According to a new survey from the World Values Organization, published in the Alternative Health Journal, the United States is ranked the 16th happiest country in the world. The number one happiest country in the world, according to the survey, is Denmark. The least happy country in the world was Zimbabwe.

Overall, happiness is on the rise — over the last three decades, level of happiness has risen in 45 of the world’s 52 happiest nations. The top ten happiest countries were: Denmark, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Northern Ireland, Iceland, Switzerland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Canada and Sweden.

One interesting thing to note is that the US is consistently seen as the wealthiest country in the world, yet it does not even make it in the top 10 happiest countries, reinforcing the idea that maybe true happiness really has nothing to do with money. What creates real happiness then, if not wealth? Good health? Family? Peace? Freedom? Security?

How happy are you? What things do you need to be happy?

Recently, while reading a technology blog, I stumbled across what I thought was a fabulous idea: a health search engine. Users of Trusera, the world’s only health search engine, post their experiences and advices with various ailments and remedies, and anyone can search for any health-related term and find what out what other people’s experiences have been. You can share your experiences, get answers from both experts AND real people who have been there and tried that, and get connected with a network of people who care about the things you do. It’s  like a combination of the comforting advice you’d get from those you trust, alongside professional advice from health experts. Move over WebMD - Trusera may be the latest place for fast answers to all your health queries.

Here’s some interesting stuff I found in a Trusera search for Alternative medicine:

The best alternative medicine for children

Alternative Treatments for ADHD

An introduction to yoga

Does yoga help you cope with life’s challenges?

Do you really need multivitamin supplements?

Check it out at Trusera.com.

Everyone wants to fit in more time to work out, more time to eat healthy, more time to practice yoga…if only we had the time. But who really has extra time? Not too many of us, unfortunately. However, there are lots of easy ways to practice yoga in your office. For just a few minutes a day, it’s a great stress reliever and tension-calmer and helps your flexibility, strength and strength. 

Marcia Langenberg, a yoga practitioner in Alberta, Canada, has been practicing yoga for over 18 years — often in the office. On her website, she has four excellent video tutorials, each between eight and twelve minutes long, which demonstrate some great sets of easy yoga moves that you can do at your desk in the office on a daily basis and start feeling better!

Check out Marci’s videos HERE.

In a previous post I talked about the craze over “organic” foods and whether or not they are really better for you than so-called “normal” foods. There’s definitely some interesting food for thought there. 

But for many people, organic still remains a good choice for a healthy lifestyle — organic foods are a $22 billion a year industry. However, organic also generally means pricey. Everything is more expensive when it comes with that “organic” label. In today’s economy, we’re all on a tight budget, so what to do if your budget doesn’t allow for expensive organic foods? Here are a few tips I found recently on how to buy organic on a budget, that I think are worth sharing: 

–Buy locally 
Local growers will have items that are in season and will have them priced to sell. Also ask about discounts and bargains, or if there are “seconds” (misshaped foods that are fine otherwise) for sale.

The added benefit of buying locally is that you can usually speak with someone who works the farm. You can ask questions about the food and even get tips on preparing the food. Buying locally also helps sustain the local economy.

–Buy items seasonally 
Fruits and vegetables that are in season will be more abundant on store shelves and will usually cost less and, as an added bonus, taste great. Whether you buy in-season items from a local grower or your supermarket, the items are always cheaper than items not in-season (ie, items that have been shipped great distances to get to the market).

Be flexible with your shopping and purchase items that are on sale: if apples are on sale, buy them instead of other fruits.

And my favorite tip? If buying organic is too expensive: grow your own!

To read the full article and find more tips on going organic on a budget, check out the full article here.

We’ve all been there. It might be that you go to Whole Foods instead of the regular supermarket. And you pride yourself on selectively choosing the freshest, rawest, and most organic produce you can find, because you know it’s the healthiest option for you. Right?

But there is an ongoing debate about whether organic really is better for you or not. One blogger even goes so far as to say that if you’ve been led to believe organic is better than conventional, you’ve practically been robbed. 

We are all led to believe that by choosing organic foods, we’re helping the environment, we’re avoiding gross pesticides, we’re putting healthier, more natural products in our bodies, we’re helping animals, that we’re supporting small farmers, etc. 

But what if all of that might be wrong? Does it really make a difference at all? What if in some cases organic is worse?

Check out this article for some food for thought — it might make you re-evaluate whether organic is the best choice for you or not.

This month, Martin Ettington released his new book, Immortality: A History and How to Guide—Or How to live 150 years and beyond. Which begs the question: is that even really possible? No one has ever lived to 150 before, so what’s his big secret?

Ettington’s book describes three components to a long, satisfying, healthy life: the physical component, energy component, and spiritual component. And the key, Ettington says, to living indefinitely is to synchronize these three components in harmon by using spiritual, energetic, and physical exercises.

And probably the most fascinating part is that the book supposedly provides case studies of many people who have lived to 150 years or more — including one man, Li Ching-Yun, who is reputed to have lived 256 years.Yuen often gave advice on how he lived so long:

• Keep a quiet heart
• Sit like a tortoise
• Walk sprightly like a pigeon
• Sleep like a dog

Perhaps the secret to a long life is simpler than we all think.

We know many people choose to be vegetarians to stay healthy. Many people also do not.

But what would you do if one day your mayor declared it Veggie Day in the entire town?

The town of Ghent, Belgium, just outside of Brussels, has done just that. They have declared every Thursday “Vegetarian Day” and will offer tips of healthy living and vegetarian recipes for all its citizens, in addition to offering free vegetarian snacks and maps to help find the city’s vegetarian restaurants. They even threw a city-wide party to celebrate the very first Veggie Day, and plan to continue the tradition.

Shouldn’t the choice over what you eat be a personal choice? some would ask. But Ghent city leaders explain that the impacts of abstaining from meat don’t just affect your individual health, but are also good for the climate. One Ghent city councillor says abstaining from meat “is good for the climate, your health and your taste buds.” He also said that meat production is responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gases, and thus, if more cities across the world start to follow suit and abstain from meat once a week, it could have a positive impact on the level of pollution and greenhouse gases.

Ghent is the first city in the world to try such an initiative, but could we be seeing American cities try it out next? What do you think: is it a good idea for cities to try going vegetarian?