Sometimes the biggest hindrance to weight loss isn’t our own habits but the pushback we get from our friends, family members and co-workers. How many times have you put your best foot forward to cook a healthy meal for your family only to hear the whine, get the blank stare and the flat-out refusal? If you’re having trouble getting your …
7 Benefits of Swimming: Weight Loss, Relaxation, Cardio and More
Last summer I decided to start working on a long held personal goal to get my diving certification. Well, I held myself to the standard of learning all four swim strokes first and getting REALLY comfortable in deep water. So I signed up for swim lessons at the ripe old age of forty-something! Can I just say how much I …
Care But Don’t Care Too Much: Find the Space Between Effort and Ease
If you’re a parent or know someone who is a parent, you’ll know what I mean when I say that there’s no month on the calendar that can rival the energetic intensity of September. The shift from summer’s long warm days, backyard barbecues and lazy afternoons on the beach to the return of fixed school schedules and chilled mornings can …
Feeling Stressed? Stock Your Shelves With These Herbal Allies
When clients come to my practice reporting symptoms like fatigue, low sex drive, brain fog, weight gain, mood swings or trouble sleeping one of the first remedies I reach for after functional testing is the adaptogenic herbs. Adaptogens are a class of herbs derived from plant roots, tree bark and leaves that help regulate the HPA Axis — hypothalamus, pituitary …
Five Reasons to Start Your Day With A Protein Shake or Smoothie
Strolling through the business section of Barnes & Noble one afternoon I noticed four shelves worth of books on ‘How to Be More Productive.’ From one business coach to the next, they all seemed to offer on the same thing: organizational tools, apps and strategies for maximizing time. But in Lifestyle Medicine we think differently. It’s not about apps and …
Nutrigenomic Testing: Taking the Guesswork Out of Diet and Nutrition
From keto to plant-based to Atkins and Mediterranean dieting, how can you figure out the best nutrition and fitness plan for you? For years we’ve heard amazing weight loss testimonials and how some seemingly lucky person was able to drop three dress sizes by changing their plate and committing to five days at the gym. But what about the people …
The Pineapple Punch: Budget Friendly, High Power Nutrition
I’m a firm believer that one of the core tenets of optimal health is good nutrition. In my practice, food is the first medicine and no visit is complete without discussion about the challenges of eating well and a few tips on how to do it well on a budget. This is where my love of fruit comes in handy. …
Aloe Vera Gel: The Super Plant for Digestive Health
March is National Nutrition Month and the 2018 theme is “Go Further With Food.” This can mean many things but for me it means remembering the bountiful harvest nature gives us to maintain our health and well-being. You can “go further with food” by remembering that plants were our original medicine, long before factories and chemists figured out how to …
Magnesium: Nature’s Miracle Mineral
Many years ago while working as an Emergency Room nurse, I remember magnesium as the “miracle” mineral. If a patient had a life-threatening arrythmia (irregular heartbeat), you’d see one of us nurses rushing to the medication cart to grab the IV equipment. In the maternity ward, if a woman had pregnancy induced hypertension or was in danger of pre-term labor, …
Every Day Mindfulness: Cultivating ‘Beginner’s Mind’
Beginnings noun: the point in time or space at which something starts synonyms: dawn, birth, inception, origination, genesis, emergence, start, point, launch Recently I stumbled on a LinkedIn post that deeply resonated. The title was ‘September is the new January.’ The author described how the energy of autumn coupled with her memories of childhood make the season a perfect opportunity to consider new beginnings. When I …