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
Is Milk Bad For You? 8 Reasons Why You’ll Want to Stay Away From Dairy
If you’re like most Americans, you’ve grown up thinking you need to consume dairy to stay healthy. You subscribe to the idea that milk does a body good because that’s what dietary guidelines tell you. Plus, you need milk and other dairy products to bui…
Xanthan and Guar Gum Are in Everything: Are They Bad for You?
Food gums are in everything you add to your supermarket cart, but when you see them on the label, it might make you think, What the yuck? These additives are hard to avoid, even if you’re eating a plant-based diet and avoiding preservatives...
What Is MCT Oil and Is It Good for You? Here Are the Benefits and Potential Risks
Keto diet fans swear by MCT oil so much that they even drop it into their coffee. Now MCT oil has gone mainstream, and you don’t have to be keto to find it in all kinds of foods, since it has been showing up in everything from vegan powders to shakes to cookie bites...
The Best Way to Feel Up After a Workout Is Plant Based Food & Drink, Experts Say
What should you eat to refuel after a tough workout? And do you actually need to eat after a sweat session? (That depends on whether your primary goal is to build lean muscle or incinerate calories and lose body fat.) Trainers like to push protein shakes and bars, but do you really ne…
Want to Lose Weight? Study Finds a Plant-Based Diet Beats Mediterranean
No doubt you’ve heard the accolades for the Mediterranean diet. This plant-rich diet, which allows some animal products (such as low-fat cheese, fish, and lean protein), has been lauded as the best diet for long-term health. Yet here’s the million-dollar question: How does the Mediterranean diet sta…
The 7 Best Vegan CBD Gummies to Calm Down, Relieve Pain, and Get Better Sleep
Wellness practices have always included tried-and-true staples like yoga, meditation, aerobic exercise, even plant-only eating. Now add CBD, the ultimate plant-based medicinal, to the list.
Suffice to say that the CBD market is on a high, thanks in large part to the pandemic...
Suffice to say that the CBD market is on a high, thanks in large part to the pandemic...
Try One of These Simple Tips to Eat Healthier Today, From Nutritionists
Have you already broken your New Year’s resolutions? Don't feel bad, since most people have given up on resolutions even before February started, which is why they’re not worth setting. What is worth striving for? Nutrition related-goals that are attainable, and will lead you to eat healthier every …
Study Shows the More Coffee You Drink the Lower Your Prostate Cancer Risk
Even if only for the smell, there are so many reasons to love coffee. The latest? It appears to lower your risk of prostate cancer. A new study suggests that sipping coffee–and the more, the better–could kick your risk of ever getting prostate cancer to the curb, but the cancer-fighting …
If You’re Eating Plant-Based for Brain Health, Skip the Processed Foods
You already know that eating plants can yield optimal health, better mental and brain health included. Even if you don’t go fully vegan or plant-based, eating a Mediterranean diet (which allows a small amount of fish or other lean animal protein) has been linked with slower rate…
New Study Shows Hidden Benefit of Tea: It Helps Burn Fat, Improves Gut Health
Ask anybody who’s tried to lose weight what’s in their toolbox of tricks, and no doubt they’ll cite intermittent fasting, high-intensity interval (HIIT) workouts, maybe even a plant-based diet. The one thing that is probably not at the top of their lis…
If You’re Worried About Your Health, This Test Is the Most Important One to Get
You might think that plaque is something you only have to worry about on your teeth. But plaque, the type that builds up in your arteries and heart, can be a major health threat, even a killer. The good news? Eating more plant-based foods and giving up meat and dairy (along with junk food like chips…
The Health Benefits of Adding Nutritional Yeast to Your Diet
Love Parmesan, but are trying to ditch dairy? Listen up: You’ll probably also dig nutritional yeast, or nooch, as some fans like to call it. While there’s nothing cheesy in it, nutritional yeast is often described as having a rich cheese-like flavor, on…