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These toxic chemicals are known endocrine disruptors, which means they can change the way hormones such as estrogen and testosterone work in our body. To a certain extent, our liver and our body has its way of excreting them from our system but constant exposure to these chemicals add up and they remain in our system wreaking havoc.

BPA can affect estrogen concentrations and is associated with a variety of medical disorders including infertility, behavior issues (like ADD, hyperactivity, and aggression), obesity and diabetes, heart disease, and changes in liver function.

Parabens also disrupt hormones in the body and harm fertility and reproductive organs. It can affect birth outcomes and increase the risk of cancer.

Phthalates impair fertility and egg quality in women, and they can also affect male fertility. In pregnancy, phthalate exposure can lead to premature birth, affect the reproductive system of male infants, and alter brain development and behavior in early childhood. It can also damage our lungs, kidneys, and the liver.

Stay tuned as we discuss how to avoid our exposure to these toxic chemicals in the next posts.

New beginnings usher in a motivation to get started on resolutions to get things right. This January 2023, update your new year’s resolutions on health into more actionable and sustainable goals that will truly make a big impact on your life.

Kultivo 🤍 cauliflower. Did you know that not only is cauliflower super versatile (hello cauli rice, cauli pita, cauli pizza crust, etc.), it also contains a lot of nutrients and has a lot of health benefits? This low-calorie and low-carbohydrate vegetable is rich in fiber, folate, vitamin C, K, and potassium. It is also a good source of antioxidants, especially sulforaphane. Cauliflower is also high in choline, an essential nutrient that is not so easy to find in plant foods. There’s so many ways to add cauliflower to your diet but we prefer it eaten whole or blended like in this soup recipe from . It’s a great way to add more vegetables to your daily intake and also a comforting way to whet your appetite for the coming meal. This creamy plant-based cauliflower recipe is light but definitely tasty! Let us know when you’ve tried making it and if you liked it. 😊

If you want to look and feel your best, don’t enforce unattainable and unsustainable restrictions on yourself. Instead, go back to the basics of eating well and consuming whole foods, getting good quality sleep, engaging in regular movement, and allotting time for good rest. Adapting these healthy habits will go a long way for your overall health rather than just looking summer-ready for your next beach trip. 😉

Kultivo 💚 French beans. Would you believe it if we told you that this pretty plant in the photo is actually where French beans come from?! Yes, you can harvest French beans right below the surface of its leaves. French beans from the family of green beans is a great food to add to your diet. It is low in fat and calories and has a high nutrient content. French beans are a good source of iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorous, potassium, vitamins A & K, and folate. With the nutrient content of French beans, it’s not surprising that eating more of it is good for the heart, can be protective against cancer, promotes fertility and pregnancy in women, protects against depression, and is good for bone health.

French beans are so easy to prepare and add to any meal. Just blanch, steam, or sauté it with your favorite herb or aromatics and it adds a fresh and crunchy taste, not to mention a nutrient-packed punch, to your meals. 😊

Today, April Fools' day, we'll share with you the top health marketing scams so that manufacturers and their marketers can not make fools of us anymore! Swipe left and read on to become a more knowledgeable consumer! 🤓😉

How nine servings of vegetables in a day look like.

2 from beets and carrots in the red vegetable juice
2 from French beans at breakfast
3 from the broccoli and string beans at lunch
2 from spinach at dinner

How many servings can you get to in a day? Maybe you can add one or two more servings in your meals, it's not as hard as it seems. 😉☺️



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If we want our children to eat healthy, we have to show them by example. This is a far more effective way as compared to coercion, negotiation, or yes, bribing or offering a reward if they eat their veggies. Make healthier choices more available in your home and make them more accessible for your kids and other family members to eat and enjoy. Remember to create the right environment at the dinner table and to keep things positive. 😊

A healthy breakfast is a great way to start the day. Yet, a lot of people are still challenged with the thought of consuming veggies for breakfast. Here are 5 easy ways to start your day right by getting some veggies in first thing in the morning. 😊Try one or all and cycle them through your days to add more variety to your breakfast fare. 😊☀️

Kultivo 💚 green papaya. Did you know that unripe papaya or green papaya is considered more of a vegetable than a fruit and it has more health benefits? Green papaya has more fiber and is great in naturally cleaning the digestive system. It also helps to move waste more efficiently preventing constipation. Green papaya also contains more active enzymes like papain and chymopapain. These are two very potent enzymes which help in the breakdown of fat, protein, and carbohydrates, improving digestion, helping our gut bacteria, and keeping the stomach toxin-free. Green papaya also soothes inflammation and infection from our body and our skin. Its high protease enzyme content helps keep the skin fresh and healthy. It’s a powerhouse of vitamins and minerals, including phytonutrients like carotenoids. In Filipino cuisine, green papaya is often seen in soup or fermented to make atchara. But it’s also great to eat in salads, just like this Thai Green Papaya salad or Som Tam. Add variety to your food and your meals and try to incorporate new ways of preparing green papaya just like this. 😊

The first part of the year is when we usually try to make changes, especially in our diet and eating habits. To make this one stick, let’s opt for developing a healthy lifestyle instead. Are you trying a no rice diet? Why not make it into something sustainable like switching to whole grain rice like brown, red, or black rice. Or another way is to reduce your intake of sweets and foods with refined sugar. Remember that in order for something to work, it has to be sustainable. Developing a healthy lifestyle is a marathon, not a sprint so it’s ok to start slow as long as you keep going and don’t give up! 😊

Kultivo 💛 golden milk. Our version of this popular Indian drink only has 2 main ingredients – turmeric powder and oat milk. It is great to drink for sore throat and you can also add a little grated ginger to help relieve dry cough or irritation in the throat. Curcumin, the main compound in turmeric, contains antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal properties to help our bodies better fight infections. It also aids in our digestion too! To make this at home, we just put 1 cup of oat milk and ½ teaspoon of turmeric powder in our milk frother, for that extra yummy and luxurious froth. You can also make it in a saucepan on your stovetop. Just boil the milk, turmeric powder, and 1/4 tsp of grated ginger (if you’re adding). Strain and enjoy! 😊

Having fever or increased body temperature is a sign that something out of the ordinary is happening in your body. It could be a sign that there is an infection or toxicity. It is our body’s natural way of fighting illness. However, we also don’t want to let our temperature rise up to very high levels and this is why we usually take fever reducers. But did you know that coriander can help reduce fever too? The antioxidants and antimicrobial compounds in coriander help in lowering inflammation in the body, as well as, fighting certain infections and illnesses. Keep this recipe in your back pocket especially nowadays when it is quite common to have fever.

Stay safe and healthy everyone!

Happy New Year everyone! Unfortunately for majority of the country, the new year isn’t off to a great start due to the surge. One common symptom that is rampant today is sore throat. Here is something that you can try at home with common ingredients that are easy to find – turmeric powder and salt. Turmeric is a powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant agent. It can decrease the inflammation in your throat and also help ease a little of the pain. The combination of turmeric powder and salt helps to wash away the bacteria or other infectious agents that are responsible for the sore throat. For more effective results, try to avoid drinking or eating anything for 30 minutes after gargling. Stay safe and stay healthy everyone!

All set and ready for your holiday menu? Don’t forget your non-starchy veggies. 🤓 This pesto zucchini dish is something that you can easily prepare and is guaranteed to be a hit around the dining table. All you need is a zucchini and some prepared pesto and you can make this dish in 10 minutes tops. It is rich in nutrients, like vitamin A, as well as antioxidants, and really tasty too! Hit us up if you want the recipe. Let us know if you’ve tried making it too. 😊 Happy Holidays! 🎄

'Tis the season for celebrations and hearty eating! Before you completely let go of your healthy eating habits and park them for January, here are some helpful eating tips that you can try to still keep your health goals in mind but without depriving yourself too much. 😊

'Tis the season of giving once again and wouldn't it be so much more meaningful if you can give gifts that will promote health for your loved ones and also for the planet? 😊 So here are some of our ideas on how to do just that and some references to our favorite sellers too. Happy Holidays!

Mindset and attitude also impacts our health and our body's ability to heal. Practicing gratitude even if we have many things to worry about creates positivity all around. What are you grateful for today? 😊

This is probably a controversial statement for some but what it means is if we don't change the way we eat, when it is so obviously needed, we render the medications useless because it will only serve as a short-term stopgap. Continuing like nothing is wrong will just result to higher dosages of the medication, or stronger medication, and even taking more and more medication for life. Whereas if we change our diet and other lifestyle factors too, we have the power and capacity to reverse our diseases, most especially the chronic diseases that are currently plaguing our society like diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease.

Do you agree or disagree? Please share your thoughts below. 🙏

Kultivo 💚 prebiotics. Prebiotics are the fiber-rich foods that the good bacteria aka probiotics in our gut feed on. Consuming prebiotic foods regularly supports good digestive health. They promote the increase of the good bacteria in our gut, improve our immune system, and it also has protective effects on other parts of the body, like our central nervous system and cardiovascular system.

Here are some easy to find and easy to consume prebiotic foods:

✅Apples –The fiber called pectin found in apples has prebiotic benefits.
✅Green or unripe bananas – They are high in resistant starch, which has prebiotic effects.
✅Asparagus – Naturally contains inulin, a soluble fiber that feeds the good bacteria in our gut.
✅Flax seeds – High in fiber and is a prebiotic food.
✅Jicama – High in fiber, including inulin.
✅Leeks – Also high in inulin fiber

So if you want to do one good thing for your health today, add any of these prebiotic foods to your daily food intake 😊

I always recommend buying your nuts raw, then wash it, soak it, and toast or roast it yourselves if you prefer and here are the reasons why.

Making healthier choices might require you to put in a little more effort but let’s just have the mindset of putting in the effort for our health because sure enough it will pay off. 🤓

*MUFAs – Monounsaturated Fatty Acids
PUFAs – Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids

Kultivo ❤ pomegranate. Pomegranate is rich in fiber, folate, vitamin C, K, and potassium. Pomegranate has two extremely potent antioxidants: punicalagins, found in pomegranate juice and peel, and punicic acid, found in pomegranate seed oil. These two powerful antioxidants are responsible for most of pomegranate’s health benefits. Here's a list of some of them:
- It is a powerful anti-inflammatory agent, reducing inflammatory activity in the digestive tract, as well as the inflammatory markers, CRP and interleukin-6, in studies.
- It helps fight breast cancer, colon cancer, as well as, prostate cancer by reducing the inflammatory activity of cancer cells, slowing its reproduction, and in some cases, even inducing apoptisis, or cell death of cancer cells.
- It helps in lowering blood pressure.
- It is beneficial against several forms of arthritis and joint pain by blocking enzymes that are known to damage joints.
-It also helps lower the risk of heart disease by reducing levels of triglycerides and LDL cholesterol, and even protects LDL cholesterol particles from oxidation. It also helps increase blood flow.
- It has anti-bacterial, antifungal, and anti-viral properties which may be useful against infections and inflammation in the mouth, as well as, yeast infections.
- It also helps improve memory and helps fight Alzheimer’s disease.

With the many health benefits that pomegranate can boast of, it's not surprising why pomegranate is said to be one of the healthiest fruits on Earth! Though pomegranate is not endemic here in our country, there are some sources where you can still find them. When you do, try to have them regularly to enjoy these benefits. Never mind if they require a bit of effort to prepare, it's totally worth it. 😉

Looking for a good snack idea? Making your own pesto at home is always a good idea! This pesto only has 3 ingredients - organic basil leaves, garlic, and extra virgin olive oil. Basil contains many vitamins and minerals, as well as antioxidants. That's why it can help in the reduction of oxidative stress and can help regulate blood sugar levels too.

This pesto spread is tasty and nutritious, and it's also versatile! Use this spread on your seed crackers, as a pasta sauce, or on your main dish, like chicken or seafood. It's also a great way to consume more greens in your diet. 😊 💚

What cooking oil do you use at home? Do you know that there's a right type of oil to use depending on how you cook your food? Swipe right to learn the best type of oil to use depending on the cooking method and cooking duration of your food. The trick is to use an oil with a high smoke point for high-temperature cooking and long cooking times while quick cooking times can be done with an oil that doesn't have a high smoke point. It's also important to know how your cooking oil is made and what it is made of. Choose organic as much as possible and choose oils that do not have any additives too!

Deep-fried foods have always been known to be fatty and therefore not a healthful choice. As to how they can be detrimental to our health might not be so clear to a lot of people though. Here, we give you 6 reasons how they can drive inflammation in the body and increase the risk of disease.

So what can we do?
1. Limit or avoid the consumption of deep-fried foods especially the ones from outside.
2. If we want to enjoy these foods occasionally, make them at home.
3. Use better cooking oils with a higher heat point like avocado oil and coconut oil to avoid the degradation of their fatty acids.
4. Stop reusing our cooking oils at home.
5. Make more healthful alternatives using the oven.

Current Kultivo fave: super seed crackers. Rich in healthy fats, protein, and fiber, this makes the perfect tasty and healthy snack! It's made of 4 of the healthiest seeds available - pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, chia seeds, and flax seeds. These 4 super seed ingredients make this cracker a great source of Omega-3, namely ALA or alpha-linolenic acid (the precursor to EPA & DHA), magnesium, manganese, polyphenols like lignans, and phytosterols. It's super easy to make and also keto and paleo approved! Send us a DM if you want the recipe so you can try this at home. 😊

Most of us have probably heard that added sugar and excess sugar is inflammatory but not a lot has been said about the hows and whys. How does sugar drive inflammation and why is it labeled as an inflammatory food? Long post ahead but it is as simplified as I can make it.

🍦Sugar is acidic.
The more sugar we consume, the higher our pH will swing out of healthy balance. An overly acidic body creates stress on vital organs, weakens the immune system, and creates inflammation in the joints and other parts of the body.
🍦Sugar causes blood glucose spikes.
When it does, it activates the sympathetic nervous system. It can also raise blood pressure and heart rate. The pancreas is also signaled to produce insulin to promote the absorption of glucose into the cells. Too much sugar, however, reduces insulin sensitivity over time and will lead to a hyperinsulinemic state (excess levels of insulin in the blood). Insulin is also a proinflammatory hormone that promotes the formation of arachidonic acid, a building block for proinflammatory cytokines.
🍦Sugar increases gut permeability.
This allows bacteria, toxins, and undigested food particles to more easily enter the bloodstream from our gut, potentially leading to inflammation.
🍦Sugar contributes to higher levels of LDL-cholesterol.
Excess LDL-cholesterol has been associated with higher levels of C-reactive protein, a marker for inflammation.
🍦Sugar stimulates the production of free fatty acids in the liver.
When the body digests these free fatty acids, the resulting compounds can trigger inflammatory processes.
🍦Sugar leads to the production of excess AGEs.
When protein or fat combines with sugar in the bloodstream, it produces excess advanced glycation end products or AGEs. These AGEs lead to oxidative stress and inflammation.
🍦Sugar releases proinflammatory cytokines in the body.
As we consume more sugar, it increases visceral adipose tissue (fat that wraps around our abdominal organs), which is metabolically active and produces numerous inflammatory cytokines.

Hope you learned a thing or two and will be more mindful about eating those desserts after every meal. If you have questions, please feel free to send a DM. I would love to explain more.

With the developing news of the virus affecting the younger population, it’s important to know what we can do to keep our children healthy and protected. Just like us, what they eat, the quality of their sleep, movement and exercise, their mood, and their environment affect their bodies’ immune response and capability to heal themselves. Let’s do what we can to protect our precious ones with these simple tips that will go a long way.

This age-old drink made of apple cider vinegar, lemon, ginger, and a sweetener (traditionally molasses but you can use maple syrup or raw honey) called switchel or switzel was the drink of choice by American farmers to stay cool during long work days and to stay hydrated in the heat. There’s actually more to this fermented drink than just your regular refresher.

1️⃣ It gives you an electrolyte boost not to mention energy, making it a good sports drink alternative.
2️⃣ It may relieve pain and inflammation due to one of its key ingredients, ginger.
3️⃣ Rich in healing compounds like potassium, magnesium, and probiotics that are great for digestion, the immune system, and overall health.
4️⃣ It balances your body’s pH levels and helps detoxify your body thanks to the apple cider vinegar.

It’s so easy to prepare and tastes great too!

Send us a message if you want the recipe so you can try this at home. 🤗