Holistic Nutrition: A Fresh Approach to Lifelong Health
By Dee McCaffrey Nutrition is a big buzz word these days. Nearly every week we hear about the newly discovered health benefits of whole foods or the harmful effects of denatured processed foods. From the heart-protective antioxidants in grapes and dark chocolate, to the cancer-causing downside of refined sugar, our national awareness of the role food plays in our health is on the rise. Healthy food has gone mainstream, yet personal health is still a mystery to many people. It’s no secret that the Standard American Diet, appropriately acronymed SAD, is the worst diet humans can engage in; it has created a health crisis unlike anything seen in human history. Within the last 100 years, we have gone from growing, harvesting, and preparing our own food with our own hands, to mass producing concoctions that are made in laboratories. In the name of progress, we have blindly and tragically denounced … Read More
Creating a Balanced Approach to Wellness
In 2011, Laura Wilkinson had hit her version of rock bottom, and was desperately in need of some kind of life shift. Having looked into the Life Coaching program offered at Southwest Institute of Healing Arts (SWIHA) previously, Laura explains, “After the rug was pulled out from under my feet I knew it was time to do something transformational,” she said. “I had a clean slate and I needed to build a solid foundation. Life Coaching was the perfect place for me to rebuild from.” Laura enrolled in SWIHA’s online Mind-Body Transformational Psychology program, where she not only studied Life Coaching, she also took courses in Hypnotherapy, Holistic Nutrition, Aromatherapy, and business courses including Writing for Publication. Once she completed her program (with a 4.0 grade point average!), Laura was ready for the next phase in her life. Inspired by her program, and armed with the knowledge that there were … Read More
B-I-T-E Into a Healthy Lifestyle
By Dee McCaffrey If you’ve been chewing on the thought of improving your food choices and starting your journey toward a healthy lifestyle, there is no better time to begin than now. March is National Nutrition Month, an annual campaign organized by the American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics aimed at educating and empowering Americans into healthier lifestyles. The theme for this year’s nutrition month is “Bite into a Healthy Lifestyle” which encourages everyone to make informed food choices, keep portion sizes in check and engage in fitness routines that are meaningful and enjoyable. The word “bite” means to take a small piece of a bigger portion, chew it well, savor the flavor and then swallow before taking the next bite. This year’s theme can be interpreted to mean that healthy living is not about making grand changes all at once. Rather, it is a steady continual process that allows … Read More
Experience Three Healthy Snacks in Honor of National Nutrition Month
By Melanie Albert, Guest Blogger March is National Nutrition Month, a month dedicated to nutrition and education. National Nutrition Month was created by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, focusing on the importance of making informed food choices and healthy eating habits. So the perfect way to kick off this month is with some fun, healthy snacks! This is a great time to add three delicious healthy snacks, primarily inspired by a vegan and raw food way of eating, to your life. Have fun this week trying superfoods including raw cocoa and goji berries, and make your own almond butter. Take a Look at Some favorite Childhood Snacks “As a kid one of my very favorite snacks was red licorice. I think one of the reasons I love goji berries is because they are red and chewy, just like the licorice I used to love as a kid.” – Melanie … Read More
The Not So Sweet Truth about Sugar
By Janet Lee, Guest Blogger February is a month associated with love, so it’s appropriate that February is National Heart Health month. Due to the Valentine’s holiday, February also brings lots of chocolate or sweet, sugary desserts to show others or ourselves how much we are loved. While it’s perfectly fine to enjoy sweets, it’s also beneficial to realize how much sugar we are putting into our bodies. According to the US Department of Agriculture, the average American consumes between 150 and 170 pounds of refined sugar a year. Interestingly, less than 100 years ago, the average American consumed roughly four pounds of sugar a year. Needless to say, that our consumption of sugar has skyrocketed. The World Health Organization (WHO) and American Heart Association states that women should consume only 20 grams of sugar a day or 5 teaspoons. For men, it is 36 grams or 9 teaspoons a … Read More
The Science of Skinny
By Dee McCaffrey, Guest Blogger One of my natural health heroes, Dr. Ann Wigmore, said “the food you eat can either be the safest and most powerful forms of medicine or the slowest form of poison.” This wisdom is reflected in my book The Science of Skinny, the premise of which is “whole, natural foods are perfect packages from nature uniquely designed to nourish our body” and that “food additives don’t honor how our body is designed; they are catalysts for poor health and should be avoided.” As a chemist, formerly obese person, and now a nutrition educator, I teach people that whole foods provide powerful nutrients that work synergistically to provide our body’s 75 trillion cells with the necessary elements for building long term health. Nearly every common plant food, and many animal foods, have been scientifically proven to offer one or more therapeutic benefits—from alleviating everyday aches and … Read More
All Aspects of the Art of Health
The ‘earth’ without art is just ‘eh’ . . .
. . . according to Holistic Wellness Practitioner Heather Krompacky, who works in the town of Talkeetna, Alaska, at the base of North America’s tallest mountain, the magnificent Denali.
Imagine . . .
. . . entering a room for a holistic session with a new practitioner, someone you have never worked with before. There are colorful candles burning, the light is low due to the salt lamps placed strategically around the room. Soft music is playing and a lovely, aromatic fragrance is wafting through the air. You begin your session with your practitioner; maybe you experience hypnotherapy, nutritional coaching, or aromatherapy, all as an aspect of a holistic life coaching session with a competent and caring practitioner. You feel a sense of comfort due to the open and honest space from which the ‘Change Artist Extraordinaire’, as the practitioner is known, works. At the end of the session, you are offered a soul-coaching card, to provide continued insight and affirmation. Read More
Whole Food Culinary Tip: Mise en Place & Make Your Own Veggie Burger
Mise en Place, with the French pronunciation of mi za plas means “putting in place”, as in “set up” Mise en place is used in the kitchen to “put into place” or “to set up” all the ingredients used to prepare a dish, before we start cooking. The purpose is to have everything ready, all in order for cooking, so when we cook, it is much easier. All ingredients are ready, sliced, diced and measured before we start cooking. Mise en place is a great cooking technique to incorporate into your kitchen for both more complex and simple recipes. Mise en Place Makes Cooking Easier “With mise en place we do not scramble around our kitchen when we are in the cooking process, looking for that one ingredient we really need, or we are not quickly chopping food right in the middle of cooking. Instead, we are methodically enjoying cooking … Read More
Melanie Albert, Passionate Nutrition Coach and Intuitive Chef
Thirty years ago, Melanie Albert stopped eating meat. This wasn’t a decision based on politics or personal beliefs about animals. She simply didn’t like the way her body felt after consuming meat. “My body was feeling full when I ate meat and I felt as though I could not digest it,” Melanie says about her longstanding decision to eliminate meat from her diet. Shortly after eliminating meat, Melanie began to focus on intuitive eating; listening to the cues her body was giving her about food and making decisions about what food to consume. Little did she know that a few years later, nutrition and intuitive eating would be a daily part of her life and her work. After leaving meat behind, she began to eat organic, “way before it was popular in the media,” she says. Although her decision to go organic baffled some of her friends and family, Melanie … Read More
Recovery Foods for the Holiday Season
By Janet Lee, Guest Blogger While the holiday season brings happy times and wonderful memories, it can sometimes be challenging when it comes to maintaining a healthy diet. During this busy time of year, most of us have been on the run completing work commitments, eating at the mall while finishing holiday shopping, attending holiday parties with friends while eating plenty of food and drinking a little too much eggnog! It’s quite possible that the only exercise experienced is walking from the couch to the refrigerator, or running from store to store. If, you are experiencing low energy, headaches, or lack of motivation . . . or if your pants are fitting a little tighter than a couple months ago . . . it is probably time to begin again with some healthy reminders! Let’s get back on track and begin some healthy habits in 2015 to help us feel … Read More