Karen Asp is the contributing health editor for TheBeet.com. A vegan for over 10 years (and vegetarian for almost 20) whose vegan journey began after making a pact with a cow while hiking in Austria, she’s an award-winning journalist and author (Anti-Aging Hacks is her latest book) who specializes in fitness, health, nutrition, travel and animals. Karen writes the monthly pet feature for Better Homes & Gardens and is a contributing writer for VegNews and regular contributor to numerous other leading publications, including Martha Stewart Living, Eating Well, Forks Over Knives, Clean Eating, Real Simple, Sentient Media, Oxygen, USA Today’s magazines, Midwest Living, O, Reader’s Digest and Woman’s Day. A frequent podcast and web show guest who loves educating people about healthy living and veganism, she’s also a fitness trainer who’s certified in plant-based nutrition, athlete with Nordic walking world records, PETA vegan mentor and soon, a Vegan Lifestyle Coach & Educator. Visit her at karenasp.com or on Twitter and Instagram at @karenaspwriter.
Karen Asp
Your Ultimate Guide to Vegan Alcohol: How to Find Vegan Beer, Wine & Spirits
If you've decided to eat vegan and avoid animal products, you may be surprised to learn that not all alcohol – including beer, wine, and spirits – is vegan. The main ingredients may be hops, barley, malt, yeast (for beer) or potatoes, sugar or grain (for alcohol), or grapes and yeast (for wine), but that doesn’t mean animal products aren't used in the processing, filtering and "fining" o
Are Plant-Based Diets Healthy? A Scientific Guide to Eating Vegan
Plant-based diets are on the rise, as new studies emerge every week about the health benefits of following a vegan or vegetarian diet. Whether you want to try a plant-based diet for sustainability, ethical treatment of animals or the sake of lowering your risk of disease, the science supports the fact that staying away from meat and dairy is one of the best things you can do for your health.
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Are Eggs as Healthy As You Think? Here’s What the Experts Say
Americans love their eggs. The average individual eats an estimated 279 eggs a year, according to The Washington Post, but are eggs healthy? Eggs are high in protein, choline, zinc, but also high in cholesterol.
There are conflicting studies on eggs, so you may be wondering, are eggs good for you? Scientific ev
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Your Guide to Vitamin B12: Do You Need to Take It On a Plant-Based Diet?
Vegan diets often get criticized for being short in certain nutrients, like protein and iron, but both are easily attained through eating protein-rich foods like tofu, lentils, and all kinds of beans. The next on the list that gets singled out is vitamin B12...
Here’s What Happens to Your Body When Switching to a Plant-Based Diet
Whenever you adopt a new healthy habit, you want immediate results. The trouble is, change generally happens slowly – with one exception: When you switch to a plant-based diet for optimal health and wellbeing, your body starts seeing results almost instantly. Every time you eat ...
Should You Eat Breakfast If You’re Trying to Lose Weight? Experts Weigh in
When it comes to losing weight, you’ve got numerous strategies that you know work, including: Eating more plant-based foods. Exercising more. Getting more sleep. and cutting out junk food, simple carbs, and alcohol. Once you've checked those boxes a looming question remains: What about breakfast? Should we eat early...
Why You Should Be Eating More Quinoa For Healthy Weight Loss
The more you learn about quinoa, the more you realize there's every good reason to add this whole grain to your diet. Not only is it a complete source of plant-based protein, but it can also help stabilize blood sugar, a key benefit when the goal is weight loss or maintaining a healthy weight.
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7 Plant-Based Foods That Crush Salt or Sweet Cravings, According to Experts
It doesn’t matter how much of a health nut you are, everybody gets food cravings. While they can be detrimental to a healthy diet if they overtake you to the point of overeating, you shouldn’t fear them. “Cravings aren’t bad,” says Dawn Jackson Blatner, R.D.N., Chicago-based dietitian
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Could Too Much Coffee Lead to Alzheimer’s? New Study Finds Link
It's no secret that Americans have a love affair with coffee. Almost six in 10 of us drink coffee every day and choose it over any other beverage. We now sip two cups per day, on average, according to the National Coffee Drinking Trends report. Up ...
Can Eating Plant-Based Help Ease Period Cramps? An Expert’s Take
Menstrual cramps aren’t only annoying–for many people, they can be debilitating. While you might have reached for an over-the-counter medication in the past to quell the pain, you may want to try a more effective and natural solution: Eating a diet of plant-based foods.
There is research that
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