More good reading

• Natural Health, Natural Medicine, Andrew Weil, MD
• Power Aging, Gary Null, PhD
• The China Study, T. Colin Campbell, PhD and Thomas M. Campbell
• Herbs for Health and Healing, Kathi Keville
• Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine, Andrew Chevallier
• The Story of Tea, Mary Lou Heiss and Robert J. Heiss
• Anticancer, A New Way of Life, David Servan-Schreiber, MD, PhD
• Foods to Fight Cancer, Richard Beliveau, PhD and Denis Gingras, PhD
• Younger (Thinner) You Diet, Eric R. Baverman, MD

Helpful, healthful websites

• Society for Food Science and Technology
• Dr. Andrew Weil
• Gary Null
• Anticancer
• Epicurious
• New York Times - Mark Bittman

Small steps to healthy life

Age isn't what it used to be. 50 is the new 30. Living past age 80 is getting more and more common, and almost a quater of us make it to 90 these days. You're probably going to be around a while, so why not be healthy as long as you live?

Start by making a few deliberate choices; you might be surprised at how good they make you feel. Be good to yourself, and be patient. Health doesn't happen overnight; it happens over a lifetime. The path to good health is made up of small steps that you can choose to take every day.

• Reconnect

  We're all in this together. Strong connections to family, community, spirituality and nature aren't just nice ideas; they're important to your overall health and resillience.

• Do the little things

  Can you take the stairs today? Eat more vegetables? Find a healthy outlet for your stress? A healthy lifestyle starts small, and one simple step builds upon the next. Smile more. Don't try to do it all at once, just keep doing it every day.

• Be active every day

  Our sedentary lifestyle can be a fast track to all kinds of modern epidemics - heart disease, diabetes , osteoporosis. Ward them off by making sensible, moderate exercise a habit. We're not talking about running marathons, here (unless you're into that.) Just find something you like to do, and do it.

• Embrace variety

  It's the spice of life, after all. Eating a wide variety of foods improves your chance of getting the vitamins and minerals you need in the more easily digested form that nature intended.

• Eat whole foods

  If you're reading food labels and can't pronounce the ingredients, it's time to put that jar back on the shelf and head for the produce section. Whole foods, those that are unprocessed and unrefined, or processed and refined as little as possible, typically leave out the things you don't need or use them in moderation.

• Take time to cook

  Real cooking takes time, but it's worth it. Just as the brewing process unlocks the natual goodness in our teas, the ingredients and cooking methods you choose can have a big nutritional impact on your meals.