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
After 18 years of working in the mortgage industry, Casey Grant was stressed, and sick of feeling stressed. She disliked her job because that’s what it felt like – a job. She didn’t enjoy what she was doing, and wanted to find a way to create a good income doing work she loved. Casey’s lifelong passion for health and nutrition sounded like a way out of the mortgage industry…the question was, how? Casey began to research schools for nutrition education, and Southwest Institute of Healing Arts (SWIHA) immediately resonated with her. Although she lives in Chandler, Arizona, a town close where the main campus of SWIHA is located, Casey decided to enroll in the SWIHA’s online Holistic Wellness Practitioner program because it was convenient for her busy lifestyle, and allowed her to still be available for her family. The entrepreneurial attitude and atmosphere of SWIHA is what appealed most to … Read More
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
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
Warming Ingredients for Winter Meals Dee McCaffrey, GUEST BLOGGER As the colder weather of winter approaches, our bodies naturally crave warm and grounding foods. Using thermogenic spices in our foods is a great way to warm our bodies and our taste buds. Thermogenic spices, such as cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, increase the body’s core temperature and speed up metabolism. Warming spices of the holiday season have many health benefits as well—they increase circulation, support efficient digestion, boost the immune system, regulate our blood sugar levels, help with weight loss, and even ward off cancer and Alzheimers. Spices also bring the aroma of the holidays into our homes and make recipes taste delicious. Here’s a guide to some of the best warming spices, from cinnamon and nutmeg, to more exotic spices such as star anise and cloves. Discover the healing benefits of these warming spices, and how to use them in … Read More
By Janet Lee, Guest Blogger It’s not Fall, Thanksgiving, or the holiday season without pumpkins! Pumpkins are healthy, tasty, and not to mention incredibly rich in vital antioxidants and vitamins! The pumpkin, a plant that is actually a fast-growing vine, grows by creeping along the ground, similar to other vegetables and fruits such as cucumber, squash or cantaloupes. It is one of the most popular field crops cultivated around the world, including the USA at the commercial scale for its fruit and seeds. Pumpkins, in general, are orange or yellow color. However, some varieties can be dark to pale green, brown, white, red and gray. Their color is largely influenced by yellow-orange pigments in their skin and pulp. Its thick rind is smooth with light, vertical ribs. In structure, pumpkins are usually golden-yellow to orange in color, depending upon the poly-phenolic pigments in it. They have a hollow center, with … Read More
By Dee McCaffrey, Guest Blogger The high stress nature of the holiday season can make staying balanced through the holiday season challenging. Prevention Magazine online recently reported that 90 percent of Americans experience feelings of stress during the holidays. Whether it’s caused by crowded shopping malls, traveling, or family relations, how we manage stress can affect whether or not we have an enjoyable holiday season or an undesirable holiday. However, there is a solution! Including some of the holiday’s best stress-relieving foods as part of regular meals is a great way to maintain a feeling of calm and balance. Eating high energy and nutritious foods can help potentially stressful situations, because these foods provide us with the energy and stamina to cope. Which foods are the best for relieving stress? Those that contain high amounts of B-complex vitamins, vitamins C and E, and those that contain minerals like manganese, selenium … Read More
by Liz Dose, Clinical Aromatherapist, Cht, LC “Smell is a potent wizard that transports us across thousands of miles and all the years we have lived. The odors of fruits waft me to my southern home, to my childhood frolics in the peach orchard. Other odors, instantaneous and fleeting, cause my heart to dilate joyously or contract with remembered grief. Even as I think of smells, my nose is full of scents that start to awake sweet memories of summers gone and ripening fields far away.”Helen Keller Since the dawn of time humans have been under the spell of perhaps the most mysterious of the senses – the sense of smell. Our ancestors relied heavily on this gift to find food, detect a predator in the area or alert them of a nearby fire. But on another level, our sense of smell has blessed us with the ability to experience … Read More
Why choose only one career when you can have two or three? Expand your Skills and Blend Careers! Southwest Institute of Healing Arts is the only school that offers such vast choices in how you can develop your holistic knowledge and expand how you serve in the world. Many of our students maximize their education by combining their training to build successful entrepreneurial holistic wellness businesses. Unlimited Employment Opportunities! Our aesthetics, yoga and other programs all grew out of our original award winning Massage College. Now with all we offer, you have the opportunity to combine the best of training! Earning multiple licenses, certificates of excellence and specialties gives you the most opportunities possible whether you choose to work for an established business or for yourself. Be a Massage Therapist and a Skincare Specialist You can earn a dual license as a Massage Therapist and a Skincare Specialist to gain … Read More
Posted on October 19, 2014 by SWIHA -
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Our mission is to inspire individuals to discover their gifts and graces, and support them as they share their talents in a loving and profitable way. Discovering your gifts and graces can often mean you need to be fearless in pursuit. We’re blessed to have a community of talented and fearless souls. Today we’re featuring Julie Christensen, as she shares how being FEARLESS by tapping into her heart has transformed her life. What does being fearless mean to you? To me, being Fearless is having the courage to take the hand of your “shadow-self”, and let it lead you to your “Golden Shadow”…That part of you that is pure Greatness. To me, being fearless is about living from the vast space of an open heart, rather than the confines of a doubt-filled mind. What is the most FEARLESS thing you’ve done lately? One of the most fearless things I have … Read More