The web was appropriately filled with love stories and healthy heart recipes this week in celebration of Valentine’s Day. Stories have also focused on heart healthy initiatives honoring February as “Heart Health Month.” In other weekly wellness news around the web, the “Food Babe” released her first book and The Huffington Post gave us some tips on building a hazard-proof home. Below are some of the highlights.

Clean Eating:

The Food Babe Way
This past week, Vani Hari, aka The Food Babe, released her first book about becoming a food activist. In The Food Babe Way: Break Free from the Hidden Toxins in Your Food and Lose Weight, Look Years Younger, and Get Healthy in Just 21 Days!, she discusses highly toxic ingredients and manipulative marketing in an effort to educate people about how thousands of chemicals are included in our foods. She calls out big food companies, but also provides insight in how to eat clean to improve your health and well-being. Through her blog, Hari comes across smart and opinionated with a charming and lovely side. I just started the book and will keep an open mind so I can review it in the coming weeks.

USDA approves GMO Apples on the market
The U.S. Department of Agriculture will permit a biotech company to market GMO apples in an effort to keep them from browning. Congressional leaders for GMO labeling believe this reinforces the need to have all products listing explicitly if they have been genetically modified.

Active Living:

Meditation
I keep telling myself I need to meditate. I do yoga and occasionally pull out my visualization iTunes playlist, but haven’t made it a regular habit. This post from MindBodyGreen outlines a few easy ways to incorporate mediation into our busy lives. I’ve tried the reverse nostril breathing and have noticed it centers me.

Non-Toxic Home:

Keeping a Safe Home
Like many first-time parents, we “baby-proofed” the house when my son first started walking. We actually paid a professional to make sure it was deemed safe. Now that he’s older, we sometimes forget that even household items can be a hazard if not put away correctly. This Huffington Post Health News piece is a good reinforcer to help keep kids out of the emergency room by making small changes within the home.

Inspirational Post of the Week:

“The Best Lesson I’ve Learned Working in TV” by Kristen Hewitt
I loved my corporate job and embraced all the lessons of life within it. So I enjoy finding posts that highlight how work and life often share similar best practices. Kristen Hewitt of MommyinSports.com and Fox Sports Florida shares her experience in the TV industry and how it provides valuable lessons that she uses in parenthood.

What have your read this week? Any interest tips or tidbits on health and wellness?