Have you ever blinked and missed a few weeks of your digital life? Somewhere between January and now, well, I fell off the blog train. Did I hit my head on the way down and find nirvana, lined, inexplicably, with chocolate and cough syrup? No, but I did get to spend some time with a… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Ever since my early bowl-cut days, my skin would flare at the oddest triggers. Chocolate, tomato juice, oranges, hot showers, they all left me scratching if I had too much of a good thing – a real downer when everyone else gets chocolate bunnies come Easter and you get those weird white ones. Now it… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Dry gusts of forced air, wool sweaters and adverse reactions to mayoral politics aren’t the only thing driving up winter itching. New research published in the journal Pediatrics has tied a chemical used in baby wipes to some cases of acute contact dermatitis in kids, but the problem runs a lot deeper than headlines let… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

I’m a huge fan of Slow Death by Rubber Duck, the bestselling book by Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie, so when Rick called me up and asked me if he could interview me for his next tome on toxins, I was pretty pumped. We met in a sunny east end Toronto park and chatted about… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Ever wonder what all those seals on health store shampoos and lotions really mean? In honour of national organic week, I offer up a guide to five organic bodycare seals. And news flash, some changes have just hit the USDA organic seal. This one’s long considered tops for bodycare since, unlike other seals, it’s only… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

In honour of the end of summer (did I just say that?), I’m reviewing the vessels that carry the very key to life on earth. Yep, I’m talking water canisters. Ever since purportedly leach-free polycarbonate plastics found in old Nalgene bottles were caught seeping estrogen-mimicking BPA, then Sigg finally came clean about the BPA in… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

I don’t have to hang around the cast of True Blood to be told I’ve got really tasty blood. Mosquitoes, sand fleas, you  name it, they devour me. I’ve tried a lot of natural bug repellents over the years and was looking forward to sharing some of my faves with you, but then I’d have… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

As a label hunter, I find toxins in all sorts of weird places (lube, douches, just to name a few), but there’s nothing more outrageous than pollutants in products designed for use by children. Case in point: what the hell are propyl paraben doing in diaper creams like Li’l Goat’s and Aveeno Baby when these… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Clearly I hit a soft spot. Or a stinky spot. Either way, over 100 people responded my latest Facebook poll on which natural deodorants people loved or hated. Julia summed it up nicely: “I’ve tried a few and hated them all.” That seemed to be a popular consensus. Trust me, I’ve tried probably 35+ brands… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Testing a bar of soap is one thing. Rub, rinse, you’re done. Testing sunscreen, on the other hand, is a much more weirdly communal affair. I usually accost friends and family of all skin tones and hairiness levels to rub various thick white creams into a good dozen quadrants on their bodies. But for the… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

I’ve got to confess, I love shower gel. I’ve always found bar soaps really, really drying, no matter how moisturizing the promise. But I’ve been trying to wean myself off gels because of the unnecessary plastic bottles they come in and the much longer list of ingredients generally required to make it. Back in the… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

After a lunch time talk I gave at Edmonton’s city hall last month, one woman approached me and asked me if I could spend more time talking about the difference between green/eco-friendly and natural. The terms, she said, were too often used interchangeably, and she’s right. We tend to flip back and forth between the… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

  To wipe or not to wipe I know, I know, wipes are seriously convenient when you’re on the go, but you probably know it’s definitely more sustainable to go the reusable cloth/wipe/rag route. You wipe junkies will have my head if I tell you to axe them from your life permanently, but can we… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Wondering about cell phone safety and whether it’s worth looking for a phone lower in radiation? The answer is complicated…and may surprise you. Check it out the column in Ecoholic. ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

This one’s for all the baby mama, baby daddy and all the other petroleum jelly users out there. Is it safe? Is it sustainable? What should you replace it with? You’ll find the full scoop in the latest Ecoholic column right here.     ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Can someone tell me, when did mascara companies start promising Betty Boop lashes with every stroke? Makeup ads have always pushed jumbo lashes, true, but sometime over the last few years, we’ve started seeing eyelashes on steroids. Like if your lashes don’t look as though they were sliced off the back of a glossy mink… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Ever feel like you’ve got a lot to get off your chest? I did this week so I wrote about hormone disrupting chemicals, not once, but twice (three times if you count this blog). First, in my column covering a conference on hormone disruptors, talking about what the feds are or aren’t doing to protect… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Ecoholic TV: Dry Skin SOS from Adria Vasil on Vimeo. Ecoholic TV is back! Yep, we’re here with more Ecoholic Health Corner and this time I run to my old friend and naturopath Alexandra (aka Alex) Triendl for some extra help tackling winter’s dry skin curse. Got eczema? Psoriasis? Or just plain dry skin? Tune… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

The latest Ecoholic column question came from a handful of readers wondering about what anti-aging products I recommend.  The truth is there’s a lot of BS in this field so you should take the claims on mainstream AND natural lotions and potions with not a grain but a handful of salt. (And no, I don’t… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

If you’ve got 20/20 vision, move along. This blog post ain’t for you. But if you’d be squinting at the screen right now if it weren’t for the skills of your local optician, then welcome! This week’s column question in NOW came from a reader named Steph who wanted some direction on low impact eye… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

If you’ve been anywhere near a mall or retail store of any kind lately, you know the holiday gift buying season is upon us and quickly escalating in frenzy-factor. My family isn’t big into holiday gift swapping (you should have seen the eye-rolling I got from my siblings when I suggested we at least make each… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸