Just Ask David

In the past few years, the art of food photography has boomed along with social media. Everyone wants to share with the world the delicious food they’re about to eat.

Today’s special guest has made a career of taking pictures of the meals she prepares for her family. Debi Traub is best known for her recipe and food photography blog, Simply Beautiful Eating. Simply Beautiful Eating focuses on creating beautiful dishes that are good for you, too.

Debi credits her love and talent for cooking colorful, healthy meals to her 95-year-old mother -- so you can just imagine how healthy her cooking must be!

Healthy Eating: Eat With Your Eyes

Debi calls meals that are low in nutrition, taste, and creativity as the three B’s: bland, boring, and “blech.”

Whether we realize it or not, we eat with our eyes before we actually taste our food. We’re naturally drawn to dishes with bright, beautiful, colorful ingredients -- and they tend to be quite nutritional, too.

The meals featured on Simply Beautiful Eating are all of those things -- flavorful, colorful, and healthy. In fact, many of the ingredients Debi uses for her food photography blog are picked from her husband’s garden.

Go Organic or Go Home

Fresh foods don’t just taste great, they also provide us with the maximum nutrients. Cooking with fresh, organic foods is a surefire way for your meals to be full of the things our bodies need -- without the stuff it doesn’t.

You can get fresh foods from the grocery store, but Debi recommends buying from a farmer’s market or growing your own produce.

“One of my favorite things is to stand in that garden and pick out everything we can use in the kitchen,” Debi says.

You can find Debi’s food photography blog and her fresh food recipes at Simply Beautiful Eating.

Jobs in the Makeup Industry are Changing

The professional makeup artist industry is a lot different than it used to be. Gone are the days when amateurs’ only path to being a celebrity makeup artist is to go to beauty school and beg trendy fashion magazines for exposure. These days, YouTube and Instagram makeup artists are dominating the industry with their diverse, crafty, and creative ways of applying makeup. Social media is promoting a generation of self-starting makeup artists -- all you need is talent and a few thousand followers.

Our special guest this morning is Rose Hill, an award-winning celebrity makeup artist with an impressive portfolio -- from the likes of Bill Clinton to Hugh Jackman. Rose is the founder of Make Up Crew and is most recently the professional makeup artist behind America’s Got Talent.

Protecting Your Business as a Social Media Makeup Artist

Being in the industry for so many years, Rose has plenty of tips for freelance makeup artists -- like the importance of legitimizing your business beyond social media.

“The best way to get work… you have to find out the rules and regulations of the state you’re working in,” Rose shares. In some states, professional makeup artists may be required to obtain certification, makeup insurance, and even a business permit. These weren’t even concerns for makeup artists in the past -- they were typically hired by huge cosmetic corporations who took care of the fine print. Social media makeup gurus are essentially freelance makeup artists and need to be able to protect their rights.

Want to learn more professional makeup artist tips and stay updated with Rose? Follow her on Twitter @RoseHillCrew or visit her website at www.MakeUpCrew.com

What Does Gluten Free Mean?

As we grow more health-conscious, gluten free diets are becoming more and more mainstream. But what is gluten free, and why have gluten free diets grown so much in popularity the past few years?

K.C. Cornwell is with us today to talk about what it means to live a gluten free lifestyle. Through her consulting firm, California Pomegranate Co., K.C. develops gluten free recipes for several restaurants, food brands, and wineries.

So why would anyone want to be gluten free -- what’s the big fuss about?

Gluten is a protein that is in many of the wheat-based foods we eat. Gluten tends to be sticky and is even used as a bonding agent in some beauty products, like lipsticks and conditioners. Some people aren’t able to fully digest gluten, and can even get sick from it.

Why Go Gluten Free?

“I’m not one of those people who thinks everyone in the world should be gluten free,” K.C. says. Indeed, some digestive conditions can’t handle breaking down gluten, but a gluten free diet can be beneficial for

anyone. Gluten can be difficult to digest, even for people with perfect gastrointestinal health.

“When we talk about gut health… and how the up to 80% of your immune system is in the gut… making it easy for your GI system to work currently makes it easier for [it] to produce [other hormones].”

For more information on gluten free recipes and living a gluten free lifestyle, visit K.C. website at www.gfreefoodie.com.

Beauty Blogger Meets Academia

Are the ingredients in expensive, luxury skin care and makeup better than those in cheaper brands?

Rachel Anise joins us today to make a case for both drugstore and luxury cosmetics. Rachel is the editor-in-chief of the highly acclaimed luxury beauty blog, the Beauty Professor and is also a full-time Communication Studies professor in the Los Angeles area.

After scoring a publishing deal with a fellow professor, Rachel discovered her love of writing to an audience. By becoming a luxury beauty blogger, Rachel’s academic and beauty worlds converged so well that she found her calling.

How Effective are Luxury Cosmetics Really?

Rachel’s blog is dedicated to giving honest reviews on beauty products, specifically luxury brands. Yves Saint Laurent, Giorgio Armani, and Burberry Beauty are just a few of the designer luxury brands that grace her blog.

“Luxury brands aren’t necessarily better than drugstore brands,” she says. Rachel cites her allergy to lanolin, a common beauty product ingredient, as the initial reason she was drawn to more expensive cosmetics. “To me, their limited nature makes them, in addition to their price, ingredients, and company, a luxury brand.”

For honest reviews on designer cosmetics and clothing, visit Rachel’s website at www.beautyprofessor.net.

Learning how to maintain a healthy diet can be a long and frustrating process. Eating healthy is a lifestyle, and it’s not going to work if you don’t change your habits.

Our special guest, Jared Koch, is here to talk about how you can adopt a healthier lifestyle without giving up what you love. Jared is the founder of Clean Plates, a digital healthy lifestyle brand.

Learn How to Eat Healthy and Never Go Hungry

Many of us have difficulty learning how to stay motivated to eat healthy -- we’re counting calories to lose weight and feeling like we’re starving in the process. But there are plenty of ways to eat healthy and still be full when you finish your meals.

Healthy, nutrient dense foods are typically low in calories but will make you feel fuller quicker. That way, you can pick a nutrient-rich entree or two that will fill you up without totally giving up some of the foods you love. Foods that are healthy are more accessible than ever makes it easier.

Bio-individuality

“We’ve all been trained to think about nutrition and healthy eating as a one-diet-fits-all approach,” Jared says. “Every diet will work for some people and not for others. There’s no one perfect way to eat.”

To learn more about heart healthy eating (and for quick healthy eating recipes), visit Jared’s website at www.cleanplates.com or follow him on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

The makeup industry is just one of many markets that have been transformed by the internet and social media in recent times.

Sheila Arkee is this morning’s special guest, and she’s here to talk about the makeup industry boom in the last few years, thanks to social media. Sheila has over 15 years of experience as a professional makeup artist and is the owner of the blog, Painted Ladies.

Makeup News Spreads Faster Than Ever

In the past five years, the makeup industry has experienced tremendous growth. From celebrities to internet makeup sensations, everyone can promote their favorite new makeup brands and products to the entire world.

Now, we don’t have to rely on the makeup recommendations of our family and friends -- we can make an educated decision ourselves by just hopping online.

How Has the Makeup Industry Changed?

Both corporate and independent makeup brands are making their products more accessible to a larger audience -- that’s because our makeup needs have been heard on social media.

Many professional makeup brands are being more inclusive and releasing foundation lines that suit almost all skin tones on the spectrum.

“I love learning about makeup,” Sheila says. “I know from what I’ve learned from meeting people on social media, it’s a way to bring people together. It’s nice way to share our passion for something creative… it’s just very exciting to see, not just as a makeup artist, but as a makeup lover.”

Being a mother is hard, and there isn’t a cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all answer for questions about balancing parenting with other aspects of your life.

Our special guest today is Heather Brown, the blogger behind the mommy lifestyle and self-care blog, My Life Well Loved. Heather is here to talk about how to balance the joys of motherhood with other aspects of your life.

A Balanced Lifestyle is a Healthy Lifestyle

Life is all about balance. A life out of balance is not a life that is being enjoyed. A great way to juggle all of your responsibilities and bring some balance back into your life is making lists of everything you need to is to make lists of what you need to do that day. As you check off another task from your list, it really helps you get back into the rhythm of life and feel like you’ve accomplished something today.

Self Care is Not Selfish

As much as you love spending time with your kids, plenty of us feel guilty for hiring a babysitter for the night, no matter how badly we need a break. But if we don’t allow ourselves to take a breather, many of us end up stressed and spreading ourselves too thin.

“If I don’t pour into myself first, then I can’t pour myself into my friends and family that I love so much,” Heather says. “I have to do that self-care first.” There’s nothing wrong with taking time out for yourself to recharge. If you’re pressed for time during the week for self-care activities, make it a priority to do something you love at least once a day.

Being a mother is the hardest job. Want to learn more about juggling motherhood and a healthy, balanced lifestyle? Read Heather’s blog at www.mylifewellloved.com or follow her on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

The effects of processed foods on our health are becoming a real concern these days. It’s hard to avoid processed foods when our lives are becoming busier and more fast-paced. But processed food products have been proven to cause the growth of “bad” bacteria in our stomachs.

Our special guest, Alex Caspero, is here to talk about the importance of gut health and how it affects our overall health. Alex is the owner of the award winning blog, Delish Knowledge, and the author of Fresh Italian Cooking for the New Generation.

Gut Health

Healthy probiotic foods, like sauerkraut and yogurt, promote the growth of this good bacteria. Eating fermented foods can improve gut health, which is proven to strengthen your immune system. It’s no wonder probiotics and healthy gut bacteria are hot topics in the health industry lately.

Healthy is Beautiful

Gut health and acne are very much connected. After changing to a healthy whole food lifestyle, many of Alex’s clients have seen a noticeable improvement in their acne.

“I’m really interested in that connection between beauty and diet,” Caspero says. “When you think about the fact that 70-80 percent of the immune system is housed in our guts, it really is hardly a surprise that what’s living there is gonna make an impact on our overall health, including outward health.”

For more on how to transition to a better diet for gut health, visit Alex’s blog at delishknowledge.com or follow her on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.