By Taylor Smith
CAP Beauty is an unusual beauty store.
Beyond makeup, lotions, and potions, CAP Beauty prides itself on holistic beauty with the philosophy that what you put into and onto your body can actually improve the quality of your thought and life. more
By Taylor Smith
With a wide array of fitness trackers available, Fitbit is probably the best-known name in terms of high-quality trackers. The user-friendly devices come in many style options and can suit everyone, no matter their fitness level. The trackers will monitor everything from basic daily movements to running, walking, swimming, cycling workouts, and sleeping. more
By Taylor Smith
Indoor cycling has long been an appealing option for those looking for all the benefits of vigorous cardio and strength routines without the high-impact aftermath that can come from pounding miles on the pavement, such as in distance running activities. Enter CycleBar, the latest concierge-style indoor cycling studio to make waves in the Garden State. more
By Taylor Smith
With locations in Basking Ridge, Chester, Ocean Township, and Shrewsbury, Dean’s Natural Food Market is making an impact on the quality of food and produce available to New Jersey residents.
At Dean’s, all produce is 100 percent organic. “With our non-GMO policy, we don’t bring in any items unless they’re non-GMO product verified or free of the top 10 GMO crops. People know that about us now, they’re coming here for that,” says founder Dean Nelson. more
By Taylor Smith
With multiple locations in Monmouth, Ocean, Middlesex, Morris, Union, and Essex counties, Playa Bowls (https://playabowls.com) is now a big part of the New Jersey food scene.
If you’ve visited towns like Belmar, Red Bank, Asbury Park, Seaside, or Toms River during the summer months, chances are you’ve known about Playa Bowls for a long time. What originally started out as a food truck is now a popular staple in New York City, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, with 20 more locations planned in the near future. more
By Taylor Smith
Located at 122 Main Street, 2nd floor, in Madison, NJ, The Bar Method is a great option for building muscles, confidence, and long lines in the New Year. more
By Taylor Smith
Available at running stores and REI locations across the country, Bend, Oregon-based Picky Bars is the latest nutritional bar to make a splash on the outdoors scene. more
By Taylor Smith
Sleep is vital for overall health, but elusive for many. Whether you’re a parent under stress or you’ve become reliant on prescription sleep aids like Lunesta or Ambien, here are some non-habit forming methods for improving overall sleep quality and duration. more
By Taylor Smith
According to the World Health Organization, “an estimated 47 million people currently suffer from dementia and that number is expected to increase to 75 million by 2030. It is projected that the number will triple by 2050.” To put these numbers into perspective, the Alzheimer’s Association estimates that “the cost to care for an Alzheimer’s patient in a private room in a nursing home is around $97,455 per year.” This is where U.K.-based health care start-up Virtue steps in (https://www.virtue.io). With the goal to “empower the silver generation,” Virtue aims to “develop transformative solutions for aging well.” more
By Taylor Smith
Companies like One Peloton (www.onepeloton.com) have engineered some of the most attractive and effective workout machines in recent years. Equipment like the Peloton Cycle and Peloton Tread enable users all over the world to get a boutique indoor cycling and running studio experience from the convenience of their own homes, day or night. For a lot of working people and parents, the opportunity to get a solid sweat session at any time of day (and no car travel required) is a huge relief. more
by Anne Levin
Despite its small size, New Jersey boasts more than 75 hospitals and medical centers. An impressive group of them are located in the Central and Northern counties, offering state-of-the-art care in increasingly comfortable, even architecturally distinctive, surroundings. Following is a sampling:
By Taylor Smith
For many people, sleep is elusive. You run around all day completing your to-do lists and when it’s time to shut down, you can’t. This is an all too common complaint at places like Santé Integrative Pharmacy in downtown Princeton.
Have you ever heard the term wired and tired? That’s is the state that Michael Pellegrino, a clinical nutritionist and wellness practitioner at Sante, finds most customers in when they walk into the store looking for suggestions. “The goal is to nourish and calm the nervous system,” explains Pellegrino. “This includes both a daytime and evening regimen and often an adjustment to their current lifestyle.”
How Meditation is Changing the Lives of Adolescents Everywhere
By Taylor Smith
Healing traumatic stress and raising performance among at-risk populations doesn’t just apply to adults, it also applies to the daily lives and circumstances of many of today’s modern middle and high school students. The science and research behind the impact of meditation on highly stressed or suffering adult populations is well-documented through brain research, and has been incorporated into standard health treatment at hospitals like The Graf Center for Integrative Medicine at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center in Englewood, N.J.
By Taylor Smith
Shingles is a viral infection that lays dormant in those who have had the chicken pox and is most common in those ages 50 and older, both men and women. Shingles can occur anywhere on the body, but is most common as a single stripe of extremely painful blisters around the torso, lower waist, chest and/or face. While it isn’t a life-threatening condition, the virus can be very painful, causing many people to suffer for anywhere from three to six months with severe discomfort.
By Taylor Smith | Photo courtesy of CKO Kickboxing
Cardio is out and HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) is in. Many workout enthusiasts are noticing that their spin classes and running routines aren’t cutting it anymore when it comes to building overall health. Boxing and kickboxing are growing in popularity throughout New Jersey and New York because people are seeing results. The fighter’s physique, long desired for its lean look combined with powerful muscular strength, is what people are after and requesting in many gyms. Here is the rundown of some of the gyms throughout the area that are not only offering opportunities to build muscular strength but are specializing in it, with well-trained fighters as instructors challenging both the body and the mind. more
By Taylor Smith
Cannabidiol, also known as CBD oil, is a chemical compound derived from the cannabis sativa plant, but it contains no THC (the psychoactive constituent) and is not evident in a drug test. Also known as hemp oil, many wellness practitioners have begun to tout the many benefits of CBD oil for the treatment of everything from anxiety and/or depression to pain relief, PTSD, insomnia, skincare, digestion, and seizures. more
By Jonathan Dusza
Merger includes plans for new addiction treatment center in New Jersey, more coordinated care and enhanced research and medical education opportunities
Hackensack Meridian Health, New Jersey’s largest and most comprehensive and integrated health network, and Carrier Clinic, a leader in behavioral health with a 100-year history in the state, are proud to announce they have signed a definitive agreement to merge to deliver unsurpassed behavioral health care to the region. more
By Taylor Smith
Five times larger than New York’s Central Park, Lehigh Gorge State Park in northeastern Pennsylvania is a 4,548-acre wilderness just 90 minutes from Philadelphia and two hours from New York City. The region is home to the Northeast’s most accessible and convenient whitewater rafting, family style rafting, hiking, and rail trail biking. This summer, encourage your kids to put down their screens and instead experience an action-packed Whitewater Dam Release weekend, biking, or hiking in the great outdoors. more
By Laurie Pellichero | Photographs Courtesy of New Jersey National Golf Club
Nestled in the lush meadows of the Watchung Mountains, New Jersey National Golf Club in Basking Ridge is a premier private golf club featuring 18 holes of championship golf and the highly-rated Red Oak Grille restaurant. It is a special place to play, entertain, and relax in a family-friendly atmosphere. It also serves as the perfect venue to host corporate and charity golf events on Mondays only. more
Hackensack Meridian Health Hackensack University Medical Center is pleased to join the Bergen County Stigma-Free Campaign, a county-wide program which aims to reduce the stigma associated with mental illness, as the medical center recognizes Mental Health Awareness Month.
“We are proud to join the Bergen County stigma-free movement and declare Hackensack University Medical Center a Stigma-Free Zone,” said Ihor S. Sawczuk, M.D., FACS, president of Hackensack University Medical Center. more
By Taylor Smith
Photography by Tom Grimes
The youngest son of Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy and Virginia Joan Kennedy, Patrick Kennedy has put down roots in Brigantine, New Jersey with his wife, Amy, and four children, Harper, Owen, Nora, and Nell. Amy is expecting their fifth child in May. A New Jersey native, Amy has more than 15 years’ experience working in New Jersey public schools and is the education director of The Kennedy Forum. Patrick lovingly refers to Amy as his “Jersey girl,” who grew up in a neighboring shore town. Located on the bayside of the Jersey Shore, a stone’s throw from Atlantic City, the Kennedy’s waterfront home is centered around family and the beauty of the natural setting. On the day of Urban Agenda Magazine’s visit, seagulls were dive-bombing around Patrick’s boat and fine grains of sand blew across the roadway. more
Taylor Smith
Who you choose to read your mammogram makes a critical difference in detecting breast cancer in its earliest stages. Most mammograms are read by general radiologists, reducing the rate of early detection. more
By William Uhl
There are countless programs for landscape and garden planning available, ranging from free web apps to hundred-dollar software packages. For the average homeowner thinking of planning out a new garden or backyard pool, it can be confusing and time consuming to find an up-to-date program at a reasonable price. The following three selections are low- or no-cost options for any adventurous amateur. more
By Taylor Smith
JCC University at Kaplen JCC on the Palisades in Tenafly, NJ offers the opportunity to rekindle previous passions, ignite new interests, meet new people and stay involved in the developments that shape today’s world. Top professors and experts present on topics including science, literature, film, economics, psychology, architecture and politics. more
By Wendy Greenberg
Princeton University freshman Jack Aiello credits a special New Jersey camp for giving him the confidence to climb the Himalayas with the challenges associated with type 1 diabetes.
Despite the unpredictable effect elevation can have on metabolism, his blood sugar numbers stayed under control. In a blog on the camp website he wrote, “Eight summers of living with peers and counselors who have diabetes have given me a tremendous amount of knowledge and confidence in managing diabetes…Camp gave me counselors who spent weeks camping in the wilderness, friends who cycled thousands of miles competitively, and dozens of role models and friends who always kept their diabetes under control—not the other way around.” more
By Ilene Dube
“A sap run is the sweet goodbye of winter. It is the fruit of the equal marriage of the sun and frost.” — John Burroughs
Maine and Vermont may lure visitors with excursions to sugar shacks, and their tourist centers delight children of all ages with boxes of maple leaf-shaped sugary treats, but the joys of maple sugaring can be had without leaving the Garden State. more
Hackensack Meridian Health, New Jersey’s most comprehensive and truly integrated health care network, is proud to announce that JFK Health in Edison, a leading hospital system that is nationally recognized for its pediatric and adult neuroscience and rehabilitation programs, is joining the network which will expand to 16 hospitals. With now more than 160 patient care locations, Hackensack Meridian Health is the largest health network in the state. more
Written by Stevens Institute of Technology’s Office of Communications
The broad and lasting skills that emerge when a student is at the center of the learning process is nothing short of incredible.
Whether working individually or teams, students in Stevens Institute of Technology’s Charles v. Schaefer, Jr. School of Engineering and Science progress through a sequence of interdisciplinary design courses. In those courses, students not only learn engineering principles and how to apply them; they also learn soft skills like creative thinking, problem solving, project management, communication and ethics that are increasingly important in the working world. more
By Taylor Smith
Dr. Christopher Garruba of Nassau Animal Hospital, located at 3440 US-1 in Princeton, said that owners should be aware of salted sidewalks and roadways. “Dogs can slip and fall on the ice just like people and collect ‘ice balls’ between their toes,” he said. “Their paw pads may also become irritated by salt on the roads. It’s important to carefully examine your dog’s paws and paw pads after each walk.” more
By Taylor Smith
The winter season brings heartwarming moments, like time with family and holiday traditions; however, it can also bring unneeded stress. This stress may come in the form of aches and pains, increased anxiety, depression, sleeplessness, and weight gain. To combat these common winter ailments, a little self-care is in order. Thankfully, our region offers a plethora of spa services, counseling professionals, and salons where you can melt the blues away. more
