabolism, immune function, and long-term cognitive health. Ravinder Nagpal, MSc, Ph.D., explains why there is no single definition of a “healthy” microbiome and emphasizes the role of diverse, plant-forward diets, fiber intake, and lifestyle habits in maintaining balance. He also discusses emerging research linking gut health to cognitive decline, including Alzheimer’s disease, and outlines how diet and lifestyle interventions may help support microbiome homeostasis and brain health over time.

Eco Tip — Homemade Natural Cleaners That Work

Simple, effective recipes for making non-toxic household cleaners using common, affordable ingredients. It highlights how switching to homemade solutions can reduce exposure to harsh chemicals, cut plastic waste, and save money while still delivering strong cleaning results. Practical formulas are included for all-purpose spray, glass cleaner, bathroom paste, mold and mildew treatment, grout cleaner, oven and stovetop cleaner, stainless steel polish, wood furniture polish, and carpet spot cleaner.